very simple

Now that the election is apparently over (and I’m not even arguing at this point, I just found it ironic that today at work my republican, Bush-voting boss was all "what happens if the rest of the provisional ballots in Ohio and Florida are counted and they actually do make a difference? Shouldn’t Kerry wait to concede?"), it’s time to focus on the other New York obsession again, real estate (or, "why people who, in any other part of the country could actually buy a horse-farm, are still waiting for their grandmother to die to get her 800 square foot rent-stabilized apartment")…

The construction site next door is getting a little more press. Apparently, not only does an apartment cost $2.5 million, it’s an additional $3000/month in common charges. I pay significantly less than the common charges alone in rent. Hmm. Then again, you can fit at least 3 of my apartment into 1,800 square feet.

And my dad keeps asking me why I haven’t bought anything yet.

I’d just like to point out that my dad and stepmom recently bought a two bedroom apartment in a landmark building on Central Park West, and even though they bought it from a crazy lady who lived there for 50 years and hadn’t turned on the oven in at least the last 20, and it needs to be completely gut renovated, it’s still going to cost less than a studio next door. And they only broke down and bought an apartment because they realized after two years of living together that my stepmother’s 680 square-foot rent-stabilized apartment that she had lived in alone since 1978 was actually too small for the two of them and their three dogs.

Real Estate is like a disease in this city. But I may take more pictures of the site next door this weekend – I actually haven’t seen it in a month, between the vacation and the working during all daylight hours every day since then.

Tags: real estate