Real Estate obsession

Hah, thank you for feeding my ongoing real estate sweet tooth. I will watch the site and tell you the results of my chirping...

Real estate has always been a big demand in this city, despite the real estate bubble and the lost of value of property. As long as NYC is known as one of the best cities in America, they will always attract investors and real estate developers.

Keep us posted, @uraniumfish. It's an interesting idea, to be sure - sort of like ebay for property! I'd consider it...

@ uptowngirl I've been clicking around on that website and it's really a good find. I'm curious about the real estate market in the next few months. It should be interesting to see how it will change by the summer.

A real estate website making money off apartment searching! Only in New York.

@Uraniumfish that's crazy! actually when I did see 'the sign your first chirp is free' I did find it strange I You might as well look at listings on Street Easy then..but then as NeverSleeps said only in NYC. However I think sooner or later the promoters will realize their model is flawed and offer say 5 free chirps .. Maybe they only want to attract serious buyers/renters who wouldn't mind shelling out for chirps.. Its relatively new so let's keep an eye on it to see how it pans out.

@uptowngirl That's actually a good point - then they won't have another Craig's List on their hands, which is full of people who phish emails for a living. Brilliant, actually. And how much does a chirp cost? Can't be more than a broker.

@NeverSleeps I'm not convinced fees are going to make things any better. It doesn't really guarantee the sites are going to be shlock-free. And then you're out your fee, which is a bigger loss than only wasting your time. I wouldn't pay a site.

Hmmm... I guess we would have to talk to someone who uses these listings sites in order to find out how legit or useful they actually are. But from what everyone is saying, I think I am going to stick to my broker idea.

I was actually considering putting in a bid for a property in Bayside, Queens, but when I went back to check, I found the bid ended and was sold. I guess you have to act fast.

If I was really desperate to find a home or apartment, I would not pay a fee to do it. I have friends who can help me. I get leads every so often but ignore them because many of them are in the Bronx, Harlem, or bad neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens.

@NeverSleeps according to the sites FAQs if you want to submit a chirp they charge you $5 but you can also buy Chirp packages 3 Chirps for $10 or 10 chirps for $20.
http://www.rechirp.com/faq

The more I learn about this site the less appealing it is. But I have to say I am quite happy with my current residence and probably won't be needing such thing anytime soon anyway.

@NeverSleeps Lucky you...

Ha.... does that mean you are in the market for a more pleasing apartment? I guess satisfaction is hard to find in NYC real estate.

I am still trying to figure out if the benefits of living alone in a studio out weight the benefits of having roommates in New York. Is this really the one place people can live with roommates until they are however old and it is okay? What do you guys think?

@BroadwayBK: I lived with a roommate and without one. I do live with a roommate now. I believe there are pros and cons to each. If you have a good roommate, you can share the expenses and save money. But if your roommate is bad, forget it.

On the other hand, if you lived in a studio by yourself, you would have more freedom and privacy. The only problem is that you would have to pay all the bills yourself.

The questions you need to consider are: Do you have the money to continue paying for a studio apartment, knowing the rent increases each year? And do you enjoy having your privacy so much you would rather take the risk, knowing you will have to put out more money?

Some things to think about.

@BroadwayBk I have a major problem sharing my private space with someone I don't love, i.e. living with roommates. Except for some isolated college experiences, I've pretty much lived alone. I think I'm by far the exception, though, in this city. I tend to think of roommate living as related to the Peter Pan complex that has been mentioned in another thread...

@NeverSleeps Yeah, it's true that I'm looking to upgrade, which is probably a neverending quest in this city.

I've had pretty bad luck with roommates. The girl I lived with in Vienna was nice, but beyond a neat freak, whereas in Rome I lived with five of the loudest, rowdiest boys I'd ever met - who would drink/stay up until 5 am every night, keep me awake, smoke pot in the living room, etc...

@everybody.. I can't really do away with my roommate can I?though sharing personal space in NYC is challenging to say the least..if you have a fight/argument you can't just lock yourself away in a remote part of the house..even if you are in another room ..you are almost on top of each other in a NYC apartment.. unless you are lucky enough to live in a grand pre-war on Park Avenue some of which have are known to have more than 10 rooms.

@Uptowngirl: Why not put up a divider. They are cheap and are sold at some department stores. There is a Japanese store downtown that sells dividers. Have you seen those things in hospitals where the curtains hangs onto. Well this is something like that except it is wood and opens with a door handle. The entire thing slides back and forth. I use one to separate my girlfriend from myself and it works quite well.

@hhusted I have two bedrooms and can always run away to the next room but sometimes the next room is not at such a great distance in an NYC appt as in say a house...:)

I have to admit that I always think twice about dating a guy that is 30-ish and living with roommates. Especially if he sleeps on a mattress on the floor instead of a proper bed, which I have seen more than once.

I think I would definitely prefer living alone...most of the time. But being alone at my computer all day, as I often am, can be a bit depressing so it's good to have friends around. I've been pretty lucky with roommates...uh, most of the time, anyway. And splitting the bills is always a good thing.

@uptowngirl I have some friends who live with their significant others in tiny apartments, and after a brief stint trying the same thing, I don't think I could ever do it again. So, if I ever move in with a significant other there is going to have to be somewhere in that tiny apartment I can go to be alone, or it's not happening.

Anyway, I am obviously still torn on this issue.

@BroadwayBK: I fully understand where you stand. I was on both sides of the fence in my life and I'll be honest with you. I prefer to be alone, even if it means paying all the bills myself. At least I do not have to hear complaints from a roommate, nor do I have to listen to TV when the roommate decides to blast it while I'm working.

Even when you get depressed from working on your computer, just pick up the phone and call someone. That usually helps me break out of the doldrums, if I have them.

Ha... that's good advice. I have to say that I like the presence of an actual person in my house, as long as I get along with that person of course. I am a rather solitary person but sometimes I need someone around to give me that extra motivation for some socializing.

@BroadwayBK have you ever had long stints living alone, though? I'm definitely a solitary person by nature, but don't feel lonely living alone, nor especially isolated from others. Believe me, I can get really chatty when it comes time to meet up with people for socializing. Just that I need my alone time, and when I'm trying to have it, the presence of others feels like a burden.

Indeed - I feel awful not socializing with my roommates whenever I live in a group, but when I'm home I just want to be by myself. I'm living with two of my best friends at the moment and yet I never want to hang out with them within the confines of the house

I was told recently by a psychologist that when two or more people live together under one roof, they are constantly merging. As such, they get tired of each other after a while. This is why when I was living alone, and wanted to be with my girlfriend, I simply came around since I lived close enough.

@uptowngirl What a great feeling to be able to enjoy you own company :)

@Uraniumfish Believe me I am relishing every minute of it ...I can hog the TV to my heart's content and watch endless house hunting programs on HGTV!

Haha! Excellent, @uptowngirl! Is your husband planning to join you anytime soon, or have you got HGTV to yourself for weeks to come?

@ajadedidealist only until the last day of this month.. so another 3 weeks of lonesome bliss...


@neversleeps in fact I have got so used the tranquility of my nyc home that I get irritable and snappy when I am back in the hustle bustle during vacations in my parents home.

Wow, @uptowngirl, that is a crazy experience to have growing up! I guess it's not uncommon in other parts of the world, but I can't really imagine it! And it's no wonder your parents are in awe - or utter confusion - of your current living situation, ha ha. And, only one television in the 1,000 square foot apartment? For shame!

@BroadwayBK & uptowngirl Hahaha, good point. You haven't even got the real American way down unless you have a TV in EVERY ROOM. Preferably, all of them should be on all the time, too.

@DBlack and @BroadwayBK that's my doing ... I really dont want the idiot box in my bedroom.. it will never be turned off!!!!

@uptowngirl If I lived on my own or with my better half, I would feel the same way! But living with roommates, it's nice to have the idiot box all to yourself and in your own space.

@uptowngirl That's understandable. And I actually lived with a guy who never turned the TV in our room off. And that was the beginning of the end. Hmmm...why haven't I gotten acupuncture yet?

@BroadwayBK I am smiling while reading your last post...off with the evil boys I say...

@everyone I may not know the American way yet of having a TV in every room but this MTA worker sure did , she even had a flat screen in her bathroom!!!
http://blackpoliticalthought.blogspot.com/2009/01/nyc-transit-supervisor-jacqueline.html

@Uptowngirl: My girlfriend watches HGTV. She is a haunted house fanatic. She watches those on HGTV and Syfy channel.

I can't imagine anyone having a TV in the bathroom. Radio maybe, but not TV.

@uptowngirl Ha! That chick fits in nicely with the picture of MTA officials that we have going...

@Ajadedidealist: You would be surprised if you knew. Or maybe not.

@ajadedidealist she was submitting inflated bills to the MTA and pocketing the difference for herself.. here's how she did it -
http://www.metro.us/us/article/2010/03/10/06/1045-82/index.xml

@Uptowngirl: Wow, no wonder MTA is having financial troubles. I wonder why they don't have tighter security systems in place.

@BroadwayBK: This is the one reason that MTA is failing. They are a very mismanaged company. Hey, if you have access to a computer and bank account, you can steal anything. From reading the article, it appears she took the payments she received from the bills that were paid, and put so much in the MTA bank account, but put the rest in her pocket. She also had someone pay her bills for her. What a lifestyle. But just like BroadwayBK said, didn't they think (the girl and guy) that they would eventually get caught. Perhaps, they knew about how MTA is disorganized and has no security so they figured they would be able to get away with it. Surprise.

@hhusted You're right, anyone can steal. But getting greedy will get you caught just about every time.

@BroadwayBK Obviously she knew how lax the tracking systems were in the MTA so she could hoodwink them to this extent.

@Everybody There's nothing worse than when corruption and stupidity meet in one place! What's to be done about this awful MTA? Seriously.

@uptowngirl Right, and she probably would have never been caught if she hadn't gone overboard.