A New York Legend…
You know... the millionaire who looks and lives like a bum.| By Lorenzo |March 12, 2010 | Add Comment » |
The proprietor’s son, Mo (short for Mohammed) was behind the counter at the bodega downstairs, working the morning shift. A fresh pot of coffee was brewing near the window, and we chatted about technology while waiting for it to finish. We had both agreed that the iPad was a turd not worth half its price when an old man tottered into the store. He looked every bit like the retired men who live in the apartment house across the street, limping from one social security check to the next wearing the same worn clothes and grizzled visages.
The old fellow approached the counter and greeted Mo familiarly. Then he started briskly calling out numbers, which Mo pounded into the Lotto computer. After a minute of this, the old timer called for scratch-offs and sang out some more numbers: “gimme 17, 31, uh, 23, 8, 14, 44…” Mo pulled at rolls hanging from a huge bank of tickets, yanking and tearing brightly colored cards covered with hopes and lies. After another minute, he stacked these onto the counter and added the paper strips spat out by the Lotto register.
The entire pile came to ninety-some dollars. The old man paid, scooped all the paper and cards together, promised to be back to collect his winnings, and left.
Topics: Humor, NYC Gossip, NYC History | Add Comment »
Brooklyn Heights – Mailer, Miller, & Capote all called it home
Brooklyn nabe is setting for new novel| By Lorenzo |March 12, 2010 | Add Comment » |
In a story published on Friday, March 12, 2010 by Jason Sheftell, the Daily News Real Estate Correspondent, he writes about the new novel, The Heights by Peter Hedges, author of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. I’m sure the novel is worth reading, but what caught my attention was his discussion of Brooklyn Heights as one of the most beautiful places to live in New York. He also has some nice photos to go with the story. Read more about the novel and Jashon Sheftell article.
Peter Hedges, the author of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” has written a new book about the history of Brooklyn Heights and some of the renowned authors that have lived there.
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Truman Capote’s old house at 70 Willow Street
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Truman Capote’s old house at 70 Willow Street.
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Arthur Miller’s former home at 62 Montague Street
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The attic where Norman Mailer lived and wrote at the corner of Pineapple Street and Columbia Heights.
Topics: Brooklyn Heights, NYC Gossip, NYC History | Add Comment »
Upper Broadway as a Young Boulevard
| By Larry Rosenberg |March 11, 2010 | 1 Comment » |
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY Published: March 10, 2010
THIRTY years ago, Broadway north of 96th Street was a vibrant but shabby area, its Hispanic groceries and Chinese restaurants mixed with declining Edwardian apartment houses and S.R.O. hotels.
Now most of this stretch has turned over a gold-plated leaf, especially as a new pair of towering condominiums at 100th Street settles in. A short walk up the 10 blocks to 106th Street takes an inquiring walker from wood frame to glassy modern.
These blocks of Broadway were built up in the late 1890s with six- and seven-story apartment houses, like the Wilmington at the southeast corner of 97th Street, and are pleasant enough. However, at the otherwise retiring Wilmington, someone grew a little frame penthouse on top. With its pitched roof, dormer and window bay, it might be a cottage from the neighborhood’s days as truck farm and chicken yard.
On the east side, at 98th Street, two 12-story apartment houses introduce a grandeur otherwise lacking on what could have been a magnificent boulevard. On the south corner, the 1911 Borchardt, by Rouse & Goldstone, has rich classical ornament, like the terra-cotta cornice along the fourth-floor level. It has the crispest little guttae, the droplike forms on the bottom, you are likely to see on the West Side.
Running up the front is a wonderful series of three-sided window bays, their metalwork picked out in buff and light green. ’Tis a pity that the noble Borchardt has suffered the Curse of the Dead-Brown Replacement Window.
Topics: NYC History, Upper West Side | 1 Comment »
How Would An Earthquake Impact New York City Apartment Buildings? In
The Big New York City Shake| By Larry Rosenberg |March 11, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Excerpted from a post by Neil G. from Multifamily Investor.com. Illustration selected by Neil G. from Multifamily Investor.com.
New York City hasn’t been rocked by an earthquake since 1884, when a 5.2 tremor rocked Rockaway Beach. In light of recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, many here wonder: How would New York City’s different apartment buildings sustain the damage?
New York Magazine has an article that describes the impact on various types of common residential buildings around New York.
The final conclusion: 1,170 New Yorkers, if a 6.0 quake occurred today at 2 p.m., according to a 2003 study.
Topics: NYC History | Add Comment »
Dogs That Detect Bedbugs
Let the NY Times tell you all about it.| By Lorenzo |March 11, 2010 | Add Comment » |
CRUISER made four house calls on a recent rain-soaked Tuesday. There were two happy endings and two unhappy ones, a fairly typical outcome for a typical day in the life of a bedbug-sniffing puggle.
“Except that there’s nothing typical about this business,” said his handler, Jeremy Ecker, 35, whose six-month-old company, the Bed Bug Inspectors, has vetted hotels, college dorms and Midtown office buildings, suburban homes, bare-bones Brooklyn rentals and tony Manhattan co-ops. (Mr. Ecker, who charges $350 for a residential inspection, is an independent inspector, meaning he has no affiliation with an exterminator, though many hire him to check a property they have treated.)
Let the NY Times tell you more. They also have an interesting slide show to go with this storty.
Topics: Uncategorized | Add Comment »
Tips from a NYC Bed Bug Expert
There's an epidemic of these nasty little vampires all over NYC.| By Lorenzo |March 11, 2010 | 2 Comments » |
We have a different approach to bed bugs that not only involve pesticides but steam, We steam furniture, walls, doors and any crack and crevice where they might be hiding, several pesticides working together and a dust that goes behind the wall via electrical circuits, light circuits and any existing holes in the walls. You can go online and Google New York Versus Bedbugs and get more info on the going on with bed bugs in the city. Bedbug complaints to the city’s 311 hotline grew from 10,509 in 2006 to 22,218 last year and that’s just the people who call 311 don’t forget the people that do call exterminators and the do it yourselfers.
So, you may be wondering just how long can you escape from the clutches of such a nasty curse when they seem to be everywhere and closing in?
Well, I have some news that should have you sleeping better at night. If you follow these safety tips you should be able to reduce the odds immensely of your home or apartment ever getting invaded by this sleep destroying army of insects.
Since bedbug extermination is not a do-it yourself job — here are some things you can do to protect yourself and your home:
Topics: Tips for Renters | 2 Comments »
Two sacred words for New Yorkers, “Nathan’s Famous”
| By Lorenzo |March 11, 2010 | Add Comment » |
It must be getting close to lunch time. I can smell the aroma of world’s greatest hot dogs and french fries. Real french fries, full of real potato. Not the frozen crap.
This is a real deal. The New York original. Our gift to the world!
So after a day of aparment hunting for the perfect apartment, do yourself a favor. Make one more stop… at Nathan’s.
Topics: NYC History, Worthy Ideas | Add Comment »
A craigslist horror story!
| By Lorenzo |March 11, 2010 | Add Comment » |
We’ve brought you Craigslist scams and Craigslist nightmares, but now we present a bona fide Craigslist horror story! One unsuspecting Phoenix man recently moved into a shared home he found on the classified-ad web site, with no idea of the situation he was moving into.
That situation quickly became clear when he walked out of his bedroom and saw his roommates shuttling bricks of marijuana out of the attic and through the house. One of them pulled a gun in a bid to intimidate the new renter into silence, but he simply waited for the others to leave and promptly called the police.
The story had a happy ending for the innocent roommate, who escaped the situation without injury, but his four housemates are currently booked into a Phoenix jail on charges of possession with intent to distribute.
Topics: craigslist | Add Comment »
Harlem Insider: Life Strategist Gabe Nies
| By Lorenzo |March 11, 2010 | 1 Comment » |
Recent Los Angeles transplant Gabe Nies talks about raw, soul food restaurants, his fun building and the music on the streets of Harlem.
Name, Age, Occupation: Gabe Nies, 32, Life Strategist
Neighborhood: Harlem, New York
Abode: Huge two-bedroom brownstone apartment
How long have you lived in Harlem? Less than a year
What do you love most about your neighborhood? I love the vibe in this area!
Best kept secret in Harlem?
There’s this really cool restaurant called Raw Soul. Normally, when you think of Harlem you think of Sylvia’s for Soul Food. This place is so cool because it’s a raw restaurant and it’s in Harlem and it has so many cool foods. The paradox is interesting and its an awesome restaurant.
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Harlem, The Market | 1 Comment »
Craigslist Roommate Nightmares: National Edition
The New York roommate craziness has gone national...| By Lorenzo |March 11, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Posted Mar 11th 2010 11:00AM by Harmon Leon
More freaky people on Craigslist with rooms for rent looking for you to move into their freaky habitats. Yes, spin the wheel and see who could be your new roommate. Will it be the nudist with the 28-inch waist who doesn’t believe in having doors on the rooms of his apartment? How about the 59-year-old guy who is done with dating and wants you to move into his mobile home? Or the man who requires sex on demand?
Find all this and more in this edition of Craigslist Roommate Nightmares.
Washington, D.C.: $1 Seeking a live in Houseboi/Houseman (Fairfax Area)
Seeking a live in houseboi/houseman room with private bath/den share/kitchen/laundry close to Metro, bus, stores restaurants. Must be HWP no drugs no excessive drinking. Domestic chores/personal assistant /errands/sex on demand. in exchange for room and board
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Scams, craigslist | Add Comment »
Turn a New York Apartment from Bachelor Pad to An Adult’s Apartment
On Young Lawyers And Their Lovely New York Apartments| By Lorenzo |March 8, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Erin Geiger Smith | Mar. 4, 2010, 8:23 AM
Most New Yorkers toil as renters for way longer than they ever imagined.
Today’s Home & Garden gives us a peak at the fashionably-styled financial district apartment of Paul Weiss junior associate Colin Kelly. Kelly got a little help form decorators, who made it work on his $8,000 budget, which, the NYT helpfully points out, is “the exact amount of the 2009 first-time homebuyer’s tax credit.”
Click here to see how it was done for $8,000.
Topics: Decorating Tips & Ideas | Add Comment »
Filmed in New York: An Oscar Tour
NYC - Where all the best movies are fit to film.| By Lorenzo |March 8, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Published: March 6, 2010
In 1955, “On the Waterfront,” which ushered in a new era of film-making in the New York area, won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In the decades that followed, many of the hundreds of films shot on location in the city have been recognized by the Academy, including “West Side Story,” “The Godfather,” “Annie Hall” and “Raging Bull.”
This year two movies filmed in the city have been nominated for Oscars, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” with six nominations, including Best Picture, and “Julie & Julia,” with one nomination. In 2009, two New York City films, “Doubt” and “The Visitor,” were nominated for Oscars.
Read the full story, plus view the interactive map here.
Topics: NYC Gossip | Add Comment »
This is the New York we love!
It's not always about apartments for rent in New York.| By Lorenzo |March 8, 2010 | Add Comment » |
By JIM DWYER Published: March 5, 2010
The bike store had become a wine bar. The new apartments were breathtakingly expensive. Then kids from the neighborhood formed a protective guard around a gnarly old candy store on Avenue A and Seventh Street in Manhattan.
For the last month, a group of high school and college students has been running volunteer deliveries on Saturday nights for Ray’s Candy Store, an all-night chapel of East Village life packed with fond, fervent and freakish memories, but not exactly jammed with customers. With their deliveries — need an egg cream and Belgian fries at 3 a.m.? — the kids hope to drum up business for Ray’s until the spring, when more people are walking the streets.
How do the delivery teams get around? “Skateboards,” Arianna Gil, 16, said. “Scooters, bike and feet. All will be utilized.”
Already, friends and neighbors have run two fund-raisers to help the candy store’s owner, Ray Alvarez, pay thousands of dollars in overdue bills; another is planned for Monday night at the Theater for the New City.
In the age of bailouts, it turns out that not all rescue operations involve numbers ending in “illions.”
Topics: East Village, NYC Gossip, NYC History | Add Comment »
Renters Poised to Lose Upper Hand
| By Lorenzo |March 3, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Renters–the ones with jobs anyway–have been having a good run the past year or so. But the party may be drawing to a close. The evidence, apartment operators are gearing up to build new rental units.
This year, real-estate investment trusts, or REITs, are expected to start close to $1 billion in new multifamily projects, according to real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors. While that still is less than average, it is a significant increase over the $100 million of development starts in 2009.
They’re betting that limited new supply, combined with an improving economy, will lead to ideal market conditions nationwide starting in 2011 or 2012, writes Dawn Wotapka in Wednesday’s WSJ. From then until 2015 apartment investment trusts may start raking in cash, says one analyst who looks at apartment REITS.
In January, apartment vacancies hit a 30-year high and landlords scrambled to entice renters, even in New York City, traditionally a tough town on renters.
But already in Manhattan the days of mega-concessions seem to be seem to wrapping up, at least in the most desirable neighborhoods. In New York, Equity Residential, which has buildings on the Upper West Side, Chelsea, Murray Hill , the Financial District and elsewhere, said it has stopped paying broker fees for certain unit types. In better times tenants pay that fee, typically one month’s rent.
Landlords also are excited about demand. The 20-to-34 age group, prime renting age, is expected to increase by five million in the next decade, according to Hessam Nadji, managing director of Marcus & Millichap, a real-state-investment brokerage firm. People who moved home or who bunked with roommates during the downturn also might ink leases as the economy improves.
Of course, headwinds remain: A further drop in unemployment could push vacancy rates even lower. Still, we wonder if perhaps locking in a two-year lease is a good idea.
Topics: The Market | Add Comment »
Landlords Vs. Tenants: Who Pays When Bed Bugs Invade?
Hint: It ain't the bed bugs.| By Lorenzo |March 2, 2010 | 1 Comment » |
When bed bugs invade an apartment, who calls the exterminator and who pays? The conundrum in the emerging field of bed bug law is pitting landlords against tenants and filling court dockets.
Given the exponential increase in bed bug infestations nationwide, landlords are leery of the possible financial repercussions. In New York City, bed bug complaints jumped from 1,839 in 2005 to 8,830 in 2008. Violations issued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development rose from 366 to 2,757 over the same period. New York and New Jersey apartment owners are legally tasked with providing pest control for tenants. It’s the apartment owner’s responsibility to provide tenants with a pest-free living environment. With Ludlow Properties, LLC v. Young, Judge Cyril Bedford ruled in favor of a frustrated tenant who had refused to pay rent for six months because of a persistent bed bug problem, writing:
“Although bed bugs are classified as vermin, they are unlike … mice and roaches, which, although offensive, do not have the effect on one’s life as bed bugs do, feeding upon one’s blood in hoards nightly turning what is supposed to be bed rest or sleep into a hellish experience.”
Topics: Legal Issues, Tips for Renters | 1 Comment »
Ay, yay, yay… More Craigslist Apartment Scams…
It wasn't in New York, but it still shows the perils of using craigslist.| By Nadine |February 28, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Please folks, don’t let this be you…
A fellow Canadian was coming to LA for roughly the same period of time, so we jointly bragged that we found a total steal in paying $800 for what looked like a fabulous West Hollywood pad, complete with a pool, a fitness center and the pleasure of a lot of stuff actually being within walking distance. But shortly after our cab dropped us off in front of our alleged apartment building, this quickly and horribly turned out not to be the case. That’s right, we had become the victims of a craigslist scam, which turned our LA arrival into a nightmarish mix of lugging our bags back and forth through the city.
To quickly set up how the situation came to be: Two weeks ago, I went ape shit on craigslist ads for short term sublets. The best response I got was from a woman named “Carla Marie.” After about 20 e-mails back and forth, me & “Carla” had agreed that I was the perfect tenant because I was in New York and could come and meet her to sign a sublet agreement, go over the details and pay her – in cash. For those of you thinking I’m a total idiot for not suspecting anything, let me just make note, “Carla” gave me a bunch of references to e-mail (which, yes, she could have and obviously did just make up), even adding in little tidbits about a new TV
Please read the original post to see the level of intricate details that this scammer used.
And this is the perfect time and place for a shameless plug; use RDNY.com to find your apartment! The “Free” sites don’t work for you. They work for the brokers who buy their listing space.
Topics: craigslist | Add Comment »
Serious Apartment Porn
| By Lorenzo |February 26, 2010 | Add Comment » |
It’s in an 1837 landmark townhouse on Washington Square North and it’s a rental. The current tenant has been there 35 years. Oh, the problems some tenants have.
A Sublet Tenant Faces Eviction
| By Lorenzo |February 26, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Q. I sublet an apartment from a guy who said he was renting from the owner. I have since discovered that the apartment is rent-stabilized, that the person I was renting from was a sub-tenant of the tenant on the lease, and that the stabilized rent is half of what I’m paying. After having problems with the hot water, I called the management company to complain. When I told them I was subletting an apartment that was already sublet, they said that was illegal and they would begin proceedings to evict me. I have heard that I can take over the lease under the “illusory sublet” provisions of the rent laws. Is this true?
A. Robert Sokolski, a Manhattan lawyer who represents tenants, said that under what is known as the “illusory prime tenancy” provision in the rent laws, when a stabilized tenant sublets an apartment he has no intention of returning to, and the owner “knew or should have known” this, the department can require the owner to offer a rent-stabilized lease to the subtenant. But, he said, “this case is not a good candidate for an illusory prime tenancy finding” because there does not appear to be any collusion or knowledge on the part of the owner.
Mr. Sokolski says the owner can probably evict the prime tenant and any subtenants. At the same time, he said, because the letter writer has been overcharged, he can sue the person he is renting from for “treble damages” — three times the overcharge — plus lawyer fees.
Topics: Legal Issues | Add Comment »
Why landlords want to rake you over the coals when you apply to lease
What it means to a landlord when tenants don't pay the rent.| By Lorenzo |February 26, 2010 | Add Comment » |
Q. I leased my duplex apartment in Queens to two tenants who paid me the first month’s rent and one month as security. When the next month’s rent was due, they gave me a check that bounced. When I called them, they told me they did not have the money and would no longer be paying rent. I offered to cancel the lease if they would move out, but they refused. What can I do?
Ms. Heiberger-Jacobsen said that because legal requirements for eviction were “strictly construed” against landlords — in other words, a landlord must do everything exactly as the law requires — hiring a lawyer was probably worth the expense.
“Although the cost of hiring an attorney may be daunting,” she said, “most leases give landlords the right to recover their legal expenses if their lawsuit is successful.”
If the tenants truly have no money, a judgment against them for legal fees may be difficult to collect. “So the most important thing is for the writer to act quickly to prevent the tenants from inflicting any more damage than they already have,” she said.
Topics: Legal Issues | Add Comment »
Financial District is finally getting some night life!
The new W Hotel Downtown kicks off the new scene.| By Lorenzo |February 26, 2010 | 2 Comments » |
The Financial District will get some much-needed nightlife this spring when W Hotels opens its sixth property in the city, the W New York Downtown, developed by the Moinian Group. With a “living room” lobby, rooftop bar and terrace bar (below) overlooking the streets, the hotel should provide this emerging residential area with some late-night oomph.
Topics: NYC Gossip, Wall Street/Battery Park | 2 Comments »
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