Days Off

Looks Like 92 Street, but I could be wrong.

Mentor Me Babs

Babs Corcoran gives me some...well a lot of advice on Curbed thread this morning. She in leather...me a naughty little agent, almost too good to imagine.

The Gruntster

Tourists in Chinatown???

This guy guy cracks me up.

An interesting take on the Chinese surviving the invasion of condos into their neighborhood. Pretty hilarious if read in the right light. This is serious real estate reporting.

Endless Inbox

Every day an endless array of new e-mails containing the latest listings, trumpeting the newest, greatest, bestest, never before seen, one of a kind, must see, and must have new square little white boxes. After awhile they all start to look the same to me.

Unlikely

Here out of habit. Working with a few clients, and just to give you a sense of how slow it really is (at least in this shabby little office), I'm serioulsy looking for a two bedroom for $2600 with a real living room. When asked what neighborhood I was supposed to find this impossible space in, they replied "West Village, Tribeca, Soho,... maybe the East Village, but that's sort of a long commute." In other words, they would settle for any number of Manhattan's premier and most expensive neighborhoods. But they are, "Like, so over Hoboken." So here I am, but not sure why.

Shakedown Street

Here's a preview of this weeks column, from NYPRESS.

We had a long-standing and dubious arrangement, a deal with the devil, but in this case, the devil is an incompetent half-wit, and I’m getting very little for my unblemished soul. For every deal we do, my company kicks back half of the fee to the building managers. They in turn provide us “exclusive access.” The big problem is the access is no longer exclusive. A few other shops get the same arrangement. So for an average deal we’re kicking-back a couple thousand dollars, but the wheels aren’t getting greased, and we aren’t getting any real preference. It feels more like a shakedown than a smart business move. They get paid on every deal, regardless of who brings it.

Back To Business

Crazy isn't it? Five years later and it still haunts us. But we're all moving forward as best we can. Richard Serra on Charlie Rose last night was very powerful, and asked some pretty scary questions. But Real Estate Right? That's the agenda and that's the important thing to focus on... right? Hmmm, must have at least one thing to say about it...I'm an agent...I'm at work....it'll come....ah???

Lazy Boy

With not a single current listing posted in about month, there's little reason to pick up the phone. Writing has taken over, and I still really haven't gotten the hang of this whole blog thing. I need a coffee... and then a walk... maybe a couple more days off...then I'll get back to work.