Real Estate

By far my favorite section of the Sunday New York Times is the Real Estate section. Even before I look at the headlines of the main news sections I reach for this section. The reasons for this are not entirely noble. From my perspective the section graphically describes the selfishness and greed that can make the world and particularly the New York metropolitan such an uncomfortable place.

Several things make the reading of this section such an engaging experience. One is a feature called The Hunt which focuses each week on one family's, couple's, or individual's search for the perfect housing experience. In a recent story a couple, both of whom were investment bankers, decided that their monthly rental budget for an apartment was $7,000. In case you are reeling at that consider that comes to $84,000 a year! They, of course, were frustrated at how little they could find in that price range. This week featured a couple that wanted to make sure they weren't too far from their favorite bar. Most of the people seem self centered, ostentatious in their spending, and caring little for the history of the neighborhoods they are invading.

Here's the link to this week's installment:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/realestate/02hunt.html?_r=1&ref=realestate&oref=slogin

Another feature of Real Estate that I turn to eagerly is Neighborhoods. Each week a different town or neighborhood is showcased for its history, schools, length of commute to midtown Manhattan, and prices and quality of its housing stock. I look to this to provide me with ideas of where we can escape to after we are done with Westfield. Today's location was of personal interest to me since it featured Flatbush where I went to college and had many friends growing up. Actually, as I was growing up most of my friends were moving out becasue of fears that the neighborhood was in a rapid decline. Now, at least according to the story, it is having quite a resurgence. I'm anxious to visit. I haven't been back to Brooklyn College in 20 years!

Here's the link to the Neighborhoods piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/realestate/02livi.html?ref=realestate