Is Your House Made of Cards?

Corcoran.com lists a minuscule 267 new listings this week, the lowest number I have seen on the site. Corocoran defines a new listing as a property that has come on the market in the last seven days.
Usually, four to eight hundred apartments fall in that category. Sometimes, a new development lists each unit separately and creates an unwieldy amount of new listings.
Yes, the holidays may be responsible for the lack of new listings. But people are not putting their apartments on the market these days unless they have to sell.
The November housing report tells a tough story for home sellers in a season full of tough news on all fronts. Sales of existing homes declined 8.6% and the median price declined 13% from $208K last year to $181.3K.
The article identifies the peak of the market as July 2006 when the median price hit $230K. G and I sold our apartment in May 2005.
Every report about the national housing market must be asterisked for New York City residents. The decline is happening here; it's just not the avalanche it is elsewhere. Yet. Housing Predictor.com projects a 19.4% decline in Manhattan prices in 2009.
As a buyer on the sidelines, I take all the bad news reported as good news for me. Despite cheering with those in the grandstands, I see the prices going down as a necessary correction.
Many families have been burned in the housing build-up and crash, but prices could not continue to go higher and higher out of the reach of normal people. Million-dollar studios in Manhattan couldn't last forever. Eventually, someone must buy it as a place to live rather than an investment. Manhattan and the nation was playing a game of musical chairs. The music and all the house flipping stops and people must put their butts somewhere.

Amity Street, As Nice as it Sounds

Are Manhattan apartment prices coming down--finally? Asking prices seem noticeably lower in Manhattan and certain Brooklyn neighborhoods. Another fluke?

As evidence of the turning tide, check out my old Schermerhorn Street apartment, the price knocked down by $40K since I posted about it. An apartment in another favorite building I watch, 200 E 27th, has come down $20K.

Check out this co-op on Amity Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. The Bergen Street F stop is only four tree-lined blocks away. Granted the "F" in F train stands for "frustrating." But the F is the only game in town and it'll do.

The listing advertises 1000 sq feet of shared outdoor space. I wonder how many residents share the space. From the picture, the brick building looks small, so not that many?

The apartment, a duplex, is 900 square feet with a $599K asking price. That equals $921/sq ft--high for Brooklyn but the outdoor space trips that equation.

Negotiating a Cab Ride to Brooklyn

Any way you slice it, Brooklyn is not Manhattan.

G. and I loved living in Brooklyn, hanging out on Smith Street, shopping Atlantic Avenue. When we moved to Brooklyn in 1999, the apartment prices in the borough were lower than Manhattan. Significantly. It wasn't a fire sale by any means; the prices still would shock the middle of swath of America.

But Brooklyn became aware of its coolness, got a little heady and priced itself accordingly. But Brooklyn is still not Manhattan and I can't figure out how some neighborhoods are commanding higher prices than Manhattan.

To get home from a party, it still takes a slow taxi ride over the bridge or a long subway ride that makes you feel like Cinderella after her gown has turned to rags.

This New York Post article spells out some details.

96 Schermerhorn Apartment

What interests me about this apartment for sale is that this apartment is the apartment G. and I used to own. We sold this downtown Brooklyn one bedroom in May 2005 for $345K. Today the asking price is $440K.

Does the $85K price increase say anything about the New York City real estate market as a whole? (When I refer to the New York market, I mean my market: Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn and just maybe, Astoria, Long Island City and Jackson Heights in Queens.) Has the asking price moved with the market or has the price outpaced the market?

Last week's news about the declining price of existing homes (down 11.3% percent nationwide from a year ago) encouraged me that we might be able to jump into the market again. A New York Times article says that the market is seeing prices not seen since 2004. If that statement could be applied consistently, our old apartment would not cost $440K; the cost would be lower than our 2005 sale price. If only that were true.

I read prices in New York declined by 7%. Even in New York media, meaningful stats remain cloudy. Is the 7% all five boroughs added together? Averaging all the boroughs together doesn't tell the Manhattan shopper anything. A short piece in the New York Times indicates that current prices are falling in Manhattan but the stats don't reflect a decrease yet.

Back to our former nest: 96 Schermerhorn is a great apartment. When the Brooklyn Law School dormitory rose behind the building, our apartment was spared the loss of a great view. The view looks out over Brooklyn and the Verrazano Bridge. I am puzzled that the old photo of our living room with our furniture is used. Looked better then, perhaps? I like the kitchen remodeling, but I wonder if the openness above the kitchen counter is worth the loss of cabinet space.

Sentimentality or sour grapes? I think the former, but we won't know until we are owners of a new space ourselves.

Going Down: Manhattan Apartment Prices

Scanning the listings on Corcoran.com, you'd think that Manhattan apartment prices haven't budged, despite the crumbling of the rest of the nation's real estate markets. I'm not looking for Manhattan prices to crumble; I only want them out of the ozone.

Whenever I see a 750+ square foot apartment listed for under $500K, I assume there is something terribly wrong with it, like a $1500 maintenance fee. Or it sits under a highway, or over a bar. Something. And I am never disappointed.

But the news beginning to be good for us fence sitters. Barely noticeable to the naked eye, some prices are moving downward.

For example:

• The Washington Heights apartment on Wadsworth sat at $439K since May and now it lists at $409K.
• The apartment on West 12th took its second price slashing from $725K to $699K to $649K.
  
• Most surprising of all is the penthouse studio at 96 Schermerhorn that seemed like a deal at $275K. The price went up to $300K, but now it sits at $250K.
  

All three of these apartments sounded relatively sellable at their original prices. Sellable to someone other than me.

200 E 27 Street

Though the copy in the listing doesn't tip its hand, 200 E 27th Street is a great building to live in, well located at the corner of 27th and 3rd. The building boasts a fantastic roof top, the best place to see the July 4th fireworks with the twinkling New York skyline as backdrop.

The layout makes the most of the 725 square feet. When you need efficiency, the boxier the better. And closets. New Yorkers need closets and this apartment has plenty of them.

Friends of ours live on the first floor of this building. They have a huge patio with a privacy fence, outdoor lighting, a manly gas grill and a top-notch chef. Of course, that patio has nothing to do with this apartment, but at least you would know there is a couple in the building worth making friends with.

A couple of months ago, this apartment could easily have sold at its $545K asking price. But today with credit markets tighter than grandma's girdle, the sellers need to come down to $485K to make me come knocking at the door.

For Students Failing Math & Economics

I don't need a calculator to figure out this tiny box is not 950 square feet. Is the 2nd floor missing from the floor plan?

The apartment on West 111th Street claims 950 square feet and two bedrooms in the listing. The floor plan shows 565 square feet and one bedroom. (I did use a calculator, estimating the jug-handle hall to be 8.5 x 3.)

Possibly the wrong floor plan was put in by mistake. Or maybe the 950 is a misprint. Or maybe the sellers think the students in the area are fools.

With a hefty $649k asking price, the realtors are banking that the prospective buyers don't have a calculator or a newspaper.

I do love the built-in bookcases and the North and South windows. You'll need all those windows to toss out your stuff that doesn't fit into the non-existent closets.

Apartment Watch: A Single Tick Up

In these alliterative economic times, with the "credit crunch" and the "mortgage mess" blanketing the news, prices in Manhattan are finally coming down. Slowly. Very slowly.

It took an "economic earthquake" and a "bank bust" to make it happen. Yet in these "terrible times," there is a little "buyer's bright spot."

The Little Studio That Could increased its asking price from $275K to $300K. That little studio is in 96 Schermerhorn in Downtown Brooklyn, a building that I have a soft spot for.

Bravo, seller, bravo! As the only price increase in any of the apartments I have been watching, I must applaud the move. I mentioned the apartment was underpriced in my post a few weeks ago.

If it were any other apartment, I would be shocked at the gall, my perpetual state since 2005. Since Brooklyn has more gall than Manhattan, the ride down might be even slower on the other side of the bridge.

Pundits are calling this a buyer's market, but I don't know too many people buying. And what is going to happen to the New York market when there ain't no money to be borrowed?

96 Schermerhorn Studio Cheap

Gene and I sold our apartment in 96 Schermerhorn in May 2005. So naturally, we remain fascinated by what goes on in the building.

How much are the apartments going for now, we wonder? Translate: how far off the peak did we sell? We had a one bedroom, so studio apartment price wars are less relevant, but interesting nonetheless.

This penthouse studio is newly listed on Corcoran for $275k. The price caught me by surprise as our former neighbors sold their beautiful studio in 2005 for around $265k.

A studio on a lower floor with a $100 lower monthly maintenance and a $375k price tag is in contract. Is the difference between apartments worth $100,000? From our visits, the penthouses are not as glamorous as one would expect. But $100K is a steep drop, my friend.

Another studio in the building listed by a different broker is priced at $369k. Broker #2 tries to position her studio as having .5 bedrooms, but a click on the floor plan will show you that it is no larger than the others. Square footage for all three apartments unknown, but the floor plans indicate they are all about the same.

Hmmm, is our $275K requester just a motivated seller? Is there a real difference in the condition of the apartments?

Let's watch this one.

Is This the West Village, or Am I Dreaming?

Who doesn't dream of buying an apartment in the West Village? And what ordinary mortal doesn't give up this dream as unattainable?

The West Village is usually the first neighborhood to be written off when rubber meets the road. But here is a charmer that some reasonably employed person might be able to buy. Not that I can afford to buy it myself, but here is 800 perfectly-laid out square feet in the West Village for $725K.

The layout is nearly identical to our current apartment in Battery Park City. Only we're renting and we're in BPC.

This apartment is $906 per square foot, ladies and gents, below the $1000 psf barrier. In the Village. Maintenance is high at $1120. But still.

It "needs your loving touch." Uh-oh.

I can tell that no one currently lives there by the sparse furniture in the photos. Desperate seller? Fifth floor walk up? How many years will that be tolerable? For our dog, Aimee, the climb would be tolerable for about one or two walks before she would insist on wee-wee pads.

The Village tranquility is probably vanquished by the stream of ambulances headed for St Vincent's Hospital, a block away. At least you will reach the hospital in time if you are having a heart attack.

Apartment Watch Update

Mid July update on the apartments I have been watching:

• An apartment on State Street between Court and Boerum has seen its second price decrease since being listed, though this cut is only $4,000. It originally listed at $1,049,000, deflated to $999,000 and now sits at $995,000

• The Chelsea apartment I like saw a quick decrease of $15,0000 to $670,000, despite my opinion that the price was good. The location should trump the floorplan flaws. There is another open house Tuesday evening. Let's see if location (location, location) prevails.

• My favorite overpriced apartment on 157 Ludlow on the Lower East Side swapped out the original lead photo of a drab hallway for a more pleasant living room shot. I still say good luck getting $825,000. This apartment is also listed separately as a $3300 rental. Might have better luck with that.

Based on Corcoran's current batch of Newest Properties, I sense the market finally loosening up slightly. I see some Manhattan apartments losing their grip on that $1000 per sq ft barometer, even ones that don't have a devasting drawback, like an outrageous monthly maintenance fee or zero closets.

Brooklyn, Get-Real Estate

'Da bums of Brooklyn are finally feeling the real estate pinch, according to an article in today's New York Post.

The housing prices for buyers in New York City, that is, Manhattan and Brooklyn, have not mirrored the downward trend of the nation. The climbing Brooklyn prices are especially maddening.

I've watched the two playpens closely since 2005. In my corner of the market (one-bedrooms with at least 750 square feet), astonishingly, Brooklyn apartment prices have climbed just as high as in Manhattan. I finally stopped checking Brooklyn listings.

How has Brooklyn sustained that pricing growth? I love Brooklyn, don't get me wrong, but Brooklyn is not Manhattan and never will be. And now, buyers are agreeing.

$825K? A Pipe Dream

This newly listed apartment on Ludlow Street in the Lower East Side stopped me in my tracks.

The lead photo in the listing (shown left) shows a narrow entryway painted a green so drab, the army should check its paint inventory. I hope the seller loves that green because he won't be seeing the green of money.

The $825,000 asking price nets out to the highest PSF (price per square foot) I've profiled so far ($1,136). The copy in the listing might have been written in 30 seconds on the back of a cocktail napkin. Is there nothing to say to justify the price? Is it just not worth the realtor's time?

Pluses, as I see them: four blocks from the F train (a miracle on the LES); a window in the kitchen and a washer/dryer in the unit. An illustration of the building indicates stairs and no mention of which floor makes me think the climb will give you a workout. There are only two closets.

It is a condo, a plus, but the $920 combined fee plus taxes, while about average for a co-op is high for a condo. Very high for a condo with no building amenities, like a doorman. I predict this one ain't going nowhere.

Location
Layout
Amenities
Price

Chelsea One Bedroom

How great would it be to live just blocks from work?

This Chelsea one bedroom, priced well for a hot neighborhood, fulfills this Manhattanite's dream--walking to work in five minutes. At $685,000 and 725 square feet, it costs $945 per square foot in a neighborhood where $1,000 per sq ft is the bottom of the market.

Layout

A few oddities about the floor plan may explain the price. I am not a fan of apartment foyers--usually wasted space. You're lucky to be able to stick a bookcase against a wall, unless your bookcase is as narrow as the one in the photo. The foyer is pretty, but also pretty useless with a doorway on two of the walls and a door opening into the other two.

Can you really put a table in the "dining room"? Maybe if you stick it in the center and manuever around it every time you walk from one room to another.

The kitchen is only 4 foot, 6 inches deep. How deep is a refrigerator? At least two and a half, three feet, right? So you have eighteen inches of space between the appliances and the wall? With no photos of the dining room or kitchen, I am suspicious.

Bedroom and bathroom are a decent size and there seem to be enough closets for the average couple (but probably not for us). The apartment has a lot of character with archways and wrought iron railings, but does that compensate for the layout flaws?

Amenities

The building scores well on amenities.

You don't really need a doorman if you have a super who takes packages. Private storage is an amenity that doesn't occur to me to look for, it's so rare. Extra points for that.

I like a low floor (4th) and windows in both bath and kitchen score points. A roof deck and good light help as well. The description in the listing copy says "no view", so I suspect it's pretty hideous. I've had great views in New York, but I'd give it up in an instant for the right space.

Location

The location of this apartment is unbeatable. I'll give up my monthly Metro Card and I won't even need comfortable shoes. Chelsea rocks.

Price

Price ($685,000) is good for the square footage and location, but still out of my reach, so it can't rank more than three moons. $811 monthly maintenance is low for the area, but it should be low without a real doorman.

Open House Tuesday night, anyone?

Apartment Watch Update

June 1 is a good day to check in on the apartments I have been watching. It's a new month, a new home-buying season and change is in the air. (But I flip-flop on which way the change is headed.)

The lead in Wednesday's New York Times article sounds good for buyers:

"America’s home-buying season, when for-sale signs sprout like dandelions, is shaping up to be even worse than expected this year, with prices falling, sales slowing and few signs of a turnaround emerging."

The article talks a lot about the housing slowdown finally hitting Seattle, a market stronghold. But what about New York City?

Nationally, housing prices have dropped 14%. But the New York Times isn't much of a local paper when it comes to reporting the pricing trends in the city.

So I must rely on my own observations:

• The Prospect Heights apartment on Plaza Street remains in contract.

• Since I last checked, the Union Street apartment has gone into contract. It's a shame there's no way to tell if the accepted offer is above, at, or below the asking price.

• The status of Washington Heights apartment status remains unchanged: no contract, no price change, no open house scheduled. G and I should really visit this one.
  

• The apartment with the crazy floor plan also remains on the market at the original price. Surprised no one has snatched it up?

• Brooke Astor's $46 million apartment is still listed unchanged.

• One bright spot: an apartment I have been watching (but yet to profile) has cut its price by $50K. But when you're over $1 million, what's $50K?
  

How New is New?

How does Corcoran qualify an apartment to be listed under "Newest Properties" on its website?

I haven't figured their system out. Are the apartments listed as a "newest property" for a specified amount of time? Or are the parameters more fluid? I'd think Corcoran would want there to be a lot of new apartments popping onto the market all the time.

It's good business for buyers and sellers to feel there's a lot of action. Usually in Manhattan and in desirable Brooklyn neighborhoods, there is a lot of movement.

But last week, Corcoran listed about 575 new properties. I've seen as many as 700 or 800 new properties. Often, every single apartment in a new development is listed separately. That skews any analysis of the amount of listings. Today there are only 423.

There are 511 Open Houses listed on this Memorial Day weekend. A lot for a holiday weekend? Does the ratio of New Properties to Open Houses mean anything?

Trying to find an apartment gem, I scan the new listings trying to match my minimum square footage (750) with my maximum price (around 500K, more or less depending on monthly fees).

The only match I find is an 1000 square foot, two bedroom condo in Kensington, a neighborhood south of Brooklyn's Park Slope. But the open house was today, not tomorrow.

No loss, really, since we visit these apartments only on the web and in our imaginations. Also, we must not forget--our money is imprisoned.

Whacked Out Floor Plan Scores Low

A photography teacher once looked at my work and said I was very recto-linear. I don't think he meant it as a compliment.

But in certain things, recto-linear is an important, positive quality. Like in floor plans.

G and I have looked at luxury apartments in new Battery Park City developments in which a major room is shaped more like a triangle or a parallelogram. In those rooms, you must draw a rectangle inside the unusual shape to calculate the real, or usable, square footage.

A lot of apartments in New York have a weirdly shaped room. But this one looks like a fun house. Every room looks off-kilter. Here is the full listing.

$425K seemed too low for a place of + or - 750 square feet. No wonder it is plus or minus. Who can do the math?

This apartment scores a lunar eclipse for its sheer wackiness. Who plunked down the money for this the first time around, I wonder, and what were they thinking?

Many Moons to Go

G and I intended to check out the Hudson Heights neighborhood last weekend, but we never made it out of the house.

Maybe because our cash is under lock-and-key (read all about auction rate securities) or maybe because NY1 Weather predicts rain every single day of the week. (Watch their television weather report and take note.)

Perhaps our lethargy stems from our brains living in 2003 when one could buy an apartment that was better than ours for $500 per square foot.

In 1999, we bought a downtown Brooklyn co-op for $176 per square foot and sold it in 2005 for $475 sq ft.The current owner could sell it for $725 sq ft based on the listings I have been studying.

I focus on the listings on Corcoran.com way too much. Corcoran's asking prices are generally higher than New York Times listings or other realtor listings. But Corcoran's site is so superior, the information so complete, the photos, the floor plans, the organization. I go back again and again to their Newest Listings.

A little math in that category--price divided by square foot--tells the story. No one has told New Yorkers yet that the market has tanked. At this rate, it will be many moons before we find a place to buy.

Chance of Rain

Chance of Remaining Priced Out

Apartment Watch: One Gone

I can't believe it. This apartment in Prospect Heights is in contract already. It just went on the market.

I criticized its layout, bathroom location and monthly maintenance cost. But the appeal of subway proximity coupled with park proximity trumps many downsides. You don't often get both (or either) in New York.

The Washington Heights apartment I featured is having an Open House this weekend. Too bad I'll be out of town because I think this one is a real deal.

Apartment Worth Watching #4

Take a gander at this pad.

This classic New York apartment belongs to the late socialite Brooke Astor. New to the market today, the $46 million price tag is a little out of reach for us. It will be tough coming up with the $17,000 monthly maintenance. However, all the amenities are there.

The layout could really work for me though G and I don't employ enough maids to fill the three maids' rooms. Also, there doesn't appear to be a way to enter the kitchen except through the Servant's Hall. Since I wouldn't want to go through the Servant's Hall, I guess all our meals would have to be served to us.

Does anyone else think they shouldn't put the Vault on floorplan? Will robbers start going to real estate websites to plan their heists?

Notice that 100% downpayment is required, a polite way of saying cash only. $46 million big ones.

This listing scores a Full Moon in all categories.

Property to Watch #3 - Hudson Heights

The more I look at this listing, the better I like it. This Hudson Heights apartment seems to have it all.

Location

The neighborhood, a subset of Washington Heights, starts at 181st Street and ends at Fort Tryon Park. The buzz says HH is up-and-coming and still affordable. This apartment is one long block from the 1 Train and four blocks from the A Train. Bless my feet! Its four blocks from a park on either side (as if our dog would ever want to go out to a park).

I would have to check out the area myself before I could give it five moons for location. But it may deserve a bump.

Layout

Normally, I would be turned off by the long hallway. The hallway prevents the apartment from being a railroad apartment, but it still seems a little railroady. Conversely, with 920 square feet, you can spare some for a hallway. Plus, the hall creates privacy from one end of the apartment to the other.

Four closets is my threshold of acceptability, but they seem small. A window in the kitchen is a plus that makes an apartment less New Yorky in a good way.

Amenities

I count the number of bedrooms and other physical attributes of the apartment under "Amenities." Therefore, the second bedroom and the four closets keep the rating at three moons rather than two. The good light in the apartment is a plus, but a non-elevator building is a negative.

Price

Ah, the price! G and I can actually afford this place. In fact, the cost-to-maintenance ratio is much lower than our maximum. There is an open house today. Will this one go fast?

Out of Reach on Union Street, Brooklyn

Here's another Prospect Park area apartment that caught my attention.
The location is fantastic, though a little less fantastic than yesterday's Prospect Heights apartment. This one is a block away from the park, rather than right on the park and an avenue's worth away from the subway. (The listing copy says "steps away," but I can count the blocks on the map.) I can't give any apartment the maximum five moons unless it is in Manhattan. But a short walk to the Express 2/3 would zip me to work painlessly.

Layout

The layout is mouthwatering. An eat-in kitchen scores big with me, as it does with most New Yorkers. With wide closets in both bedrooms, a hall closet and a linen closet, G and I just might be able to stash all the guitars out of sight.

Amenities

A non-doorman building is something G and I will always think twice about. New Yorkers order online, thus receiving many more packages than the average person. Someone to accept packages is a quality of life issue. Yes, and the security is important too.

Price

The price would have to come down more than a quarter of a million dollars for us to be able to afford this apartment. No market correction would ever put this apartment within reach. Sigh. I am going to keep my eye on it anyway, but I expect it will move fast.

Questionable Prospect

This Prospect Heights one-bedroom is in an amazing location. Its next to the Brooklyn Library and Grand Army Plaza. Best of all, its right by a subway express stop. Did I mention the apartment is across from Prospect Park?

But check out this floorplan. You must walk through the narrow kitchen to enter the apartment. The living room is a decent size, but smaller than ours. Huge drawback: you must go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom. No more weekend guests. A little light on closets, but I've seen worse.

At 725 square feet, its probably average for a New York one-bedroom, but we need at least 750 or 800 well-laid out square feet. I think at $425,000, you're paying for the location. Maintenance is $972, high for the neighborhood.

Location
Layout
Amenities
Price
Overall

Can Someone Explain This?

G disagrees about the unattainability of the Upper West Side and Murray Hill. I hope he is right.

I read the monthly statistics on the housing market closely: the decline in existing home sales, the increase in housing inventories.

But is it really a buyers' market? Not in Manhattan and Brooklyn. They're special. That's why all of us are here putting up with all of this.

Sometimes G and I are sure the prices are coming down, then the next week, we feel the prices going up. Then two years go by and yep, apartment prices are definitely up. Why are we surprised? The rich buy the big apartments and the rich buy the small apartments for their kids or a pied a terre.

Just focusing on the articles I want to believe, I read now that the New York market has a hairline crack. I'm going to follow a few newly listed apartments and watch the prices get slashed or see how quickly they go into contract.

Movin' On Up or Movin' On Out?

In the last dozen years, G and I have lived in the East Village, Jackson Heights, Carroll Gardens, Downtown Brooklyn and Battery Park City.

Jackson Heights and Carroll Gardens were mistakes, but not because of the neighborhoods. Both places were too far from the subway.

Lesson: never evaluate the walk to the subway on a warm, sunny day. You will be tempted to say, "a bit of a walk, but I need the exercise." Take that walk on a miserable rainy, windy day and decide how much you need that exercise.

Distance wasn't the only problem. In Jackson Heights, we couldn't stand the intrusive, noisy neighbors above and below. In Carroll Gardens, new wood floors, french doors and sunlight streaming through the apartment blinded me to the tiny bathroom and lack of closets.

The East Village: we outgrew it in more ways then one. Aside from constant construction, Downtown Brooklyn was great--until we got itchy during the real estate gold rush.

It felt good to be back in Manhattan when we disembarked in Battery Park City. We like our apartment and our Hudson River view. We could lose the kids and the wind. But sometimes the West Side Highway feels like a mountain range that we don't have the strength to cross.

Of all our ex-neighborhoods, we are most likely to return to Jackson Heights. (Surprised?) Also making the cut: Astoria, Hunter's Point, Long Island City, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and Washington Heights.

Desirable, but mostly unattainable are: the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side (west of 1st ave), Murray Hill, and the West Village. Each of these neighborhoods have the potential to produce an affordable fluke. But are we fast enough to snag it?

NYC Real Estate: An Unhealthy Obsession

This is the floor plan of the apartment G and I are renting. Decent, right? Enough closet space, for sure. But no couple would rattle around in it trying to figure out how to use all the space.

So why can't we find a comparable apartment to buy?

G and I sold our downtown Brooklyn apartment in May, 2005. We put the profit in auction rate securities, a cash equivalent, our stockbroker told us. We expected to spend the money within a few months, a year at the most, for a hefty downpayment on a new, better apartment.

After four months, we fled a Carroll Gardens rental to another rental--the big gray apartment complex in Battery Park City. Now its almost May 2008 and we are still in BPC. No, we haven't given up owning our dream apartment--at the right price and the right distance from the subway.

Searching the NYC real estate listings qualifies as a bona fide hobby for us. As soon as we learned our securities were frozen as part of the Wall Street shakeout, we increased the intensity of our real estate web surfing. Self defeating? Yes, but isn't that part of the masochism of buying apartments in New York?