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Contributor: Inside Stories

Inside Stories

Inside Stories

Real New Yorkers spill their real estate stories

Latest "Inside Stories" Articles

  • 80/20 apartment living: My life as a 20 percenter
    by Anonymous | 10/02/12 - 9:51 AM

    Recently I was at a dinner party chatting with strangers about the usual things. Where are you from? How do you know so-and-so? What do you do? And of course, the very typical New York question: ...

  • A single guy reveals why he took the co-op plunge--and how he basically lives for free
    by Robert Warren | 8/08/12 - 1:25 PM

    I'm a single guy in my late twenties who recently crossed coasts to live in the best city on earth. Having no doubts in my assessment of NYC, I immediately began the process of putting a $200-300K salary and $...

  • What I learned from 150 apartments before I finally bought one
    by Tracy Kaler | 8/07/12 - 8:21 AM

    Finding that perfect piece of Manhattan real estate is no small feat.

    When my husband and I relocated from Atlanta a few years ago, we thought the rental process was challenging. At that time, we had no idea what...

  • 5 shares, 6 months: A NYC sublet tale (and what she learned from it all)
    by Angelina Fanous | 7/24/12 - 8:41 AM

    Emily Doran graduated from Syracuse University in May 2007 with a plan: Move to New York City. Her friends, then-boyfriend and her dreams were all here, but a job offer wasn’t. 

    She did a post-...

  • Inside Story: My eternity in scaffolding
    by Anonymous Upper West Side Renter | 9/06/11 - 7:58 AM

    We live on the second floor of a gracious pre-war rental building that occupies a corner on the Upper West Side.  In June of 2006, after a small chunk of something fell from on high to the sidewalk (causing no...

  • Best of Brick: "My condo was corrupt"
    by Anonymous as told to Teri Rogers | 8/31/11 - 2:07 PM

    A few years ago, my wife and I bought a 700-square-foot duplex in a 150-unit condo building on the Upper East Side. We found out pretty quickly that the super, Alek, was running the building like a Mafia don with the help of...

  • Best of Brick: Anatomy of a Craigslist scam
    by Anonymous Renter as told to Teri Rogers | 8/15/11 - 10:25 AM

    I was the victim of a Craigslist sublet scam last week. I’m still in shock, because I consider myself very knowledgeable about New York real estate and the kinds of scams that can happen, but I was taken.

    I saw...

  • Best of Brick: Confessions of an on-site leasing agent
    by A.J. Craft | 8/10/11 - 1:50 PM

    For the past nine months, I’ve worked as an on-site leasing agent for a major Manhattan landlord. Every day people come through my office in various stages of frustration, looking for a suitable place to call home.

    ...
  • When your landlord is like family, the rent is low and the boyfriends tiptoe
    by Elizabeth K. | 8/09/11 - 10:53 AM

    When I moved to Brooklyn a little over two decades ago, I was broke and desperate.

    My crappy publishing job only paid $18,000 a year (before taxes). I’d had to leave my Upper East Side share...

  • Best of Brick: I share two apartments with my ex-
    by S. as told to Teri Rogers | 8/04/11 - 1:09 PM

    My husband and I were married seven years when we decided to get a divorce in 2008. We had always been great friends and we still are, but we just didn’t manage to make a good husband and wife. After going through...

  • Best of Brick: A broker's mind after 100 days without a closing
    by Anonymous Manhattan Broker as told to Teri Rogers | 8/03/11 - 10:50 AM

    The ABC’s of selling real estate go like this:  Always Be Closing.  Whether prices are up or down or sideways, as long as you’re always closing, you’ll do fine. The scary thing is when you haven’t had a...

  • Best of Brick: My illegal washer-dryer
    by anonymous Manhattan renter as told to Amanda Green | 8/02/11 - 11:08 AM

    I never knew there was a way to have a washer and dryer in an apartment without a washer/dryer hook-up.

    Then in February 2008, I discovered portable washer/dryer combos and started doing research to find out which...

  • Inside Story: My Manhattan renovation shocker
    by Anonymous Manhattan Co-op Owner | 7/12/11 - 8:10 AM

    After two years of pounding the NYC pavement looking at every imaginable apartment – co-op, condo, condop, new construction, apartments we couldn’t afford (loved them!), apartments in our price range (underwhelming),...

  • Inside Story: How a leak washed us out to Westchester
    by Marcie as told to Alana Mayman | 5/20/11 - 12:43 PM

    A few years ago, my husband, our twins, and I ALMOST bought 3-bedroom apartment in the East 60s.  If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and the co-op conversion did not get...

  • Inside Story: Apparently, love for surround-sound is genetic
    by Jennifer Ciotta | 4/22/11 - 8:10 AM

    Look, I'm a reasonable person.  I understand that when you live in a 19-story co-op, you're going to hear your neighbors sometimes.  I've put up with old people blasting their TVs, major traffic outside my...

  • Inside Story: What I saw at your open house
    by Alana Mayman | 4/05/11 - 10:07 AM

    Searching for a new apartment recently, I pounded the pavement of the Upper East and West Sides, often with my intrepid broker by my side.  

    The doors to buildings large and small were opened for us by smart-suited...

  • Inside Story: What happens when the whole building swaps keys
    by Margot Slade | 3/28/11 - 11:32 AM

    The bet was an ongoing one, long on laughter and short on money: Would the light at the front of our apartment be on or off, and if on, which neighbor would be sitting at our desktop computer playing Tetris. 

    Such...

  • Inside Story: My suburban nightmare
    by Anonymous Ex-Manhattanite | 3/15/11 - 8:45 AM

    It starts with the shiva. The shiva being the actual move to the 'burbs and your first few weeks at the in-laws' while your new Colonial palace is being brought up to livable standards. The anger has...

  • Inside Story: My 7-year new construction nightmare & why I'd do it again
    by Anonymous Manhattan condo owner as told to Teri Rogers | 3/04/11 - 7:08 AM

    My new construction nightmare unfolded at the pre-dawn of the condo boom, way before buyers started getting even a little savvy about construction defects.

    Neither my husband nor I had ever owned an...

  • Inside Story: Why I bought in a land-leased building
    by Sandor Krauss, Esq. | 3/02/11 - 11:05 AM

    Real-estate lawyers in New York tread carefully when a client asks about buying in a land-leased/ground-leased, building where the cooperative (and in rare instances, the condominium) owns the building, but not the land on...