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Contributor: NYC Real(i)ty Speak

NYC Real(i)ty Speak

NYC Real(i)ty Speak

Reading between the li(n)es in NYC real estate

Latest "NYC Real(i)ty Speak" Articles

  • by Veronica X. | 12/23/11 - 12:19 PM

    All good things must come to an end, and Veronica X regrets to inform you that though she has enjoyed her time here immensely, the growing demands of her offline life have led her to decide that this ...

  • by Veronica X. | 12/16/11 - 3:24 PM

    The workers have (mostly) gone, the punch list is (slightly) shorter, and you are finally living in the vision that has consumed most of your free time and finances for the last year.  If you could talk to your pre-...

  • by Veronica X. | 12/09/11 - 10:41 AM

    'Tis the season for a handout. If you are feeling more Scrooge-ish than Money Tree, do we have an excuse for you!

    1. Just take the next three packages that come for us and we'll call it even.
    2. Obama ate my bonus...
  • by Veronica X. | 12/02/11 - 2:17 PM

    At the end of a renovation, there is something called a 'punch' list - the last little things that need fixing before the final bill is paid.  

    Is it called a punch list because, at this stage...

  • by Teri Karush Rogers | 11/18/11 - 2:06 PM

    So you want the highest possible closing price and the lowest possible tax assessment? Here's how to play it both ways:

    • To buyers: "Pre-War architectural details"  To the tax assessor:  "Roof...
  • by Veronica X. | 11/11/11 - 1:20 PM

    In the subterranean battlefield known as the laundry room, even the most innocuous remarks can hide an accusation.

    • "Wow, that is a lot of laundry!" = "Which one of your kids has lice this time...
  • by Veronica X. | 11/04/11 - 3:44 PM

    When you need an emergency cat sitter, your neighbors are nowhere to be found.  But when you are renovating, people are poking their noses all over your soon-to-be new apartment.  The following comments...

  • by Veronica X. | 10/28/11 - 2:25 PM
    It may take a village to raise a child, but it doesn't take overinvolved neighbors in the vertical village.
    • "That boy should be wearing a sweater." REPLY: "He has his father's hot Latin blood."
    • "Caroline...
  • by Veronica X. | 10/21/11 - 12:41 PM

    You chose a broker, you agreed on an asking price, and the photographer is coming for the Times ad next week.  This is when your broker makes little comments that will make a BIG difference.

    • "I...
  • by Veronica X. | 10/07/11 - 1:19 PM

    Your dream bathroom/kitchen/apartment is about to become a reality....Or is it?  The dream plans are in all-too-human hands now...

    • "The tiles will look straight when they are grouted." = The tiles...
  • by Veronica X. | 9/30/11 - 3:43 PM

    You have spent the better part of the last year together getting to know each other, visiting marble yards, going to furniture shows, picking out faucets and fabrics, and spending your hard-earned money... It's no...

  • by Veronica X. and Michelle Bornstein | 9/23/11 - 1:06 PM

    Fall in NYC is second only to spring when it comes to buying--and marketing--apartments. Listen closely to decipher the truth behind the hype:

    • The Second Avenue subway will really bring up this...
  • by Veronica X. | 9/16/11 - 11:36 AM

    School re-zoning is finally a reality for the 2012 kindergarden class.  Those bumped out of their preferred schools are trading conspiracy theories while scrambling for private school applications and/or...

  • by Veronica X. | 9/09/11 - 1:12 PM

    It stands to reason that if you are paying the same amount for a NYC 2-bedroom as you would for a mansion in middle America, what you see when you look out is as important as what you see when you look in. Just make...

  • by Veronica X. | 7/28/11 - 1:54 PM

    You have a new roomie, and, still in the honeyroom phase, you choose your words very carefully when she/he does something that bugs you. For example, when your roommate...

    • ...has sex too loudly, you say...
  • by Veronica X. | 7/22/11 - 1:50 PM

    It is summertime and the city feels, well, empty.  You know the super is on vacation when...

    • His assistant is walking around like the Big Man on Campus, loudly twirling his keys.
    • The single...
  • by Veronica X. | 7/14/11 - 1:50 PM

    Not everyone has a knack for picking out paint.  You'll know it's time to hit the color wheel again when....

    • Your contractor asks,  "You sure this is the color you want, lady?"
    • Your...
  • by Veronica X. | 7/07/11 - 10:25 AM

    This summer, skip the traffic and make your apartment feel like a house in the Hamptons...

    1. Sprinkle sand on the floors and in the bed
    2. Take $75,000 out of your bank account and flush down toilet...
  • by Veronica X. | 6/30/11 - 2:15 PM

    Most New Yorkers know to give the super a little something extra when moving in as a goodwill gesture toward a future of speedy repairs and other assistance.  You know your new next-door neighbor tipped really...

  • by Veronica X. | 6/23/11 - 10:40 AM

    There's nothing like the reassuring hum of your a/c on a day when the city feels like a frying pan, but you can have too much of a good thing.  You know you've cranked the cold air a little too...