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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

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: 10 New Year's resolutions for NYC vertical dwellers
    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 ...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Renovation regrets
    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-...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Good excuses for lame tippers (sort of)
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: It's named a punchlist for a reason
    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...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: A tax assessor and a buyer walk into a co-op...
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Laundry room lip service
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Renovation neighborspeak
    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...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Smart replies to neighborly parenting advice
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: A spoonful of pre-listing advice
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Renovation lies we have known
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Decorator decorum
    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...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Some translation help for fall open house season
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: If Upper East Side public schools could talk...
    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...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Room with a view....sort of
    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...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: 5 signs you are still in the honeyroom phase
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: You know the super is on vacation when....
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: 5 signs you picked the wrong paint color
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: How to scratch your Hamptons itch in a Junior 4
    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...
  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: When the new people overtip the super, you kinda notice
    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...

  • NYC Real(i)ty Speak: 5 signs you have over-cooled your apartment
    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...