A while back, I blogged about the 96 Square Foot Tumbleweed House. Recently, a video has been going around that show off the interior, the designer (and occupant) as well as his reasoning behind a life like this. He and his wife are expecting -- think they can stay? Answer at the end of the video.
Columbia and I were talking last night and decided we needed to set a reasonable goal for ourselves. 1 post a week. It's not much, but it's SO MUCH more than we've been doing lately. Before we share our plans with you, here's how we've been doing:
In Renting vs. Owning part 1, I referenced a Wise Bread article that reminded us that buying real estate is not (by default) the solid investment your mom and dad may have told you it was. However, done correctly, it can be a great vehicle for creating equity. In the state of our economy and the current housing debacle we're in, those of us who would like to own could be hearing opporunity knock in the next year.
CNN Money recently ran an interesting article titled "Manhattan real estate prices headed downward". It says that the average price of an apartment in Manhattan has not dropped (yet) but the number of buyers is certainly thinning out. For the past several years, JC and I have watched real estate sites for a 2-bedroom apartment (within a certain price range) in the upper west or upper east side. A year ago it was a laughable idea that anything might come up, though now that same search is yielding results. Since we're bringing in so much less income than a year ago, that price range is even more outlandish for us, but it's still encouraging and helps keep the dream alive. Manhattan real estate has historically been a safe investment, and this was the first I'd ever heard of prices dropping here.
One thought that keeps coming back to me in the past few months is, "has Manhattan seen it's heyday?" Giuliani did a lot to clean up the town. When I came here in 1995, it was already starting to change for the better. I vaguely remember "old times square" and its strips of closed theaters whose marqees told a story as you walked across 42nd street. Now, it's a Disney wonderland and filled with tourists willing to drop massive amounts of cash at Toys R Us, pop-music derived musicals and high-priced chain restaurants. My neighborhood has forced out a lot of smaller shops with gourmet chocolate shops, luxury apartment buildings, and banks at every corner. If the economy should slow down any more, there will be no one to shop at this red-carpet mall that NY is turning into. With a failing economy, crime will also resurface. I don't think we're in for an immediate return to 1970's NYC, but I also don't know how we'll fare in the wake of financial turmoil now that we've gotten rid of the little shops that are able to survive in tough times.
Even with Manhattan's financial future in limbo, we would like our next move to be to a home that we own rather than rent. Since our current financial situation is still new to us, our ability (or inability) to stay in the black will influence our chances of affording a home. Of course, if the market should turn suddenly upwards, our ability to afford staying in our safe nabe could be a moot point anyway.
As renters, we've heard our share of "you're throwing away your money each year!" or "You pay how much? That's our mortgage!" We've been watching sales listings for years, but it hasn't been in the cards. It's easy to think that owning our own place would give us a magical sense of financial stability.
Wise bread posted an article listing 6 myths about real estate. If you've heard that sage advice, "you can't go wrong with real estate," this article lists six reasons you can indeed go wrong, such as point one:
Bricks & Mortar are as Solid as it Gets
While technically this is true (a hammer will prove this fact, albeit leaving a bit of a mess in your living room), real estate is not to be considered a solid investment that is impervious to market fluctuations. You can lose money investing in property – a lot of it.
DW and I are starting to come to grips with the fact that we may be looking for new digs come October 1. It will be 3 years in our apartment, and we're going to try to do the stay-at-home mom bit, which we're both very excited for. But with one of us working, and that person being a teacher, the Upper West Side and us are likely to part amicably.
I was excited to hear there was a place that would send you your rent history. I thought for sure our apartment would still legally be rent-stabilized (and oh, the legends of landlords paying 3x the back rent did make me giggle with delight!)... but, alas, we're stuck with our deregulated, falling apart gem. When the next lease and rent hike comes, we won't be the ones giggling all the way to the bank. More like "Sobbing all the way to Craigslist..."
If you think your paying de-regulated rent on an apartment that should still be rent-stabilized, give the following number a call:
(212) 961-8930.
They sent me a rent history for my apartment going back to 1984. While our apt looks to have been legally de-regulated, it didn't cost anything to check!
I found this on the NYC Rent Guidelines Board site, which has a very useful NYC Rent and Rent Increases FAQ.
Well, it sure has been a while since my last post! I did get one out in September, but it's been a while since I've posted regularly. I do have good reasons though for my absence -- a) summer is over, b) I'm at a new position within the DOE and... what was c?... Oh right -- The Misses and I are expecting our first baby (a girl) in March!! We are both so excited, but time has already seemed to seep through my fingers. It's been a very busy few months.
We've also begun that conversation about where we will call home next year. We have our place until October '08 and then we'll likely move north or east. How far north or how far east will depend on what housing is like in September '08. We will almost certainly leave the neighborhood I've called home for 7-1/2 years, which is a little depresso.
I have all these starred blog posts to refer to when I get my head above water, but I thought I'd check in and give you the update. Greenmarkets, soup recipes, and organic shopping and blood donation will have to wait for now. :)
I thought I'd give you an update on two prior posts.
the dreaded lease renewal form...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my shock at finding a $175/month increase to our rent in our lease renewal form. Our understanding is something shady went on to cause our apartment to become no-longer rent-stabilized (as the older tenants in our building are rent stabilized). The long and short of it is, we're no longer protected by the law which regulates rent increases to normal amounts. If the owners wanted to charge $500/month more, they're completely within their right.
We did call, and asked what the reason was for the super high increase (last year, it was $75). When I asked if there was anything we could do, the managing agent suggested putting our concerns in writing, and so we did. We got their response in the mail at the end of the week."The rent is decided by the market rate. We received your letter and understand your concerns. Enclosed is a revised lease renewal form. Your new rent increase will be $125/month."
So that phone call and letter saved us $600/year. If you are in a similar situation, call your landlord and see if there is anything that can be done. Include in your letter any reasons you feel that it is more than you can afford or why the amount is much more than you would have expected. I don't know how often this tactic may work, so you might want to hold on to it until you need it. For us, this was that time.
I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a green planet today
I briefly commented at the end of April about the law of unexpected consequences, and its significance in our attempts to "green" the planet. Its application here says the good we do now will have consequences later that we might not enjoy.
Example:
[...] The H.R. 2337 bill is camouflaged as an “animal protection” bill which would help save the lives of migratory birds that are killed by wind turbines. Unfortunately, birds are occasionally killed by wind turbines, but the number is so small, it is barely worth mentioning. The fact is, of all bird deaths, only .003% are a result of wind turbines, that’s 3 wind turbine related death out of every 100,000 bird deaths. [...]Follow the link and read up. I'm sure that there are no animals dying from the toxic crud we're pumping into the atmosphere from oil and coal plants... >sigh<
Living in New York City, we renters are used to cramming our lives into tiny spaces, but this guy wins the price for smallest diggs. It doesn't hurt that they're beautiful as well!
Jay Shafer designs houses that are "smaller than many people's bathrooms". Some as small as 100 sq feet, the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company creates homes that look to be sitting on trailers. Floor plans show how the spaces are laid out, and they really are a sight to behold. They're beautiful, clever, serene and I'd say as functional as a small hotel room would be. I could see these being perfect rental quarters for a home in the country. I think most city folk would pay $100 a night to stay in one. Nestled into some lilac bushes with mountain views or a babbling creek nearby... Or it could just be me babbling.
If you've been thinking about an addition to your three-bedroom, you might want to skip this one!
Link: Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
We got our lease renewal form in the mail yesterday, and found a most unpleasant surprise. Our rent will increase by $175 per month starting in October.
A little back story... My last apartment (a studio) rented for $1100/month. The next year, my landlord raised it to 1144. Then I think it went to 1166, and then I never heard from him again. That was a good five years. DW and I moved into our current diggs in October 2005.
Last year our rent went up $75 a month. It wasn't too big a hit, so we bucked up and paid it. This year, it comes to us with a $175 increase. That's steep. I called and asked why, and the landlord said "that's the price the owners have determined, based on the market rate." I hung up, put my head in my hands and just stared at the paper for about 10 minutes. I called them back.
"I don't really know how to ask this, since I've always been in a rent stabilized apartment, but is there anything that can be done to lower the increase? Can we request or petition the owners?" At this point I began babbling incoherently.So I did. I wrote about how we pay our rent early each month and planted flowers outside and floss twice daily and that we were good decent people and please can they help us out. I mailed it this morning. When I hear back, I'll let you know.
She replied, "Put it in writing, and send it to me, and I'll see what I can do."
I'll have to add a new picture -- they've already started to perk up a bit. This picture is from just after planting. DW planted Pansies and a few varieties of violas. Our neighbor (a tremendous gardener - he really makes the building look amazing) has been helping to make sure they don't get thirsty.
In case you missed it, here it was before:
If these aren't the hands of an environmentally friendly DW, then I don't know what is.
Harsen House on 72nd claims to be the first LEED-Certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) "Green" Condo in the UWS. Here are some grabs from the site: (site link follows)
link: Harsen House
(these similar real-estate flash-based sites are becoming a snore -- is there some new template for Word to make these??)
We went to the ACORN housing seminar/workshop last night. It was really informative and uplifting, and I was amazed how great a resource it is. Basically, if you are low to moderate income, they help you go through the financial process of finding a home. Lower interest rates, free help, low closing costs... Basically, you need to make less than $118k per year combined to be eligible for either of the two mortgage plans they offer.
From their site:
With AHC you get:
- Lower down payments and closing costs.
- No Private Mortage Insurance.
- Banks generally require 3 months of mortgage payments in the bank at settlement.
- With our program, they don't, which allows you to buy a home sooner.
- Most banks won't count public assistance or voluntarily child support in determining if you'll qualify for a mortgage.
- With our program, all steady income counts.
We have been waiting for the right time to buy. When I say it feels like years, it's no exaggeration. Waiting for a combination of the right time, the right price, the planets aligned, a good night at the tables, etc. The prices to buy in the city are insane -- minimum 650k for a no-frills two-bedroom in our neighborhood There isn't anything we could afford with our current salaries, and we've been spoiled by living in this incredible neighborhood. So we wait patiently and watch, like the mighty lion waits to strike his prey. Then, like the mighty lion, we will STRIKE!, signing on the x, in triplicate. And here. There too. And initial here.
Municipal workers for the city of New York (including we teachers) are entitled to some programs for low-cost housing. With two new buildings going up in the neighborhood, I was encouraged by the "20% rule" I'd heard about. The way I understood it, 20% of any new building project was designated for low cost housing for which there would be a lottery. Teachers get 5% of that lottery, and in some cases those already in the neighborhood get 50% (of the 20%). Sounds too good to be true. If you are willing to venture out of your sweet spot (still staying in Manhattan), there are deals to be had. We would benefit if I were more flexible, but I love this neighborhood too much.
It seems that the "Inclusionary Housing Program" is a tax benefit for those building new buildings. Since the apartments in the Linden are selling like hotcakes for millions a-piece, I don't know if they're too concerned over the tax breaks.
Tomorrow we go to an ACORN housing workshop to learn a little more about our options. I intend to dress the part to let them know who they're dealing with. Grrrroar.
link: Inclusionary Housing Program [from www.nyc.gov]
Department of Buildings: The Harrison
Department of Buildings: The Linden
I found these link a few weeks ago, and I think about it every time I pass by the Harrison work site. They are DOB pages for the properties, complete with a list of violations and complaints. Nice to be able to see what's going on behind the post-no-bills boards.
What gets me is so many of the violations read like this: (Though this is a bit old, it's an actual complaint):
Complaint: MOVING BRICKS IN A BATHTUB WITH THE USE OF A ROPE
Received: 10/20/1999 14:47
Disposition: 11/01/1999 - NO ACTION NECESSARY BASED UPON PHYSICAL OBSERVATION
Comments: NO BRICKS BEING MOVED IN BATHTUB WITH A ROPE NOTED AT TIME OF INSPECTION
Twelve days after the complaint. That's priceless. I'm waiting to find one like this:
Complaint: 02/10/2007 - PUBLIC SIDEWALK COVERED IN ICE, SLIPPERY AND DANGEROUS.
Disposition: 08/01/2007 - NO ACTION NECESSARY. NO ICE FOUND AT LOCATION.
If you want to search for a current building project/site, check out the NYC Department of Buildings site, and use the search feature on the right.
An Inconvenient Truth, a recent Netflix arrival, went into the DVD player last night. DW and I watched about half of it before we were called to other responsibilities. We were fortunate enough to see Al Gore during a teaching conference here in NYC in March. The movie so far has been almost identical to his lecture, with a few extra personal stories thrown in. He was great in person, but if you've seen him live or seen the movie, you can skip the one you didn't see without feeling like you missed anything.
DW came away from the conference a bit depressed, since Gore spent very little time on telling us practical next steps. One could have left thinking we're really up a creek, and one could be right. I've always been a little interested in reusable or alternative energy sources -- Wired had a great article about flywheels years ago that I never got out of my mind. Essentially they're green ways of storing kinetic energy (a spinning cylinder in a frictionless vacuum), which can then be tapped to produce electricity. It's the kind of solutions that we'll never see mainstreamed while there's money to be made in coal and oil. It's really pretty sick.
So what can/have we done to make our meager little apartment more green? Well, we have no outdoor space of our own to set up wind generators or solar panels, so our efforts need to be indoor solutions.
Growing up, there were four kids in my family. We always had food, electricity, clothes, amazing inexpensive outings (ie. camping, nature walks, etc), music lessons... I don't know how my parents didn't sell me to the gypsies after one look at my food bill, but I guess I should be grateful - I hear gypsies aren't the best chefs. Anyway, I definitely have a bit to learn from them about stretching a dollar.
"You'll never be rich as a teacher, but you'll never be poor." This was advice from my dad, also a teacher, about going into the profession of teaching. I started teaching as a new york city teaching fellow in 2002. I'm finishing up my fifth year in the New York City Department of ed. Due to corporate restructuring, I'm soon up for a change of scenery. More about that at a later date.
I am always looking for a chance to buy a home, but it comes as no great shock that two city teachers aren't going to drop 1.7 million on a two bedroom in our neighborhood. Maybe with the next contract, fingers crossed. Existing one-bedrooms in our neighborhood start at around 350k for a basic shoebox. Two bedrooms... well, let's say they're a bit more. Maybe 550+? I never see them even on the most pie-in-the-sky searches, so if I have to ask the price... well, you know the rest.
So I've been following a few finance 101 blogs these past few months, and thought I'd share them with anyone in the same boat.
They've already helped me to get my mind around money and savings, and hopefully you'll get something out of them too.
www.thesimpledollar.com - "Financial talk for the rest of us"
This guy must not sleep. He's always got great links and articles to share, and writes roughly 22 hours per day. All great stuff, and comments are usually filled with intelligent conversation.
www.wisebread.com - "Living large on a small budget"
Like the last one, the titles really sucked me in. I haven't been following this as long, but it's also great stuff. Not updated as often -- about a post or two a day.
www.babycheapskate.com - "Saving big bucks on baby stuff"
While we're not expecting, it didn't seem to hurt to get learned a little early. When everyone tells you that it's too expensive to raise a child in your hometown, you tend to get a little proactive in proving them wrong.
http://www.linden78.com/
http://theharrison76.com/
New construction in our neighborhood is a-coming, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. The Harrison project tore down a former horse stable that people were trying to get landmark status. In all fairness, it was only being used as a parking garage so I can't say that I really have a spot in my heart for it. I only know that parking around me is going to stink that much more. Ugh.
The other building (linden) is going to take down two or three existing buildings, and then actually canter-lever over the next-door neighbor! That and being three times the height of anything near it... ugh once again.
I say ugh, but if any come through on the low-cost housing (teachers are eligible for the lottery), I wouldn't pass on the opportunity...
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