Comments on: God Knocks

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:48:37 +0000

Thanks Jeffrey for such interesting story about New York.
I write this comment in the end of 2009. Prices what you wrote about fallen down. God knocked until the market answers all the same.
Now there is a great redistribution of property. And soon prices will raise with new power. So hurry up people who didn’t buy a house until now.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:09:38 +0000

If you waited, you’re lucky!
You can probably find a place outside of NYC for way less now.
I’m from the West Coast and have no idea where prices have gone in NYC…

By: Babble » Blog Archive » The Secret admirer

Babble » Blog Archive » The Secret admirer — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:37:19 +0000

[...] More Secret “evidence” from Zeldman. [...]

By: corny

corny — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:33:04 +0000

WOW! Bizarre. It seems like a Sign from Above. I would start looking immediately! One *silly* question: Why would you want to live in NYC or ANY large city anyways? I thought that the Internet is making the world smaller. Far away places seem almost next door. That said, with the current housing and interest-rate market, you could probably buy a “Dream Home” on a few acres of land, “Far From the Maddening Crowd” for LESS THAN 1/4 of what you would pay in NYC. And you could still accomplish the same things that you do in NYC. If you’re like me, it doesn’t matter where I am, I’m usually glued to my computer screen. But it would sure be cool to be glued to a computer screen on a grassy knoll someplace than locked up inside of a tiny condo that costs $1 million. Just my 2 cents.

By: LyndonL

LyndonL — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:56:00 +0000

“Already deep in one. But not in New York City. Limited space (along with other factors) keeps prices rising, no matter what.”

Ditto for San Francisco, the only really comparable market to NYC. Plus we San Franciscans apparently pay a £20,000 p/a premium for living in this most highly-desired areas of the country. Once those roots are down, though (family, friends, work, pre-schools, etc) it’s so hard to even think about moving away…

By: Michael Nolan

Michael Nolan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:09:06 +0000

They’re not calling this “the New Gilded Age” for nothing. This is what happens when our government’s tax policies favor the uber-rich and the gap between rich and poor widens. Even though the prices have fallen somewhat in other markets, decent housing anywhere has become nearly impossible to find for the lower classes, and the middle class is stretched beyond belief.

The New York Times had an interesting article a few days ago about how a consumption tax could work to turn this all around. Fat chance it’ll happen though.

Some other time I’ll tell you about the paranormal experiences I’ve had.

By: navin harish

navin harish — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:27:14 +0000

My landlord decided to raise the rent December last year and I started looking for a new house. I started looking for a new house but never settled on anything. A little later he decided to sell the house and I started looking for a new house but still couldn’t find anything good. He decided to increase the rent and tired of looking for a new one, I decided to pay a higher rent. A few days before I was to sign the agreement, my friend and neighbour who lives one floor below came to me and told me he is relocating to Singapore and would love if we could rent his house. God does has his way fo working things out for us.

By: Jeffrey Zeldman

Jeffrey Zeldman — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:07:57 +0000

That’s right. God wants you to own an expensive apartment in NYC. Of course!

I don’t know about that, but I do think She wants you to lighten up.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:22:40 +0000

That’s right. God wants you to own an expensive apartment in NYC. Of course!

When people misinterpret coincidences, atheists also tend to call such things “egotistical”.

But anyway, good luck :)

By: r@d@r

r@d@r — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:36:37 +0000

i hear that the bronx is soon to become the new park slope. or queens. maybe it’s queens. or have they used up all the “x is the new y”s?

the knocking thing is straight out of a conversation between freud and jung on the paranormal. it’s somewhere in “memories, dreams, reflections” i think.

if i can buy a house in seattle, you can buy a house in new york. just keep listening too the strange noises, both inside and outside your head. oh, and keep an eye on the obits. just sayin’.

john in california at 6:33 – i sincerely hope for your sake you’re not talking about the SF bay area. if you are, you’ll need more than luck. you’ll probably need to “disappear” some people. however, i hear rents are down!

By: John

John — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:33:43 +0000

Good luck with the house, I have been trying to buy one in California for a while now. It looks like our market is tanking, and will for a couple years.

Weird about the book…

By: mtritter

mtritter — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:20:22 +0000

careful with the whole “no matter what” thing. after 1987 nyc real estate prices dropped, by 1993 were down 11 percent, and i believe stayed flat until ‘99. if you’re in it for the long run, though, buying in nyc is probably still a good bet even at the current prices. yes the cliche still holds, in the long run we’re all dead, but as long as you’re not in a situation where you might need to cash out during a temporary downturn — which can, has, and will happen — you can count on rising prices unless something really awful happens on the island, in which case we’re all screwed anyway, so fuck it.

my only really major issue with the housing prices is that, while you can probably sell that $1 million place for far more than you paid for it down the road, you still might be paying an $800,000 mortgage for a 1-bedroom, which sucks no matter what. it puts a damper on the whole “owning is better than renting no matter what” thing.

(also, you only get “a little more space” in brooklyn if you’re looking in certain places. my commute is now 10, sometimes 15 minutes longer than when i lived on the LES, but i have a house, and hey, i read more. tradeoff acceptable.)

By: Gail Dedrick

Gail Dedrick — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:48:08 +0000

We are still in Jeff’s rent stabilized apartment. Soon Jeff will be nearing his 4th decade in our apartment. Yeah, that’s right, four.

We knew we could never buy in Manhattan. That’s why we bought the place in the Catskills. And I have to say, I’m glad we did. It feels nice to own something, to lay claim. Now it is where our heart is.

There is life outside Manhattan.

By: John Dowdell

John Dowdell — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:38:04 +0000

Rent control tends to do that. It changes the incentives of every player. William Tucker had the breakthrough book “The Excluded Americans” almost two decades ago. Never got covered by the New York Times, though….

By: Jeffrey Zeldman

Jeffrey Zeldman — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:51:00 +0000

Isn’t the U.S. heading into a housing crisis?

Already deep in one. But not in New York City. Limited space (along with other factors) keeps prices rising, no matter what.