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My Day at the Oversized Mansion

July 30, 2008 2:26 PM

‘Nightline’ spent a day last week at an oversized mansion in Connecticut that is on the market. Producers Claire Pedersen, Maggie Burbank and correspondent Andrea Canning profile the owners, who suffer from ‘oversized mansion syndrome.’ The couple is part of a trend of homeowners who are trading in their enormous homes for more modest digs.  Claire Pedersen gives us a sneak peek behind the scenes. You can watch the story tonight on ‘Nightline,’ 11:35 p.m. ET. 

As we pulled off the highway and onto the quiet leafy streets of Greenwich, CT, I was excited.  I was finally going to see one of the fabled estates of Greenwich – home to the rich and powerful investment bankers, money managers, and hedge fund billionaires that you read about in the Wall Street Journal.

When we made the turn up the driveway of the Hillcrest Estate, I was amazed by the grandeur of the house – and it just kept getting bigger as we got closer.  It looked like a chateau in the middle of the New York City suburbs...I half expected there to be a moat around it.  We pulled up in front of the house and were greeted by the Cheslocks', two dogs, Mookie and Wilson (named after the Mets player who helped win the 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox). The owner himself, Stan Cheslock, was waiting at the door to take us inside. 

Once inside, I immediately noticed the huge vaulted ceiling, crisscrossed with beams – it looked more like a cathedral than a home. From there, Stan and his wife Dorothea took us on a tour where they showed us the two living rooms, two dining rooms, a game room, six bedrooms, the lap pool, sauna, home theater (where we watched a few minutes of Casablanca), and the bass pond in their front “yard.” It went on and on, room after room – the complete tour took almost two hours.

The Cheslocks had clearly put a lot of time and thought into building Hillcrest and I was certain that no expense was spared.  But the things that they seemed the most proud of were the small comforts of home – the backyard herb garden (the couple urged me to take some fresh sage and mint back to my apartment in Manhattan), the kitchen, where Dorothea baked homemade biscotti, and the pictures of their three children.   The Cheslocks themselves were two of the nicest people I have ever met – they reminded me of the friendly neighbors down the street who organized the summer block party. They didn’t seem like a couple worth tens of millions of dollars who lived in a 26,000 square foot mansion.

Sitting on their terrace overlooking the 30 acre property, I began to wonder what it would be like if I lived there.  As an enthusiastic, if novice, cook, I certainly would love the wood burning oven in the kitchen and the walk-in refrigerator. And who doesn’t want a movie theater in their basement?  But all in all, the house was just too much.  It was too big, too ornate, to elaborate. I shuddered to think what the property taxes and electric bills were each month.   As I washed my hands in one of the estate’s 8 bathrooms, I found myself missing my cramped, narrow, 4th floor walk-up apartment.  I was proud that I could live comfortably in a space smaller than one of their closets.  I didn’t need a walk-in refrigerator to be happy….in fact, I didn’t even need a dishwasher. 

As the day was wrapping up, I wondered how a couple like the Cheslocks ended up in a mansion like Hillcrest. It was supposed to be their dream house – they built from scratch and customized every detail.  And now, after only living in it for two years, they are doing whatever it takes – including opening up about their lives on national TV – to sell it.  In the end, I learned a valuable, if clichéd, lesson from my day at the mansion: be careful what you wish for.

July 30, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

A rat in my bed's not the worst problem...

July 29, 2008 2:24 PM

Karson Yiu is a 27-year-old "Nightline" segment producer who grew up in Hong Kong, so he knows a thing or two about what it's like to live in cramped spaces. Or so he thought, until he moved to New York just over three years ago. Karson seems to be prone to real estate horror stories and once considered renting a tiny lofted crawl space only because it had air conditioning. Too bad someone else beat him to it:

"The landlord is tired of your games and wants you out by the end of the month."  That was the voicemail my building's superintendent left me one morning earlier this month. In the two years that I have been in the building, I have never once met my landlord. He communicates with me through the super.  This morning, the message was pretty clear: I had to move out or else I'd be on the streets. Or at least sleeping on the couch at the "Nightline" offices.

I have been a reluctant inhabitant of Astoria, Queens for close to three years -- a renter who initially got chased out of Manhattan by circumstances involving a full-sized rat crawling into bed with me and my own economic inability to find an affordable abode that did not resemble a "Hobbit hole."  Astoria was considerably cheaper ($800 for my room $1450 for the whole apartment), safer and a close enough commute into the city and work that I could still live in a state of denial.

Back in April, my roommate of over two years suddenly told me that he had given up on New York and was moving back home…within the week. Problem was, it was his name on the lease and it wasn't expiring until the end of July. I had been subletting month-to-month since I moved in. The decision did not go over well with our landlord. (My roommate had been in the building longer than I have and hasn't met our landlord in person, either).  Before I knew it, I found myself alone with a reluctant landlord who allowed me to ride out the lease, provided he would get the full rent on time.

With my long "Nightline" hours leaving no time to find a new roommate, and work related travel pending, I had one clear choice: I decided to carry his half of the rent.

When I moved in, I hadn't expected to stay in this apartment for more than year.  It had its flaws –  the bathroom sink backs up black gunk and the wooden flooring splinters, frequently leaving my foot impaled by toothpick-sized fragments. Yet I hung on for two years because I hated moving (Before settling down at this location, I had moved seven times in three cities over 18 months). The apartment was simply an excuse not to look for another apartment.

I figured blessings come in all sorts of disguises and maybe it was time to make my return to Manhattan. I found a fellow Manhattan-exile/Brooklynite, a friend from college who found himself in similar predicament - two of his roommates had decided to break their lease and moved out.  So, we set out to look for an affordable two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.

It was harder than we thought.

Having both lived in the boroughs, it still took us a little longer than expected (the entire month of June) to realize we were unwilling to pay more to live in conditions worse than we experienced in college. Even with our funds combined, we couldn't find a two bedroom that didn't resemble two closets joined together by a kitchenette for less than $2500. We decided to retreat once more to the spacious confines of the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

With time running out, my faceless landlord actually presented me with a relatively generous offer. He offered to allow me to stay through August if I paid increased rent and an equally priced security deposit, but I had to give an answer within a week.  I told him that I would consider it, knowing that it would be a last resort.

So over the next week, in between stints at the ABC News office, I was full-time apartment hunting. At one point, I visited seven apartments in just over four hours with five different brokers. We ended up the week with applications in for three apartments back in Astoria and our fingers crossed. One was a ground floor duplex for $2500 and two 2 bedrooms in a pre-war buildings for $2000 each. Next comes the mandatory credit checks and hopes that our FICO scores don't come back to bite us. At that point, if everything fell through, I still had the backup plan of staying an extra month at my old place.

Never rest on your laurels.

The next morning, I woke up to two missed calls less than five minutes apart. The first message was from my super, again speaking on behalf of the landlord, asking whether I was going to stay on for August.  Obviously, they weren't too pleased about getting my voicemail because five minutes later, before I had a chance to return the call, and probably not even enough time to listen to the previous voicemail… a second voicemail. They had become "tired of my games" and I was kicked out of my apartment.

We eventually lost one pre-war apartment to other applicants (they slipped their applications in a few hours before us) and the management company of the other rent-stabilized, pre-War apartment decided three days after accepting our application to raise the rent by $400 (it wasn't worth it).  And we ultimately decided against the duplex because it wasn't a good fit (one of us would be without a true bedroom.) Although there was no exchange of money or any formal or verbal agreement, the landlord of the duplex threw a fit and demanded to be compensated for us even expressing an interest in the place or else he would file an official complaint to the State.  We have yet to hear back from him. He probably cooled off.

At the time of this writing, my "kick out day" is just hours away.  I have received the stern follow-up phone calls from my landlord (via the super) that my apartment must be completely clean and empty (me included) by Thursday. They actually woke me up again this morning with another reminder.

This is, however, hardly a sob story. Luckily, I am holding the keys to a handsome 2 bed, 2 bath apartment on the top floor of new construction building, a block from the train in Astoria (rooftop access included). We managed to find it just in time.

My soon-to-be ex-landlord was sort of right about one thing. I too am tired of the games…the games I had to play just to find a place to live in New York.  I'm not planning to trade in these keys any time soon. And I ain't moving.

July 29, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Home, Sweet Home

July 28, 2008 2:07 PM

Joining “Realty Check” today is “Nightline” segment producer Maggie Burbank. The 28-year-old has lived in New York City for the last six years. Though she loves the Big Apple, the Massachusetts native is quick to point out she’s a Red Sox fan to the grave. Maggie’s living large, albeit in a small Brooklyn apartment:

In four days, I am due to re-sign my lease for the fourth time.  I live in an adorable little apartment in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. It’s a neighborhood I love so much and I really don’t want to be anywhere else. But my apartment is feeling a little…small.  I am really bad at square footage, but I’m guessing it’s around 250 or 300 sq ft, and it’s starting to feel a little like the walls are closing in on me.   When you look at the restroom in your office and mentally arrange your furniture in it, only to realize it’s significantly bigger than your apartment, well, that just stinks.    Oh, and my place is also mouse infested.  Okay, maybe not infested.  But Toby, as my hungry little mouse is named, won’t seem to leave.  And while we used to co-exist quite peacefully, he no longer respects that when I get home from work, it’s my time to have the apartment.  When I wake up I often find evidence of Toby in my kitchen -- and he seems completely uninterested in all those strategically placed traps.  I am kind of getting sick of having a rodent for a roommate.   

So I decided I would check out what apartments are available in my neighborhood.  Maybe I could afford an upgrade.  It seemed so dreamy – the idea of a bedroom that could fit a big dresser!  A real kitchen!  A functional refrigerator! (yes, I have a dorm-sized fridge) Maybe I could even bring up one of those old couches my parents want to get rid of! 

Boy was I wrong.  The whole reason I moved to this neighborhood from nearby Park Slope, Brooklyn was to get away from ballooning rental costs. Three years ago, Prospect Heights was an area in which I could afford to live alone. I ended up falling in love with it, and still would rather be there than the “nicest” neighborhood in Manhattan.  I fell in love with the playground across the street, the Red Sox-friendly sports bar and grille where they know my name, the strangers on the sidewalk that say hi to you when you walk past them. When I first moved into my “junior one bedroom” (which realtors call a small studio with a separate bedroom that fits a bed, and…well that’s pretty much it) I paid $1050 a month. Now I pay $1113. It’s in a pristine brownstone with a live-in landlord downstairs who cares deeply about the building and so responds to all problems immediately. It has beautiful details, high ceilings, parquet floors, huge window sills. I love it and have been so lucky to have found it.

But I couldn’t get it out of my head that I wanted a bigger apartment, even if it meant a larger open space without a separate bedroom. So I started looking around Craigslist for apartments in my neighborhood.  I jumped on the postings that said things like “AMAZING HUGE STUDIO” or “*exposed brick*new appliances*great location*” or “SPACIOUS AND SUNNY!!!!!!!!!! STEPS TO TRAIN AND PARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  When I looked closer I realized that, yes, they were steps to the train and the park, but probably like 7,000 steps.  And the ones I actually went to see could only be considered “huge” or “spacious” by Toby.  I also noticed that the area considered “Prospect Heights” has moved way north and east into Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant. My boyfriend just moved into an apartment in what is now called “Prospect Heights” but just a couple years ago was probably considered “Crown Heights.” Despite getting more bang for your buck there, it’s just not the safest area.  I felt frustrated and deflated.

It seemed the only apartments in a safe location that were at least the size of my current apartment were now going for more than $1500.  While you may think a producer at “Nightline” can live in the lap of luxury, I just can’t swing that.  Not even close.   My grandfather died a year ago and left me a little less than $20,000 thinking that could be a down payment for an apartment. Maybe in Providence, RI or Portland, OR, but in New York City?  Not a chance. Isn’t everyone talking about how this is a buyers market?   Isn’t there a recession looming?  Sometimes it feels like New York City exists in its own reality, unaffected by the economic woes of the rest of the country. 

More than anything, I just don’t get it.  I went to a great college, and within 6 years of graduation I am producing at ABC News “Nightline.” But the prices of everything around me keep going up and up and I just can’t seem to keep ahead of my expenses to save anything. Who the heck are all these people who can afford to buy apartments in this city?  There are cranes sprinkled across Manhattan’s skyline building even more apartments in the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods. And for me, the thought of living in a decent one-bedroom in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn is still just a pipe-dream. 

I know what you’re thinking.  In the grand scheme of things I am incredibly lucky. And you’re right.  I love my job, I love living in New York, and I love my sweet little apartment.  I should celebrate all that I have.  But if you want to celebrate with me, don’t bring too much champagne.  It won’t fit in my fridge.

July 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Welcome to New York!

July 25, 2008 11:37 AM

"Nightline" production associate Sarah Hodd chose the straightforward approach to answering the questions.  Just the way you'd expect a 29-year-old native New Yorker to respond.  And if anyone could get a place for a smile, I'd bet on Sarah: 

What are the hot neighborhoods in New York?  All five boroughs....
Bedford Stuyvesant is up and coming in Brooklyn, and Red Hook is on its way to being hot. Although, the lack of public transportation in Red Hook could limit the number of people who would want to live there.

Do you own or rent?  Have a roommate (or two, or three)?? 
Rent! I live alone in a tiny box of an apartment.

Where do you live vs. where would you LIKE to live?
I live on the south side of Park Slope, which used to be called Windsor Terrace. But now they call it Park Slope, just so they can charge Park Slope rent. 

What places were hot but are now 'so last year?’   
Williamsburg. Over it!

What kind of place do you have vs. what you would LIKE to have?   
I have a fourth floor walk-up two-room studio - so there's one big bedroom, one big kitchen, and the bathroom and closets are off those two rooms. I'd sacrifice a finger to own a place with a backyard in Brooklyn.

How much would your dream place cost?   
Realistically? Or in my dreams? Realistically, I imagine I'd have to spend a million dollars. In my dreams, I'd get it for a smile. 

How much do you think you'd need to earn to afford it?
NO IDEA. But given that I work here - about a thousand times more than I make now.

Do you have realistic hopes that one day you'll have that place? 
Not really - not in the near future, at least.

How is the news about the real estate market affecting you?
Honestly, it doesn't affect me that much since I rent and don't make nearly enough money to consider buying. But I see how it affects my family, who own the house I grew up in, in East Flatbush.

Feeling that this is a good time to buy?
Sure, if I had the money.

Do you feel you'll ever catch up with New York prices?? 
No! But being a native New Yorker, we're bred to live beyond our means! 

What's up with the rent controlled apartments, sublets, rentals?? 
Rent-controlled apartments are like finding a 4-leaf clover. They're out there, but you have to be willing to dig through a lot of dirt.

July 25, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Holed up in Hoboken

July 24, 2008 11:53 AM

Our editor Brian Derr almost didn't post -- said he lived in Hoboken, NJ -- as if that explained everything.  But Hoboken is hotter now than it was when Ol' Blue Eyes was there.  Brian and his wife are onto a good thing:

My wife and I bought our condo five years ago.  We live right on downtown Washington Street, which is the main street in Hoboken.  Basically, we're very happy with it.  We have 1,100 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, plus a den. We love our place, we love the neighborhood and hope to be there for a long time. 

So, that said, the current situation in the real estate market doesn't affect me one bit. We got in at a great time and have a 30 - year fixed mortgage at a pretty good rate of 5.25%.  Realistically speaking, we're in our dream home. Sure, it would be nice to own a nice brownstone in New York City, but that's not realistic for us. One thing I will say though, is that if we were purchasing our first home now, we'd never be able to afford the place we bought five years ago.

July 24, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Musings on New York's Real Estate Market

July 23, 2008 2:38 PM

Today's guest blogger is "Nightline" producer extraordinaire Melinda Arons. The 32-year-old has called New York City home for a total of seven years. Melinda (pictured below) sounds off on New York's hippest 'hoods and the grim reality of the New York real estate market:

What are the hot neighborhoods in New York? 
West Village, Tribeca, Union Square, East Village and the Upper West Side.  There are lots of hot neighborhoods in Brooklyn as well, especially Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Williamsburg, but they're still not generally as desirable as Manhattan.

Do you own or rent?  Have a roommate (or two, or three)??   
Rent, no roommates.

Where do you live vs. where would you LIKE to live?   
I live in the West Village, my dream neighborhood.  I don't know how I could ever move because I love it so much.

What places were hot but are now 'so last year?'   
I think most of the hot neighborhoods are still really hot.  I guess the best example of something being seen from the outside as desirable but not necessarily "hot" is the Upper East Side.  It’s still the most desirable, most posh neighborhood if you're older and settled, but it’s not "hot" or particularly great to live in if you're young.  It's fine if you're right out of college, but people then tend to move downtown after a few years. 

What kind of place do you have vs. what you would LIKE to have?   
My place is tiny, and I would love more space, and outdoor space as well.

How much would your dream place cost?   
Probably around $1-$1.5 million if it were just for me. If it was for a whole family, I have no idea...I'd guess my dream place would be a large apartment or townhouse, and would cost several million dollars.  But again, that's the dream scenario---not what I'll likely end up with, if I were to stay in New York when I have a family.

How much do you think you'd need to earn to afford it?   
Oh, I have no idea....if I had to guess I'd say about $300,000-400,000/year for my dream place just for me; a couple million a year for a dream house in the city for a family.

Do you have realistic hopes that one day you'll have that place?   
Nope.  Not unless I marry for money, which I have no intention of doing.

How is the news about the real estate market affecting you?   
I hate to say this, but it's actually good news for someone like me.  For years, buying an apartment in New York has been impossible. It continues to be, but if the housing bubble finally bursts in New York, as sad as it would be for a lot of homeowners, it may make home ownership in New York City possible for me.

Feeling that this is a good time to buy?   
Not as much in New York as in the rest of the country, but possibly in the near future.

Do you feel you'll ever catch up with New York prices??   
Not really...I may catch up enough to buy a place for myself, but I don't see my self ever catching up enough to afford a real house for a future family.

What's up with the rent controlled apartments, sublets, rentals??   
Renting an apartment in New York is a total nightmare.  You can be absolutely dedicated to finding a place without a broker, but it just doesn't work unless you get incredibly lucky with someone wanting to turn their lease over to you personally, or if you're willing to have roommates.  I spent a year looking for a good place in the West Village without a broker, and responded to an ad on Craigslist for a place that was ‘by owner.’  The building then got involved and brought a broker in and jacked up the price.  I didn't take that place, but then the broker showed me my current apartment. In the end it was worth the fee, but it was extremely frustrating.  My best friend is the perfect example of someone who found the holy grail of New York apartments.  She has a huge place with a big back deck in a doorman building in an amazing part of the West Village, and it's way under market value, but she got it because her colleague's cousin owns it and needed to rent it out.  That kind of New York real estate luck happens once in lifetime, and has eluded me thus far.

Rent controlled apartments are entirely unfair, unless you have one.
If I did I would be in heaven, but to the rest of us paying market price, it's painfully unfair.

July 23, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

To Buy or Not to Buy

July 22, 2008 12:21 PM

While I'm away shooting in Uganda, we're featuring guest bloggers from right here at "Nightline."  Knowing that the high cost of living in New York forces people to come up with interesting living arrangements, I put a series of questions to the bright, creative, dedicated 20- and 30-something staffers here. I wanted to know what it's like to have a killer job, making good (okay, decent) money, but live in this crazy, overheated, outrageously expensive metropolis.  So I asked what are the hot neighborhoods in New York (all five boroughs)?  Own or rent?  Roommate(s)?  Where do you live versus where you would LIKE to live?  How much would your dream place cost?  Any realistic hopes of achieving it?  How is the real estate news affecting you?

I imagined I'd hear all about them trying to create a sort of "Friends" or "Sex and the City" fantasy, popping in and out of friends' apartments, the bartender at their favorite 'local' automatically setting up their favorite drink, perpetually on the hunt for what's hip.  Instead, the stories were so, well, real  -- funny and maddening and touching.

Like many people tempted by this buyer's market, 24-year-old "Nightline" production associate Erin Brady (pictured below) is contemplating kicking the rental and buying her first place. It's a life-changing decision that has her sweating: 

Independence! I decided that after working at "Nightline" for two years, it was time to move out of my parents' house.

So last summer, one of my closest friends from college and I started looking for apartments. Manhattan was too pricey, as was Long Island, where I grew up. So Queens seemed like the best location – an up-and-coming neighborhood, not too expensive, close enough to work and a 30-minute trip to see friends and family. After what seemed like hundreds of apartments, we found the right one. A month later, we moved in.

Fast forward to last month. My roommate told me she had decided to move to Westchester to be closer to her boyfriend, family and friends, and to save money on gas and tolls. Understandable. But now what?  I can’t afford to live by myself. And as much as I love my parents and my 15-year-old triplet siblings, I couldn't imagine subjecting myself to the unavoidable madness that comes with having teenagers in the house.

After much trepidation, I decided to post an ad on Craigslist to see what type of responses I would get. Some were good and some were really awful. I spoke with one girl who seemed lovely, but after we got off the phone, I thought ‘Is this really worth it?’ Is it worth living with a complete stranger just to save a couple hundred dollars?

Living in Queens doesn’t bring me any joy. It just saves me some money. But if I end up going to Long Island every weekend to visit my family and friends anyway, why stay in Queens? Why am I waiting to live my life on the weekends?

My boyfriend, the ever-practical, responsible guy, sat back and watched me try to navigate the situation. He finally said to me, "Maybe you should put your money towards something? Maybe we should buy a condo in Queens?"

Normally, I would be very opposed to living with someone I was romantically involved with, without at least being engaged. But with the real estate market in the condition that it is in, all I keep hearing in the back of my head is: Carpe diem! Carpe diem! We can afford a decent down payment. Hopefully, we could secure a mortgage with our good credit. Most appealingly, now is the time to get a great deal on a place! A lawyer and a contract would be necessary, in case our relationship went sour, but we would be on our way to homeownership! It was all so exciting, until reason crept in.

A year and a half into a relationship isn't a good time to buy a house. But does a good housing market outweigh that? If I buy, do I want to buy a place in Queens? Am I just talking myself into that because a home on Long Island is WAY out of my price range? Maybe I should find a cheap apartment on Long Island and deal with the back-breaking price of commuting?  Maybe I should continue the hunt for a roommate in Queens?  Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have the next month and a half to ruminate.

July 22, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Buyer's Remorse??

July 21, 2008 2:36 PM

Since Roxanna has big news today, I'll let her take the reins:

"It's over.  I closed on Friday.  The feeling that this would never end, led right up to the moment that I signed this horror out of my life.  Broker No.1 did not take the news of my closing with someone else lightly.  Broker No. 2 was gracious and even seemed happy that I had found a good deal.  Business is business – we were each forced to tell ourselves.

That's that, but I still couldn't help feeling sad about everything that had happened as I made my way to the closing.  The closing itself was an anti-climactic math class.  I twirled a pen in my hand while the lawyers tapped on calculators, and occasionally pushed a piece of paper in front of me to sign.   Each time I did, there was a sense of relief and the more I signed the lighter I felt.

Afterwards, I stumbled out into the hot streets feeling different.  For better or for worse, I was a homeowner now.  With keys tucked into an envelope, I made my way to the apartment that had dangled in my imagination for all these months like a rosy apple that I couldn't wait to eat.  Call it immediate buyer's remorse, call it post-traumatic stress, but standing in the middle of this empty apartment I fought so hard for, all I felt was confusion.

I guess it makes sense that this long-awaited moment would be disappointing in some ways.  While I no longer had the urge to graffiti the place (too tired), I told myself there'd be no house warming party here.  The last time I had been here, the view out the windows was obscured by a fresh blanket of snow. Now that view was a steamy parking lot, low rooftop and brick wall.  This was not urban chic… rather it was complete and total urban bleak.  I'd need beautiful curtains, I thought.

In the bathtub, there was a water bug lying on his back curled up and dead.  A symbolic image of the life I had chosen to live?  I really hope not.  At least there was nice afternoon sunshine filtering through the windows of the large bedroom.  There's good closet space too."

Vicki here again... Sunlight, large bedroom, good closets -- all bonuses in New York apartments.  Rox's friends will do their (our) best to make this place feel like home.

But it made me recall my own first home buying experience (and all subsequent ones, really).  My first house was a three-story rowhouse in a rough part of Baltimore known as Reservoir Hill.  I was probably too young at the time to be scared -- should have been, though.  It was $42,000 when I bought it in the early '80s -- about $40,000 when I sold it a few years later.  Probably worth a fortune now.  Yep.

But is Rox's trepidation a function of what she's gone through, or is it just normal buyer's remorse?  Isn't there a moment after you've signed the papers that you wake up in the night thinking, "OMG!  What have I done?!"  Or maybe not.  What's your range of emotions after closing -- elation?  fear?  remorse?  pride? 

July 21, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Good news for Roxanna

July 17, 2008 5:20 PM

Cross your fingers....

Guest blogger Roxanna Sherwood finally has a closing scheduled -- for tomorrow. 

Isn't that the way it always happens?  Things take forever, then when they finally come through, it's all hurry, hurry, hurry.  Posting must have brought good luck, but she's still not believing it 'til the ink dries. 

I'm optimistic.  Will post photos once she renovates......

July 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Surviving the Slowdown

July 17, 2008 2:01 PM

In our Nightline piece, we gave 9 tips for surviving these tough economic times, with advice from financial advisor and weseed.com CEO Jennifer Openshaw. 

In case you missed it, here's a recap:

1.  Get a boarder.  Isn't it funny that as our houses have gotten larger, our families have gotten smaller?  My grandparents raised six children and rented rooms to lodgers in their house in St Louis.  Sometimes meals were even included in the room rate.  Not advocating that you go back to that, but if you're in a financial pinch, consider getting a housemate.

2.  Make your own coffee/water.   We've got big, beautiful kitchens -- but what are we preparing in them?  Judging by the amount of coffee purchased from the local gourmet shop, not even coffee.  Jennifer Openshaw recommends making your gourmet coffee at home -- and getting a filtration system for your water if you find yourself buying lots of bottled agua.  Astonishing numbers:  She says you'll have an extra $100,000 if you avoid the $3 latte and the $2 bottle of water, instead saving and investing that money over the next 30 years.

3.  Ride a scooter.  Hey, maybe we can turn our American cities into Rome!  Who doesn't love those cute little 'motorinos'?  The Vespas and Piaggios?  (I want one in sea foam green).  And they get something crazy like 80-100 miles to the gallon.   Jennifer says you'd spend about $500 in gas for 10,000 miles -- versus $2500 for a normal car/SUV.  Just don't take that little 'motorino' on the highway!

4.  Turn the a/c and heat off when you're not home -- get a programmable thermostat so you can set it to come on maybe an hour before you're due in. 

5.  Save money AND calories by ordering one entree between two people.  When I first moved back from London (Europe -- the land of small portions), I was blown away by how much food was on the average American plate.  My boyfriend and I would order one meal between us.  If no one wants the same thing you're having, divide it in half and take half home... to the dog, of course.  Save money -- get thin(er). 

6.  Bundle your phone/internet/cable, or get one of the VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services. My cousins Mike and Rhonda keep in touch from Beijing via Skype and say it costs virtually nothing.  And it comes up on caller ID as their old St Louis phone number.

7.  Credit cards.  Jennifer Openshaw and Suze Orman both advocate calling and asking your bank for a lower interest rate.  They say that 9 times out of 10, it works.  They also recommend using ONE card only, so you can track purchases.  And tie it to an airline or other rewards program, so you get more from what you spend. 

8.  Swap online.  We have so many 'things.'  When you tire of them, sell them.  Intern Eliot Caroom suggests these sites for swap meets:   http://www.zunafish.com  or http://www.paperbackswap.com.

9.  Get a library card.  My personal find of the year.  I read somewhere that the writer Gay Talese once described the Upper West Side of Manhattan as a place where people pile books on their apartment floors.  I wear that as a badge of honor -- but the piles were threatening to engulf the place.  So I got a library card.  Apologies to big booksellers and independents alike, but I'm saving a fortune -- and I feel like a kid again.  If I read a book and love it, I buy it.  Hardcover.  First edition.  Those are worth the floor space. 

Here are some other great suggestions from Nightline colleagues that didn't make the piece.

From our Web King, Eric Johnson, who lives in New Jersey: 

1)  Community Pools -- A lot of people are opting out of long drives to the Jersey shore to save gas and cash, and instead heading to their local town pool.  I went this past weekend (I hadn't been since I was little) and it was PACKED.  They also have special deals, like a 'pay per day' plan to accommodate those not living in the actual community, which they never had when I was growing up.

2)  Food deals -- My friends and I found a lot of places which have had to offer special deals due to the bad economy. The best one was a place called “Stage House,” a fancy restaurant in Scotch Plains.  They have a terrific barbeque buffet.  At the end of the meal, patrons decide how much they want to pay.  They then give you a gift certificate for that exact amount, to be used next time you go.  I asked our server why they were offering the deal, and she said service had been slow over the summer.  Again — the place was packed.  Here’s the link to the deal:

http://www.stagehouserestaurant.com/Holiday%20Menu.html

Or how 'bout this from senior producer Dan Green: 

My father has discovered this is a huge savings for him -- he house swaps for vacation homes or he rents his own place out even if it's just for one week when he goes away. He says it always shocks him how many people are willing to rent his house from him for a week or two when he goes away if he posts it on an site like Craigslist.org.

Someone suggested giving the gift of service.  Need a gift for new parents?  Offer a night of babysitting.  Housewarming gift?  Offer a DIY service you're good at. 

Check out Jennifer Openshaw's website for lots more tips...  I'm sure you've gotten creative with your penny pinching -- share with the rest of us below. 

July 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

A Mortgage Race With No Finish Line

July 15, 2008 1:11 PM

We're hearing horror stories these days about how tough it is to get a mortgage. During the 'bad old days' (or 'good old days,' depending on your perspective) a couple of years ago, brokers joked that if you could fog a mirror you could get a mortgage. Not anymore, as this post from Nightline producer Roxanna Sherwood (pictured here) illustrates:

"E-mail me or call me so we can discuss the next step," wrote my lawyer this morning, one of hundreds of e-mails we have exchanged in the seven months since I've been in contract for a co-op purchase in Brooklyn. Pushing my real work to the side, I called him for the some hundredth time in the past half a year.

"I really really want to get this done," he bemoaned, offering to drive to my house tomorrow morning to have me sign some papers. "You have to decide who you are going to go with." I have three mortgage brokers that all are at the point of collision in this obscene home purchasing process and I am going to need to cut all but one of them loose.

All I have done for months is sign papers that seem to disappear into the ether, never amounting to anything tangible. Empty words from brokers have cycled through my days for far too long. Help. Help. I want my sense of humor back. It's been months since I've felt like laughing. I have until next Wednesday to close on the modest one-bedroom apartment I agreed to buy for $230,000 on December 4th of last year. Next week, I stand to lose the $23,000 I put down on it. If I could back out of the deal, I would, but it's too late now. I am in a battle for my hard-earned money.

As I envision the one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn's Kensington, I want to throw up. It's a place I've seen only once. Could it really be worth everything I've been through? I am overwhelmed with the desire to vandalize it. I loathe it. I loathe even the thought of it. When I saw the distinct pretty little pre-war place on an adequate block (the old pre-war building stands next to an Autozone...hmm), I thought I was on to something wonderful. If you are sensing contradictions, you are glimpsing my internal conflict.

It all seemed rosy back in December. Looking to buy my first home, I was on the brink of becoming a real adult, I thought, and about to launch a responsible fiscal future. It was an open house in the snow. The broker said she was worried no one would come. A man and woman there quickly left, shaking their heads and muttering about it being too small, but I knew instantly that this was the right place and not small at all. I had been renting a similar one-bedroom apartment for seven years in a similar pre-war co-op building just up the street. The price tag on that co-op: $450,000. In 2001, I could have bought it for $175,000, but that seemed outrageous at the time. I carried on renting instead. Talk about kicking myself. Coming to terms with having been priced out was difficult, but finally I decided to accept the truth, grow-up and go for something affordable. The old apartment was on Prospect Park, the Brooklyn version of Central Park. So leaving a "park block" was a tough compromise, but it seemed to make sense. After all, I would own this place. Life would be better as an owner, I thought. I offered $5,000 less than the asking price and my offer was accepted.

At the time, it seemed mortgages were being given out like candy. I had a pulse, I could tie my shoelaces. I'd even been in the same job forever. I was already pre-approved for 90 percent financing. Certainly I could get a mortgage! Though my credit report came back with several unseemly items: a few late payments, too many credit cards, a questionable income-to-debt ratio, my broker assured me none of this would be a problem. My credit score had dropped a hundred points since the last time I had my credit pulled, leaving me in the middle-600s, which at this point was considered mediocre. My broker reassured me that this was no problem at all and he'd be able to steer us smoothly to a closing in late-February after co-op board approval. Now, trying to get approved by a co-op board is a whole other topic and source of great angst as all my dirty laundry would be carefully dissected by strangers. It was the part of the process that could be the wrench in this picture. Looking back now, if I had been rejected by the board, I'd have my down payment back. I'd again have the promise of my life as it was before this maddening upheaval.

Things did seem to move smoothly at first. I sent my broker a bunch of documents and I was approved. There was a successful appraisal. The co-op board approval came in late March. Okay. That anxiety-ridden week ended on a note of elation. I might even close the following week, according to my broker. Then, suddenly, things started to teeter. First, the bank that approved me folded. My broker reassured me that he had seen it coming and had automatically re-submitted my package to another bank, so we were indeed still on target. All the paperwork I'd given him was transferred to the new bank: my past couple of years of W-2s, recent pay stubs, assets, two forms of government-issued IDs, etc. Washington Mutual, one of the biggest and most secure lending banks for mortgages, would even accept the appraisal that was on file. It all seemed easy enough.

Next, I get a call from my broker that in order to do the deal, I'd need to come up with an additional 10 percent down. Now, the broker says banks were getting tougher and wanted 20 percent down. I scramble to come up with an extra $23k. Another point at which the deal should have derailed—after all, it's not easy coming up with over twenty thousand dollars at the drop of a dime – especially when it's borrowed. The bank wants proof the money is in my account. The paperwork is submitted and now they need 48 to 72 hours to underwrite. Once that's done, I would be "clear to close" according to my optimistic broker.

I wait. After three days, no clear. Instead, I am told that I need to provide more recent pay stubs because the ones in the file were old. Done. Another three days of underwriting pass. Then it is a new W-2 they want since 2007 is now over. Another three days. No clear. Then, it's updated bank statements. Three days. An updated 401k statement. Three days. This goes on for weeks....weeks of faxing, waiting, calling and angst-ing. At this point, part of my current apartment is already boxed up in anticipation of the closing that never comes. I even succeed at boosting my credit rating by getting an inaccurate delinquency removed, but still...no clear to close.

By early May, the bank stops requesting more documentation, but still no clear to close. My lawyer tells me that I am completely approved under their terms, but now they are giving the building a hard time, requesting additional documentation and scrutinizing every detail. My lawyer starts saying things like: "they've never requested this kind of paperwork before'" and "this is new to me." He's handled New York City co-op deals before, so I tell myself it couldn't be inexperience. It's just the climate of course. The banks are changing. They're stricter now and I'm entangled in the crosshairs of this changing picture. We wait.

It's late May when I head abroad on assignment for a few days. My lawyer tells me that we'd probably close just as soon as I return later that week. So, I go at the risk of being unavailable to provide any last minute financial documents that might be needed. It's an ironic image: me lying in my boutique hotel bed in Cannes, France, contemplating the apartment that's now fallen from its glossy image to a dump in an "up and coming" neighborhood. How much do I really want this place anyway? The question begins to percolate, but I push it away 'cause it's too late.

Back from France, there are no messages from my broker or my attorney. I know what that means. More bad news, more faxing, more phone calls.... I call my attorney. I don't even have to say my name any more. And he knows why I am calling. In my absence, the demands for documentation from the building management became even more interesting. "Well," my attorney says, "they needed a proposed amendment." A what? "And the last one the building has on file is from 1983," he says, "but there's a legitimate and legal reason for it and they can prove it." All that was needed was a letter from New York's Attorney General?!? Unbelievable. "Don't worry," he tells me. He's already gotten the letter and it's in the file. Three more days to underwrite. We wait.

After 72 hours the bank comes back with a "Now, just to finalize everything..." And I need to submit all updated paperwork again because so much time has passed and everything I submitted is dated. Begrudgingly, I do it right away but snip at my broker out of bitterness. As we wait another three days, my attorney tells me that the seller's attorney, who has been oh-so-patient all this time (acutely aware of how difficult things are in the market), is now getting impatient and demanding a closing... or else. A "Time is of the Essence" letter has been safely averted until this point. The seller is now not so sure this deal will ever go through. Either am I. Taking matters into my hands, I start talking to the bank representative myself. First she's encouraging. Then she stops returning calls.

Following my lawyer's advice, I reach out to another real estate broker who comes highly recommended by a close family friend. He'll take care of me, I am told. I explain to him, blow by blow, every bit of this crazy process that I've navigated so far. He says if I don't close immediately with Washington Mutual, I'll never close with them. He's gotten an inside tip that WaMu would be getting out of the business of doing mortgages with brokers by June 12th. "I guarantee that if you haven't closed by June 12th, you absolutely will not close." He thinks he can help me and he sounds like he knows what he's talking about, so now I start the process with this Broker #2. At this point, I should mention that I haven't heard from Broker #1 in a while. His empty promises have made our conversations contentious at best, so I assume he's avoiding me. I leave him hanging as I pursue an ever-elusive closing with someone else.

At first, I am feeling like I am finally getting somewhere real. Broker #2 comes back at me with solid advice, attending to my every call and question, offering encouraging guidance and enlightening tidbits, starting with the tip about WaMu which at this point I am still not sure is true. After just two days, this broker calls me with good news. I am tentatively approved at Ridgewood Savings Bank. I submit all my paperwork anew and all I need to do now is get a questionnaire from the building management (at a fee of $50), so that an appraisal can be set up. I get this done right away. He then tells me that after reviewing the package so far, the bank will honor a lower interest rate on the loan if I open a bank account with them, one from which they'd automatically deduct my monthly payment to them. Oh – wait – not monthly any more -- they want a bi-weekly payment. Okay. It's a crisis; I still have to realize that. And because of that I also must accept that the interest rate they are offering is over 6 percent, up from a little over 5 percent that had been quoted me on the other deal months before. Whatever. I have to accept this.

June 12th rolls around, and lo and behold, my lawyer calls me that afternoon to tell me that WaMu has thrown out the loan after weeks of back and forth. Instead of feeling deflated, I am almost empowered because I finally feel like I am officially in good hands with Broker #2. This guy knows what he's talking about.

Ha! Not so fast. The new broker calls to say that it appears that the co-op will not appraise at the value that I have agreed to pay for it. This means I'd have to come up with the difference in payment (this on top of that additional ten percent I've agreed to put down)! This is a huge blow. I am hemorrhaging money. Broker #2 says he'll keep working at it – don't give up hope.

Out of the blue, Broker #1 finally calls. We haven't spoken since the WaMu deal folded -- he didn't even have the nerve to call and tell me. Now, he says he can still get this done...somewhere else. I am angrily candid with him about having moved on weeks ago and cannot understand why someone in his position would not have known what Broker #2 knew about WaMu. He apologizes and dangles fresh hope (I guess that's what it is): he has two banks interested. I'll believe it when I see it.

It is June 23rd when the "Time is of the Essence" bomb drops. I have to close in 30 days from that date -- or else. It'll be a scramble to finish, but in some ways I'm sanguine about it. There's an end in sight. Wherever the madness ends will be a relief. If I lose my money and don't end up a homeowner, I can still finally move on from this debacle. I may not laugh again for a while after losing so much money, but maybe I can salvage a small amount of enjoyment of summer.

The daydreaming is interrupted with a call from the good broker, Broker #2. Before we could square away the appraisal dilemma, Ridgewood Savings Bank backs out of the loan because it rejected the co-op! They cite the building's inflated mortgage, light assets and a shoe-string budget. What am I buying?? I can't dwell on that right now. I am in the mode of trying to save the money I've already spent. Broker #2 says he'll go full speed ahead to find another bank. I'm feeling like a convict (or at least an ex-con), but somehow my self-esteem has not yet been totally drained.

The seller's agent is dumbfounded to learn that the Ridgewood deal has fallen apart. She calls me to offer yet another road: enter Broker #3. I don't know if he's good or bad, only that she's telling me this is the man who can get the job done. Back I go to the fax machine -- new paperwork, new Truth-in-Lending disclosures, new good faith estimates, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I'll sign just about anything now to extract this tumor called a mortgage from my life. It's now three brokers in a race that they don't realize they are competing in. Whoever closes first wins.

Broker #1, meanwhile, calls to say that everything is on track with a new bank, Flagstar, and that they have everything they need BUT, unfortunately, because the appraisal on file is so old, it cannot be recertified so I will now need a new appraisal. Fine. Another questionnaire about the building particulars for another $50 and another appraisal for $350. Whatever. That appraisal is completed and goes well. The paperwork is filed and we wait. Maybe they will give me a clear to close this week. Who knows?

Broker #2 is still going the distance -- he gets a new approval, this time with a bank called NCB. They want a fee upfront. They won't give me anything under an 8 percent interest rate. I am getting calls from the NCB-approved appraiser, who, Broker #2 tells me, has dealt with this very building before and a year ago appraised the very unit I am trying to buy. He wants $300 for the appraisal. The signs look good that it will come in at the value I need it to. Chances are good that I won't have to come up with an additional some-thousands of dollars of the difference at the closing. I have not yet returned that appraiser's calls, because...

Broker #3 calls. He has me approved with Citibank, also for a 30-year fixed mortgage, but they will do 90 percent financing, not 80 percent like the other two. I pay a new appraisal fee and that appraisal goes well. The property appraises at $10,000 more than the $230,000 I need it to. Could this actually be good news? Maybe I will after all be able to return the money I've borrowed to account for the additional down payment I‘ve anticipated putting down at the closing. Maybe. If you are still following, though I imagine you must be as confused as I am in all of this, one small stroke of sunshine happened on the eve of the Fannie and Freddie fiasco last week. I locked in a rate of 6.75 percent through Broker #3! Could this be true? A relatively decent interest rate (considering) with a 90 percent financed loan? After everything I've been through? As of today, Citibank is underwriting and I am told by #3 that maybe, possibly, potentially, probably, I will get a clear to close as early as this afternoon. Clear to close. Clear to close. I'll believe that when I see it. What a joke. A closing? I am not sure I should be trusted with a pen right now. I could hurt someone with it in there.

I am afraid to bet on any of these brokers. I can't trust anyone. I think #2 is suspicious that I am stalling him on purpose (I am, but I tell myself it's only business). Instead of calling me himself, he had his assistant call me to check on the status of the paperwork I am supposed to send him to move forward with NCB. I am trying to avoid a fourth appraisal. #1 told me yesterday that Flagstar should deliver a "clear to close" by midweek. We'll see. I am now hanging what feeble hopes are left on #3 and Citibank. I am scared to let any of these guys off the hook, but I must choose.

Did I mention that at some point in this process -- back when I was young a few months ago and truly believed that I'd be signing the papers and taking possession of the co-op in just a few days -- did I mention that I gave up the lovely apartment on the park and put my furniture in storage? Sorry! I did.

The question that I can't let myself focus on: Am I buying an apartment or a lemon? Back when I was really young in late November, standing over Vicki Mabrey's computer looking at the sunny images of the apartment with windows in every room, we both thought it looked like a great deal. I hope I will be restored to that innocence, and maybe my overwhelming desire to sell the place before I even move in will eventually subside. All I want to do now is wreck the place...get in there and graffiti its walls. I try to tell myself that maybe once I own it, this rage will subside. Maybe, just maybe, those sunny images of my future in this apartment will return and maybe just maybe I will cheerfully go about the kitchen and bathroom renovations I had fancied doing so many long months ago. Maybe. If there's any money left.

July 15, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

A day with Suze Orman and Mellody Hobson

July 11, 2008 11:05 PM

What a rollercoaster ride on the stock market today. Freddie, Fannie and Indy -€“ a bad day for the "Macs"€ (and a Mae).

But it provided a real learning experience for us at Nightline -€“ especially for me, getting to interview two of the finest minds in personal finance: Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments; and Suze Orman, she of the fabulous jackets, perfect tan and drop-dead blunt advice. We interviewed Mellody by phone from her office in Chicago; Suze just happened to be in New York today (yeah!), and she was gracious enough to come over for a sit-down interview in our office.  Is she as personable, friendly, knowledgeable, and brutally honest as she is on  TV?? You betcha. Wouldn't you love to have her as your college professor?  Even better, how 'bout your financial advisor?!

Anyway, we wanted to find out seven things (I know, it'€™s an arbitrary number) you need to know to survive the economic slowdown

1) What if you'€™re trying to get a mortgage?

Suze Orman warns that banks are getting less and less willing to lend.

"You will pay a higher interest rate.You may be turned down.You may not get terms that are favorable to you," she says. "It may cost you a few points just to get a mortgage, when a little while ago people were saying, 'Need a mortgage?Here little boy, here little girl, mortgages for sale.We’ll give it to you, no money down….' Well, guess what? It ain’t there no more."

2) What if you want to sell the home you'€™ve already got?

"Why are you selling your home?"  Suze asks.  "Do you want to sell it because you are just afraid real estate is gonna crash, and therefore you want to get out of a home that you love, but you just want to get whatever you can?If that’s the reason, don’t sell now."

If you can’t afford your mortgage payment, though, you might have to slash your prices, or even sell the home for less than you paid.

3) What if you're in danger of losing your home?

If you have a fixed mortgage and can make payments, you’re in good shape.But Suze expressed concern for those who bought homes planning to refinance:

"Even if you are in good stead with your mortgage - the truth of the matter is, your home value has gone down, because your next door neighbors have all lost their homes," she says.  "Now you are in a situation where now your adjustable rate mortgage is coming due."

Those who depended on refinancing could be in a very tough spot.

If you have a fixed mortgage and can make payments, you’re "in the catbird seat," says Mellody.  But if you do have an adjustable ARM, she advises not to panic, €”just call your lender right away.

"With this news about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, if you do have an ARM that's resetting, the terms and deal may not be as favorable as you'd like," Mellody says.  "There isn't a whole lot of room right now for negotiation.But that said, lenders want to do everything they possibly can to help keep you in their home."

She points out that the typical foreclosure costs a lender about $40,000.

"Should the stock stop going down at this point?I think we have probably have seen the bottom in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - if what was said today is true," Suze says.

But she warns that average investors shouldn'€™t put money in stocks that they want to have available within a decade. On the other hand, younger investors shouldn’t give up on their 401k contributions. 

Just make sure, Suze says, that you invest in the right things:  "Good quality mutual funds.Low expense ratios.No loads - you don'€™t want to be paying a financial advisor right now 5 3/4 percent to buy a mutual fund. That mutual fund has to go up 5 3/4 percent just for you to break even. Now is the time.No load mutual funds, low expense ratios, anything under a percent, OK. But don'€™t go over a percent right now," she warns. 

5) What if retirement is just around the corner?

For soon-to-be-retirees who are watching their savings drop, both Mellody and Suze have a sobering message: Be prepared to work longer.  Suze says she remembers this happening in 2000, 2001.  " I remember women in particular writing in to me saying, 'Suze, I am 70 years of age, I was about to retire. I just lost half of my money. What am I gonna do now?'"

"You need to move the amount of money that needs to be safe and sound." That may mean lower-yielding bonds, Suze advises.  "Don'€™t get greedy, people.Not in a economy like this."

6) What does it all mean for students who need a loan to go to college?

"The truth of the matter is, student loans have dried up in some places," Suze says.  "There are many schools that aren'€™t offering student loans the way they used to.When there is a credit crisis, there is a credit crisis.Credit is what?Credit cards, automobile loans, student loans, personal loans, home mortgages.It’s everything."  That said, Mellody advises that the government has added some "significant" programs, so all is not lost.  But, as Suze always advises on The Suze Orman Show, try not to get private student loans -- they usually carry a higher interest rate. 

7) What if you're living off your Credit Card?

Stop now!  That came from both of these bright ladies.  Suze even recommends a magic trick:  If you're earning 2% interest on, say, $5000 in your bank savings account, use it to pay off $5000 of your credit card debt, and give yourself an automatic 18% raise. 

Next time Mellody's in New York I look forward to shaking her hand and saying thank you.  And then picking her brain for more advice. 

As for Suze, she was mobbed as we stood on the corner in front of ABC shooting our last bit of b-roll.  She basked in the attention, asked questions, probed people's financial moves (even tried to look over one woman's shoulder at the ATM machine in our lobby), and never seemed to tire of dispensing advice to any and all passers-by.  The last thing I asked her was whether we're out of the woods on this Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac stuff.  No, she told me.  "But here is the other thing:  stop worrying about the 'other thing.'  Starting worrying about what you are doing.  Are you out of debt?  Do you have a will?  Do you have a trust, do you have the right type of insurance?  Do what you can to take control of your own financial life, "so you don't end up like the government," she winked. 

So I ask you:  Do you agree with this advice?  What other knowledge do you need to steel yourself for the economic slowdown?  In other words, what questions would you like answered? 

Big props to Eliot Caroom, an intern from City University, who helped enormously with my understanding (and compilation) of this information.

July 11, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Shed & Breakfast

July 08, 2008 4:24 PM

If only we all had the imagination and creativity of my friend (and former next-door-neighbor) Judy Whalen.  Judy is a photographer's rep and her husband Jack Unruh is a Society of Illustrators Hall of Famer.  Between them, what an eye.  Their East Dallas house, made of Arkansas stone and filled with a fascinating selection of collectibles, is my favorite museum. 

 

    

You gotta love the "not so big" house... This one is probably a bit over 2000 square feet...

Even though Jack is an amazingly talented artist whose work appears in Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Field and Stream, GQ,and a gazillion other publications, he leaves the decorating to Judy.  She can make everything from nothing.  Witness the "Shed & Breakfast" she created in their backyard.

Sheds like these must be pretty common -- my grandparents had one in their yard; it's where my grandfather cleaned up after fishing trips and beat his buddies at dominoes.  This lovely little structure started as an eyesore about a hundred feet from Jack and Judy's back door.   At one point, Judy even mused about tearing it down.  But then her creative gene kicked in -- on a whim, she and a friend decided to knock down the ceiling -- and look what they found up there.  (Not the chair and basket -- just a latticework of wonderful rafters and a nice high ceiling. 

She first painted it all white, and wound up renting it out for catalogue shoots.  (One photographer brought in sand, and the little shed doubled as a beach backdrop). 

The property is now listed with a location scouting service -- you might have seen it behind the accordion-playing lady in the York air conditioning commercials

or maybe you bought Pergo based on their kitchen (which has dark oak floors, by the way). 

 

                              

But at some point, Judy thought, Why not a guest house?  Get the guests out of their Cowboy Room   and put them out back in their own little house. 

The result is the best little "outhouse" in Texas.  And it didn't cost a fortune.  Just a lot of imagination.

By prowling the aisles of the Canton Flea Market to find the most unique, interesting, fun touches a human can imagine, Judy has created a space so comfortable it's hard for guests to leave. 

Recognize these?  They're old calcified hose nozzles.

And the nightstand?  A birdbath covered in glass...

The towel holder?  Yep, the business end of an old rake. 

Frankly, I'd rather stay in the Shed 'n Breakfast than in Dallas' finest hotels.  Unless, of course, you offered me a deal on the penthouse at the downtown Adolphus Hotel, with its fantastic view of the neon Mobil Pegasus.  Then I might have to take a night in each. 

July 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (20) | TrackBack (0)

Home/house for sale... on Ebay

July 07, 2008 3:55 PM

I love scrolling around on Ebay -- I even have my favorite searches saved.  But imagine my surprise when I found houses -- yes, real bricks-and-mortar houses -- for sale on Ebay.   From all around the country, even around the world. 

Type in "home for sale" under the "residential" heading, and 32 homes pop up.  Under "house for sale", 18 "houses" are listed.  Wonder if a psychologist could get some field study out of the differences between those who list their living space as "house" or a "home."

Anyway, fascinating listings.  Florida leads the listings, though the one that looks like it will sell soonest is in Cedar Hill, Texas.  Right now that one has 24 bids on it, and it's up to $311,211 (last I checked). 

Among the bargains, there's three lots and a house in Chillicothe, MO going for $6000.  So far, no bids.  There's also a double-wide mobile home available in Bradenton, FL for $25,500, a 2-bed, 1-bath house in Oxford, Kansas with a starting bid of $20,000 (sorry, no pictures included), and 2-story that looks like clapboard in Buffalo for $39,000.  Again, no bids. 

On the upper end of the scale, $2.5 million gets you a fairy-tale house in Hawaii, at a place called Kohala by the Sea.  Amazing ocean views, according to the pictures.  A million-six buys a horse farm in Warrenton, VA -- with a 120-gallon fresh water fish tank, a 42" plasma TV, and a 2007 Hummer thrown in for good measure.  For the more adventurous, there's a private Caribbean island and house offered for just $1.75 million.  The island is Lime Cay, and the description says it's part of the Pearl Cays, three miles off the coast of Nicaragua.  Again, stunning house and amazing views.  But wouldn't you be a bit lonely?   

Hankering for Europe??  How about a villa in Sutri "near Rome" offered for $1.4 million? Nice picture of the owners (I presume, unless they posed models in front of their home) perched on a car outside the house.  This one makes good reading:  apparently, the owners say they "have been out of Italy, therefore garden..needs taking care of."  And they let you know that this is really for a "high net-worth person."  Just in case the price tag didn't spell that out for you. 

I'm waiting for a callback from Ebay P.R. to get the story on house sales through their site.  Would you try to sell your house online?  On Ebay??  I wonder if some of these are last-chance sales, trying to stave off foreclosure.  I've reached out to several of the sellers, which so far has only gotten me an automatically-generated warning message from Ebay saying someone must have hacked into my account and is sending unsolicited emails to sellers -- without even bothering to place a bid!  Uh-oh.  Hope that doesn't cut me off from my budding vintage wicker purse collection. 

So which house would you choose?  I confess, I have a favorite.  Tempting though an Italian villa is, and who doesn't dream of doing a Robinson Crusoe on their own private island, but listed somewhere in the mid-range at $429,000 is a house in an historic district of Brandon, VT.  5-6 bedrooms, beautiful landscaping, handsome old house on a stately tree-shaded street.  So peaceful.  So dignified.  If I had the money I'd place a bid. 

July 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)