Real Estate By The Numbers

Apartment shopping, decorating, throwing a house-warming party...these are the fun things that come to mind when I think "real estate." Unfortunately, it's also essential to do some tedious number crunching in order to figure out if one can afford such fun. Luckily, there is a whole slew of pre-programmed calculators on Yahoo Finance that do all the work for you. Three cheers to the math nerd who programmed these:

Yahoo Finance Real Estate Calculator

Should I rent or buy a home?
Should I refinance my home mortgage (break even)?
How much home can I afford?
Comprehensive mortgage calculator
Compare a "no-cost" versus traditional mortgage
Should I pay extra points for a lower rate?
Compare mortgage terms (i.e. 15yr, 20yr, 30yr)
What are the tax savings generated by my mortgage?
Value of reducing or foregoing expenses
Should I consolidate my personal debt?
What is the return on my real estate investment?
How much am I spending?
How much should I save to reach my goal?
What will my loan payments be?

Don't Like Your Kids? Donate Before You Die

Perhaps you don't particularly like your offspring, and you would rather get a tax break than turn your real estate over to them in your will. Or maybe your kids have run off to be hedonists in Thailand and they want nothing to do with your unsellable estate in Montana, which they will have to pay the taxes on. No problem-- donate your real estate, land, or even time share to a good cause. Get a tax break, and call it a day. There are several organizations that will help give away your assets. Here's a good place to start: http://www.realestatewithcauses.org/

Open House NYC

If you think that the realms of brick and mortar are as dead and dull as door nails, Open House New York will change your mind. It's not to be missed. There will be over 350 sites open and free to the public, and most of them are truly unique, if not downright crazy. Here are my top picks:

For Friday night, I recommend packing a flask of whiskey and heading to Roosevelt Island at 3am to see 120 spookily illuminated white tents. Each tent has an installation and is open from 7pm-7am. Here's a description from the website:

It proposes an archaeological dig as its metaphor; the search for artifacts is replaced by the search for a collective memory of Roosevelt Island. Sokoloski (the designer) told Metro that Roosevelt Island's past, filled with hospitals, lunatic asylum and other facilities, inspired him, "When you go deep the history is so fascinating. This will be a kind of digital archaeology, a model of exchange where the community will uncover the stories of the island’s past.” He also calls it "a metaphorical, archaeological dig into the history of mental health."

If you're still on Roosevelt Island between noon and 5pm, head to Octagon & Lighthouse Park, at 888 Main St/ 12th Road. As noted on their website, "America’s first municipal lunatic asylum was restored and converted into sustainably designed apartments equipped with NYC’s largest array of solar panels. The site features an art gallery, ecological park and green building exhibit, including information on Verdant Power’s Tidal Energy Project for the East River. "

To top it all off, I'll be heading home to hear Angels & Accordions at the cemetery in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. This week-end officially starts the ghastly, spirited Halloween festivities.

For those of you who don't appreciate my suggested lunatic/cemetery itinerary (perhaps you feel that you have enough contacts with the lunatics on the subway), there are plenty of other things to see. There's a long list of wholesome, green buildings that you can tour, for example. Check out the website for a complete line-up of events.

New York: It's Better Than Chicago

So, New Yorkers, you thought you lived in the best city in the world? Filled with art, culture, and opportunities? According to CNN's Money.com, not many people agree with us. We have even been shoved behind freezing, windy, landlocked Chicago. Not surprisingly, Second City came in second place in the polls, but this time, it's not playing second fiddle to New York, arguably the best city in the world. Surprise, New York: we're in 5th place!

Besides the Windy City, Dallas, Houston, and LA. also come before us. Granted, Texas and California do have better weather, but just wait 'til global warming kicks in-- we'll be right back up there.

Enough ranting, let's get down to the facts. The ratings are based on the following categories:

1. Affordable Housing: Granted, in terms of real estate, New York is one of the most expensive cities in the United States. But when the America's housing bubble (or festering blister, to be more accurate) bursts, New York is a-ok. The average price of apartments went up 8% and luxury apartments averaged an increase of 20% while the average for the rest of the nation declined by 17%. So yes, New York homes are more expensive, but buyers are also be more likely to make a bundle. So while the rest of America is cheap, this certainly doesn't pay off in the long run.

2. Plentiful Cultural Options: We've got this one trumped. From the Mermaid Parade to the Festival of the Animals, to those crazy Russian Dungeons...we've got every every cultural option there is. Last week I went to a pickle festival, and today I'm heading to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy.

3. Job Growth: Job opportunities and growth in New York are abundant and incomparable. When I was trying to be a hot-shot Financial Advisor on Wall Street, there was a former janitor at the desk next to me-- and he was making a killing.

4. Plentiful Leisure Activities: Relax, New York knows leisure. Whether you want to picnic in Central Park, take a horse and carriage ride, bask on one of our many beaches, or go to an expensive spa that's worth every penny, there are plenty of activities for the stressed-out, the lazy, and the hedonists who need leisure.

5. Sunny Weather: As I mentioned earlier, we can't compete with Texas or California on this one yet, but just you wait. Global warming is on our side.

6. Short Commute Time: Unless you live on Coney Island, the commutes really aren't bad.

7. Good Health Care Access: Note: This does NOT say affordable health care access, just good healthcare access. Is someone being pedantic with their ratings? Maybe Houston, Dallas, LA, and Chicago beat us on this one-- because they have good health care access-- but we have the best. And if that isn't enough, studies show that New Yorkers live longer than anyone else in the country by an average of 9 months (just enough time to make a baby before you die!). And although the life expectancy of all Americans is on the rise, the rate at which this number is increasing is highest among New Yorkers. There's a lot to live for in this city.


So, who rated New York as the Fifth best place to live instead of the first? I'm guessing that whomever is in charge of the CNN Money website made a type-oh. Five of them, to be precise.

Real Estate That Keeps It Real: Triumph Charity

Squidoo.com is a website that allows users to make their own page-- it's a bit like myspace in that it's user generated content. The big difference is that the money raised from every page on Squidoo.com can be donated to a non-profit of your choice. You get a statement at the end of every month that tells you how much money your page donated, and you can even write the donation amount off on your taxes at the end of the year. Not bad, eh?

Triumph Property is on Squidoo as Triumph Charity-- check out their page (called a "lens") at www.squidoo.com/triumphproperty. Make your own lens, or even a thousand lenses (there's no limit) and send the url to talia(at)triumphproperty.com so we can link to you.

The blurb they wrote on their lens sums things up nicely, and we hope other real estate companies will follow suit:

We have 5 offices in New York, filled with busy people designing, marketing, buying, and selling property. Our goal is to help others live beautifully, and that takes a lot of people, time, energy, and money. But what about those who don't have the same resources or opportunities that many of the rest of us have? We're not elitist snobs who have forgotten about the rest of the world-- Triumph is a real estate group that keeps it real. That's where Triumph Charity comes in: every month, we'll choose a non profit organization to donate our Squidoo funds to (feel free to e mail us your recommendations).Our goal is to have 500 people make 1 lens on Squidoo (it takes 10 minutes and can be about anything-- property, ice cream flavors, your puppy-- you name it). Every lens on Squidoo will earn money through Google ads and things you link (use the Amazon module to recommend books, the i tunes module to recommend music, etc. You get the idea).Whenever someone buys a product through your link,the sponsoring comany will send funds to the Triumph Charity non-profit. And at the end of every month, you'll get a statement saying how much your lens earned for charity-- feel free to write it off on your taxes.Skeptical that a little change can add up enough to make a difference? Check out the math:If every lens earns 50 cents a day, and 500 people take 10 minutes to make 1 lens, that will equal almost $100,000 per year.Not bad for 10 minutes of "work"! In 5 years, that amount turns in to almost half a million.
Lenses never go away, so they'll be earning money for charities for as long as the internet and google exist.Don't feel limited to only making 1 lens- you can make a 1,000 if you want. The more the better!

PS: Squidoo doesn't send spam, so no worries about signing up.

Subprime Shenanigans

The US fallout in subprime loans has certainly caused some problems, and there's no denying that it was the culprit in the global market plunge. However, I didn't see any traders jumping out of windows on Wall Street this morning. For most of us, here is what the market bust translates to:

● It will be more difficult to get a loan if you have bad credit. Yes, subprime borrowers-- this means you! You're likely to be considered a subprime borrower if you have a credit score under 650, have declared bankruptcy in the past 5 years, or are 24 months late in paying back your loans.

● Interest rates for loans on homes over 400k are rising, even for those with great credit. However, rates have gone down on small loans for prime buyers.

● REITs have suffered, but depending on what sort of real estate investment trusts you've invested in, it might just be a waiting game or an opportunity for cheap shares. Talk to your financial advisor.

The big worry is that these supbrime shenanigans will spiral into a recession. Alan Greenspan has dished out a comforting estimate that we have a 66% chance of bouncing back just fine. In fact, the report this morning is that Asian markets are already recovering from the lapse.

TAKE A GANDER DOWN THE RED GUN BARREL

Welcome to our new space and new perspective on the New York real estate scene. RED GUN be holding things up and shooting a few down. Don't worry, we're licensed. It's OK.

(The photo is a paint gun by the way. This is about real estate, afterall...)