Down to Earth Dave’s Post of the Day–April 7

Salutations, Gentle Reader,

I earnestly hope your weekend was restorative and that today is merely the first day of an excellent, productive week.  My own Saturday labors had me escorting a couple from Chicago who are relocating to NYC through both luxury high rise buildings to charming renovated walk-ups spanning from Midtown West and Clinton through West Village and NoLita/SoHo to Battery Park.  Yesterday, I spent some long overdue catching up with Mike B from St. Luke’s and then continued preparing the text for a business plan for a client in my freelance writing business.  Now, we have arrived at Monday, which for this blog means one thing:  it’s time for our next consideration of “(Il-)Logical Manic Monday”!

One of the informal fallacies on the taxonomy of logical fallacies is ambiguity.  Often seen in real estate ads, I can likely best define this fallacy with an image instead of words:

Do you see the old woman?  Wait, do you see the young woman?  There you have it.  Ambiguity!

Real estate ads are notorious for ambiguity.  You’ve seen the lingo:  “Steps from…”, “Light filled living room…”, “City view…”, and so on.  Think about it.  To say that a home is “steps from ____” can never be wrong.  Confucius noted that a thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.  An Upper East Side studio on York Avenue truly is steps away from Central Park, but it’s a lot of steps.  You must step from York to First to Second to Third to Lexington to Park to Madison to Fifth to get to Central Park.  Walking it takes almost as much time as it did for me to type all of that.

How about that light filled living room?  Does it have floor-to-ceiling windows with a southern exposure?  Or does it come with halogen recessed lights?  Perhaps it has a dazzling crystal chandelier?  Maybe the landlord includes two table lamps.  Any of these creates a “light filled living room.”

I like reading “city view” in real estate ads and have had clients who have been very interested in them.  Just Saturday, from some of those luxury buildings, I saw some panoramic vistas of Manhattan’s skyline.  One corner apartment afforded me an unobstructed view of the Empire State Building, and if I pivoted slightly to my right, there was One World Trade Center.  Another apartment I was in technically had a city view, too.  It was a rear apartment in a low-rise, and the city view was the back of the building behind us.  That building is part of the city.  We had a city view.  It wasn’t a great city view, but it was a city view nonetheless.

Gentle Reader, please don’t think I am attempting to unduly disparage some of my fellow purveyors of property.  Creative writing is an integral part of success in real estate.  If you’ve read my posts long enough, you are aware that intentionally deceptive practices in any profession vex me to the point of anger.  The unscrupulous agent employs ambiguity for deception.  The result?  Clients who have been misled doubt all of us.  My listing that is between Fifth & Madison that really is a few steps from Central Park, has over-sized windows that allow gentle morning light and a balcony that affords you a breathtaking view of the park and the Chrysler Building takes longer to lease because of the distrust that now exists.

Let the buyer beware–some ads really are too good to be true.  Your best first step?  Hire a reputable agent to work for you.

Remain calm, and speak well.

Be kind to yourself.  Be kind to the planet and the future.  Cause no suffering.  Go Vegan!

David!

Down to Earth Dave’s Post of the Day–January 3

Salutations, Gentle Reader,

Well, Mother Nature has shared a beautiful blanket of white on this first Friday of 2014.  Many grumble about snow; I love the stuff.  I was out early with my Poms, Heidi and JonJon.  Tiny flakes, driven by the wind, temps in single digits, my beard literally freezing from the condensation of my breath…  Question my sanity, but I love it!  The Pomeranians, undaunted by the drifts that were as high as their own diminutive stature, bounded with glee.

Gentle Reader, I know I usually dedicate Fridays to haiku, but I beg your indulgence to allow me to share some pictures related to life in NYC when there’s snow–and a couple of pics of Heidi and JonJon, who is posing in his best smoker’s imitation.

And, courtesy of Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne–as well as Ol’ Blue Eyes–“Let it Snow“!

Remain calm, and speak well.

Be kind to yourself.  Be kind to the planet.  Cause no suffering.  Go Vegan!

Down to Earth Dave’s Post of the Day–December 26

Salutations, Gentle Reader,

It’s the second day of Christmas!  What do you expect your true love to bring to you?  If you are one of my gentle readers who observes the Feast of the Nativity, I hope it was the time of joy and light it is intended to be.  Although my daughter was supposed to have been here in New York this week, plans unexpectedly changed and I found myself with unanticipated time on my hands.

I worked with some leads generated through the office, as well as with some of my own newer clients.  December and January are typically slower months in real estate, but there are still a lot of people who need a home or commercial space.  For them, I am available to do some business!

With the time on my hands that would no longer be used with my daughter, I ended up attending three church services in the span of 18 hours.  The first was on the Upper East Side, at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, where a friend’s liturgical / sacred dance troupe, the Omega Dancers added to the liturgy.  It marked the first time I had ever entered the church, which I think was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s church.  St. Ignatius is a beautiful church, and the priest’s homily was succinct yet thought provoking.  He admonished all to release the impediments blocking us from the fullness of the Christmas light.

From 84th & Park, I wended my way south and west, through Central Park, to a Starbucks, through the throngs to see the NYC Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, and finally across Times Square to my home church, St. Luke’s Lutheran.  While traversing the park, I noted two things:  first, it was cold!  Two, I had never seen Central Park so deserted as it was on Christmas Eve.

I enjoy attending St. Luke’s.  I humourously but accurately refer to it as an LBL congregation:  Laid Back Lutheran.  Christmas Eve at St. Luke’s is especially warming to me.  The brass ensemble, candles, poinsettias–they all come together to add to the senses of inspiration, comfort and challenge that I find at St. Luke’s.  Our pastor, Paul Schmiege, is not only a genuine man with a very caring heart, he is also one of the best preachers I’ve ever heard on a regular basis..  His words Christmas Eve shared a common theme with the words of St. Ignatius’ priest:  that we are to move beyond those things that block our receipt of light and love.

Yesterday, I returned to St. Luke’s and served as Pastor Paul’s assistant.  There was no brass ensemble, and the attendance was less, but the warmth of Christmas was still abundant.  From there, it was down to “Curry Hill”, close to an apartment I rented earlier this year on Lexington Ave.  I met my friend Hamilton and shared lunch at Madras Mahal, a vegetarian / vegan buffet.  I love Indian cuisine, but what really made this Christmas special was dining with Hamilton, who shared that his parents had divorced when he was slightly older than my daughter is now.  He gave me insight to what she’s likely thinking, He offered some practical advice on how to approach any legal proceedings that might be on the horizon.  He assured me that my daughter would figure out what all had happened, and that she would know that I made genuine effort to be with her.

Hamilton left after lunch to go to a Christmas party in Astoria with his partner, and I answered a plea from my friend Noah to go see him at the restaurant he was working at.  By the time I arrived, it was busy, the exact contrast of the first hours after opening.  I ended up chatting more with the bartender as I enjoyed an Irish coffee–sans the whipped cream, of course.  Noah and I spoke enough to better settle some plans to go to an art museum tomorrow.  Then it was back home to spend time with my Pomeranians, messenger chat with a mate from Derbyshire, England, pop some corn and unwind watching Notting Hill.

The message I left for my daughter was unanswered.

 I try to keep this blog related to real estate, although I’ll be the first to admit that it’s often tangential at best.

Gentle reader, I generally don’t go over the pedestrian events of my days with you.  I try to keep this blog related to real estate, although I’ll be the first to admit that it’s often tangential at best.  Oh, yes, I did speak with a buyer client while walking through Central Park, and he was impressed that I responded to his request on Christmas Eve.  But you know what, Gentle Reader?  Something inside me was pushing me to share this with you.  I choose to reveal myself to you in various ways.  I recall an earlier blog in which I wrote about the various tags I use to identify myself.  This week, my tag would be a frustrated-lonely-laughing-on-the-outside-hurting-on-the-inside Daddy, Vegan, real estate agent, seeker of love and affection, and Laid Back Lutheran.

That’s who I am in this moment.  Now, if you want unparalled customer service, give me a call.

Remain calm, and speak well.

Be kind to yourself.  Be kind to the planet.  Cause no suffering.  Go Vegan!

David!

Down to Earth Dave’s Post of the Day–October 29

Salutations, Gentle Reader,

Thank you for indulging me again for my weekly Tuesday Muse Day.

Last night following rehearsal for the rapidly approaching production of Fiddler on the Roof of which I’m a member of the cast, I found myself strolling down Central Park West to Columbus Circle to catch the subway home. I indulged in a walk through the park over the weekend. This was different. I wasn’t in the park, but beside it. It was night and less bustling.

The foliage still hasn’t turned from green to red and gold yet, at least not on a majority of trees, but last night I could smell autumn. With each breath I inhaled that earthy aroma of the leaves that have ventured away from the bracken limbs and cascaded on gusts or breezes down to Mother Earth. 

I love New York. I love the buildings and the bustle and the business and the beauty of human endeavors. But I also was reminded that nature’s beauty trumps our human efforts. My nose smelled that reminder.

Strolling down C P W,
Fragrant autumn fills the air.
What joys this night brings…

Remain calm, and speak well.

Excelsior!

David!

Mid-day Musings

When I first entered real estate, I saw myself concentrating in Chelsea.  I love Chelsea!  It’s upbeat, fashionable but not stuffy, and vibrant.  Chelsea buildings are old enough to have that certain je ne sais quois that new buildings lack, but they don’t have that grimy, rundown look either.

Let’s see.  How many clients have I placed in Chelsea?  0  How many have I shown in Chelsea? Not many.

The majority of my efforts have settled into three areas of Manhattan:  the Financial District, Upper East Side and Upper West Side.  Each is unique, and there are characteristics in each area that I find really appealing.

FiDi has cool buildings and such a concentration of really phenomenal architecture that for the sake of history, it could contend for my favorite section of NYC.  To be able to stand on the place where George Washington took his oath of office to become our nation’s first president and look across to the NY Stock Exchange, arguably the world’s financial epicenter, creates an unmatchable sense of awe.  FiDi is awash is luxury and style.  Its narrow, curving streets defy the logic of “the grid” that makes Manhattan so incredibly easy to navigate from 14th Street on up.

I show a lot of apartments on the Upper East Side.  Some of the best bargains in The City may be found there.  The walk-ups, constructed beginning in the 1890’s when 5th Avenue became the posh address it is, form the bulk of residences, but luxury highrises dot the UES landscape.  The UES is like two worlds.  There’s the REALLY wealthy who live on the UES, and then there’s the mass of people who need the reasonable rent.  From a real estate perspective, it’s simultaneously tough and easy–there’s a fair amount of inventory, and the prices are generally good; but there is one subway line serving the entire UES.  People notice it, too.

Then there’s the Upper West Side.  I love the UWS.  Brownstones and a few highrises… Lots of accessible transportation… Lincoln Center… Zabar’s!!!… a real blend of ages, ethnicities, and SES statuses… tree lined streets.  It’s interesting.  The UES also borders Central Park, but to me, the UWS is Central Park’s border.  Also, Riverside Park is on the UWS.

Today, I will likely be showing some apartments up on W 96th and other nearby streets.  I am looking forward to it.