March 30, 2009 – 11:23 am
Well, no open houses for us this past weekend. I had to work on Sunday and the weather kept Debra and Aurora inside the apartment for most of the day. No great insights from me on this springy Monday. Here are a few links I’ve collected over the weekend for your enjoyment and edification. A [...]
March 27, 2009 – 10:12 pm
Hello HIB fans. Here we are at the weekend and yet another open thread. Could it be that the third time’s the charm? I’ve got my son this weekend and I’m working on Sunday, so probably no open houses for me. Debra is likely to take the weekend off from open housing. There might actually [...]
Hmmm…wait…what was that? Didn’t new home sales go up last month? New Home Sales Rise 4.7% [Wall Street Journal] Sales of new homes rose in February for the first time in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, another sign that the housing market is thawing Via New Jersey Real Estate Report, Barry Ritholz begs [...]
Over at his blog, my real estate guy Tom McGiveron asks and answers this very question in a conversation with a prospective client. As we talked, I showed her all the information that I normally review. This information contains the latest insights from experts in the real estate industry as well as my expert analysis [...]
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves [...]
Sunday was a beautiful day for open housing. Over 20 open houses and more than a couple our price range. Sadly, I had to work. So I missed all the fun But my missus picked up the slack, packing up the baby and going to three of them without me. The comments below are mostly [...]
American Casino movie trailer from Leslie and Andrew Cockburn on Vimeo. A banker explains that the complex securities he designed were “fourth dimensional” and sold to “idiots.” A senior Wall Street ratings agency executive describes being ordered to “guess” the worth of billion dollar securities. A mortgage loan salesman explains how borrowers’ incomes were inflated [...]
TGIF and a joyous vernal equinox to everyone. Mother nature decided to play a little joke on us this morning, dialing in some snow flurries for the first day of spring. I wasn’t fooled. I know winter is over. Bring on baseball! Since it worked so well last time, I thought I’d try another open [...]
March 20, 2009 – 12:16 am
From Newsday – Chocolate cakes: the best of Long Island JACQUELINE’S PATISSERIE, 199 E. Main St., Babylon, 631-893-5334, jacquelinespatisserie.com Perhaps the most beautiful cake I came across was the invention of Jacqueline Ingoglia. The little tower (4 inches wide, 5 inches tall, $15) was filled with chocolate-raspberry mousse, covered in ganache and then crowned with [...]
Hoisted From The Comments: Some Open House Visits
Commenter Babylonian remarks on some open houses. I’d like to add my comments on the open houses from last weekend. As for the George Street house, I’m not sure what the big deal is. The house is cute, that’s about it. There were a ton of people there so much that we were on our [...]