Great-Grandfather

March 12, 2022 “Among the so-called neurotics of our day there are a good many who in other ages would not have been neurotic—that is divided against themselves.  If they had lived in a period and in a milieu in …

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I am in Vienna

March 4, 2022 I flew into Vienna on Wednesday, and today, briefly, I felt that I was out of my mind to have come.  I have some old, inherited fear. . . But the move is temporary, and it feels …

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Retirement, deciding

October 2021 My friends may wonder why I choose to retire now.  Although well past 65, there is no employer asking me to leave;  I have clients and can still work, and I have a good life in New York,  …

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The Best Upper West Side Apartments

This morning (Sunday, June 6), I searched the  StreetEasy website for real estate in Manhattan and found 282 cooperative and condominium apartment listings on the Upper West Side, priced from $3 to $10 million.  Most buyers would not look across …

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For current action in the Manhattan market over $4 million–consult the Olshan Report.

Donna Olshan and Emily Chen, at Olshan Realty, have been carefully tracking contracts signed, at $4 million or more, on a weekly and monthly basis since 2011.  Contracts are an important measure of current market activity, sales to not usually …

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How has Covid 19 affected average sale prices and sale volume in Manhattan?

In the Manhattan housing market,  sale volume has dropped, but there are deals, a revival since the market was legally re-opened in late June.  This could be in temporary jeopardy this winter, as we retreat indoors and face a second …

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The Covid housing market has not been easy

Since the market re-opened at the end of June,  I have seen difficulties for both buyers and sellers.  On the Upper West Side, an enthusiastic couple negotiated the purchase of a renovated multi-million-dollar apartment, and then backed out in anger …

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Manhattan’s housing market has changed

Working from upstate or my apartment in New York, in semi- isolation and driving into the city for the occasional appointment or showing, I manage a tiny piece of Manhattan’s real estate market almost entirely from my laptop.  The market …

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Beauty and Housing

After a break from real estate writing, I remind myself that this work offers the constant pleasure of beautiful things, particularly useful things, like apartments, or houses, or furniture.  It is inspiring to see the occasional wonderful house or apartment–there …

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Israel and the Palestinians, in a letter to a younger French friend

September 20, 2020 Dear Brxxx: Thanks for the article you sent me about Sheldon Adelson and his purchase of the former American embassy residence in Tel Aviv (le monde.fr).  Your note pushes me to clarify my own view of this situation, …

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