By now, everyone knows the financial reasons for the housing bubble, from lax lenders to greed. But there's another, emotional side: In our rootless and confusing culture, our domiciles have become more than mere shelters, investments, havens or even status symbols. Rather, they have become extensions of our narcissistic personalities, glorified by entire industries of shelter magazines, websites and cable networks.

It's no wonder, writes Meghan Daum in her new book "Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House," (Alfred A. Knopf), that by the middle of the decade, scads of Americans were "buying real estate and melting it down to liquid form and then injecting it into their veins."

It was an addiction shared by Ms. Daum, an essayist, novelist and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. And it almost ruined her life, she writes.

Fully aware of how neurotic such an obsession is, Ms. Da...Read More| Post a comment

RateYourBroker.com has added brokerages from Brooklyn! Check them out!

Rapid Realty, http://www.rapidnyc.com/ Flatfinders Realty, http://www.myflatfinders.com/ Boerum Hill Realty, http://www.boerumhillrealty.com/ Smith Hanten Realty, http://www.smithhanten.com/

A building manager was busted Tuesday for pocketing nearly $900,000 in rents paid at five upper Manhattan buildings by posing as the landlord, prosecutors said.

Luis Nunez, a married father of two, is charged with stealing $879,000, including monthly payments from Columbia University students living near the campus.

Prosecutors said Nunez, of the Bronx, spent the money enhancing his lifestyle.

"The defendant used the stolen money for furniture, jewelry, several vehicles, school tuition, etc.," Assistant District Attorney Om Gillett told a Manhattan judge.

Nunez, 42, was held on $50,000 bail after he pleaded not guilty to grand larceny charges, which could cost him seven years in prison.

The alleged 2005-to-2009 scam wasn't detected until Nunez started slacking off on duties unrelated to rent collections and the real landlords who were owed the money audited his work...Read More| Post a comment

CraigsList used to be the #1 destination for New Yorkers looking for apartment rental deals.  Nowadays, the venue has become a minefield of pitfalls to avoid, sending wannabe tenants to StreetEasy.  Here’s a bit of a breakdown of how this wondrous list of lists works in the world of NYC real estate.

• Traffic galore: So many eyeballs land on CL, that it’s almost impossible to avoid the site from a broker’s standpoint.  The sheer amount of traffic that this community gets from apartment hunters is astonishing, with everyone looking to get a deal and find that hidden gem or diamond in the rough.  It’s no wonder that hundreds of ads are posted on the site daily, with frequent double and triple posts of the very same apartment....Read More| Post a comment