The Homeless
Y'all should know me by now. You really shouldn't be surprised
(anymore) that I'm reading the Sunday New York Times Real Estate section
-- from July 14th (2024).
And you really shouldn't be surprised that I made it all the way down the page to find this in paragraph 23:
Cash Is King to Buy A Home in Manhattan
"But no slice of Manhattan real estate would be complete without at least one multimillion dollar purchase. The most expensive all-cash sale to close during those two February days was a four-bedroom, two-story apartment on the Upper West Side, sold for more than $10 million to a retired engineer and lawyer who had both worked in tech and live in California. The couple had not planned to buy a vacation home in New York. But they were so enamored by the listing’s old New York charm and the Central Park views that the wife flew across country the next day to see it. The couple outbid the competition with a cash offer almost 24 percent over the list price. They plan to use the home a few times a year, dropping in at least once a season."
Now, let's stew on this for just a moment. "All cash"..."more than $10 million to a retired engineer and lawyer"..."the wife flew across country the next day"..." outbid the competition with a cash offer almost 24 percent over the list price."
Then the coup de grâce. (Come on. You have to be able to read French if you want to understand Manhattan-level avarice.)
"They plan to use the home a few times a year, dropping in at least once a season."
Now, I'm ignorant of how "season" might be used in these social circles but I'm going to say that means at least four times a year. I can't help but wonder, "How many times could you stay in really nice hotel suite for $10 million?" You wouldn't even have the hassle of cleaning house, paying the light bill or paying property taxes. (Quaint, aren't I?)
Way before you have more money than you know what to do with, you have the problem of "where do I keep all my money?". You are told to diversify. You can't risk all your money being in one place. The bank could go bankrupt. The FDIC will only insure $250,000 per account, gold is volatile, land doesn't appreciate fast enough, etc. etc., etc. Worry, worry, worry. So you put some here, you put some there and you always look for another hidey-hole. (Like New York City real estate.) And you're taught to always, always, always worry about paying too much in taxes.
Because, paying 24 percent over list price after thinking about it a whole day (or two) on a property you plan on using at least four times a year isn't stupid. But paying too much in taxes is.
So this is what America has become. Lots and lots of (as my brother calls it) stupid money chasing too few homes (not to mention God-only-knows-what-else + supply and demand being a real thing) so the price of homes shoots up so high that a significant portion of the American population cannot afford a home. (People in London are nodding their heads too.)
I wonder how much homelessness you could cure for $10 million dollars? I mean, if you really, really tried. Like, we are going to pay you a $10-million-dollar-bonus-if-you-got-100-homeless-people-a-home kind of trying. I wonder what kind of ideas a New York real estate developer would have on that subject?
"But no slice of Manhattan real estate would be complete without at least one multimillion dollar purchase. The most expensive all-cash sale to close during those two February days was a four-bedroom, two-story apartment on the Upper West Side, sold for more than $10 million to a retired engineer and lawyer who had both worked in tech and live in California. The couple had not planned to buy a vacation home in New York. But they were so enamored by the listing’s old New York charm and the Central Park views that the wife flew across country the next day to see it. The couple outbid the competition with a cash offer almost 24 percent over the list price. They plan to use the home a few times a year, dropping in at least once a season."
Now, let's stew on this for just a moment. "All cash"..."more than $10 million to a retired engineer and lawyer"..."the wife flew across country the next day"..." outbid the competition with a cash offer almost 24 percent over the list price."
Then the coup de grâce. (Come on. You have to be able to read French if you want to understand Manhattan-level avarice.)
"They plan to use the home a few times a year, dropping in at least once a season."
Now, I'm ignorant of how "season" might be used in these social circles but I'm going to say that means at least four times a year. I can't help but wonder, "How many times could you stay in really nice hotel suite for $10 million?" You wouldn't even have the hassle of cleaning house, paying the light bill or paying property taxes. (Quaint, aren't I?)
Way before you have more money than you know what to do with, you have the problem of "where do I keep all my money?". You are told to diversify. You can't risk all your money being in one place. The bank could go bankrupt. The FDIC will only insure $250,000 per account, gold is volatile, land doesn't appreciate fast enough, etc. etc., etc. Worry, worry, worry. So you put some here, you put some there and you always look for another hidey-hole. (Like New York City real estate.) And you're taught to always, always, always worry about paying too much in taxes.
Because, paying 24 percent over list price after thinking about it a whole day (or two) on a property you plan on using at least four times a year isn't stupid. But paying too much in taxes is.
So this is what America has become. Lots and lots of (as my brother calls it) stupid money chasing too few homes (not to mention God-only-knows-what-else + supply and demand being a real thing) so the price of homes shoots up so high that a significant portion of the American population cannot afford a home. (People in London are nodding their heads too.)
I wonder how much homelessness you could cure for $10 million dollars? I mean, if you really, really tried. Like, we are going to pay you a $10-million-dollar-bonus-if-you-got-100-homeless-people-a-home kind of trying. I wonder what kind of ideas a New York real estate developer would have on that subject?
Don Brown
August 4, 2024
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