Stardate 60270.27 - People Make Too Damn Much Money

I don't work on Wall Street. I don't get a $100k bonus every year. I'm not a lawyer, nor a doctor. The same applies to Cheryl. We are living in NYC on "normal" salaries, not Wall Street salaries. So the prices to own here just sicken me. We went to two "open houses" in our building today (we live in a condo building but most units are owned by a rental company - and for the record, we rent). We do have a full-time doorman, but the building was built in the 50s and our apartment probably hasn't been renovated in 20 years.

Now granted, both for-sale apartments were completely gut-renovated and were pretty nice. Both had their own washer/dryer, which is nice, and both had a terrace in addition to the balcony, and that was also nice as the terraces overlook 66th Street (quiet) and not Second Ave (loud). But the prices are out of control, especially when both overlook the construction site outside that will be generating noise through 2008. The two bedroom, two bath was $1.6M. The three bedroom, two bath was $2.4M. The 2BR, 2BA was probably about 1,200 sq ft. The 3br, 2ba was probably around 2,000 sq ft. (My international readers will have to do the math on their own.)

This is why I will never be able to own in Manhattan. I did the math, and even with a substantial down-payment, the $1.6M apartment would cost us $8k per month in mortgage and fees. That is pretty fucking depressing.

In a humorous coincidence, one of the apartments also had a grape motif in the kitchen, which reminded us of the house in Holmdel that we looked at around Christmas with the grape motif bed. That house, which had 3,800 sq ft finished and another 2,000 sq ft of an unfinished basement, was only $1.3M.

Now that I'm depressed, I'll leave you with a picture of Loren in the exersaucer, trying to drink from a cup. She loves to hold onto cups and try to drink.


And I'll miss her 5-month birthday this week as I'll be traveling.

NYC