Home Values Go Down --- Taxes Go Up

Honestly, I don’t know enough about economics, real estate or taxes to give much weight to my thoughts on this story. I leave it to the viewer and experts to make sense of New York City’s homeowner market. With that said, I read as much of the city’s Finance Department report as I dared for fear of internal bleeding. This report details figures and formulas, assessments and explanations as to why many homeowners will be paying more on less. All may be kosher with everything they stated. I don’t know for sure. But perhaps because of it’s presentation, I was reminded of a quote which reads, “Statistics don’t lie, but people who use them occasionally do.” Take this blog for what it’s worth … or assessed for.

Hey Nostradamus! It’s All About Location, Location, Location!

I just watched a television show on the History Channel. It was on the famous 16^th century French prophet, Nostradamus. Many consider him the greatest “seer” of them all. His prophecies and quatrains have survived and have been studied for nearly 500 years. (I sure hope he was wise enough to secure copyrights to his work!) Most things in the show dealt with the usual topics. Things like the antichrist, end of the world, famine, disasters, war, death, ecological disasters, etc.. The usual Sunday night, pick-me-up kind of stuff. You know.

Regrettably, there was no mention at all about specific Manhattan buildings going co-op. I really want to get in at the “insider price” to make some big dough before they convert … and it has to be before 2012 … which unfortunately is the end of time as we know it. So, he was no help, and my time … make that our time, is running out.

So this evening, I’m seriously questioning his voyeuristic abilities. Nostradamus may have envisioned many future events, but I don’t think he ever witnessed the high price of high-rises on Manhattan’s upper west side in 2007. If so, he would have sailed here and bought all of Manhattan 50 years before the Dutch who saw $24 as a pretty good investment for the place.

Nostradamus … famous prophet … lousy real estate speculator.