If someone asks this is where I'll be...

I love living in New York City. I do. For all the reasons too numerous to list which make this group of islands, quite deservedly, the center of the known universe. The city so nice they named it twice. I can't image life anywhere else.

However when you seriously begin to look into home ownership in this city, it gets a little easier to imagine life elsewhere. For example, this:

is what $350,000 will get you here. And no, it's not a picture of one of the rooms, that's the whole enchilada. Behind the wall in the right of the picture is a galley kitchen no normal sized human being could cook in, across from it a postage stamp bathroom with a toilet and a shower stall. A whopping 250 square feet. A third of a million dollars of which you must put AT LEAST 20% down. Plus, for you non NYC residents, a little som'pin som'pin called "maintenance" which is another few hundred to a few thousand ON TOP of your mortgage. A month. Yes, a month.

This, on the other hand:

is what $350,000 gets you in Monk's hometown. 4,492 square feet, not including the thousand square foot rental apartment in the attic. Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, three half baths, four working fireplaces and a wood stove, completely restored, landmark certified, on just under an acre.

Yeah, I know all the downsides. But still.

Posted by Antigeist at September 19, 2005 01:33 PM