ArticleMaestro.com

When getting into anything, it helps to do a little reconnoitering of the facts, even for a professional developer such as Isaac Toussie. And for the appropriate socioeconomic context in which to put such information, it helps to reference governmental authorities such as census reports.

New York’s median yearly household income is almost forty-three and a half thousand dollars, compared to the national average of just under forty-two thousand every year. The state median family income also comes out ever-so-slightly ahead of the national figure at over fifty-one thousand versus just over fifty-thousand per annum. As might be expected, per capita differences post the same general ratio at almost twenty-three and a half thousand to over twenty-one and a half thousand, respectively.

Some more facts and figures need to be taken into consideration for a well-rounded appraisal of realty trend lines in New York, but these pertain more specifically to real estate: the median value of owner-occupied housing units is well over a hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars, almost thirty thousand dollars more than the national average of only over one hundred and nineteen thousand. Curiously, the asking price for housing units statewide compared to nationwide posted only a slight difference of about five thousand dollars, at well over ninety-four thousand dollars to only over eighty-nine thousand, respectively.

Average sales prices for homes in the Empire State have often been between two hundred and three hundred thousand dollars for four bedroom units, the most expensive category of housing. However, extremely dramatic spikes and drops have been posted periodically, such that gains of up to over seven hundred thousand dollars were reached. Such surges and declines have not lasted more than a year, and because the drop-offs have only very rarely fell past previous baseline levels, they may have been viewed as simple market corrections instead of anything more ominous. In fact, other kinds of housing – that is, one, two, three, and even four-bedroom units – have held rather steadily for a decade, rising only gradually from an average of around one hundred thousand to no more than two hundred thousand almost ten years later. When considering just one and two-bedroom homes, prices have only appreciated around fifty-thousand dollars in eight years.

It can be surmised that New York’s residential real estate market is fairly stable on the whole. The recent economic woes afflicting the nation have certainly made an impact, but residential realty statewide seems to have endured it fairly well, all things considered. After all, this is the capital of the world we’re dealing with here!

That means that New York City will always be bustling with economic activity, and the state along with it in a rising-tide-lifts-all-boats fashion. Local developers like
Isaac Toussie consider home prices of half a million not at all unusual, and should be thought of the “entry-level” price one should expect to pay, even for somewhat dilapidated structures in some of the city’s worst neighborhoods. Rents are probably even more incredible, with people actually leasing out their walk-in closets as rooms!

It is essential to do your homework when it comes to investing in New York properties. New York City is a very diverse place, and even adjacent neighborhoods can be drastically different, never mind those in different boroughs. According to industry experts such as Isaac Toussie, nothing is as it seems, and if you are looking for residential property that you plan on living in yourself, you might even want to arrange to spend a few nights on the premises to really know personally what it’s like. For example, many peaceful-looking places are actually not peaceful at all but deadly, ridden with crime and pollution and a host of other social ills. Even when it comes to commercial real estate, things may not be as they seem. Developers like Isaac Toussie are common in this town, and to stand out from the crowd you need to be known for something more than just a hole in the ground of an empty lot.

New York realty markets are distinctive in many categories, including population density. As an investor you want to thoroughly research them all before proceeding to a decision of any economic significance. It is often valuable to think of different neighborhoods as cities or towns in themselves, which was indeed actually the historical case. Such an artificial view of the city would not suffice long-term, but it can be usefully dabbled in from time to time for specific purposes. For example, it is not uncommon to find the direst poverty fairly close to some of the most opulent luxury. As an investor in New York property you want to be aware of this possibility so as to not miss any good opportunities simply on account of ignorance.

When looking for property in New York City, you must consider the people, especially when it comes to homes for yourself or potential tenants. Ultimately, the people are what will determine the quality of life. Will it be a noisy place? Full of trash? Or does the local community take some pride in itself, without any kids running around causing trouble?

Even when it comes to the commercial side of things such considerations are important. If you have space for rent but the neighbors are lower class people, you probably won’t get any upscale businesses looking to sign a lease with you, even with all the governmental encouragement there is, such as tax breaks and the like.

It’s a delicate balance, which is part of the reason why rents are so high in the city. But what to do as an investor?

Watch. And learn. You can never learn enough about such an exciting, dynamic city, and you never can tell just when such knowledge may be put to good use. Why not bicycle around to get a good feel for a place? New York City has ambitions to become one of the most bicycle-friendly municipalities in the country, and this is one of the best ways to transport yourself through different places in order to get a personal feel for them.

One way of generating money on the internet is to find explosive niches to blog about, wildly popular topics that individuals go on the internet to research and read. For example, you can start a web site devoted to a profitable Television shows with a huge audience. This ensures interest in your website, which is the first step in generating money online: providing something that individuals find valuable.

This is what it means to find explosive niches to blog; you want to provide a forum where people thinking about a certain topic can gather and exchange viewpoints. In order to make money, the topic has to be “explosive” but “niche” – popular but not so popular where you are likely to be a Johnny-come-lately to the proceedings.

The trick is to find that delicate balance where the territory is still fresh enough, so to speak, so that you can claim your own stake, and territory that isn’t so out of the way such that very few people will be interested in dropping by (your web site).

That’s how you can blog residual cash to your business, making money even while you sleep because the whole thing is computerized and automated! The idea is that you have what’s known as a turn-key system set up which will basically run on its own without needing your constant supervision.

So to continue with our Television show example from above, you would create a website devoted to that Television show, with gossip, news, and reviews on the stars, episodes, and plotlines – anything that would be of interest to a fan of that show. This show has to be popular enough to assure you of numbers (extremely important as any salesman will tell you: only 1-3% of “eyeballs” actually “convert” into real sales – money in your pocket), but not so popular such that other people already have websites up (which you will be hard-pressed to steal readers from!).

With media attention commonly concentrated on foreclosed homeowners, this article will take a brief look to consider the effect on homebuilders such as Isaac Toussie.

Embittered homeowners who have been foreclosed upon have taken to trashing the premises before getting kicked out, with anecdotal estimates by real estate agents putting the number of such vandalized properties at up to half of all such units. But given all the media coverage of foreclosed homeowners, it’s time to take a look now at how the same crisis is affecting homebuilders like Isaac Toussie. After all, many of the small-time businessmen had to take out loans in order to finance their housing developments. Of course, there are no such developers out on the street, and their cases, unfortunate in themselves, are not anywhere near comparable to that of homeowners who have nowhere to go at all. But it’s interesting to see how things can turn out for businessmen and women caught up in the same economic hurricane, and how reactions can differ – or not.

For instance, many small homebuilders have had to dip into personal savings just to keep their companies afloat, a familiar situation to many homeowners. Buyers were disappearing with cash deposits of several thousand left on the table, proof that local residential property markets had turned ice-cold. Even more unfortunately, many homebuilders have proceeded since then to file for bankruptcy protection, with vast sums owed not only to their lenders but also their subcontractors and workers. But still worse yet, these small-time builders have often financed their businesses with so-called recourse debt which allows banks to seize homes, cars, and other personal assets in case of default – again, quite a familiar scenario comparable to that faced by many homeowners.

Such situations have increased and are now considered commonplace across the country. Many a builder has been left with unsold units and land, falling behind on interest payments and facing foreclosures. And in a very bad sign of the extent of the destruction involved, even very large homebuilders are in trouble, with legendary builders such as Levitt & Sons, founders of Levittown, New York on Long Island, famous for epitomizing postwar suburbia, forced into bankruptcy like some small unfortunate start-up.

It’s gotten so bad that once solid partnerships and friendships have frayed as an every-man-for-himself mentality creeps into the proceedings. Contractors and subcontractors have had to take out liens on the property they build in order to protect themselves. And it is in this respect that the experiences of homeowners and homebuilders differ: the latter have almost no hope of any governmental assistance whatsoever, despite being affected by the same subprime mortgage industry shenanigans that’s made owning a home so suddenly burdensome.

Legal Disclaimer: Be advised that such information as has been presented so far only constitutes mere opinion and should under no circumstances be misconstrued for professional advice of any kind whatsoever! Always consult those properly licensed and/or otherwise qualified when it comes to making business decisions of any financial importance.

Get out of the rat race and onto the fast track by means of affiliate marketing online. Thanks to the power of the internet, offering unprecedented scope and reach, there are now a few new ways to make money from the comfort of your own home. Best of all, unlike old-fashioned medical billing or envelope stuffing schemes, these modern day techniques really work! Affiliate marketing is the roadmap to 6 and 7 figures – if you know what you’re doing and you are doing something valuable.

Now let’s pause right there for a moment, because lost in all of the hooplah over making money online is that fact that you are only going to be rewarded for adding something of value to the internet. Yes, internet marketing equals residual cashflow, but that only happens when you’re actually supplying something that contributes positively to someone’s life!

For instance, teach enough people something they want to know and enough of those people will help make you rich – not by paying you any money themselves, but by clicking on any number of ads you can host on your attractively designed, easy-to-navigate information-rich website.

Every click could be anywhere from a few pennies to a couple of dollars for you from the business that’s chosen your website as the venue to promote their product or service – and, as previously mentioned, with enough individuals browsing your website odds are that enough of them will click on an ad, translating to hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month!

However the trick is to offer a thing of value and market it right. Without proper marketing, no one will actually hear of your great website, even if it contains the answer to life, the universe, and everything. But all of the advertising in the world isn’t going to help folks want to come back or even stay on your site if there’s nothing there of value to them.

A rich person like Zalman Silber is commonly acclaimed for making a lot of money and giving it away. From a certain point of view, that is the best of all worlds, to be a winner in life with access to the world’s luxuries while also doing good: to be admired for one’s material achievements as well as spiritual aspirations.

Yet for all the Zalman Silbers of the world, there is a world of difference between being and having. Many misconstrue having with being – the more they have, the bigger they are, as if a better person is produced by ever more goods. Yet real good comes about not from possession – or, even, good works – but from being, true being.

It is a hard thing to comprehend, as most of us take life very much for granted. We imagine that to be is the simplest thing in the world – but we discount our own humanity in supposing that, plant-like, all we need is some light and water and we are all that we can be.

No, not even having a beachfront mansion with a helicopter out front and a yacht out back on your very own island makes you all that you can be. To be fully human, we must also understand deprivation, fear, want – we must experience life in all its totality.

We must empathize. For the act of empathy makes us most human – the exercise of our imaginations, the use of our unique ability to almost literally put ourselves in another’s stead.

And hence the distinction between being and having. One sees this very clearly in a classroom, even in college, where most students scribble away furiously, taking down notes as the professor speaks. Yet how much are they really retaining if half their brains are busy recording what was said instead of being fully engaged in what is said?

Full undivided attention means precisely that. It is the total direct no-holds-barred personal experience of what is going on, what is being said – and what that means in all its implications. In the act of note-taking, however, one is necessarily forever playing “catch up,” with a significant amount of one’s attention focused on the act of recording – and editing, moreover: a necessarily “distancing” set of behaviors.

It is as if these students expect that the very having of some notes of the lecture constitutes knowledge itself – literally having knowledge – while the fact of the matter is that one best knows, most completely knows, in the direct experiencing of what is to be known.

This direct experience does not come from notes hastily jotted in a strobe light-like manner. It comes from being fully in the moment, as opposed to standing outside of it recording.

From the time of its invention, the water cooler – and subsequently,water for the office delivery – has been a long-lasting fixture in the modern office environment. In lieu of a water fountain – which itself has its own cultural associations and connotations, even as a image of the American civil rights movement, another story for another time – many offices prefer the use of a free-standing water cooler fitted with the easily recognizable five gallon tanks installed to the top. The truth is, this is what presents office water delivery its name, in that these five gallon jugs are literally delivered by truck to the office, generally all the time and usually in exchange for the empty jugs left from the previous month.

The preference for water for the office delivery and these free-standing units is normally one of function over form. Through there are the usual logistical aggrevations of having to actually manipulate the heavy, five gallon jugs received by office water delivery, the features of the unit itself more than make up for it. Whereas a water fountain generally only presents cooled water out of just one spout, water coolers generally have a number of spouts, usually two or three. Needless to say there is the basic spout, which when managed with a simple lever delivers cold water, but it is not unheard of to find models with spouts for room temperature water, or even extremely hot, almost boiling water – perfect for use in making tea or fast coffee.

Other than functionality, sanitation is a common reason for preference of office water delivery over locally available tap water through a water fountain. The reasonably sizable, free-standing units are often laden with various water purification technologies which, in addition to the large jugs of water which are already sanitized and purified at their bottling plants, make for the purest water available. Typically office water coolers use some form of activated carbon filtering, which uses specially treated charcoal to filter larger impurities (salts, dissolved inorganic compounds, etc) from the water.

In latest years, it has also been frequent for these units to be fitted with some form of ultraviolent light treatment, which usually kills what might be left over after charcoal filtering: dissolved organic compounds, bacteria, and so on.

Though extremely basic in design and purpose, the insufferable banality of the contemporary office cubical labyrinth has made the ubiquitous water cooler a sort of social hub at the office. So familiar is this fact that colloquial terms like “water cooler show” have been coined off of it, in reference to the type of trite dialogue about popular culture expected amongst employees gathering around the unit. Even the phrase “word around the water cooler” in reference to rumors or gossip has entered the cultural lexicon. Interesting that such an oddly mundane things as office water delivery can be, in a way, responsible for such widely familiar cultural phenomena.