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Friday, March
04, 2005 at 13:33:46 (EST) |
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I refuse to be a slave
Buzz McKinnon has quit his day job! Not only that, he did
it without harming any persons or animals! AND he has a new
job he will be starting in a couple of weeks! Who thought
his story would have such a happy ending? Not me, that's for
sure. But seriously, I'm sure his coworkers will be sad (or
panicky) to see him go. He's leaving the world of non-profit
art in favor of for-profit, money-grubbing, holes-in-the-ozone-layer-be-damned,
big-time corporate lifestyle livin'. Look for him on the corner
of your local bodega, hawking our records and a selection
of fine incense for your den, office or boudoir. Don
Boy Records, look out!
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Thursday,
March 03, 2005 at 18:12:56 (EST) |
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So this is where he came to hide
I think this one of the more deluded real estate postings on
craigslist today:
$5000 - ((( ARE YOU SICK AND TIRED OF BROOKLYN
?)))
Reply to: nascarjm0308@aol.com
Date: 2005-03-03, 4:36PM EST
$5000 out of pocket gets you a newly renovated 1 or 2 family
house in Staten Island !!!
Find out about the Nehemiah Grant and how it will help you
!!!
Bad Credit, no credit, no problem !!!
No hidden charges or closing fees !!!
Call Mr. Joe Now 917-642-9001
Map: Staten
and Island
this is in or around Staten Island
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other
commercial interests
Not that people don't get sick of Brooklyn. But how exactly
is Staten Island (at the corner of "Staten" and
"Island" apparently) an improvement?
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Thursday,
March 03, 2005 at 14:22:08 (EST) |
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In the middle of our street
Okay, who wants to buy a house? I know I do. Now that I've resumed
my search for shelter, there are a lot of things to consider.
If I can find an interested party to co-borrow on the mortgage,
we could jointly get more house than either party working individually.
Having co-signers would make getting the mortgage easier obviously,
but I'm not sure if anybody trusts anybody else enough to go
through with it. Heck, that's more commitment than getting married
in many cases. So my other thought is to buy a place myself
and rent out the other part(s) of the house and become the slumlord
I always knew I could be. It would be harder to get a big mortgage,
but there'd be less red tape at the outset. But then again,
whoever rents from me would still be basically throwing their
money away every month, as we all do now. Of course, they'd
be throwing their money away to me, which has got to
be better than your average slow-witted landlord.
The thought of owning a big house is daunting, and most of
us are used to being coddled by not having to pay for heat
or hot water, relying on complaining to the owner when something
goes wrong. It'd be more hassle, but after 4 years of living
in this place, in almost every situation I know I'd rather
have handled repairs and whatnot myself, as opposed to depending
on my landlady to get things done. In fact, her ineptitude
fills me with confidence in my own ventures. If this twit
can own a house, how tough can it possibly be?
 I'm
looking in my own neighborhood, but pickings are slim. Most
decent property is being sold for big bucks here, leaving
me only the outskirts of the hood. I've been looking into
Bed-Stuy for a while; it doesn't have the best reputation,
but that's been changing over the past few years. And they
got the digs. For instance, here's a house that I would love
to buy, just 3 blocks further east from my current apartment.
Oh, I found out those boarded up windows
just protect the nice new windows beneath while the building
is unoccupied. That makes these
listings make more sense. Sorta.
Not as much style as I'd like, but at
least it's all new
It's a 2-family and has had
a complete renovation: new kitchens, bathrooms, plumbing,
boiler, windows, doors, floors. The basement is half-finished
(but I'm more interested in just having a basement in any
case), and the front yard can be converted to a driveway (should
anyone happen to have a car). It ain't exactly cheap, but
compared to nearly every other house for sale in this town,
it's scraping the bottom edge of the price range. I'm waiting
to hear back from my mortgage broker, but I believe I might
be able to purchase such a place on my own, assuming I get
some rental income. But if I can get co-signers, it'd be no
problem. Everybody would be paying less than most renters
and get to own property to boot. And you know what that means!
Tax breaks!
The tax breaks you get from owning property are one of the
biggest advantages to this whole deal. Depending on your tax
bracket, you can deduct a portion of the cost of your mortgage
interest and property tax. This reduces your overall taxable
income and voilà! You're basically getting about a
quarter off your mortgage payments. Meanwhile, owning a home
builds equity which can be borrowed on down the line for further
house-related work. And of course, the whole time you own
it, the house is increasing in value. I know it's not exactly
a sure thing, but if you've been paying attention to home
prices in New York over the past years, you know that things
tend to go only up. What other type of purchase increases
in value like this, except for maybe certain comic books?
Some friends of mine just sold their apartment for over two-thirds
more than they paid not 3 years ago.
The more you look at it, the more buying property makes sense.
What kills me is how annoying they make the process. Between
realtors, lenders, sellers, and the city sticking its nose
in, most people probably just don't even wanna bother with
it. But after the tedious paperwork is over, you find you're
paying less than you used to pay in rent, and you get all
the benefits of property ownership.
"That's right. It's a crime. It is a crime. It's
also very safe."
--Dave Moss, Glengarry
Glen Ross
He was talking about stealing real estate leads, but this
holds true for buying property as well. It's a big deal to
go through with this, but once endured, it's actually a wise
investment. Of course, the real dream is to own a brownstone
in a favored part of town, and have enough rental income that
I don't have to pay anything at all, but buying now means
I just might be able to swing that down the road.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Tuesday, March
01, 2005 at 14:12:58 (EST) |
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Today your club, tomorrow the world
The New
York Press' recent article about the possible closing
of CBGB's
is of the same sort of unqualified, provocative vitriol for
which the paper is famous. But in this case, they kinda have
a point:
Be honest. Not counting your girlfriend's friend's band
that you had to support, when was the last time you went
to see a show at CBGB? Awhile ago, wasn't it? Music on that
level—most any level, actually—is as dead these
days as most of the Ramones.
 A
little overblown perhaps, but it's mostly true. When I first
heard about the possibility of losing CBGB's I was distressed,
but then it occurred to me that I don't even go there very
often. In fact, I tend to avoid the venue when possible; it's
often crowded with dorks, the drinks aren't particularly cheap,
and the layout creates irritating bottlenecks in which I always
find myself in the middle. The sound system is pretty good,
however, and many of the performances I've seen there have
been memorable. In fact, I was there just last night to see
Guitar
Wolf, the now-ancient Japanese punk band. It was an amazing
show, and holding it at this historical club did add a little
something to the atmosphere. But it wouldn't have made all
that much difference if they played somewhere else.
 Still
it seems like places like this in New York should qualify
for some kind of landmark status. This city is famous for
not being very sentimental about its own buildings, razing
beautiful and historic buildings to make way for newer (often
uglier) structures. The Landmarks
Commission has done much good work in sparing worthy buildings
from the wrecking ball, but who protects the shabby bars that
have produced such historic music? This begs another question,
voiced in the article: "Why didn't Hilly buy the damn
building years ago, back when he could've had the whole block
for $100,000?" He may not have the cash these days, but
there certainly must have been a time when the space could
have been had for a lower price.
Coulda, should, woulda, mouda. Unless the guy from Guitar
Wolf was serious about the Time Machine he said he built,
Krystal buying the bar isn't gonna happen. But I'm not totally
fatalistic. After all, Freddy's
has been under the gun for a while, and even though it seemed
absolutely hopeless at the beginning of the arena
onslaught, the save-Freddy's opposition seems to actually
be making headway in turning the tide of public opinion. Or
maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Speaking of the maintenance of truly historic and worthwhile
things, BAM
is screening the 1977 masterpiece The
Car tonight! We're all going to the 9:15 showing,
so go to that one if you can. Think of it as a silent show
of solidarity with all the other dinosaurs we wish wouldn't
get bulldozed too soon.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
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Week of February 27 - March
5, 2005
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Buzz couldn't be happier