Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin
My 5400 sf lot assesses at $450K without the house, Zillow estimates the total value at $700K. That for an average fifty year old house on a postage stamp sized lot in a middle class neighborhood.
So yes, the scarce resource is land.
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One of the places in NYC I enjoy visiting when there's an opportunity is the Society of Illustrators (
http://www.societyillustrators.org/). The Science Fiction Writers of America held their annual Authors and Editors bash there for a while, and it was a bit maddening - do I talk to folks or gawk at the stuff on the walls? The Society has originals by anyone who was anyone in American illustration in its collection, and you can see originals by Norman Rockwell, N C Wyeth, Arthur Rackham and many others.
The first year SFWA had its event there, the manager was talking about the history of the place. It had originally been a mansion in the "robber baron" days, and the fourth floor library was where a famous politician back when had trysts with his mistress. The Society apparently acquired the building for about $20K back during the Depression era. You couldn't touch it now for $20
million.
(SFWA left because it simply got too crowded, and the building does not have an elevator and is not ADA compliant. There is a narrow stair to the second floor where the bar and outdoor roof garden section is that will be a challenge for many attendees. At the last SFWA function there, a couple of friends were about to leave, and were thinking about making a farewell goodbye pass through the crowd, but weren't sure they'd be able to. I said "It's easy. KY Jelly." Another mutual friend seated nearby said "No. YA Jelly!" I mentioned that later to SFWA's former Executive Director, and she laughed and said she'd have to think about getting tubes labelled YA Jelly as party favors if the event was there again.)
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Dennis