welcome back to the blogosphere, mang.

i can't recommend this nabe highly enough as you know. can't really imagine living anywhere else.

there are some brokers on montague who have exclusive access to floor-thru rentalz and the price is pretty right. they're not nice people, but they get the job done. if you are considering renting -- maybe heights / cobble hill like clinton south of atlantic is right. you could get a 2br, maybe even w/ small yard, in the 2400$ range. buying of course is a different animal ... it's like calculating fahrenheit ... double the rent and add 30k.

for example there are some new places right up the hill on pacific from the french place, bar tabac, pretty run of the mill 1brs going for $900k ... WTF? that's at least a $1500 monthly premium over market rents.

believe me, i've gone over the numbers in detail. renting under your threshold of affordability and saving the extra cash* is a far better bet right now than paying premium to buy and hoping for appreciation on the scale we've seen.

* presuming you actually save it
pbdotc | 12.23.07 - 9:28 am | #

~gotta agree about Cobble Hill/Carrol Gardens ..awesome 'hood. After all the overdevelopment & gentrification downtown, I'd say those areas are New Yorks finest right now. For cheaper but a little farther out you might try Columbia Heights. Very insulated, interesting and family friendly..

as for NBA stuff: gotta disagree on a few things. first off, Dickau IS an NBA player. I saw him in a summer league game his rookie year and he was easily the best player on the floor for his team. In fact, a young Richard Jefferson got so frustrated with Dickau's Nash-like ability to penetrate the Net D that he threw Dickau to the floor on a drive and got himself ejected. True his D is not on an NBA level but his O is worthy to call himself an NBA player. It's just so hard to believe because he looks like someone we'd play with at Houston street.

As for Zach: totally understand the Tony Campell point but it doesn't apply to Zach. He is a BALLER. His rebounding tenacity, his offensive skill set --ultra legit. Still, he does need to fucking pass the ball..

dlee

PS: of course, i agree about Marbury.
dlee | 12.23.07 - 10:36 am | #

i so wish i rented out my co-op on clark street instead of selling it. i can't imagine how nice it must be there today.

but truth be told, your commute from there will probably take just as long as some places in jersey.
crsmal | Homepage | 12.23.07 - 11:36 am | #

Dlee, aren't we actually on the same page? Doesn't being really good in summer league roughly equate to being rosterworthy and not much more?
hans | 12.23.07 - 4:27 pm | #

~true to an extent, hans. i just thought you were insinuating that Dickau has no business being in the league PERIOD (*like for instance: Mark Madsen, Luke Jackson, Rafael Araujo, Paul Shirley, Jason Hart, Wayne Simean, Cedric Simmons, etc.)
dlee | 12.23.07 - 8:45 pm | #

if the knicks threw the ball through the hoop more they would get many more points
billy packer | 12.24.07 - 10:44 am | #

I'm sorry you had a tough year and I hope next year is brighter.

Hang in there.
smoker | 12.27.07 - 9:09 pm | #

It's good to see you back, Hans. I had an unexpected and embarrassing crying fit looking at the lit Xmas tree glowing in the dark on Dec. 26 this year because of said death-dread but I think you're right that thinking about it is just a waste of time because you're never prepared.
Christina | Homepage | 12.29.07 - 2:48 am | #