Tag Archives: New York City

Real Estate

New App Attempts to Match Roommates

 a roommate notes 18 Dear roommate, sometimes youre a pain (27 photos)

Photo courtesy of http://theberry.com/2010/09/24/dear-roommate-sometimes-youre-a-pain-27-photos/

A new mobile app is trying to link housemates together, stealing some cues from how dating websites make connections. MatchPad attempts to pair renters based on their projected compatibility.

Read more: 5 Million Households Lost to Roomie Trend

The site matches based on budget for rent, location preferences, and lifestyle choices. It asks users to rate themselves in areas such as how extroverted, detail-oriented, and controlling they are, in addition to their overall cleanliness. It then ranks potential roommates for the person using a compatibility scale of “great” to “OK.”  Users can connect via private messages with potential roommates to investigate further for compatibility.

So far, more than 3,000 users have created accounts on the website since it launched in September, beginning with the New York City market. The app will be available on Android and iOS platforms in January.

MatchPad has a special section designated for real estate professionals, offering qualified leads based on location and budget.

But can a roommate-compatibility app work? Some companies—such as the dating site OKCupid—have tested this idea in the past, but the idea failed to gain traction.

“That is partly because when selecting someone to live with, even more than when picking someone to date, users tend to be choosy,” a New York Times article notes. “After all, a bad first date lasts a couple of hours; a bad roommate pairing could last a year.”

Source: “Helping Felix Avoid Oscar,” The New York Times (Nov. 20, 2014)

Live in Nevada County? Call or email today
for a your free home market analysis

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Travel

New York Museum of Natural History

5 Comments

my-son-in-museum-new-york

Image 1 of 9

My oldest son John Jr.

The next day we visited the American Museum of Natural History we had been here on our last trip to New York, but this museum could take easily take several FULL days of study.

The first thing we did was to watch “Journey to the Stars” a short film narrated by Whoppi Goldberg about the life and death of stars, like our sun. The movie is shown inside a globe within the four story tall planetarium of the museum – quite a sight in and of itself!

On the bottom floor of the planetarium the best display is the Willamette Meteorite (so named because it was found in Willamette, Oregon) weighing 15.5 tons! It is made of metalic iron. Thousands of years ago it traveled at 64,000 kilometers per hour and crashed into the earth’s surface. The top surface (see pictures) is covered with large cavities. This is because over the years the rainwater reacted with sulfur within the meteorite, creating  sulfuric acid, which then ate away at the iron of the meteorite.

After the movie we wandered through the African Room. where there are panoramas of the various climates, and geographic areas of Africa including the birds, insects reptiles and mammals native to the area. The panorama also included the real animals, some birds and reptiles that have been preserved by taxidermy which make the displays really come to life.

We completed our stay with lunch in the food court, very nice, but not cheep!!

 

Related articles


View Larger Map
For all your real estate neeeds
Call or email:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE# 00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Travel

Visit to New York Tenement Museum

1 Comment

front-tenament-museum

Image 1 of 10

Tenement Museum

New York again… this time February 7, 2013… COLD… We did come prepared, thermal underwear, hats, gloves, scarves, and  boots, but this is really cold, high of 30 degrees.

Last time we had tried to go on a tour of the Tenement Museum, but couldn’t due to the crowds, although we did see a nice 30 minute movie of the times. This is a 5 story tenement that 10,000 people from 25 countries called home between 1863 and 1935 in the Lower East side of NY at 97 Orchard Street. So this time we made reservations to the tour called “Hard Times”.

This was a tour of the three room apartments of two families of immigrants who survived the economic depressions at 97 Orchard Street between 1863 and 1935. We visited the restored apartment of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the Panic of 1873  (they think he just ran away from his family) but the mother became a seamstress and move up in the world later in life.

And we also visited the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression and went on to move up to a better area of town. Fascinating stories complete with artifacts and pictures. In the tour, they say one in eight Americans can trace their lineage back to the immigrant tenements in New York.

After this we wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy (right next door to each other), the changes happen rapidly between one and the other within just one block!! It is amazing… like going to a different country by walking!!

We ate a wonderful Italian meal at El Piccolo Buffalo at 141 Mulberry Street – see picture! We recommend it!
For all your real estate neeeds
Call or email:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE# 00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Best Season For Home Buying

1 Comment
Photo Credit: icanhascheeseburger.com
Photo Credit: icanhascheeseburger.com

After the holidays, buyers tend to start getting more aggressive with their house hunting. Search activity usually peaks around March or April in most states, according to a new study of home searches from 2007 to 2012 conducted by Trulia.

In September, searches slow down. By December buyer searches ebb to their lowest point of the year.

“Home-search activity swings with the seasons in every state,” says Jed Kolko, chief economist of Trulia. “Buyers and sellers can use these ups and downs to their advantage. Sellers looking for the most buyers should list when real estate search traffic peaks. Buyers, however, should think about searching off-season, when there is less competition from other searchers.”

The study revealed seasonal patterns of search activity state to state. Here are the months when online real estate searches peak in every U.S. state:

  • January: Hawaii
  • February: Florida
  • March: Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington
  • April: Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin
  • May: Real estate activity does not peak in any state
  • June: Mississippi
  • July: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming
  • August: Montana and Oregon
  • September-December: Real estate activity does not peak in any state

Source: “Trulia Reveals Best Home-Searching Season,” HousingWire (Jan. 29, 2013)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

When Buying a Home Factoring in the Cost of Commuting

 
A recent study by the Center for Housing Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology suggests that borrowers of moderate means would be smart to calculate the costs of commuting before buying.

  • The study, which looked at transportation and housing costs in the 25 largest metropolitan areas, found that transportation costs rose faster than incomes in every area over the last decade.
  • That has added to the financial burden shouldered by moderate-income homeowners, defined as households earning 50 to 100 percent of a metropolitan area’s median income.  Transportation consumes 30 percent of their income, on average.  Add housing costs to that and the combined cost burden rises to 72 percent.
  • The study also found that some metropolitan areas generally considered more affordable become less so after transportation is figured in.
  • Mortgage underwriters sometimes look at a home’s location relative to where the buyer works, but in most cases a long distance between the two is an issue only if it suggests that the buyer isn’t actually going to live in the house.

Read the full story

 

Related articles

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE# 00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Travel

New York City – Central Park Visit (Before Sandy)

httpv://youtu.be/rpucggKjfIc

This time our week long trip in early October 2012 was to New York City, John and I, along with John’s daughter Teresa, and her daughter Leah.

Day One – New York City –  Grand Central Park

Traveling from our Queens Hotel to the downtown area via subway, we arrived at the NYC Central Park at the south entrance, and saw the squirrels near the Heckster Playground. We then went walking past the Central Park Carousel (Since 1971, a carousel has operated at this location in Central Park. The current replaced the original that was destroyed in a fire in 1950. Built in 1908, the current carousel was originally on Coney Island and is famous for having the largest hand carved horses of any carousel.) PS: no picture in our video check the link.

We then strolled up the “Literary Walk”, and the Mall Pomenade, one of the few formal features of Central Park, the Promenade is flanked by American elm trees, a favorite of Central Park architects Olmstead and Vaux. There are many statues of literary figures along the Mall, including Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Located in the middle of the park, The Mall runs from 66th to 72nd Streets past an old white band shell for concerts.

Following that we visited the Angel of the Waters, also called Bethesda Fountain, rising from the Bethesda Terrace on “The Lake” in Central Park. (The statue references the Gospel of John, which describes an angel blessing the Pool of Bethesda and giving it healing powers.) On our walk in that area we saw at least five (5) weddings!! It was amazing  – all different kinds of people and formality!

Walking west, we ended up at the entrance to the park at Merchants Gate, and saw the Maine Monument which commemorates the 260 American sailors who perished when the US battleship Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, then under Spanish rule. It is still unclear what caused the explosion on February 15, 1898, but Spain declared war on the United States by April 1898. The treaty, which ended the war in December 1898, freed Cuba from Spanish dominion, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam and surrendered the Philippines to the United States.

The gilded bronze figures atop the pylon represent Columbia Triumphant leading a seashell chariot of three hippocampi — part horse, part sea-creature that are said to be cast from metal recovered from the guns of the Maine itself. The figures reflect America’s new position as a dominant world force.

Unfortunately we only had one day to spend in the Park, and only covered (briefly) less than a third of its area. We now hear that Hurricane Sandy downed over 800 trees in the park. Sad.

Written by Judy J Pinegar

Related articles

For all your Real Estate needs call:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE# 00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta