one of my childhood 'heroes' pass away.  The death of Gary Coleman left me very melancholy, I wasn't a huge fan, but did watch the show religiously when I was younger. One takes these people for granted because they always seem to be 'there.'  I never thought twice about Gary Coleman all these years, except when I heard him on Howard Stern or The Insider, and even then I thought the guy was a tragic figure, I felt bad for him for all that he's been thru.

When I learned he died I felt like a little bit of more of my childhood was gone, I know it's part of getting older and eventually everyone does die.  What makes it more poignant is that he was only 42, heck I'm 41 myself.  It's very tragic to lose a young person, and I feel extremely sad for his family for they have outlived their son.  Talking to parents and reading about parents who lose their children when they are still alive is so sad, for obvious reasons.  It's alot to put anyone thru yet alone a parent.

Then I look thru all the people who died this year (thanks AOL galleries).  James Whitmore--Palmer Courtland on All My Children, my mother lived and died by this soap opera, I used to have to tape it for her when I was little, then I actually started watching it and in college used to watch it everyday, even though I hadn't seen it in 10 years.  That's the great thing about soaps, you can miss them for 'x' years and after a few days watching it you're caught up!

Pernell Roberts died this year also, I barely remember him from Bonanza, but I do remember him from Trapper John, MD--a show I watched in passing but not so much so to say I have a connection. 

John Forsythe, always rememebr that voice in Charlie's Angels.  I remember being a little kid and wanting to know who the hell that guy was.  Although many people told me it was John Forsythe, I never knew who that was until along came Dynasty, then I thought 'wow that guy does sound like Charlie..."

Rober Culp, although he was in so much stuff, I remember him from the tv show "The Greatest American Hero," which in retrospect was a crappy show, but I always remember him being the dude in the costume's 'sidekick' of sorts.  That guy used to fly, but never could control it, very 'heady' stuff for a 10 year old...

Peter Graves died--again he was in so much stuff, I always remember him from Mission Impossible and one of my all time favorite movies Airplane!  I think that movie re-introduced him to a new generation of people that may have forgotten about him.  I know it did for me, he was hilarious as Captain Oveur.

Merlin Olsen passed away due to cancer.  I can never forget watching Little House on the Prairie, I seemingly grew up with half pint, Mary, Nellie Olsen, Albert, Charles, and the rest of them.  Michael Landon passed away decades ago, but his productions were all so heartwarming and always evoked emotion.  I can't tell you how many times I bawled during some of the episodes on Little House on the Prairie, Father Murphy, Touched by an Angel.  I digress, because Merlin Olsen, I vaguely remember him when he played for the Rams, I remember him more as the actor, this big dude who played this caring character, I guess that's why the program worked so well becuse of the oxymoron between the guy and character.

Corey Haim--definitely one of my contemporaries, again very tragic since he died so young.  THose 1980's teen movies really portrayed the angst and emotions we seemingly felt at that time.  It's funny to watch them now, because even though I feel dumb for saying it, we could all picture ourselves as one of the characters dealing with the issues the character may have been dealing with.  Don't even get me started on the John Hughes movies!

These are only a handful of the notables that have dies this year, but when I see them as a list a little bit of my childhood is gone.  I realize this is something that will happen all throughout the rest of my time on this planet, they only thing that if guaranteed is death right?

Sorry to ramble on, but does everything have to be about Real Estate all the time?

I realy was earning my bacon yesterday.  I had 9 appointments--whew!  My 9:30AM appointment I showed the Morgan Lofts to 142-144 Steuben St Jersey City, NJ 07302.  She didn't like the 3 bedroom, but I always show the Penthouse just for kicks, the kids ran up there and picked out their bedrooms and that was that.  She made an offer but I doubt it will be accepted, but I have to present all offers!

My second appointment at 11:00AM, TOOK the place at 295 York St Jersey City, NJ 07302.  This place was a great deal for $1450, directly across from Van Vorst Park.  I have shown it several times, but no takers.  It's a 600 sq ft apartment for $1450, two block from the Grove St PATH, how can you beat it.  I had several clients tell me it wasn't worth it, but I beg to differ and obviously I found the client that agreed!  There was a swap shop at the park yesterday, I thought that may have dettered potential clients, but it turned out pretty good.  I bought a couple of chachkis for myself.

My 1:00PM gut never showed up or never even called, I guess it was a good thing because I ended up renting the place that he wanted to rent to my 11:00 AM couple.  c'est la vie...

Then my 2:00PM appointment was a half-hour late!  It totally threw off my schedule, it really wasn't their fault, they were driving in from Bostona nd got caught in traffice on I-95.  I was just about to leave when they pulled up.  I showed them four apartments, 2 at 89 Wayne St Jersey City, NJ 07302, the 3 bedroom loft at 142-144 Steuben St Jersey City, NJ 07302 and 1 at 211 Washington St Jersey City, NJ 07302.  The loft was a little scary for the Dad becuase he has a 3 year old that likes to climb--enough said?  So the lofts were out, I don't beleive they liked the other apartment at 89 Wayne St, but I do believe they liked the location more than the apartment in Paulus Hook (211 Washington St), they were making a decision by tomorrow and I was supposed to be called regardless of the choice, but that's what everyone says!  At least they could have rented one of my places seeing as they made me late for my next two appointments!

I double booked my 3:00PM appointment because quite frankly, I had a couple that just had to go in today and didn't want to wait.  When we went to register I learned that they had called and were unable to get an appointment, and that's when they called me(more on that later).  Any way so I met my two clients, I had been communicating with her for several weeks, she works for CBS and travels a lot and she cancelled last week, so she finally made it out yesterday.  I felt a little bad because since I am trying to give both clients my undivided attention it was tough because I had to split my attention, it hurts the sales presentation also for the leasing agent, but we made it work, after all the were both looking for the same size apartment at 225 Grand Jersey City, NJ 07302.

After this we went to 70 Greene St Jersey City, NJ 07302 where we met Kathy Porpiglia, quite frankly the BEST leasing agent that I have met.  She really loves her building and you can see by the way she makes her presentation that she loves her building.  My clients are always impressed after we go and see her, not only by the building but by Kathy herself.  It's always fun to see her too, because she's uber energy!  I just wish I could finally rent one of the places at 70 Greene already.

Afterwards we went to Portside Towers, a sister property of 70 Greene St.  We were an hour late, but luckily Jill was able to accomodate us and get us thru the building.  My clients really liked this building, much to my surprise, but they reall, really liked 225 Grand St.  Portside Towers is one of the older building in Jersey City, but it is well maintained, they are renovating all of the apartments currently, so as leases are up they renovated the apartment.  Granite coutertops, stainless steel appliances, flat top stove, very sleek and modern.  This was my last showing for my 3:00PM clients, they went back to 225 Grand to speak to Michael Miller the leasing agent over at 225 Grand, although I KNOW they will end up at 225 grand, they still would like to see other luxury buildings to "rule them out," I guess they want to make sure they are getting the best building which I told them they are, but I' a Realtor and a salesperson and I'll leave it at that...

I had a 4:00PM appointment that wanted to go to 225 Grand, I finagled getting an appointment and asked Roni Billington my broker to take them over, as I already had 2 clients going thru the building at the same time!  These people NEVER showed up, and never even called to cancel the appointment.  I was throughly annoyed.

My last appointment was at 89 Wayne St--AGAIN, the 2-2 bedroom apartments.  The guys I met were two muscular dudes, I asked what kind of work they do, they said they were bankers.  I was like wow, "dude if you told me to put my money here, I would put it there because I wouldn't want you to crush me with your bear hands."  They were very nice, I got a maybe feeling from them.   I didn't realize the rent on these apartments had been lowered, which is a good thing--I'll have them rented THIS week!

I had double booked this appointment also, one client called and claimed she found a place, but I think she was lying.  She really wanted the 2 bedroom at the Morgan Lofts, but I rented that out on Friday.  I also had double booked another guy at 3PM, but he never showed up or called.

All in all it was a pretty good day, NINE appointments, 1 rented, 2 definite maybes, and the other 6 well you know how those went..., I put up a couple of ads on Craigslist so I am sure there will be some calls throughout the day.

Well, you wins some you lose some, had a really great ad on Craigslist for 225 Grand, but was asked to take it down.  I thought the ad was great but the building management didn't.  This really is a nice building in Paulus Hook/Downtown.  I really played on the whole parking situation in Jersey City--really the ad was brilliant!

What do you guys think?

I regret that there are times when I really can't help find an apartment.  Short term rentals are usually the case, most landlords/management companies DO NOT want to do a short term rental.  Why you ask?  I think it's fairly obvious, a landlords thinking must be like this "why should I rent out my place for 4 months when I can get someone to rent it for a year?" 

I personally think that is extremely short sighted, since I would like to have my place rented--PERIOD!  If I could guarantee myself some income albeit for 4 or 5 or 6 months, why not take it and then worry about it again after the time has passed.  I had several calls this past week for short term but wasn't able to find anything.  The other thing to consider also, landlords aren't willing to pay the Realtor fee for a short term rental.  They will pay if I bring a traditional tenant but short term is a problem which I also understand.

So I say to you out there if you're looking for a short term rental then be prepared for a tough "fight" to find it and if I do find it there will be a Realtor fee.  Please understand that it takes up double the amount of time to find a short term rental than it does for a traditional rental.

Yes, it has been a while since I last posted.  A lot of exciting things going on.  First the business in Jersey City is brisk, still a lot of inventory, but things seem to be picking up.  I did two rental deals yesterday, hopefully will get the deal from last night approved today.  We looked at several places with a young lady from Germany working for a Swiss Company that does prefab houses.

We ended up getting a a place at Newport, there were great deals there.  She actually came in with a realsitic budget, most people come in and want a 1 bedroom for $1600, well that apartment hasn't been built yet!  But we ended up with something I believe she will like.  I was a little disturbed that she still wanted to look even though she thought the place was perfect, she said "well you're available tomorrow right?"  Here's the kicker--she's a Real Estate agent!

There are several new building opening in our area, one 225 Grand just put up signs for people to start "pre-registering" for apartmetns, so I did some Craigslist ads saying the same thing, we are after all literally up the block from the building.

We had a great day at Liberty Harbor, there are still several units left to sell, but we think we may have a good line on getting to be the exclusive on site Real Estate company.  I guess that'll be good for all of us.  This happens to be National Open House weekend, but I didn't do one.

Tomorrow I have to go and show every awful apartment in Jersey City, but hopefully we'll find something decent.  The client loves me and doesn't want to leave my side.  I feel bad since I have had to reschedule our last two apointments.

I took some customers out yesterday to look at places in Jersey City, really great apartemtns, saw a one bedroom about $730 sq ft $1875, luxury doorman building, concierge, you know everything you would pay $3500 for in NYC.  We then saw another one bedroom on the 18th floor great views of NYC, $1999, what more could you ask for.  These apartments are within walking distace to the Path train, and you are literally 10 minutes from NYC!  Why doesn't everyone who is looking for an overpriced place in NYC come to Jersey City?  I love being licensed in both states, it makes it really convenient to show both sides fo the river.  I can't wait for today, going to preview some more great apartments!