One of the great things about moving is that you can finally stop the renewals on all those magazines that you never read. Except the New Yorker. Never. Ever. Even if they threaten to stop my subscription for non-payment, I pony up the money at the last minute for another 46 issues.
So it is with great relief that I arrive at my new home on Saturday (after seven weeks on vacation) to see the latest Aug. 2 issue of the New Yorker magazine in the mailbox.
After devouring the articles on Al Qaeda, the power of the Internet and other meaty topics, I came across a fictional piece by one of my favorite authors, Richard Ford, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his wonderful novel, “Independence Day.“
When I told my husband the story was about a Realtor and his client at the Jersey shore, he suggested it was the continuation of a character in one of Ford’s previous books who quit life in suburbia to become a real estate agent.
Today, as I sit down in a quiet moment between renovation noises and delivery of the Arrowhead water cooler to enjoy the story, it becomes clear that all is not happy in Ford’s real estate agent-land.
The real estate agent’s client in “The Shore” is nervous about putting his hard-earned savings into the current real estate market, which “could be subject to a devastating attack.” Ugh. I have this same fear. Is it possible that others are thinking the same thing?
What’s worse is that Ford says that, “only Republicans are looking at houses in this market.”Can real estate agents predict the outcome of our election? Do they know something that we don’t know?
Maybe I should renew my subscription to Metropolitan Home.
Having just spent a month in New York City, many of my friends are wondering whether they should cash out or invest their upside in Manhattan in light of the alleged terrorist threats. Is there a big bull’s eye on lower Manhattan? If they buy in Central Park-West, will they avoid the inevitable attack? How can a fictional character be so bold as to articulate our deepest thoughts about today’s situation with raised terror alert levels?
With prices at record historical highs in the New York City area (including New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens) and the city never looking better, can those who have a dream of a “home at the shore” fulfill it with certainty? According to Richard Ford, the answer is no.
Julie Brosterman is a consultant to the real estate technology, mortgage and servicing industries. After she spent 15 years in the title insurance industry, the Internet “spoke” to her and she has never looked back. She lives in Los Angeles and can be contacted at juliebrosterman@hotmail.com.
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