Wood, Glass, Brass and Trees

I could have bought, I should have bought, I would have bought, but instead, I have rented my current apartment for 27 years. Many ask why I have not bought a residence, the quintessential American investment. I hope the photo helps answer that question. This is the view from my apartment overlooking a park. Only a handful of people in a city of millions are blessed with a vista like this every day.

I overlook Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, something which no money can buy because nothing is for sale on this square. Most property around the park is owned by New York University - the handful of residential apartments here are all rentals. I am not the only long term renter on my street - tenants in my building have been here for 30+ years, as have other renters in the few neighboring townhouses not university owned.

There is a very unique situation here in New York City that skews and exacerbates everything - rent regulation. Rent stabilization and rent control laws regulate rent increases, resulting in a market where unregulated apartments have dramatically outpaced rent-regulated ones.

So, many city residents who have lived here for long periods of time have artificially low rents, often fractions of the market rate. Many assume that rental apartments in prime locations and buildings are extremely expensive and occupied by the wealthy and privileged. This can be true, but often, the ability to occupy such places is more a function of how long a long tenancy than extreme wealth.

This is not all that it seems, however, since there is a strong incentive for landlords to do as little work as possible in buildings and apartments where rent stabilization exists. Apartments are typically neglected and in disrepair.

In my case, I have desperately needed new windows since I moved in, but frequent pleas to the landlord fell on deaf ears. Until this summer, when, for reasons unexplained, a man came to measure and, a short time later, scheduled the installation. Voilà - I had new French windows with solid brass hardware. At last it's quieter and draft free. All I see now is wood, glass, brass and trees...