Caleb’s Newsletter

As you may have picked up from the title of the newsletter, Marathon Sunday didn’t exactly go according to plan. I had to pull out of the NYC Marathon at mile 10 due to injury :( 

I had a feeling this might happen. I twisted my ankle a month ago playing basketball and took some time off from running, hoping it would recover in time for race day. Unfortunately, it was causing too many issues and it didn’t make sense to continue.

The good news is, my mom and sister were waiting for me at Mile 10! They cheered me up and we even went to Central Park to cheer on the rest of the runners at the finish. 

I was running for Team City Harvest, one of the marathon’s charity partners, and we raised $500,000 to help feed one million New Yorkers. It’s hard to be sad about my personal result when the team made such a huge, positive impact.

I’m in full recovery mode for the near future but I’ll (most likely) be back on that Staten Island start line!

In case you missed my recent content …

I toured someone’s apartment who actually finished the marathon ;) 

Hammy is a firefighter and an avid runner. He lives in Queens in a spacious, $1,535 one-bedroom apartment. It was a good reminder that deals still exist in this city. Generally speaking, you get the most bang for your buck the further you go from Manhattan but Hammy isn’t even that far out. He told me it takes him 25 minutes to get to the city via the subway!

I learned from Hammy that the iconic fire pole is on its way out. His firehouse doesn’t have one anymore and the new firehouses being built likely won’t install them. While more efficient than stairs, the poles can be dangerous. And there are other ways to save time en route to a fire, like building single-story firehouses.

For all of the commenters crushing on Hammy … he is single! Shoot your shot and slide into those DMs :) 

Every time I think I’ve seen it all in New York … I stumble upon something crazy. 

In this case, it was a $3 million apartment in Manhattan with some wild features, including a shoe closet that literally lights up as you walk by and illuminates the shoes. 

The thing about New York is, even the nicest of the nice apartments still have their problems. This one, for example, is in a busy downtown area. The second you walk outside you’re in a densely-packed neighborhood surrounded by stores and restaurants with lines of people to weave through.

There are always trade-offs in New York City. Always.

Home products spotlight!

I tour a lot of homes and see a lot of neat items while doing it! Here are some that caught my eye the past couple of weeks.

Sunglasses Organizer: $22.99

You organize your coats and shoes and bags – why not your glasses, too? 

Deadpool Phone and Gaming Control Holder: $20.99

Need a place to rest your phone? Look no further. Let it rest in the hands of Deadpool.

Ask me anything!

This week’s question: How do you find affordable apartments in New York City?

There’s not an easy or simple answer to this. But, as Hammy in Queens showed us, there are still deals to be found in NYC. To find the deals, you have to have your finger on the pulse, be searching all the time, and be ready to move quickly if something opens up. New York real estate moves extremely fast. 

A lot of people I’ve spoken with who scored deals found them on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Of course, you want to be careful with those sites and vet the person posting the listing.

A popular real estate site specific to New York City is called StreetEasy. This site allows you to search for “no fee” apartments, which can save you a big chunk of change. The “fee” is a broker’s fee, which is common in New York and can cost you 15% of the annual rent. That means if you’re looking at a $2,000 a month apartment ($24,000 per year) you’ll owe $3,600 to the broker if you end up signing the lease! 

To give you guys an idea of what’s currently on the rental market I’m going to start including some listings in the newsletter. It’s considered “low season” right now, meaning prices are at their lowest (but there’s less supply, since less people aren’t moving as much in the winter, meaning less apartments are freeing up). 

Here’s a $1,500 studio in Midwood, the south-central part of Brooklyn.

Let me know if this was helpful and what other types of listings you’d like to see!