Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section...
1)Shvo Money, Shvo Problems
The Real Estate section profiled our good pal Michael Shvo and, apparently, it ain't easy being the Shvo Man! Relaxing in his 68th floor apartment at the Time Warner Center ("his white collared shirt unbuttoned to reveal a patch of chest hair"), Shvo talks about his arrival as a young Israeli immigrant with $3,000 in his pocket, his rise through the ranks of Douglas Elliman, his alleged prediction of the real estate market collapse, and his ambitious new development plans. He also says things like "I created what is known as the marriage of fashion and real estate." Classic Shvo! ["Michael Shvo Is Back, and as Brash as Ever"]
2) Every "The Hunt" column begins with the Hunters describing the apartment they want, and ends with them rationalizing whatever they came away with. This is The Hunt: Dreams vs. Reality
The Hunter: a single woman seeking a two-bedroom to buy
Price
Dream: $600,000
Reality: $545,000 + $60,000 reno
Neighborhood
Dream: Upper West Side
Reality: Upper West Side
Amenities
Dream: spacious
Reality: dark, tacky
Summary
Kind of a boring one this week (the headline is "Struck by the Wish to Own," yawn). A woman and her delightful pooch wanted to upgrade from a $2,000/month one-bed rental on the Upper West Side. She looked around Harlem for two-beds, but she always had her heart set on her old neighborhood (plus she couldn't find a Duane Reade—total dealbreaker!), so she set her sights a little lower and sought out a one-bedroom. She ended up paying around $545,000 for an estate sale one-bed on West End, that sounded pretty awful, but with an additional $60,000 in renovations, the place is livable. [The Hunt/"Struck by the Wish to Own"]
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