So it has been a little while since my last post, but we are still here and enjoying NYC.  Much has changed since I wrote the last post here.  My wife and I have an apartment on the UWS, we have found our favorite places to go for food, drink, and groceries, and we have settled into the daily routine of walking the dogs, going to work, walking the dogs and going to bed, with some more exciting things mixed in from time to time.  We have been to our first Yankee game, first Jersey party, the Hamptons and the Poconos.  Life has been moving quickly as it always does but here it moves a little faster.  I am always wondering where the days have gone…where has 6 months gone?

 More coming soon.

Wow…has it ever been a crazy 14 days!  Let me try to catch everyone up.  I finished my last week of work in Jackson, training my replacement.  That alone kept me more busy then I cared to be for my last week of work.  Trying to explain how, where, and why you have been doing something for the last year and a half to someone else took way too much energy out of me.  Not only that, but Leslie and I have been working out all the details of selling out house…and that alone has been an adventure.  Why do we pay realtors??? Um, anyway, So it looks like everything will finally go through with our house and that should be behind us in about a week and a half as we will close the first of May.

Monday was my first day of work in NYC.  I ended up being late because of the weather that was hitting the east coast.  I was suppose to get into LGA on Sunday night about midnight.  I flew threw Charlotte, we were an hour and a half late leaving Charlotte, flew basically to Raleigh, got in a holding pattern, then, because of the New York airports all closing because of weather, we turned around and flew back to Charlotte.  I got to a hotel about 2am and was back at the airport at 9am the next morning.  Finally, around 3pm I hopped out of a cab and walked into my new office. 

So far, work is going well.  I spent the week trying to get to know all of my co-workers and trying to figure out what all my duties would entail.  It seems like the list is constantly changing but, given some time, it should all work out.  Each day I have enjoyed my job a little more as I continue to figure it out.  Everyone in NY so far has been very polite, which is going against the stereotype that I had previously written about.  I have learned though that everyone, at least during the week, is in a hurry!  People seem to get in their own little world as they are walking to and from work and riding the subway.  What I find eerily odd is that when you get on a crowded subway in the morning, it is completely silent as people listen to their Ipod or read a book or the newspaper (how people read while standing on a bumpy subway with people running into them as they get on and off the subway car I will never know), or just completely zone out, while waiting for their stop.  The subway is a new form of commuting that I find quite interesting.  I often wonder who people are, what they do for a living, why they live in NY, but I never get any answers.  Probably better that way anyway…

With my first week in NY coming to a close, I have been doing the fun and exciting apartment search.  Many people have told me that they would rather have teeth pulled then have to go through the process again, which doesn’t leave me too excited.  But, alas, it has to be done so I will be spending most of my weekend drumming through Craigslist, Citi-habitats and other real estate apartment sites hoping to find the diamond in the rough apartment that will become a new home for Leslie and me. 

NY has been good so far, but I am greatly missing my wife and her companionship.  I can’t wait for her to move up here and for us to have our apartment and start settling down.  Until then, I will keep plugging away…

My first trip to NYC was last August.  Before my trip to the Big City, I had a few preconceived stereotypes about what it would be like.  I know that stereotypes are not a good thing to have, but the media and the internet throw so much information our way these days, it’s hard not to have some prejudices going into it.  So, being the bigger person, I would like to share some of those thoughts prior to visiting NYC.

1. The city would be dirty.  I figured that everywhere I went, I would see garbage lining the streets, much like Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras.
2. People in NYC are unfirendly.
3. Watch your wallet…you WILL get mugged, it’s only a matter of time.
4. New Yorker’s speak a different language.  While we both speak english, mine has a southern draw and their’s is straight out of the mob movies, therefor, no communication.
5. Everybody is in a hurry!  Either get moving or get out of the way.

What I found when I got there:

1. New York City, for the most part and espcially compared to other cities that I had visited, was pretty clean.  Definitly nothing like Bourbon Street, not only at Mardi Gras, but any other time of the year.
2. Everyone I have dealt with (with the exception of cab drivers) has treated me with warmth and friendliness.  This was a big surprise to me.  I even had several people offer to help me find the correct subway that I was searching for.  I guess I looked really lost.
3. I haven’t had to watch my wallet as close as I thought and I have made it out of the city with it every time so far.  May just be a matter of time with this one though, I will keep you posted.
4. Some New Yorker’s do speak a different language.  Most however do not, and I think they have more trouble understanding me then I have understanding them.  The communication lines are open.
5. I have found that everyone does seem to be in a hurry, unless they are siteseeing…this one may be true.

All in all, I found New York to be a wonderful city.  Did I leave any good ones out???

Our house, that I mentioned in the previous post, looks like it will sell, and sell pretty quick.  We had the house on the market for 5 days and got our first offer.  Last night, we had a couple come and look at the house for the first time and make us an offer.  So, we have had 2 offers on the house in a week’s time.  We should be signing a contract today one way or the other.  After a year and a half, we will be walking away from this house with a nice profit, receiving pretty close to our asking price.

There have been a few things that I have learned about real estate through this process that I would like to share.  Our home is in a starter neighborhood, where a lot of people by their first home.  That being said, there are always people moving in and out of the neighborhood.  At last count, 3 days ago, there were 13 houses (out of about 150) in our ‘hood for sale.  The house next door to us has been on the market for about a month and a half; others, even longer.

Why did our house sell so quickly?  I have a few thoughts.

1. My wife ROCKS!  She is awesome at negotiating, showing the house, and basically selling it.  She was our real estate agent in a sense (she is actually a second grade teacher) and was in control of the entire situation from the beginning.  I was just there to be ”eye candy.”
2. New Paint.  Sounds simple enough.  In the year and half that we had the house, we painted all but 2 rooms in the house.  Both bathrooms got new paint, as well as the kitchen, all 3 bedrooms, and our tiny hall.  New paint just makes the interior of the house pop and gives it a “like new” look and feel.
3. Cleanliness.  There wasn’t a person that walked through our house that didn’t say something about how clean our house was.  We had several people compare our house to others in the neighborhood they had been in and commented how much cleaner ours looked.  Clutter in your house can be a huge deterant to someone being able to mentally place their things in your house.
4. Accuentuate the positives.  If you house if special in some ways, make sure to point those out.
5. Curb appeal.  Probably the most important aspect.  If you can’t get people in the door, then they can’t be persuaded to  buy the house.  Making sure your house is appealing from the road, will go along way in getting it sold.  The more traffic you have, the more potential buyers you have.  So get out the lawn mowers and weed eaters and get the yard looking good, if nothing else.

I, of course, am not a realtor nor do I have much experience in selling and buying real estate.  This was our first house and we did pretty well financially on it.  We put in a lot of hard work and did updates to most of the house which helped the overall process.  In the end, it was a great experience and it kind of makes me said to leave the house.  But, there are other things calling us.  The bright lights of the big city are waiting and we are getting ready to make our way there.

Leslie and I finally got the “For Sale” sign in our yard yesterday.  It was an exciting time and we even hopped in the car to drive around the neighborhood to see how it looked from each direction.  The last few days we have been working on getting our house ready to show and have been working to the wee hours of the morning.  It was nice though to finally see it all come together.  Hopefully things will work out and we will get it sold relatively quickly. 

It has been a good first house for us and we hate to leave it, but NYC is calling and it’s almost time for us to go.  When you turn a page in your book of life, it is always a good time for reflection.  We are not only turning a page but reaching the end of a chapter.  Making such a big move is exciting, as we are ready to start that next chapter and see what all it has in store for us.  At the same time, we are ending another chapter and of corse there are emotions that go with that as well.  In the end, that is just all apart of life.  You finish one thing and start another.

Here is a pic of our house…

So, if you have made it here then you have stumbled upon my attempt to keep a record of my journey as a Southern man from Jackson, Mississippi (that’s M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-hump back-hump back-I for some of you) who is moving to New York City.  My wife, Leslie, will be coming along for the trip as well and we are excited about our chance at some new adventures.  I plan for this blog to be my diary of sorts and would love some feedback and remarks from any and all who may read it.  Right now we are in the “getting ready” phase.  I will start a new job in NYC on April 16, 2007.  I am still in Jackson and my wife and I are getting our house ready to sell.  Leslie is currently teaching a second grade so she will be in Jackson finishing out the school year before moving up to the city.  For the first 6 weeks, I will be staying with a friend and attempting to locate an apartment for us to live in, in Manhattan.  So, the journey has already begun.  We are getting things worked out before the big move and we are both really excited about living in the city for a few years…

Thanks for your time so far and if you have any suggestions about what to expect, I am all ears!

Ben