Last Saturday night..

I was taking the Metro North with a family member into Westchester when we got delayed at one stop. The conductor announced the delay was caused by train traffic caused by a fatality at Scarsdale. The moment he said that there was a murmur of speculation in the car.

As we stopped by Scarsdale we saw the train on the northbound track and a ladder that led to the rails and which I assume where they found the body. Standing on the platform in between the ladder and the train was a conductor with a grim look on his face.

Later on that night, I would learn that someone did jump in front of the train but didn’t know the full details until Monday morning.

SCARSDALE - Students walked to Scarsdale High School silently this morning, their somber faces reflecting the widespread shock at a freshman's suicide over the weekend.

Akshay Menon, 14, jumped in front of a Metro-North express train at 9:10 p.m. Saturday, about a mile from the Post Road school building. The tragic news quickly spread to his classmates, more than 200 of whom are connected to him through the Facebook social networking Web site.

The school is offering mental health services today for its students, particularly the school's 375 freshmen, said Victoria Presser, district spokeswoman.
"Administrators are going into the classrooms, particularly the ninth-grade classrooms, throughout the high school just to listen to the students and help them with the process of dealing with this," she said. "We provide as much support as we can."

Scarsdale High School has about 1,450 students in grades 9 through 12. Presser said she did not know how long Menon had been a student in the district.
Chloe Baum, 16, a Scarsdale High sophomore, said she did not know Menon well, but mutual friends had told her he felt pressured to achieve top grades. Still, she said, no one had thought he was depressed enough to kill himself.
"They didn't see any signs," she said. "A lot of people seemed to like him and thought he was a funny kid."

Look at this beautiful face.



Akshay Menon was just a baby. A child. He was a young boy that barely knew life, what demons tortured him to take his own life? I can’t imagine what his parents are going through right now. They have my heartfelt condolences.

Remember my rant against going to my reunion? So it is no big surprise that I hated high school. There was many a day when I felt my life was falling apart because of my grades, my social life,getting into college and other incidents. When I look back on it now, it all seems rather foolish. But back then it was all I knew. It is all any of us know when we are at that age.

For a lot of people, high school is the highlight of their lives. For some of us the fact that we simply survived 4 years is good enough for us. I was in the latter category.

You know what I learned? Life does not end with high school; in fact it does not even begin there. It is just 4 years of your life. After that you have the rest of your life to see what is really out there and what you are really about.

I am alive

I haven't been able to post due to an old injury. Nothing major. More posts this week.

My top 7 reasons to retire to New Bern NC

1. History-settled in 1710 New Bern is full of history and historic buildings such as the city hall shown on the left. Check out http://www.newbern-nc.info/New-Bern-history2.html for more information on New Bern

2. Climate-mild winters allow for golf and other outdoor activities pretty much year around.

3. Water-The Trent and Neuse Rivers converge in downtown New Bern. The Atlantic Ocean and the crystal coast are only 35 minutes away.

4. Golf- Plenty of inexpensive golf courses located in and around new Bern. No waiting for tee times and most of the courses are kept in immaculate shape.

5. Boating-Sailing- The Neuse River http://www.newbern-nc.info/Neuse-River.html is the widest river in the United states and offers sailors and power boaters ample opportunity to test their skills. The intercoastal waterway is only about 20 miles from downtown New Bern.

6. Lots of things to do- Check out these links http://www.newbern-nc.info/aroundthetown.html and http://www.newbern-nc.info/New-Bern-happenings.html to see what is happenning around New Bern.

7. Home Prices- home prices are considered reasonable by most standards. There are many quality subdivisions in the New Bern area. From waterfront and golf communities to the historic downtown area you are certain to find a community to suitt your needs.

Steve Tyson is a real estate broker and a native of New Bern. He can be contacted at Tyson@Century21.com

Kelly Kreth Goes Prime Time

I got an email from Kelly Kreth who just landed a primo tv client. Here's the trailer.

NEW YORK, NY - Sparkway Media and Sokol Media announce their first joint full-length television production, NY Residential TV. The weekly, hour-long show will debut on CW11 at 9am.



Experienced hosts Cathy Hobbs and Jeff Appel bring eager couples, interested viewers, brokers and real estate experts together as they scan all five boroughs of New York City for the perfect home. Location and price all come into play as Hobbs and Appel give tips and tricks of the trade, ranging from the latest trends to current market values on city properties.



With real estate television programming booming, NY Residential TV sets itself apart by catering to a regional market as well as being multi-faceted in ways other shows are not. Aside from traditional house hunting, showcasing properties and open houses, NY Residential TV will also be a program that assists those who have found a home, decorate; those who need to flip a home, renovate; and those who are looking to buy or sell, negotiate. Hobbs and Appel will show viewers how to find foreclosures, as well as the best way to make your new home "green." In addition the show will include segments on new gadgets, how to “go green,” open houses and new development launch events in the area.



While NY Residential TV can stand on its content alone, Hobbs and Appel bring credibility and charisma to the show. Cathy Hobbs, an Emmy-award winning television journalist and interior designer who was just nominated for this year's annual DIFFA "Dining by Design" Event perfectly complements Jeff Appel, a real estate industry expert and lecturer. The two bring help and humor together in a way that's educational and entertaining.



NY Residential TV will prove to be a powerful medium for sponsors--such as builders, developers, agents and financers--that align with the show's mission of providing great content while showcasing great properties.



In addition to traditional TV spot ads, NY Residential TV's real estate and development sponsors will take viewers on guided tours of homes that their companies are offering for sale. This is an innovative and experimental approach to marrying the right advertisers with quality targeted programming.



For more information on NY Residential TV or other Sparkway programming, please visit: NYResidentialTV.com or www.sparkway.com For interviews or any other press inquiries, please contact Kelly Kreth at Kreth Communications: 201-417-8691 or KKreth@KrethCommunications.com

March on Kelly.

Hurting, Must Stop

Propertyshark has rolled out its monthly pdf foreclosure report for the month of April and it is pretty much more of the same.





Queens still reigns supreme with 58% of New York City’s foreclosures, right behind it is Brooklyn and Staten Island while Manahttan and the Bronx have been able to weather the foreclosure storm with only a combined 11% of the month of April.

As I have stated before, if you have the fortitude, the resources and a plan, you can probably find a lot of investment opportunities out there.

On the flipside, it probably sucks ass to be a seller in those neighborhoods or to be a broker.

So when will this all bottom out? Who knows. But it is till going to hurt.

No to sub prime bailout

Although I am in the real estate business and the sub prime loans and foreclosures are harming my industry I do not believe the federal government should get involved with either bailing out the lenders or the borrowers. It is just the wrong way to attach the problem. Let me just say that I would not have a problem with the federal government using their bully pulpit to encourage the lenders to perhaps freeze their rate increases, no one forced the lenders to loan money to those that they knew could not afford to make the payments when the rate increases kicked in. The borrowers must own up also. Not the taxpayers fault that you made a bad decision and taxes should not be used to help correct the problem. The market will take care of itself.

Going Down

Hear about the Craigslist scammer?

Craigslist scams targeting renters desperate for affordable apartments
BY MATT LYSIAK
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, February 11th 2008, 4:00 AM

The apartment sounded too good to be true.

A fully furnished two-bedroom with a balcony in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, going for $950 instead of the $2,200 it would normally fetch because of the tenant's sudden job transfer.

The catch: You have to take it sight unseen - and send a security deposit.

The bogus rental was even more of a steal than unsuspecting would-be tenants thought, part of a growing number of scams cooked up to profit from gullible people desperate for affordable housing in the city, according to Internet fraud and security expert Craig Solomon.

"It is becoming more common because New York apartments have become such a hot commodity," said Solomon. "People are so desperate that they aren't always thinking clearly."

This particular listing on Craigslist.org, the go-to site for frazzled city dwellers, featured appealing photos and a quick response to inquiries from a scam artist who used the alias "JoAnn Rinaggio" and a tale about being transferred to North Carolina.

"I will like to tell you that we are doing this based on trust and I would like you to trust me as I trust you. ... You can see the beautiful apartment in the pictures, but not in person yet," she writes, asking prospective tenants to wire a $550 security deposit and promising a return envelope with the apartment keys.

According to Solomon, "countless" victims fell for this ruse, sent money, never heard back from "Rinaggio" and learned the hard way that the address for the dream apartment, 8235 Fourth Ave., also was bogus.

Documents obtained by the Daily News show the phony name was used by a convicted serial rubber-check writer, JoAnne Smith, who was convicted nine times between 1986 and 2004 for fake checks totaling $20,000.

"Craigslist is made to sell local, and whenever anyone from out of state is involved, red flags should immediately go up," said Solomon. "Avoiding the scam is simple. Try to always do business face-to-face, and never, ever, wire money anywhere."

This is also the advice posted under "avoiding scams and fraud" by Craigslist on its Web site, which urges users not to wire money, give out personal financial information or respond to any offers requiring you to provide escrow money.

"Know that only a scammer will 'guarantee' your transaction," Craigslist warns.

Beth Ann Bovino, a senior economist at Standard & Poor's, found herself caught up in such a scam when someone posted her address and photos of it as a bargain rental.

"Rents are higher and people are in real need of an affordable place to live," said Bovino. "It is sad to say, but these kinds of scams appeal to desperation and greed."

"People need to remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Here's how it works folks. Never ever give put up the money until you are approved and have a signed lease.

The process is very simple, you pay for the processing fee for the credit check. If you are rejected, you look for another apartment. If you are accepted, then you prepare the checks for the lease signing which will be usually 3 months of rent in certified checks. This covers the safety deposit, first and last month's rent. And the broker's check, if you have used one.

You bring the checks to the lease signing. Once the lease is approved by all parties and signed. Then the checks are released.

Co-ops and condos, the process is different since the board will want to see everything up front in the board package. So you should make copies of the checks and have a signed agreement that will return the checks if you are rejected or if you find another place during the review process. As we all know, it could take a week or month for the board to make a decision. So you should be prepared to be rejected and look for a back up.

Preston over at the Observer sent me this link which I sounded like a complete joke.

Developers Vornado Realty Trust and the Related Companies are grasping for options to keep alive a multi-billion dollar redo of Penn Station and related real estate development, as they have asked the city and state to back a loan to build a new Madison Square Garden in the Farley Post Office across Eight Avenue.

The proposal is intended to lure the Garden back to the table, as the company, led by Chairman James Dolan, pulled out of the larger plan in March. The state is considering the offer as one of many options for the project, a state official confirmed.

In this option, the state and city could be saddled with the cost of the arena—said to be in the range of $900 million to $1 billion—should the larger redo of Penn Station ultimately fall apart.

This is not going to happen and not because of Madison Square Garden.

Gov. David Paterson said spending in the $121.7 billion state budget must be re-examined and lowered in the coming weeks, in light of dramatic drops in tax payments from major Wall Street banks.

Whether legislators in both political parties will take those actions this year remains to be seen, given that all 212 of them are up for election in November. In fact, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) candidly remarked that his goal for the legislation session was "to get out of session."

Paterson repeated calls for fiscal restraint that he started making before the budget passed the state Legislature on April 10, during an event in Troy on Monday. The budget is balanced, but Paterson has said he wants to identify permanent spending cuts now that will reduce a potential $4 billion deficit for the 2009-10 budget.

"We can't afford to be rolling the dice on where the economy is going," Paterson said.

In other words: NO ONE HAS ANY F**KING MONEY!

It appears that even former baseball stars are not immune to foreclosure.

Former baseball star Jose Canseco has Calif. home foreclosed Thu May 1, 10:46 PM ET


Jose Canseco, the former AL MVP who made millions during his baseball career, has had his home foreclosed.

Canseco told the syndicated TV show "Inside Edition" that he walked away from his $2.5 million, 7,300-square foot home in suburban Encino because it didn't make sense to continue making payments.

"I do have a judgment on my home and it to me is very strange because it didn't make financial sense for me to keep paying a mortgage on a home that was basically owned by someone else," he said in an interview that aired Thursday.

"You know my life, this financial thing, is a very complicated issue. Obviously, when you make all that money, people think, `OK, let's assume it is $35 million.' People have to understand that $35 million, you're paying the government 41 percent. That leaves you with about $17 or $18 million, not even. Then you're taking care of your whole family."

He added that a couple of divorces cost him $7 million or $8 million.

Canseco said his top earnings year was $6 million and that his financial situation obviously is different than most people who are losing their homes.

"What about other families that we're hearing on TV, that they're saying, `We have nowhere else to go,'" he said. "I mean, that is amazing. I've got books (he's put out two expose-type books on drug use in baseball), we're now trying to produce the movie to both.

"Like I said, my situation was a little more different than most. I decided to just let it (the house) go, but in most cases and most families, they have nowhere else to go."

Calls by The Associated Press to Canseco and to his attorney, Greg Emerson, were not immediately returned.

The lesson here is simple. Do your due diligence and make sure you have the money to cover your payments.