All Posts
The complete archive.
No Accident
I had really high hopes for this mayor. Mayor Mamdani. The mayor many people called a socialist. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Yes, even as a firm believer in capitalism and as I witness anti-Semitism on the rise, I hoped...
Less Human
I used to spend nights at the Village Gate on Bleecker Street. I’d finish my bartending shift at 2am, walk across the street, and sit in the small room to listen. Sometimes, if I had the courage, I’d play. The room wasn’t...
What the market never saw!
This may be one of the best buyer markets I’ve ever seen, and almost no one is talking about it. There’s something happening in residential real estate right now that not too many people seem willing to say out loud. Private...
The Gift of Not Knowing the Rules
I read Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power in my fifties, and the first thing I thought was, "I wish I'd read this in my twenties." I agree with every single law. Not philosophically, but practically. I've lived through...
The Gilded Age 2.0
Mark Twain gave us the phrase. A period of explosive growth, concentrated wealth, political corruption, and a widening divide between those building fortunes and those simply trying to survive. More than a century later, walking the...
Control is Not a Strategy
Residential brokerage is actually pretty simple. Sellers want the highest possible price. Buyers want the best possible home for their money. Agents are hired to represent their clients’ best interests and guide them to the strongest...
Who Taught You?
Donald Harrison was one of the first professors I met at the New School almost 40 years ago. I was in an ensemble playing a 12-bar blues in F and was still using my metal Dukoff D7 mouthpiece, because that is what my sax hero, David...
Character
I spend a lot of time thinking about how to market better. How to make our cities better. How to build better buildings and serve clients at a higher level. But recently, I’ve been thinking about something else. Character....
The Ski Town Paradox
For the past twenty years, a group of friends and I have shared an annual ritual. A ski trip. Somehow it has survived careers, kids, moves, and the general chaos of life. Each year, we pick a mountain, pack our skis, and disappear into the...
The Amenity That Doesn’t Make Noise
Developers are required to be bold. (At least the good ones are). They have to test ideas before there’s proof. They have to spend money before there’s consensus. And they have to trust instinct when the spreadsheets...
The Space In-Between
So much of life happens in-between the starting line and the destination. The places we move from and get to. Physically and mentally. It’s there that some of our most important moments live. Because of my job, I’ve spent the...
Thread the Needle
There are three kinds of cities. The first kind is built for its citizens and funded primarily by the people and industries that thrive there: Boston. Houston. Austin. San Francisco. The second kind is built for its citizens but largely...