I love how all y'all have to resort to name calling when you run out of things to say. Calling someone "douchy" is a favorite isn't it? FFS!

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It's not his preferred location. Frankly, if money were no object I'd likely live in Manhattan too. It's the "JC saved me tons of money, and was really convenient, and nice enough that I was rarely motivated to hop a train to Manhattan, but it made me feel like I was dying inside" attitude.

So you say, Amy. So you say.

But really, the man works in JC. He "reverse commutes" on the PATH and spends most of his waking hours here so that he can take money out of the pockets of our unconscious injured citizens to maintain his lavish, water-tower-strewn lifestyle in another location. He may not sleep here, but he is very much JC. He should run for city government.

The article isn't about JC. It's about someone who was looking to buy in Manhattan and rented in JC for a while, even though he prefers Manhattan. So JC isn't for him. It's not for everyone. I don't really get why people are so offended.

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But that's what fascinates us, that a piece of RE fluff makes this guy look like such a ass. I agree with you that if there was an editorial decision to make him look like an ass, it must have been the editor's work!

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I doubt the photographer even knew what the content of the article would be like. At any typical paper, the photo assignment is made to shoot X at location Y, and the photo department dispatches someone. In all likelihood, dozens of photos were taken in various locations in the apartment. There is a chance the guy rubbed the photographer the wrong way and he/she snapped a few unflattering ones. It all gets slapped together in the editing process - assuming the editor read the article the same way we did. The selection of that particular photo could've been purely coincidental. We on JC List have spent far more man hours parsing this very forgettable article than the good folks at the NYT. This is a piece of real-estate porn, fer fark's sake, not something the Times will be submitting for Pulitzer consideration.

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You could be right, about the photo at least. A while back the NYT magazine had an article about surrogate parenting. The text was sympathetic but the photos were totally editorial, making the whole thing really sordid.

You know why some doctors become anesthesiologists? Because they can't deal with people who aren't knocked unconscious.

The more I think about this article and this guy, the more I wonder if we are supposed to take it seriously. I mean, did the photographer know what he was doing? Taking a picture of a consummate douchebag in front of his water tower view?

What would the listing have said? "Panoramic vistas of classic New York antique wooden water tower?"

That is one hell of a view he now has in NYC

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The Hunt

A Place More in Keeping With the Plan

By JOYCE COHEN
New York Times
Published: March 8, 2012

WHAT with medical school, internship, residency, fellowship and work, Christopher Leggat moved often ? 10 times in 10 years.



Christopher Leggat appreciates his large windows and urban views.

The lender pulled the rug out from under a place on East 14th.

After he finished at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, his training took him to several cities, including New York, where he lived for a year in Kips Bay Towers.

It was his first time living in Manhattan. He loved everything, including his subway commute.

Later he worked in Syracuse, which he found ?too rural,? and then returned to a big city, Philadelphia, ?only to realize it wasn?t the big city I wanted,? he said. Nothing but Manhattan would do.

So, in August 2008, Dr. Leggat, a cardiac anesthesiologist, took a job at Jersey City Medical Center. He moved into a new high-rise near the Empire State Building, paying around $5,000 a month for a two-bedroom because ?when you live in Manhattan, you always have visitors,? he said. ?I felt bad having people sleep on an air mattress on the floor in the living room.?

He intended to buy a place, so he went looking with Peter Comitini, a senior vice president of the Corcoran Group. He budgeted more than $1 million for a two-bedroom with a view and a location along the PATH train corridor, which meant Greenwich Village or Chelsea.

Two years ago Dr. Leggat, now 42, decided on a two-bedroom sponsor apartment at the Victoria, a 1960s brick co-op at Fifth Avenue and 14th Street. The price was $1.2 million, with a monthly maintenance fee of around $2,500. A complete renovation was needed.

Dr. Leggat was glad that the view included a favorite landmark, the old Metropolitan Life tower along Madison Square Park, which he had seen from his two previous Manhattan rentals.

But it was tough to get a mortgage. More than 20 percent of the building was still owned by the sponsor, Mr. Comitini said.

Dr. Leggat intended to make a 20 percent down payment. He didn?t mind when his bank upped it to 25 percent. But then, Mr. Comitini said, the appraiser ?ticked a box saying ?declining market,? which was in my opinion not true at the time in Greenwich Village.? The required down payment rose to 35 percent, something Dr. Leggat discovered as he was about to leave for a three-week trip to Mount Kilimanjaro. The deal fell apart. He was aware that a co-op board could kill a deal, but it had never occurred to him that a mortgage lender could.

Dr. Leggat had already given notice to his landlord. Meanwhile rents had risen in Manhattan, so he reluctantly took a two-bedroom at a new building in Jersey City. His rent there, which also covered a parking space, was about $3,000. He walked to work.

Instead of eating out or having meals delivered, he cooked at home. ?I now had real grocery stores that I could drive to,? he said. ?I could load up a kitchenful of groceries.? With lower bills for rent and food, he saved about $4,000 a month.

But he knew his situation was temporary. ?Jersey City is not exactly a happening town,? he said. ?I was particularly upset because I had taken this job to live in Manhattan, and now I wasn?t even living in Manhattan.?

He got into the city less than once a week. ?Most people who have moved out of the city to the suburbs realize that even the best intentions go awry and you don?t go in that often,? he said.

Dr. Leggat resumed the hunt a year ago. This time prices were markedly higher. He could not resist visiting an open house at the Victoria apartment that got away; fully renovated, it sold for $1.495 million.

He was outbid on a two-bedroom co-op on a pretty Chelsea block, and another on a pretty Greenwich Village block. Both sold for around $1.2 million.

He encountered plenty of strange layouts, as he had before. In one place, the loft bedroom had a ladder that seemed hazardous. ?I would wake up with a broken leg or not wake up from a broken neck,? he joked.

The place he liked the most, a co-op on Christopher Street, was ?the single best combination of two units into one that I had seen,? he said. At $1.42 million, with maintenance of around $2,030, it was more expensive than the others, but he had saved so much by living in Jersey City that he increased his price range.

Someone bid more for a co-op on Christopher Street.

He was outbid there, too. ?The all-cash buyers became my nemesis,? he said. ?The sellers would not even pay attention to me anymore. If I were a seller, I would sell to them, too.? The Christopher Street co-op sold for $1.438 million.

Dr. Leggat considered some new high-rises in Chelsea, but few available places had good views. ?We felt the need to get a little bit more product into the mix,? Mr. Comitini said. So they went farther east, checking out the Tempo, a new condominium on Second Avenue and 23rd Street.

One two-bedroom there had a view of a wall, but another ? beyond his price range ? had enormous windows affording a ?suspension-bridge view of the East River,? Dr. Leggat said. The Metropolitan Life tower was visible from one of the two balconies. The apartment included some appealing features he had rarely seen in older co-op buildings: a garbage disposal, a washer-dryer and Verizon FiOS.

?One of the things I learned,? he said, ?is that nothing is an absolute deal breaker. Everything has to be looked at together.? He timed the walk to the PATH train: 15 minutes. ?I figured if the biggest hardship in my life was walking an extra 10 minutes each way to the station,? he said, ?then I had it pretty good.? The route had no shortage of grocery and drug stores, even a well-situated Jamba Juice.

Dr. Leggat bought the apartment for $1.65 million. Monthly charges are $1,800.

He still hasn?t fully unpacked since he moved in late last summer. There have been a few hiccups: a clogged sink, loose bathroom tiles, a broken icemaker. He installed motorized shades to block the intense sun. His housing costs and food budget have jumped, but the result is worth it.

People have noticed. One colleague, Dr. Leggat said, ?told me I got my mojo back since I moved back to the city.?

I myself have been at the beginning of that slope that leads to Yonkers, or outer Brooklyn, when people move to NYC and then realize they can't afford the lifestyle they thought they were getting. Then I looked left over the river into the sunset and saw a gleaming blue banner that said "if you lived here you'd be home by now." Moved into the James Madison, then on to some other places downtown I like a lot better, and I've never once looked back.

Want to get into the city to party? That's why they built the PATH.

I agree the guy's a douche. I think the people we would actually want as our neighbors will see through his douchery and see our town for what it really is.

Good riddance Dr. Douche.

Wait, he's 42? And he's wearing a shirt, tie, and . . . jeans? He needs to read up:

http://dappered.com/2011/04/tie-on-to ... e-bottom-how-she-sees-it/

I can recall telling my boss, from 1996 to about 2003, that her son (who just left college) should move to Jersey City. She always pooh-poohed it, wrinkling her nose. He wound up moving to Yonkers. She finally saw my neighborhood on a YouTube video I posted and was taken aback at how nice it was. Oh well.

I agree -- and except that his Mojo (Hi, i'm a Doctor at the JC Medical Center) wasn't working for him here in Downtown JC -- overall I think it is a nice article for Jersey City.

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What I find laughable is that this guy even lost his mojo to begin with. I have a few physician friends, and they all said when they were single, the one problem they did NOT have was finding dates. Women practically throw themselves at you the minute you mention you're a doctor, and mothers all want to fix you up with their daughters. The article did leave me wondering about this guy's personality.

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his photo does give off a decidedly douchey vibe.

Ugh. The guy sounds like a douche, and not even one of those good looking ones that at least look hot before they open up thier douchey mouth. Good riddance. So laughably pathetic. How is he even in his 40s? He sounds like a petulant child.

The nephew? Try the bastard, red-headed step-child...

So what, who cares? They're mad we stole the Giants. NYC is the most stimulating city in the world and we're their nephew and that's how it's always gonna be.

I think the piece is more disparaging toward the good doctor then JC. It is all over the place, his years don?t add up. The prices and down payments are off. He got his NYC mojo from living in NYC for just 3 years? One year before moving to Syracuse.. ?first time living in Manhattan?. Then coming back to NYC in 2008 for two years. In 2010 he moved to JC. I have got more NYC mojo from living across from the Big Apple all my life then he could have picked up in those 3 years in Manhattan! He is now 42 years old and for the last ten years?he has been busy with ?medical school, internship, residency, fellowship and work? ? What was he doing from years 21 to 32? Hey Doc what?s up wit that? Getting your mojo on in those lost years? Like Bobblehead was saying this quote is so freakin? sad. ?told me I got my mojo back since I moved back to the city.? Put that quote under his picture along with this one ?Jersey City is not exactly a happening town,? and you could cry. (from laughter) He loves his large windows and the view yet he ?He installed motorized shades to block the intense sun?? Hey for $1.65 million and $1,800 in monthly charges I hope you at least get to see Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo swimming naked in that water tower every morning!!! That Doctor does have a Sam Drucker type body. Hey maybe he should move to Hooterville the nearest doctor is 30 miles away. He could make a killing. Real estate is real cheap ?at the junction?. PS- what's he make around $150K? Didn't he have any loans, etc? Wonder whose name is on the deed?

how is this article disparaging? JC is not for everyone. Most people I work with would never even visit JC.

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oh absolutely. it kills some people to move all this way and have to write "NJ" on their address. I've noticed a lot of native New Yorkers getting a little weird about crossing the river, too, even though they can't afford to live in their hometown anymore.

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Some people's mojo is more fragile than others. One reason Brooklyn is more expensive than JC for comparable neighborhoods is people like this dud(e) who say "I didn't leave Peoria so I could live in Jersey, I've just got to live in NYC!" It seems to me many of the most comfortable JC gentrifiers are the ones who were raised in the area and don't have that baggage.

Some areas of JC can be "happening." JC is not the suburbs...and how JC can destroy someone's "mojo" while Manhattan can give it back is beyond me...


For those reasons, I still feel like the article is disparaging JC

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Suburbs? Since when is JC the suburbs?

yes people move on...very few people are EVER gonna think JC is better than Manhattan, especially if you wnat nightlife...Manhattan is the Mothership.

But with all that money, i'm sure he could/should be able to splurge on a cab 3-4 times a week or is just lazy or getting older.

Brewster - totally agree!

BobbleHead - yep.


I just read the article again, and originally, i wanted to call the guy a spoiled douche (with his $1Million+ budget), but after second read, he just sounds like a turd.

i mean, maybe he's a nice guy and all, but dude, waa waa waa, i'm rich and i don't like what's available

jeeesh!

Anyone else find this funny?

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Or this a sad comment on him?

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I agree, the message in the article is he's a putz who saved a TON of money living in JC a short walk from work, but didn't have the motivation to hop on a train like most Manhattanites do to go most places anyway.

FWIW, the Times has had far more love letters to JC in the real estate section than negatives. For a while it seemed like "The Hunt" ended up here every couple of weeks.

calling this a "disparaging NYT article about JC" is more than a bit of a stretch... why is it disparaging? because this well off fool said there's "not much happening"? come on....

Who cares. Some people just want to live in Manhattan. You can't be offended by that. Let it go and move on.