“What Renters Want” With Jessica Fiur

When you think of a luxury apartment building, what do you picture? Is it a building with a doorman and elevator? Or one chock full of amenities? Or, I don’t know, full of Donald Trump-inspired opulence, like solid-gold toilets or something? (And if it there were solid-gold toilets, and it happened to be super cold in the apartment, could there ever be an incident similar to when that kid got triple dog dared to lick the pole in A Christmas Story and ended up getting stuck? Because, if so, I know what I’m going to get my younger brother for…

It’s August, which means the time for commercials for school supplies has officially commenced (and even though many of us have—thankfully—been out of school for some time, this is very depressing. Probably because we are just realizing that we didn’t take any vacation days to go to the beach like we promised ourselves we would. Summer slips by so quickly when you don’t get a mandatory three months off). And college freshman are getting ready to leave the nest and live in student housing—either on campus or off. And once the housing is picked out or assigned, and everyone is…

I’m not a fan of watching sports, but by that I mean baseball, basketball, football…pretty much anything that has my husband hogging the TV and preventing me from watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother. That doesn’t include the Olympics. I love the Olympics, especially the Summer Olympics (excluding baseball, basketball, and football—which I’m not even sure if they play). My favorite sport is swimming, because I was on the swim team back in high school. Oh, and also because the U.S. men’s team, as a whole, is really, really ridiculously good looking. Anyway, everyone is super into the Michael Phelps/Ryan Lochte…

This past weekend my husband and I went down to D.C. to visit some friends, and they took us to a Nationals game. I’m not a fan of baseball, but I don’t like to cause waves, so I went. Plus, they were my ride. Anyway, after the game and after all the players left the field, stadium workers began wheeling out a portable stage, and soon after we all got to watch a free Wallflowers concert. (I’ve said it before: The ’90s are totally back.) Now, I love concerts. Love them. (You probably wouldn’t be able to tell by looking…

It’s a common joke that if people want to move to Manhattan, or some other large city, they’d only be able to afford something the size of a shoebox. (OK, so maybe that’s not the funniest joke out there. Picture I said it with Steve Martin’s arrow on my head. Wakka wakka.) But according to an article on Yahoo, it turns out, that’s sometimes true. Well, not literally true. You’d have to be some sort of contortionist or Barbie doll to live in a shoebox. But the couple featured in that article lives in an apartment that’s 240 square feet….

Oh, no they didn’t. I am an avid reader of the RENTCafe Blog, which has all sorts of interesting entries about apartment living. And recently I read a blog on their site called “Why We Rather Rent Than Buy,” which posed the idea that members of Gen Y would rather rent then buy, citing reasons such as more mobility, the unstable job market and the fact that people are marrying and starting families later in life. Fair enough, and all good reasons. But I beg to differ. If Millennials had the money, they totally would buy. And if constant checks to…

I had pretty much written off Tom Cruise. Sure, in the ’80s he was amazing. I mean, whenever you are home alone, you are almost required by law to put on Ray Bans and play air guitar in your underwear to “Old Time Rock and Roll” (or do the Home Alone scream, but that doesn’t really help my example). And, I guess you can throw in Top Gun as another example of good vintage Tom Cruise, although I’m doing that kicking and screaming because I think I’m literally the only person on the planet who does not like that movie….

My husband and I frequently go through a number of real estate “phases” where we get really crazed about an idea, and then sort of let it go. Sometimes we think we should buy while the buying is hot and get a condo in Jersey. Then we think, “Is adding half an hour and an additional mode of transportation to our commutes really worth it just to live in the state where Bruce Springsteen is from?” Then, maybe after watching too many episodes of Sex and the City and I get a hankering for trendy bars, over-priced cupcakes and men…

According to a recent article in The New York Times, people don’t always know how to act around their doormen, or know what to ask/expect of them. I know, I know. First-world problems. It’s like, “Gracious, I bought so much caviar that my guests are going to be too full to enjoy their filet mignon.” Or “Oh, dear me, I shan’t be able to make it to the polo match because I have that sailing regatta the same day.” (Seriously, though, that’s too bad. I know how much you were looking forward to that.) Or, I don’t know, something about not…

We accept the fact that reality TV isn’t actually real. Of course there’s editing involved. And the contestants are usually manipulated into situations where there’d be the most drama. Most of the people are just acting up for the cameras to get the most air time so they can parlay their B- and C-list fame into a book deal or brand of cocktails. I’m sure once the cameras are turned off, The Situation and J-Woww have a spirited debate about the national debt, as they are wont to do. And that’s fine. Actually, that’s more than fine. That’s escapism, baby….