Ace and Gary

So if I have not told you yet, Ben and I found a place in Los Angeles. We are going where most New Yorkers go to acclimatized to the good cheer and weather of the west... Los Feliz. Truth be told I figured we would end up in or around that neighborhood... I just hope they don't kick us out when they realize how un-hip we are really are. I guess unlike Manhattan, in LA, they can't really kick you off the island (did I mention we currently live in Brooklyn).


We looked at one place in the neighborhood and the realtor gave us dining tips and a copy of the local paper... and then asked us if we would like to have dinner with him and his wife. Ahhh, the swinging LA lifestyle! I didn't know whether to be horrified or flattered... ok, I was a bit horrified as the guy looked liked Gary Busey and the wife looked like that crazy squeaking dolphin lady. But in the end we put our egos aside and declined the offer, as the apartment just wasn't what we were looking for.

We ending up finding our place through two of the nicest realtors that I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Ben kept on calling them Ace and Gary and truth be told, they were the less-than-ambiguously gay duo. Having moved 4 times in New York, I was constantly trying to figure out where their fee was hidden and if we were being swindled... but we weren't. They were just genuine people.

I am still in awe of the situation. It was amazing, realtors that wanted to work, on our schedule and in our best interest. Turns out in Los Angeles, the realtors are paid by the landlords! Novel idea, that the landlord pay a competent realtor to find reliable tenants. I don't want to turn this into an east meets west bitch session, but I think we can all agree that in terms of the rental market... LA wins and not just by a couple of points... it's a landslide and in this landslide, New York is so hideously bad they called FEMA to bail everyone out... which may explain why most of the affordable apartments in NYC are no better than trailers, sitting in a swamp... without an ocean view.

I mean, how can NYC compete, when LA has superhero's posing as realtors...