Inwoodite Mary Elizabeth Williams is a writer and commentator for media outlets including Salon and Public Radio International. Her first book, "GImme Shelter: True Tales From the Housing Bubble" is a chronicle of her family's search for a home of its own in the wilds of the NYC real estate market. If you're an Inwoodite, a New Yorker, a prospective home buyer, or simply a fan of non-fiction family dramedy, "Gimme Shelter" is a must-read for 2009.
We asked Williams about the book, the bubble, and the breakthrough that brought her to Inwood.
Inwoodite: At what point in the story did you decide to start writing it down?
MEW: I knew almost as soon as I started house hunting that I wanted to write about it. Every time I went out, I had fresh horror stories to share. Then I did story for the New York Observer on my quest, and eventually expanded that into the book proposal. We New Yorkers are, of necessity, obsessive about real estate.
Inwoodite: Did you feel during your housing search that you all were riding a wave, that the market was out of control and bound to crash?
MEW: It was more like riding a tsunami. Housing appreciated 65 percent in five years in New York. In one neighborhood, we looked at two houses identical in size and layout, six months apart. In the interim the asking price had gone up over $100K. I looked around and saw that, and saw the hasty overdevelopment of new construction, I knew it was unsustainable. And by that point I was researching the book, and knew something about the mortgage industry and what a hot mess that was. That's why it makes me crazy when someone like Henry Paulson says, "I didn't quite expect this." Really? Then I should be secretary of the treasury, because I sure did.
Inwoodite: Your initial impressions of Inwood sound familiar. Can you talk a little about what drew you here?
MEW: I had friends of friends who lived there and said they liked it. When I started my initial investigations online, it seemed like a place that had a lot of what I needed: urban, affordable, diverse. The first time I came up here I felt that it was something special. That combination of big prewar apartment buildings and the park and the water was pretty irresistible. It took a few months to find a place and buy it, but in the meantime I'd really fallen for the neighborhood.
Inwoodite: Aside from your time working to promote the book, do you still follow the goings-on of the housing market?
MEW: It's too historic a time not to. People are talking about downturns in Manhattan housing prices, which is unheard of. Lending institutions are going under. Foreclosures are at historic levels. I keep waiting for somebody to tell us something good.
Inwoodite: Buying when and where you did, did you make the right choice?
MEW: I suppose if I could have bought a hot condo in Brooklyn at the right moment at flipped it for double what I'd paid, I'd be feeling pretty smug right now. But everything that happened led me here, and here is my home. I love my apartment, I love my friends and neighborhood. Frankly no matter what happens in the market, I feel more secure and happy as an owner than a renter, but beyond that, I have a deep and abiding emotional investment in my little corner of the city and the people who inhabit it. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it all over again.
- This week’s feature takes readers inside the 1897 townhouse of one Heights couple whose collection of sheet music, memorabilia, and Victrolas will transport you to Old Hollywood. Their knowledge and cataloguing of materials from the early part of the 19th century is unparalleled, according to a MoMA curator. Until the couple decides to stage a much-talked-about local film festival complete with a magic lantern slide show, this feature is the only way to learn about a private, museum-worthy collection.
