Dishing the dirt
On my first full day on Long Island, I rented a car, and made an arrangement at a local real estate office. I remember which agency, but I don't want to get them in trouble. I made an appointment with an agent to look at the types of rental houses I might find if I did somehow get the job. She drove me around central Nassau County and talked about the two main types of Levit houses - ranches and capes.
While making our rounds, she did tell me a bit about the reality of Long Island. "You may have heard a lot about race relations in the South, but here it is even worse. It just doesn't get a lot of publicity." In this county you have Black towns, Hispanic towns, Jewish towns and Catholic towns. If we show a black family a home in the wrong town, we start hearing from the prospective neighbors. The conversation always begins with "I'm not a racist, but my neighbors aren't going to put up with this."
She explained that there are only 3 towns in Nassau County - Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. All of the dozens of towns on the map are included in these three. Most towns are unincorporated, meaning that they do not have their own police departments - places like Freeport and Garden City are the exceptions. The rest are covered by Nassau County Police. Unlike New York City, the fire departments here are all volunteer. Later I learned from the newspaper that some of the firemen get some pretty cushy rewards - I can't get too worked up over that. I would never dream of coping with what they get when that alarm goes off.
When I got back to Phoenix after the interview, I knew I had the job so I did not dwell too much on these negatives when I made my report at home.
I accepted the position and made the five day drive to Garden City in early July, 1990. Donna began to work with our Arizona real estate agent to find a long term renter for the house, and I began looking for a house to rent. I soon found that anybody new here was a sitting duck to be taken for a ride. Once I found a rental house in Levittown that I liked a lot. The rental agent said she'd sign me right up, but had to talk to the owners. One was out of town, so it took her an extra day to find him. In that day, the price of the house went up $300.
There were many more such lessons. Over time, I have figured out that if you try to live by your words, be fair in all of your business dealings, and assume that others are the same, they have a nickname for you - LOSER. In working with car dealers, real estate agents, appliance salesmen and the like, I have found that they will look to find ways to add on what I call a "Schmuck Surcharge." This tends to be around $500. Watch for it. Living here has made us a lot tougher.
While making our rounds, she did tell me a bit about the reality of Long Island. "You may have heard a lot about race relations in the South, but here it is even worse. It just doesn't get a lot of publicity." In this county you have Black towns, Hispanic towns, Jewish towns and Catholic towns. If we show a black family a home in the wrong town, we start hearing from the prospective neighbors. The conversation always begins with "I'm not a racist, but my neighbors aren't going to put up with this."
She explained that there are only 3 towns in Nassau County - Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. All of the dozens of towns on the map are included in these three. Most towns are unincorporated, meaning that they do not have their own police departments - places like Freeport and Garden City are the exceptions. The rest are covered by Nassau County Police. Unlike New York City, the fire departments here are all volunteer. Later I learned from the newspaper that some of the firemen get some pretty cushy rewards - I can't get too worked up over that. I would never dream of coping with what they get when that alarm goes off.
When I got back to Phoenix after the interview, I knew I had the job so I did not dwell too much on these negatives when I made my report at home.
I accepted the position and made the five day drive to Garden City in early July, 1990. Donna began to work with our Arizona real estate agent to find a long term renter for the house, and I began looking for a house to rent. I soon found that anybody new here was a sitting duck to be taken for a ride. Once I found a rental house in Levittown that I liked a lot. The rental agent said she'd sign me right up, but had to talk to the owners. One was out of town, so it took her an extra day to find him. In that day, the price of the house went up $300.
There were many more such lessons. Over time, I have figured out that if you try to live by your words, be fair in all of your business dealings, and assume that others are the same, they have a nickname for you - LOSER. In working with car dealers, real estate agents, appliance salesmen and the like, I have found that they will look to find ways to add on what I call a "Schmuck Surcharge." This tends to be around $500. Watch for it. Living here has made us a lot tougher.
Comments
Post a Comment