r/Albany

Very passionate people speaking and in attendance.

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I am becoming increasingly radicalized against realty as a profession.

If you are an even slightly detail-oriented person with solid organizational and communication skills, and you have a good attorney and home inspector you can lean on, you should not need a buyer’s agent. It is a rent-seeking scam and they simply do not provide value to the transaction in the age of Zillow and easily-accessible public records.

Well, a good agent (which most are not) provides some value by being a client advocate/market expert/seasoned negotiator…but for 2.5%? If you’re buying a $500K house, are they really doing $12,500 worth of work? It is a scam. The profession preys on information asymmetry and the anxieties of buyers and sellers. Buying and selling a house isn’t that hard, the process is just mystified to the benefit of realtors.

TLDR: Ideological rant aside…just wondering if anyone’s had success going agent-less and buying a house in the local market?

I have no concerns about navigating the process or negotiating. Just curious to what degree I will be blackballed or dicked around by listing agents for refusing to give a 2.5% cut to one of their buddies.

Thanks!

I am moving to Albany soon. I love nature and animals, especially turtles. I am wondering, are there any nature centers that I could volunteer at in the area?

Does anyone know what happened at Colonie Center today? I was just in Barnes and Noble about an hour ago and the emergency lights came on and people began evacuating. We left pretty quickly but I’m curious as to what happened.

Heyyyy

I’ve gone incognito on this sub and on Reddit in general for some time. I’ve returned to tout a couple wins - and I love to talk about food, so I’ll stick with that here.

Finally made it out to Kingston to Sunrise Bagels. This place was a recommendation from a friend a long while back. I have several places on my list of food places to visit, so I’ll be around for a while. Plus, New York rules. Anyway, as for my bagel sandwich review: When I tell you I NEVER order food at a shop, I mean it. Usually order a dozen then make my own sammies at home. BEC on everything was to die: crispy, pillowy, salty. The BEC was a little thin compared to the bagel but the ratio was satisfying. Took a bite of a plain bagel and they’re very similar to Broadstreet (no egg bagel, unfortunately). They’re bready, not doughy. I wouldn’t call this a NYC bagel. My palate is burned from the BEC so I can’t tell how yeasty/flavorful the bagels are on their own, yet, but they smell nice and yeasty with a really decent crust on them. BEC and a doz bagels was $20 - I’m here for that.

There was a question about where to get custard (NOT soft serve) and one of the recommendations was Mama’s Boy Burgers. I’m sitting in the parking lot, post custard. I had no idea it was up by Hunter Mountain. Anyway, for my review: I got the medium vanilla custard on a waffle cone, $7.50 (not too bad but definitely not cheap). OMG, it was good. I forgot how nice and rich custard is compared to soft serve. No stink to soft serve but I prefer a more rounded flavor and this custard has it. It was sweet, but not too sweet and very, very satisfying. I bought a ninja creami about 18 mos ago and have been really refining some delicious recipes with it, but GD this custard was delicious. Well worth the trip out here. I had no idea it was just past Kaaterskill Falls! I have my post-hike ice cream joint out here now.

Anyway, both spots get two thumbs up from me. I tend to specialize in bagels, pastries and ice cream. Always happy to discuss those. Happy Saturday!

Pics in comments.

If you're fed up with your Spectrum bill and thinking about switching to Verizon 5G, I have one word for you: don't. The full story is below for those who are interested.

My wife and I had finally hit our breaking point with the Spectrum bill as it hit $115 and thought we would give the Verizon 5G home service a try as we are both satisfied Verizon mobile customers. Sign up was easy, we went to the Verizon store and provided our information and were on our way with the device within a half hour.

We had 500mbps Spectrum service which reliably averaged around 400mbps on all devices, so about 80% quoted speed. The Verizon service we got was 300mbps, which I (wrongfully) assumed would do somewhere in the neighborhood of 240mbps. The cost of this service was $60 and would be reduced to $50 if we signed up for autopay through a MyVerizon account. At this time, we were assured that if we did not like the service, we could return ​the box to the store within 30 days and would not be charged for the service. This ended up to not be true, as we will get to later.

Setup was easy, we plugged the box in and after a half hour or so, we had WiFi! We were never able to create a MyVerizon account for it as we are Verizon Prepaid customers for our mobile phones, and since the 5G device is postpaid, it requires a separate account. We were told to either: get another cell phone number to use for the account, or convert the prepaid mobile phone plan to postpaid. Fortunately we did neither. After using the internet for 2 weeks it was readily apparent it would not work for us. First, the highest speed I ever saw out of it was 85mbps. Most of the time it struggled to break 60mbps. A far cry from 300 or even 240. Second, approximately every 20-40 minutes, the wifi network would cut out for 2-5 seconds and immediately come back. This made it useless for my wife to work from home using her company's software.

A call to support confirmed that yes, we had the device near windows and also that this service is de-prioritized during peak hours. Which are apparently all hours in Center Square since I never saw a speed higher than 85mbps. While attempting to cancel this service, we learned that our account apparently did not exist despite the fact that we had received a bill with an account number on it. After 30 minutes of arguing with AI robots, we finally got a real human who sorted it out and set an appointment for us to return the device since we were well within 30 days.

Upon going to the store, we were told they could not locate the account either (even though they made it) and the device was never registered to the account. After 2 hours of them calling various people, they finally agreed to accept the device and give us paperwork saying we turned it in. They did not know if we should pay the bill and advised us to check our mail. Lo and behold, another bill came, for $48 and change because the first month's $60 service was pro-rated to that amount. So, not free as promised.

We could not pay this bill online because we never could make a MyVerizon account, and we elected not to pay by check because the fine print states your bank information would be automatically stored and used for autopayment until you called to revoke authorization (which we did not want to risk given this account doesn't exist according to Verizon).

I brought the bill to the Verizon store where I was told I could not pay it because they couldn't find the account. They sent me next door to CVS, who told me I cannot pay it there because it's a FIOS bill (which it is not). I then went to a 2nd Verizon store who was also unable to log into the account for a credit card payment, but was able to take a cash payment and provide me with a receipt.

I cannot say enough-there is no sum of money that could entice me into using this poor internet service and dealing with this level of confusion and annoyance ever again. I don't know what else exists in Albany, we ended up arguing the Spectrum bill back down into the realm of reason so I gave up on shopping. I am a hair away from switching our Verizon phones to something else despite the fact that we have an amazing deal simply for the amount of aggravation we encountered with them.

Thanks for letting me vent, and I hope that this saves someone the aggravation we went through!

Hello from LA! I’ve been helping my mom in the Capital Region untangle a National Grid billing mess, and I’m wondering if anyone local has dealt with something similar.

Starting around October, after an electric smart meter was installed, she stopped receiving normal monthly bills for a while. In February, without even having a current bill in hand, she paid $250, and then the next month paid $200 because she was worried about getting hit with a shutoff. She’s older, an immigrant, and this whole thing has been really stressful for her.

When bills finally started showing up again, they were bizarre: catch-up/backdated bills with overlapping service periods, and the online account history doesn’t line up cleanly with the PDF statements.

What makes it weirder is that the smart meter seems to be electric only. The gas meter is separate and old. But she still appears to be getting billed incorrectly for gas. For multiple winter periods, the bills showed 0 therms, and the later gas catch-up billing was still implausibly low, which makes no sense for a house where the furnace, hot water, stove, and dryer all use gas.

I know people have been having issues with higher monthly bills with the new smart meters combined with rate hikes. The funny part is I had ChatGPT sort through her statements and payment history to estimate what she’s actually averaging monthly since the smart meter install, and it seems to be about the same as last year for the same period, if not slightly lower. I'm more concerned with the irregular backbilling and the incorrect gas billing/data.

A few questions:
- Has anyone had National Grid stop issuing normal monthly bills and then dump a bunch of backdated bills on the account?
- Has anyone seen obviously wrong gas usage after changes on the electric side?
- Did regular customer service fix it, or did you have to go through the Department of Public Service?
- If you disputed this kind of billing mess, what actually got results?

I had Mrs. Sheilds as my 4th grade teacher at Lynwood Elementary. She was amazing and one of the best teachers I had. Apparently, her son died of suicide a few years ago. He was a veteran and police officer in the schenectady police. No matter what people feel about police, losing a son to suicide is horrific. To ridicule her son and harass her is sub-human. Please help me identify the person in the photo, 'Mike June'. He must have also went to Lynwood Elementary in Guilderland. Behaviour like this is begging for attention, so I would like to give it to him. This is her son: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailygazette/name/corey-shields-obituary?id=31189250

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Hi everyone !

Where do i find a place till buy used books ? Preferably on the CDTA route .

Thanks

Does anyone have any pediatrician/ family PCP recommendations that are good with neurodivergent children and complex medical issues? Autism, ADHD, PDA, ARFID & various other issues. My children's pcp is leaving the practice, and I really need someone that can help us put together the pieces and coordinate both of my kids complex health issues. Will really travel anywhere if I have to, but in Guilderland. Not schoolhouse road pediatrics please. Thanks

Any recommendations for a dry cleaner in the area? I used the one at Stuyvestant until it closed years ago, and then Colonial Cleaners on N. Allen until it closed recently. Towne Cleaners on Madison lost my shirt, so I won't use them again. Who do you use?

ive never played soccer before, but im looking for a place i can just show up and play with no fees. i know some recreation centers offer things like boxing, but im hoping I can learn & play adult soccer (preferably outdoors). thanksss

Life got in the way and I can't attend Apr 15: vs Dallas Stars. I have 4 seats in Section 104, Row 9 available. I really want these to go to someone who will enjoy the experience! Proof of purchase available for a legitimate deal.