Real estate cable program wins public access awards.

"Real Estate Nightmares," the popular Queens-based cable television talk show, was awarded Best Talk Show and Best Studio Series at the CAPA Festival sponsored by Queens Public Access Television. The contest was open to all certified QPTV producers. QPTV is the largest of the five public access centers in the City of New York.

For Vincent S. Castellano, the Rockaway resident who is the host and producer of "Real Estate Nightmares," as well as a Real Estate Weekly columnist, this is the second time he has been honored by the CAPA Festival. in 1993, Castellano won Best Municipal Show for his 18 part series called "Should Queens Secede?"

"Real Estate Nightmares," which is still in production at the QPTV Studio in Flushing, contains 20 episodes which are cablecast weekly in all five boroughs of the City of New York.

"It is the only television show about issues affecting the cost, availability and quality of housing for more than 7 million New Yorkers," said Castellano.

The series features discussions with experts on current real estate issues such as lead paint, the service of process, the cost of water, housing court, redlining by the banking and insurance industries, legal aid, taxes, the Americans with Disabilities Act, etc.

Since real estate in New York City is under the jurisdiction of more than 24 city and state agencies, many episodes of the series focus on the regulatory system, its successes and its failures.

"The series is educational but also entertaining. From my own teaching experience, education and entertainment are two sides of the same coin," Castellano said. Guests are made Official Members of Real Estate Purgatory, Castellano's imaginary locale for those plagued with real estate nightmares.

In addition to providing a forum for a discussion on the issues, Real Estate Nightmares has also broken news. On a recent episode on housing court, Castellano, a former MIT statistics instructor, exposed the flawed statistical analysis in a June 1993 report on "Housing Court, Evictions and Homelessness," by the Community Training and Resource Center and the City-wide Task Force on Housing Court, Inc.

Castellano's journalism experience includes being Editor of The Queens Tribune and Real Estate News. He is also an experienced real estate broker and manager of residential and commercial property.

In Manhattan, the series of cablecast on MNN public access Channel 17 at 2:30 p.m., every Sunday. In Queens, the series is cablecast on QPTV public access Channel 56 at 9 p.m., every Thursday and on Channel 35 at 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday. In the Bronx, the series is cablecast on BRONX-NET public access Channel 70 at 8:30 p.m., every Monday and noon every Tuesday. In Brooklyn, the series is cablecast weekly on the BCAT public access system every Saturday at 3:30 p.m. On the Time Warner system the series is cablecast on Channel 34, on Cablevision it is Channel 67. In Staten Island, the series is cablecast on Staten Island Community TV public access Channel 35 at 9:30 p.m., every Monday and 7:30 p.m. every Thursday.