May 21, 2013

Escalators here would serve an important purpose. (Flickr photo by zoetnet)
There is more than one way to win what homebuyers insist on calling a bidding war. (I call it “competition.”) But at least two of them are shunned here in New York.
Of course, conventional tactics include raising the price and stripping the contract of any contingencies such as financing and home inspection or otherwise improving terms such as settlement date.
One of the out-of-the-box idea that no one here endorses, however, demonstrates a buyer’s high motivation to close the transaction. The concept is to offer Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Benny L. Kass, Best and final offer, Bidding war, Buying strategy, Contract, D.C., Escalation clause, Manhattan real estate, New York City, Washington, Washington Post
Posted in Brokers, Commentary, Manhattan, New York City, Real Estate | Leave a Comment »
May 20, 2013

View of a Hamilton Heights from top floor of a nicely renovated 4,400-sf townhouse that is offered for $2.695 million.
For buyers accustomed to neighborhoods farther south, Hamilton Heights may represent challenges with respect to convenience, amenities and street life.
Yet on a recent tour of an even dozen open houses, I was struck anew with how vibrant the area is and how great is the value of properties in contrast to more popular parts of Manhattan.
As the New York Times has noted, the massive Columbia University development now rising to the south suggests that Hamilton Heights is on the verge of a boomlet:
. . . Hamilton Heights, largely unknown to those who have never cracked the 100s on the No. 1 train, is preparing for an influx of teachers, students and support workers. It is also anticipating the higher real estate prices that usually come with proximity to an Ivy League institution.
The Heights Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: City College, Co-ops, Columbia University, Condos, Duplex, Edgecombe Avenue, Hamilton Heights, House prices, Hudson River, Manhattan real estate, New York City, New York Times, Penthouse, Riverside Drive, Riverside Park, St. Nicholas Avenue, St. Nicholas Park, Sugar Hill, Townhouse
Posted in Co-ops and Condos, Commentary, Housing Markets, Manhattan, New York City, Out and About, Real Estate | Leave a Comment »
May 17, 2013
Tags: Air purifier, Airbnb, Apartments, Bubble, Central Park West, Encino, FNC, GenY, Hamptons, House prices, insurance, Long Island, Manhattan real estate, Mortgage rates, Nascar, New York City, One57, Penthouse, Pocket listing, Rent, sandy, Sinatra, Stuyvesant Town, U.S. Real Estate Market, Water Mill
Posted in Co-ops and Condos, Housing Markets, Manhattan, Mortgages, New York City, News, Real Estate, Statistics, The Big Apple, U.S., Weekly Roundup | Leave a Comment »
May 16, 2013

There is normally no magic involved in choosing a best and final offer. (Flickr photo by Emz.watson)
We are told early in the week that the listing broker already has two offers in hand. All other offers are due by Friday at 5 p.m., she says.
Fair enough, but then she adds that best and final offers have a deadline of the following Monday at 5 p.m.
A double-deadline in advance is strange, indeed. What usually happens is that a listing agent has several offers in hand, doesn’t see a clear winner and only then, in concert with the seller, asks for best and final offers.
That’s the typical procedure. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Broker ethics, Buying strategy, New York City, Real Estate
Posted in Commentary, New York City, Real Estate, The High Road | Leave a Comment »
May 15, 2013

Few topics relating to real estate are less scintillating or more critical than homeowners insurance. Remember Sandy?
Even if a terrible storm doesn’t ruin your home or its contents, anyone who has experienced a loss will vouch for the importance of homeowners or renters insurance.
If your eyes haven’t already glazed over, here in a nutshell are items in a homeowners policy that merit attention:
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Tags: Homeowner's insurance, sandy, United Policyholders
Posted in Co-ops and Condos, Commentary, Real Estate | Leave a Comment »
May 14, 2013

Squash anyone? Kitchen of brownstone listed for $10 million.
They closed on the brownstone on Aug. 20, 2008 for $7.85 million.
It happens that Lehman brothers collapsed less than a month later, causing our housing markets to swoon.
While the markets in Manhattan and Brooklyn in particular have made great progress since then, we still have a way to go before reaching the peaks of days gone by.
Unfortunately, the sellers — I’m sure, a very nice family — have overestimated the demand for properties that can accommodate a big family easily. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Amsterdam Avenue, Apartments, Broadway, Brownstone, Co-ops, Columbus Avenue, Condos, House prices, Manhattan real estate, New York City, Riverside, Upper West Side, West End Avenue
Posted in Co-ops and Condos, Commentary, Housing Markets, Manhattan, New York City, Out and About, Real Estate | Leave a Comment »
May 13, 2013
Two houses in Manhattan also are available to bidders

If security is paramount, the happiness will be hard to contain of whoever is the winning bidder at the auction of a property in Northern Adirondack Park this summer.
On 27.3 acres in the hamlet of Lyon Mountain in Dannemora, the property includes several acres of undeveloped land and 23 buildings totaling 90,676 square feet.
New York State is selling the former minimum-security correctional facility as surplus property on July 10, and the minimum bid is a mere $140,000.
(If a second prison might prove to be of interest, the former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on the southern tip of Staten Island is for sale as well, but not at auction.) Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: 364 W. 119th St., 419 W. 145th St., Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Auctions, Brownstone, Dannemora, Division of Real Estate Development, Hamilton Heights, Lyon Mountain, Manhattan, New York City, New York State, Northern Adirondack Park, Office of General Services, Real Estate, Row house, Staten Island, Sugar Hill, Surplus properties
Posted in Auction, Manhattan, New York City, News, Real Estate | Leave a Comment »
May 10, 2013
Tags: Apartments, BrickUnderground.com, Brooklyn, Bubble, Center for Housing Policy, Contingency, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, FHFA, Forbes, Foreclosures, Gatsby, House prices, Kips Bay, Manhattan real estate, Mortgages, New York City, Pew, Real Estate, Rent, Schools, Teen, Time magazine, Toronto, U.S. Real Estate Market
Posted in Co-ops and Condos, Foreclosure, Housing Markets, Manhattan, Mortgages, New York City, News, Real Estate, Statistics, The Big Apple, U.S. | Leave a Comment »
May 9, 2013

Sellers often fail to ask a vital question when interviewing potential listing brokers. (Flickr photo by David Davies)
When interviewing brokers to list their apartments for sale, prospective clients ask a lot of questions.
In many instances, the question that property sellers often want answered is how much of a fee the broker will demand. (Many a listing presentation and meeting could be spared if sellers with commission as their sole criterion simply asked for the percentage before a meeting is scheduled.)
Among the other bits of information that sellers may seek relate to a broker’s track record — for example, how many sales the agent achieved in what amount of time and in which neighborhood or apartment building.
But the most critical query centers on Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Apartments, House prices, Listing, Real Estate, Selling strategy
Posted in Brokers, Co-ops and Condos, Commentary, Real Estate | 2 Comments »
May 8, 2013

(Flickr photo by litherland)
I have no one to blame but myself after I took on a new buyer.
Cindy is an acquaintance who e-mailed me one Friday saying that she was toying with the idea of moving out of her nearly $4,000-a-month rental to purchase an apartment on the Upper West Side. Could we chat sometime? she asked.
I spent a couple of hours with her the next day explaining the process to someone who had lived overseas for decades and, like any first-time buyer in Manhattan, knew little about co-ops and condos, let alone what she needed to do to buy one.
It was a good conversation, in the course of which I went on at some length about steps that Cindy hsf to take to obtain a mortgage, retain an attorney and make an offer before going to contract.
She indicated as we talked that there was some urgency to get moving because Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Apartments, Brokers, Buying strategy, Manhattan, Mortgages, New York City, Real Estate, Upper West Side
Posted in Brokers, Commentary, Manhattan, New York City, Real Estate, The High Road | Leave a Comment »
There is more than one way to win ‘bidding war’
May 21, 2013Escalators here would serve an important purpose. (Flickr photo by zoetnet)
There is more than one way to win what homebuyers insist on calling a bidding war. (I call it “competition.”) But at least two of them are shunned here in New York.
Of course, conventional tactics include raising the price and stripping the contract of any contingencies such as financing and home inspection or otherwise improving terms such as settlement date.
One of the out-of-the-box idea that no one here endorses, however, demonstrates a buyer’s high motivation to close the transaction. The concept is to offer Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Benny L. Kass, Best and final offer, Bidding war, Buying strategy, Contract, D.C., Escalation clause, Manhattan real estate, New York City, Washington, Washington Post
Posted in Brokers, Commentary, Manhattan, New York City, Real Estate | Leave a Comment »