Say good-bye to real estate VPs, SVPs and EVPs?

The New York Department of State says in a stunning opinion letter distributed Monday by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) that many of us real estate salespersons and associate real estate brokers, including me, are violating the law.

Associate Attorney Whitney A. Clark states in the letter that those of us who adopt or receive corporate titles such as vice president on upward are in violation of the real property law if we are not actually officers of the corporation — for example, any incorporated brokerage.

In the one-and-a-half-page missive, which amounts to a bombshell, Clark declared:

Condo linked to money laundering is auctioned

Stella Tsang (left), her husband center and auctioneer Mike Lewis going over contract.

A Long Island woman who gave her name as Stella Tsang was the winning bidder at today’s auction of a Chelsea condo that the U.S. Treasury Department seized after a former president of Taiwan pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Her final

Money-laundering scandal puts condo on block

A property ensnared in an international money-laundering scandal to which a former president of Taiwan has pleaded guilty is to be auctioned this month by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Chelsea’s Onyx

The auction of the 1,1,78-sf luxury condo in Chelsea’s Onyx, at 261 W. 28th St., is scheduled for April 23.

According to the World Bank, which cites a U.S. Justice Department press release, the sale stems from a conviction by former Taiwan President Chen Shui-Ben and his wife for bribery, embezzlement and money laundering.

Alleging that the apartment

Queens properties fetch $3 million in city auction

29-25 Ericcson St., East Elmhurst, went for $510,000 on Wednesday.

At Wednesday’s auction by Queens Public Adminstrator Linda M. Rosenblatt, successful bids on 10 properties totaled $2.957 million.  Three other properties were withdrawn prior to the estate sale.

Here are the results:

Condo in luxe high-rise heads to city’s auction, other properties have much lower minimums

This unit at 401 E. 60th St. is a floor below one to be auctioned and may be slightly smaller.

A condo in the Lenox Hill neighborhood will be offered with a minimum bid of $1.2 million at the first city auction of Manhattan properties since June.

Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin scheduled the sale of 13 properties from the Lower East Side to Inwood for March 21.  Minimum bids range from $45,000 for an income-limited studio in Harlem to the East Side condo’s $1.2 million.

The estate of one Ronald Cohen, the four-room unit 24C in Bridge Tower Place, a full-service 1999 building at 401 E. 60th St., is advertised as having 1,130 square feet with common charges of $1,400 monthly and annual taxes of $21,000.  Active listings in the building average

Bankruptcy auction set for a brownstone in limbo

14 Queens co-ops, houses also go on the block in March

The bankruptcy saga of the Upper West Side brownstone, right, finally seems to be coming to an end.

The 11-unit townhouse at 313 W. 77th St. went on the market in September of 2011 at an asking price of $3.995 million.  It has languished since then.

Still, the 5,898-sf brownstone between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive is bound to fetch more than that at a bankruptcy auction.

Bankruptcy trustee Albert Togut of the Togut, Segal & Segal law firm previously entered into a contract to sell the building for $3.75 million with a tenant who has agreed to move out if an offer of at least $4.5 million is made to purchase the place vacant.

Consequently, any successful bidder below $4.5 million would have a doozy of a time

Unit owners can breathe a sigh of (tax) relief

New York State Capitol in Albany (Flickr photo by Jimmy Emerson)

Although there was little doubt that lawmakers would act, it is nice to know that the New York State Assembly finally passed an Omnibus Housing Bill on Monday following Senate action last week.

The legislation restores for three years the expired tax abatement that was created to equalize the tax burdens between single-family homeowners and owners of co-ops and condos.

It also extends for the same period the J-51 program, which provides a tax benefit for the renovation of existing housing.

However, the legislation eliminates benefits for the conversion of commercial space to residential use and limits the eligibility for condominium and cooperative buildings with units that have an average assessed value per unit is  greater than $30,000.  Excepted are projects that receive “substantial” government assistance.

Certain provisions of the 421a program were amended as well so as to encourage new residential development in  some high-density areas of Midtown and Downtown Manhattan.

Brooklyn house easily tops auction minimum

Semi-detached brick house with driveway and two-car garage at 50 Tapscott St. (Source: Kings County Public Administrator)

At Tuesday’s estate auction by King’s County Public Administrator Bruce Stein, the last was first in terms on the amount of its winning bid — $1.45 million, 62 percent above the minimum opening bid.

The object of spirited bidding by some half dozen hopefuls, the property at 51 Havermeyer St. was the last of 10 houses on the block.  Its minimum was $890,000.

The winner was a man who

Queens auction produces $3M in winning bids

This Long Island City house fetched the highest price among eight properties at auction.

With three of 11 properties withdrawn, the estate auction of ultimately one co-op and seven houses in Queens netted $2.944 million for the city today.

The total topped the collective minimum price of $1.991 million by nearly $1 million.  The gain amounted to 48 percent more than the sum of what Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt terms the “upset price.”

Properties on the block ranged in price between $120,000 and $600,000 in neighborhoods including Long Island City, Jamaica and Jackson Heights.

Below are the results:

Two suburban houses attract winning bids, barely

Rear view of house on Long Island that received highest bid of just over $1 million at an auction on Sunday.   (Source: Sheldon Good & Co.)

Despite strong early interest, two distinctive suburban properties in separate auctions suffered little competition among bidders on Sunday.

Only two of four registered bidders raised their hands in the auction of a 3,988-sf residence designed by architect Norman Jaffe in the Laurel Hollow village of Oyster Bay on Long Island’s North Shore

At the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side, the house was gaveled down after receiving a mere three bids — a $1 million minimum opener, then $1.010 million and finally