Weekly Roundup: SO much local and U.S. news

Prices up, sales volume almost flat measured against 2002

Condo prices edge up during last year as sales and inventory slip

And sales and supply

Who died and left you. . . the buyer?

Flickr photo by Shaheer Shahid

When it comes to purchasing a property in which someone died, good luck easily finding out that was the case. One reason for secrecy: Such a property generally takes longer to sell.

It doesn’t matter whether there even is a suspicion that someone perished from natural causes, accidental ones, murder or suicide, but state law protects brokers, owners and mere occupants from having to disclose that information.

Nor must they disclose

It is up to brokers to ground clients in reality

flickr photo by mademoiselle suzanne

The pleasure anyone takes in an experience — whether job hunting, waiting for a traffic light to change, gambling, watching a football game or undergoing surgery — varies according to what the individual believes will be the outcome.

A piece on expectations in the New York Times over the weekend is what reminded me of that verity.  Notes the author, Alina Tugend:

Knowing what to expect colors so much of our life’s experiences, often more so than the experience itself. If we expect to pay $21,000 for a car, $20,000 seems like a deal. If we expect to pay $19,000, it seems like highway robbery. Either way, the car is still $20,000.

To me, the article underscores

Out and About: How does your garden grow?

One of the houses with virtues that Barbara Corcoran extolled recently on the Today Show.

The one-bedroom, two-bath duplex I was checking out during a Sunday open house recently has two assets and many liabilities.

On the minus side are its entry almost directly into the small kitchen (in which an ancient dishwasher caught my eye), cramped living room, a spiral staircase so narrow that I had to hunch my shoulders, its bedroom (albeit one that fits the legal definition) in the basement and baths that I’d classify as ordinary.

On the plus side is its location in a Central Park block of the high 60s, a stone’s throw from Lincoln Center.  (To digress, when you see “steps from” in a listing, consider the Fair Housing Act, which bars discrimination against persons with disabilities.)

Also on the plus side — and the only conceivable explanation for the co-op’s inflated asking price of

Some brokers don’t like me raining on our parade

(Flickr photo by Mr. Jincks)

I get it, really I do.

Brokers receive enough bad press that the last thing we need is criticism from within.  So goes the conventional wisdom.

I respectfully disagree.

With Labor Day approaching, let’s wake up

(Flickr photo by DanielJames)

With summer coming to a close, I’m stirring with new energy and new blog posts

Starting next week, I’ll return to my regular schedule of daily posting.

My next “Out and About” will appear on Tuesday, then on the following Mondays or Tuesdays, depending on various factors: Late news; an irresistible urge to fulminate, bloviate or elaborate; or time constraints.

And on Fridays, I’ll continue to provide the most pertinent links related to the Big Apple, U.S. real estate, celebrity sales and purchases, household tips, experts’ forecasts and a variety of other topics.

Now and thereafter, you’ll find both more timely and additional items by following me on Twitter (below) or checking my Facebook page.  This site, Twitter and Facebook contain a collection of different information.

I’ll continue to write about a range of subjects for buyers, sellers and everyone else with an interest in New York real estate.  Topics cover the waterfront — from mortgage news to broker ethics.

I look forward to “seeing” you then and publishing your comments.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!

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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022

M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201

Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
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The Big Apple: Citywide stats improve. . . a bit

VOWs prove useful to buyers searching for new homes

Brokerage firms are getting into the digital game themselves, creating a “virtual office Web site” or VOW.

These are sites operated by brokers that enable clients to search for most of the available properties in a particular market, not just the firm’s exclusive listings, according to the New York Times.

While brokers have mixed feelings about whether these sites are worth the investment, the emergence of the VOW is yet another sign that once tightly guarded listing information has finally been set free in New York.

Dollar value of citywide sales climbs from Q1 to Q2 as seasons change, but sales activity slips 4 percent below one year earlier

The total dollar value of New York City’s residential sales transactions jumped 13 percent in the second quarter of 2011 to

Let’s not panic over latest housing numbers

While the latest S& P Case-Shiller statistics are hardly cause for celebration, neither should they make us contemplate suicide.

I’d love to see a far more robust housing market, but perhaps not only because, as you might suspect, I’d love to be selling more property.  (Of course, I would.)

My chief concern is that poor housing numbers explain an important reason for our stubbornly sluggish economic recovery.

But let’s adopt a healthy perspective on the numbers, which are even worse adjusted for inflation than those reported by Case-Shiller:

The High Road: Auctions produce but one winner

For bidders at this auction last February, hope springs eternal.

The willingness of distressed developers to resort to real estate auctions puzzles me.

I also wonder why a consuming public puts up with them.

But I don’t doubt why the companies that run auctions love them: money, of course.

Prompting this screed are three things: 1.  A blogger for the New York Times called to interview me about auctions; 2. A couple of auctions have been scheduled of condos in East Harlem; and 3. I noticed an advertisement just yesterday for 10 properties in the outer boroughs.

The pitch that the auctioneers make to developers is that they can benefit from instant establishment of the market value of their properties.

If the developers decide against selling out the building or don’t accept some of the bids, they’ll know exactly what to charge for the remaining units.  So goes the pitch.

All they have to do is dangle before buyers a few apartments in their building as available “absolute,” the auction companies contend; that strategy guarantees the seller’s acceptance of the winning bids.  Other units will be offered at the same auction with ridiculously low minimum bids, but the developer retains the right to reject the eventual winners.

In either case, buyers can be counted on turn out in droves in the hope of snaring a bargain. They are doubtless the same buyers who shun bidding wars in horror.

Yet an auction is nothing more than a bidding war.

True, a few buyers — even many at times, depending on circumstance — buy property at a good price.  But

The Big Apple: Flip tax, prices, big sales, more

Look for more or expanded flip taxes in co-ops

A growing number of co-ops are considering creating or expanding flip taxes as they struggle to replenish reserve accounts depleted by rising costs.

A survey commissioned by Habitat magazine found that close to two-thirds of responding co-op boards already have in place what’s colloquially called a flip tax — formally, a “transfer fee.”

Of the 186 co-op boards responding to the survey, more than 129 charge some kind of transfer fee or administrative fee paid by the seller of an apartment when the unit is sold.

“A couple dozen of our buildings may be looking at the issue,” says Dan Wurtzel, president of Cooper Square Realty, which manages 400 properties.

Once a co-op board decides to consider a flip tax, there seems to be broad agreement about what type to institute. “Two percent of the total sales price of an apartment seems to be the number that everybody likes,” according to property manager Gerard J. Picaso.

An Upper East Side mansion that went begging for 7 years finds a buyer at last

A 13-room townhouse at 870 Park Ave. originally listed for $23 million in 2004 finally has found a new owner.