Giuseppi (left) and Arrigo Cipriani (inset) and their restaurant on 42nd Street. (NY Post photo)
(Note: Please see updated information that you will find highlighted below.)
When Giuseppi Cipriani opened Harry’s Bar in Venice in 1931, little did he know that his undertaking would grow into an empire with restaurants in New York, London, Hong Kong, Miami, Los Angeles and Porto Cervo.
Harry’s Bar is something else, according to the hyperbolic Cipriani Web site: Continue reading
Ron Lieber (New York Times photo by Earl Wilson)
Saturday’s New York Times contained two rather provocative columns about housing, one of which surprised me by suggesting that buying now would not be a bad idea for some consumers.
If you haven’t been following my blog, you would expect me to unabashedly trumpet Joe Lieber’s stance in his piece, “In Defense of Home Ownership.” In fact, I do largely agree with him, but I have reservations that he doesn’t express. Continue reading
This is the best I ever can manage for a forbidden photo inside the impossibly lush Surrogate Courthouse.
Only a couple of dozen hopefuls turned out for the city’s estate auction in the Surrogate Courthouse yesterday, so two lone bidders ran away with co-ops at the minimum asking price.
Lawyer Glenn Ostrager was the sole bidder for the 825-sf apartment at 60 Sutton Place South, which he won for $580,000. Paddle in hand, a second bidder dropped out before the auction even started after hearing the sale conditions read; among other things, the buyer is required to replace the metal-framed windows and the sliding glass door to the balcony.
Ostrager, who declined to be photographed or quoted much, said he lived in the area and planned to move into the new place. That’s provided the board approves the sale.
Asked how he felt about succeeding with his bid, the lawyer responded by saying just this:
“I don’t have any reaction.”
Ostrager seemed like a nice enough guy, but let’s say that he wouldn’t be my first choice for a dinner companion.
No one showed up to bid on the units offered at Continue reading
Flickr photo by palisade 14
With the news this week of plunging home sales across the country, doom and gloom has enveloped almost everyone I know. Stock prices dropped impressively, and the New York Times led the paper yesterday to report on mounting anxiety related to the impact of the latest housing statistics.
To be sure, I recently took a dim view (which I retain) about the chances of a housing recovery in the Big Apple, but Josh Barbanel, whom I know and much respect, injected welcome perspective in an article he wrote yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. The headline said it all: Continue reading
Flickr photo by Wisconsin Historical Images
I love it when buyers fall in love with a property.
I hate it when they ask for a second or third viewing accompanied by parents, friends or individuals who supposedly have a great deal of experience purchasing real estate.
Seven, eight or nine times out of 10, the extra visitors will kill the deal.
While the buyer himself or herself sees everything that’s right about the apartment, Continue reading
January-to-June change in the 25-MSA RPX transaction count for each of the last 10 years, says RadarLogic. To illustrate the impact of the homebuyer tax credit on housing demand, the actual change in transactions in 2010 is shown alongside the change assuming June transactions were reduced by 15%. This reduction reflects an estimate of sales that would not have occurred in June without the tax credit.
It’s taken me too long to get to this report from Radar Logic, which compiles and analyzes real estate data, but the information remains pertinent.
Michael Feder
Noting distortions from the homebuyer tax credit, President and CEO Michael Feder looked at what seasonal activity in the U.S. would have been without this “pull through” and assumed that 15 percent of the activity (transaction counts) came from this accelerated demand. Says he: Continue reading
North entrance of the station.
The new headhouse, as it’s called, at 96th Street and Broadway, isn’t even finished. But it’s already scarred.
That's not abstract art in this closeup from the photo above.
The pigs among New Yorkers being what they are have decided to share their chewing gum with the lovely stonework beneath their feet. Continue reading
The penthouse that went unsold at the auction of six new condos in the m127 development has found a buyer with an offer that owner Cardinal Investments has accepted.
After weeks of negotiations with more than two interested parties, the contract was signed on Wednesday, according to Misha Haghani of Paramount Realty USA, which conducted the auction of the units at 127 Madison Avenue. Continue reading
Standing way up on the right are the auctioneer and lawyer.
It was all over in eight minutes, forty-two seconds, including a soporific reading of the Terms of Sale by auctioneer Stuart Medow.
Not only was the foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps at 60 Centre St. over in a flash yesterday, but it was a failure.
Represented by his attorney, Ronald Kahn, the lender to one Paul D. Hurley ended up with the apartment on which he had foreclosed.
Three hopeful individuals, apparently investors (who preferred to go nameless), stood mute as the auctioneer opened the bidding at $150,000. The 550-sf co-op–Unit C at 107 W. 106th St. on the Upper West Side–had been listed for $375,000 in December 2008 and was recently reduced to $295,000. Continue reading
Dreaming, wishing and begging cannot help stubborn sellers unload their homes. (Flickr photo by Taifighta)
Sellers understandably want the highest possible price for their homes.
But wishing for an impossible price doesn’t mean they will get it. In fact, wishing only means they won’t get it.
In the last month, prices were cut on 810 condos and co-ops in all of Manhattan. A total of 329 of the reductions was for one-bedroom units and 214, for two-bedroom apartments. Continue reading
I, on Cambodia 