Weekly Roundup: Inventory effects, moving actors, price gain questions, dubious lenders, N.J. condos, renovation tips, divergent forecasts

Despite short supply, citywide sales rise in 2012

Median Manhattan rent reaches $3,195 as sales inventory dwindles

23 new developments hitting market this spring

Closet space can account for substantial price differences

Lottery opened for affordable rentals in new luxe UWS building near Fairway

Auction scheduled for lakefront home in Copake

As supply becomes scarce, price growth is modest in Queens

Actor’s strategy for exiting Manhattan is move to Brooklyn

Greenwich Village home of classical music icon on market for $2.8 million

Here comes the profit for

True bidding war erupts at auction in Brooklyn

State Supreme Court Building in Brooklyn, where auction was held.

At an estate auction in Brooklyn that raised $7.225 million for New York City, a mixed-use Bay Ridge building went 76 percent over its minimum price of $1.6 million in a heated bidding war on Tuesday.

Not only was the competition for the property marked by the drama of late entrants bidding well into the final rounds, apparent handshake deals among the hopefuls and rare bursts of applause, but the auctioneer for Kings County Public Administrator Bruce Stein mistakenly called out the wrong paddle number when declaring the building sold at $2.82 million.  He then started to re-open bidding.

“You said it was sold!” many who attended the auction shouted as the actual winner strode in consternation from where he was seated in the back row toward the front of the courtroom in State Supreme Court, Brooklyn, where the auction was held.

City plans to sell Brooklyn properties at auction

Brooklyhn Borough Hall

King’s County Public Administrator Bruce Stein has scheduled the auction of 16 Brooklyn properties on May 22.  It is the first such estate auction  by the city in that borough since last June.

The properties, which were owned by individuals who died without wills, have minimum bids ranging from $275,000 to $1.6 million.

The following properties are scheduled to be auctioned:

Queens administrator auction reaps $4.9 million

Note: I’ll be taking a little time off, so there will be fewer posts next week.

The city’s estate auction of 15 Queens properties by owners who died without leaving a will garnered $4.854 million in winning bids for an even dozen apartments and single-family homes on Wednesday.

Three of the properties were withdrawn before the sale, and none of the remaining ones failed to find a buyer.

So. Ozone Park house sold for way more than the minimum.

According to results from Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt, the highest amount went for a Bayside house with a minimum bid of $536,000; the winning number was $735,000.  The lowest was for a Corona apartment that sold for the minimum of $79,000.

A house, on 135th Pl. in So. Ozone Park, fetched $485,000, an impressive 73 percent more than the upset price of $281,000.

Withdrawn from the auction were

Weekly Roundup: Sales up here, U.S. prices low

Even with tight inventory, February had most signed contracts for the month since 2008

State says 2011 economy, jobs grew far more than previously estimated

The light that star architects shine on their buildings often dims on resale

Rental brokers

15 Queens properties head to city auction

Single-family home in Middle Village with minimum bid of $412,000

Three co-ops and 12 single family homes are to be offered at an estate auction conducted on March 14 by Queens Public Administrator Lois Rosenblatt.

Minimum (upset) prices, which are set by Rosenblatt at 25 percent below the appraised value, range from $79,000 for an apartment in Corona to $675,000 for a house in Long Island City.

The house was one of two properties withdrawn prior to the city’s previous auction, in December.  Also returning to the auction block is a house on 63rd Avenue in Middle Village.

Below are the properties to be offered next month:

Buyer is found for bankrupt Harlem church

227 Lenox Avenue

That Harlem church in a brownstone building on Lenox Avenue has found a buyer prior to its scheduled auction.

Vice President Richard Maltz of the David R. Maltz & Co. auction firm told me in a telephone interview that a purchaser offered $1.166 million, including a 6 percent buyer’s premium, on Jan. 18, the first day that the property was available for inspection.  He declined to identify the buyer in what he described as company policy. 

Harlem brownstone used as church faces auction

227 Lenox Ave.

Change of plans: Out and About will be posted next week

The bankruptcy auction of a 6,398-sf building configured as a church and including four apartments on Lenox Avenue in Harlem is scheduled for Feb. 2

Among five other properties to be auctioned are a one-bedroom co-op in Castle Village (where I once lived for 10 years) overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan’s Washington Heights, a four-bedroom single-family home in St. Albans, Queens, and a one-bedroom co-op in Briarwood, Queens.

Springfield Missionary Baptist Church has been the owner of the central Harlem building, which is in need of renovation and lacks a proper certificate of occupancy.

At

Weekly Roundup: Market reports out, interest rates never lower, a music man moves and more!

Third quarter reports may imply continuing market stability

Former IRS agent says developers evade substantial taxes annually

Can’t we all just get along: How to be a good neighbor

Faced with white brick, buildings face mighty big expenses now

Six in Queens, including two brokers, accused of participating in $25 million mortgage fraud

Rat’s not the only island in the city, but the others — e.g. Manhattan — are not exactly for sale

Open House New York gives let’s you inside this weekend

Cool interactive map shows 3Q sales data by buildings’ price range

Foreclosure actions continue downward trend

City official, six developers charged with racketeering, bribery

Cow heads could be yours at Landmarks Preservation Commission auction

17 questions to ask before buying an apartment

He adds even more windows to his world

Music man

Dutchess County schedules foreclosures auction

Two-bedroom, 2.5-bath Cape on 6.48 acress valued at $370,800 in Pawling.

A total of 122 lots, acreage, camps, homes and commercial properties in Dutchess County head to the auction block on Oct. 5 at 11 a.m.

The properties, a few of which may appeal to second-home hopefuls, are in foreclosure because of owed taxes. In Tivoli, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Hyde Park and elsewhere throughout the county, many of those properties are undeveloped land or unlikely homes for weekenders.

The auction is to take place