Weekly Roundup: Foreclosure auction, DOMA effects, climbing prices and rates, millennials, home offices, housing affordability and more

Have a great holiday week! No more posts until July 8.

Foreclosure auction scheduled for co-op in posh River House at end of 18-year legal battle

Metro area’s foreclosures down in April but still above national average

6.2 percent growth in construction spending expected during the year

End of DOMA produces real estate tax benefits for New Yorkers, of course others as well

Analysis of Manhattan prices, sales suggests they’re flatter than apparent in Q2

Actress sees black, not red, in sale of Greenwich Village duplex for $7.45 million

Comedian who played TV psychologist, hotel owner lists Bel Air home again at new lower price of $15.5 million

Peripatetic former Dateline anchor

Weekly Roundup: Skinny condominiums, celeb comings and goings, nation’s price and sales increases, continuing rate rise, investments

This has been year of pricing audaciously

City’s property records site gets update with more information

Developers specifically catering to families in West Chelsea and farther downtown

New graduates returning to New York City learning that life just isn’t fair

Zillow says it takes up to 11.9 years, depending on neighborhood, to match cost of buying with renting

Boom in luxury towers

Weekly Roundup: Condos pipeline, easing rents, rising values, foreclosure pitfalls, hiding places, credit reporting errors, moving tips and more

Real estate pros expecting best year since fall of 2008

They’re taking Manhattan but leaving it alone

Strong demand has developers raising prices of new condos month after month

Construction loans easier to obtain

Jumping 54 percent in 2012 from prior year, new residential construction more than doubles from 2010

With tenants choosing to buy, rental market cools a bit

Report says ‘affordable’ housing too costly

Attorney general to stop settling escrow disputes, send parties to court instead

Celebrity chef moves to 4,650-sf Harlem townhouse

His mission of selling 2,200-sf East Village condo proves to be possible

Onetime Heisman winner

14 ways you can help or hurt your credit score

Think twice before opening new account.  (Flickr photo by Alan Cleaver)

You’re in a department store, and the sales _____ (clerk, assistant, team member, associate — your choice) offers you an extra 20 percent off if you open a charge account at the establishment.

Good deal, you think, especially if the purchase adds up.

Maybe, but only if you don’t place a high value on having a high credit score.

It turns out,

Weekly Roundup: Condo ‘madness,’ price rises, creditworthiness, 1031 exchanges, piece of the Pitt, micro apartments, boomerang buyers, more

City’s encouragement of waterfront living is scrutinized

Hundreds of new condos soon to be on market on Upper East Side

‘Condo Madness Returns,’ New York magazine declares in five-story package

Region’s prices rise 3.1 percent from September to September

Brooklyn new development sales grow 31 percent over last quarter

Storm continues to complicate closings, but lenders honoring expired rate locks

The $235 million he drops on second home is no shack

Comedian’s Bel-Air home goes for $6.3 million

Tattooed singer

Weekly Roundup: Storm effects, U.S. price and sales trends, credit scores, timing of rate locks, buyer rebates and growing optimism. Much more!

Daylight Savings Time Ends Saturday Night

Firm cost of storm’s damage to area homes long way off, but total will be astronomical — perhaps as much as 64 percent of $50 billion total

Sandy ravages Long Island’s East End, decimating homes of the rich and famous

Storm could shape how residential housing along the water is built, marketed, sold

Buyfolio collaborative service for consumers and agents finds deep-pocketed buyer

‘Prewar’ speaks volumes

Boards may promise buyer applicants one thing, then do something else

World Series pitcher lists California mansion for $11.45 million

Buyer of late pop star’s estate so eager to move in that he’ll occupy the place before sale closes

Actress takes substantial loss on her sale of Hollywood Hills house fit for a queen

Late Oscar nominee’s duplex overlooking Central Park on the market for $13.95 million

Case-Shiller records continuing upward price trend

Homewnership, rental vacancy rates

Weekly Roundup: Sales and prices rise in Manhattan, surfeit of celebs on the move, U.S. stats up and down, yet another historic low rate

Manhattan sales jump 9.3 percent over year earlier in third quarter, median prices climb 2.7 percent

Residents praise lifestyle of small spaces, and developers show big interest in them

Much desired sponsor apartments in co-ops bear scrutiny

11 groups lodge lawsuit seeking to block NYU expansion

Prices of single-family homes in broad region off 2.6 percent from prior year, bucking national trend

10th annual Open House New York weekend to celebrate city’s architecture, design

Land-use committee approves massive Lower East Side development

To developer’s dismay, those billionaires strive to leave individualistic impressions on One57 tower

Oscar winner sells Upper West Side penthouse for more than $1.7 million

Actress’ puts Ojai retreat legally on the market for $10 million

Nick and Meagan seek

Weekly Roundup: Manhattan sales pace up, condo prices rise, inventory is tight, rates hit another new low, consensus on recovery is developing

Townhouse where Weather Underground dwelling was destroyed in bomb explosion is listed for $10.9 million

Mystery buyer pays $90 million for Midtown penthouse at One57, breaking price record for an NYC condo

Entering a tall-buildings race, New York could have 6 of the 10 tallest buildings in the country by 2016

Majority of respondents prefer smoke-free living in the city

Madison Square’s commercial identity has in places ceded to residential character in recent years

Developers now show reluctance to offer incentives to purchasers of condos

Asking prices, sales zoom in

Weekly Roundup: Turning point possibility, record rates again, pet habitats that pamper, stocks vs. housing returns, bulls in retreat. More!

By dollars per square foot, Tribeca tops all other Manhattan neighborhoods in Q1

Average monthly rent in Manhattan attains record $3,429 or $4,250 in April, depending on source

When you move here from out of state, the taxman wants to get his hooks into you

Manhattan has had 169 percent spike in new building permits this year, 35 of them in contrast to 13

Water Board approves 7 percent increase starting July 1

Citywide Q1 sales

Who wins when sellers offer buyers a credit?

A bath obviously needs work.  The walls need another coat of paint.  The floors need to be refinished.

Such are among the improvements that sellers might be quick to acknowledge.

Their idea, which often is endorsed by their brokers enthusiastically, is to offer a credit to the buyers.  To their thinking, it’s a win-win situation: Buyers are tempted and sellers are rewarded with a contract.

But as Westchester broker Phil Faranda, a friend of mine and inveterate blogger, recently pointed out,