Weekly Roundup: Hamptons, celebs, new-home sales, lower interest rates, auction spat, Baby Boomers, marble stains, housing’s headwinds

Court approves of class action lawsuits by tenants claiming rent overcharges when apartments illegally deregulated

Study: Living in New York actually relative bargain for the wealthy

Hudson Yards finally on track

Regret may define things you might do within your four walls

For politicians, finding a rental apartment differs from searches the mere mortals endure

Sandy deals lingering blow to Hamptons residential prices

Upper East Side developers scramble to convert projects as luxury market rebounds

Details of navigating schools choice provided by BrickUnderground

Council hearing on Fair Cooperative Procedure Law is set for April 30

Outdoor space on ground floor is expensive, but higher up more so for good reasons

Relationships sour between landlords and tenants of Dumbo lofts in converted factories

Q1 sales in the Hamptons 29.4 percent lower than same time last year

It’s time for spring house, garden tours

Interior designer with TV show finally

Weekly Roundup: NYC adjusted prices, SoHo’s highs, upward trending rates, $117M record price, houseplant pointers, recovery skeptics

Housing prices below 2008 peak, sales 21.8 percent lower than 2007 peak

But 2012 median lowest since 2004 adjusted for inflation

Beachfront houses wrecked by Sandy being sold ‘as is’

Assembly, Senate pass renewal of co-op/condo tax abatement

Building in Williamsburg tops list of 10 best-selling new developments in 2012

Region’s foreclosures tick up in November

Boerum Hill beats out Dumbo as Brooklyn’s top neighborhood, while SoHo and TriBeCa priciest in Manhattan during 2012

Maintenance fees now average $1.70 per square foot, up 30 percent since 2008

Lawsuit aims to collect rents paid by tenants citywide who live in apartments made uninhabitable after Sandy

Multi-talented writer finally does good all by himself in sale of $11.25 million Hollywood home

Brooklyn Nets guard makes successful $15.8 million play for Tribeca penthouse

Barbara visits

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

Frustrated artists can dress up their naked walls

Hanging sculptures designed with or without your input represent one of three options that A.R.T. offers at unusually reasonable prices.

Donald Rattner, a friend who is a successful architect, is branching out – almost literally.  He has started a business called A.R.T., which Don characterizes as “a new way to create, collect and think about contemporary art” by making high quality, original art more accessible to more people.

He and his wife Gaby opened a pop-up store in Brooklyn’s pulsating DUMBO (near Grimaldi’s impossibly popular restaurant) that I visited a few days ago, and I was blown away by the quality of the design and the level of creativity.  Best of all, the prices are within reach of many consumers.

The average price of one module ranges from $38/unit to $55/unit for the shelf art and $45 to $60 for the wall art per module, with a minimum order of two or three units, depending on the line. Mural art runs $8-10 a square foot.