Weekly Roundup: Buyer woes, singer’s many purchases, U.S. price gains, mortgage brokers’ profits, soulful kitchens, millennials’ optimism

Manhattan a tale of two markets

Real Estate Brokers Predict a Tough Time for Buyers

Buyers ask, brokers try to answer

Tight inventory leads buyers to risk their down payments

Popular keywords enable listing agents to sell fast

Booming Hamptons market pushes renters east

And Fire Island fights Sandy’s effects on housing market as summer approaches

For trophy properties, $100 million is the new $50 million

Short supply of Brooklyn brownstones, leads to whopping price tags as more Manhattanites switch boroughs

For fixer-uppers, go east

City official says two, three more micro-unit developments in the offing

Sanitation Department schedules disposal events for hazardous products in five boroughs

Social media bigwig accused of trashing apartment in Chelsea and purchases big Greenwich Village loft for $8.15 million

Noted artist lists for $3.13 million Fort Greene townhouse purchased for nearly $2 million less in 2007 and renovated

Network TV anchor Continue reading

Weekly Roundup: Reports reveal strong sales, weak supply in Manhattan despite increasingly tough standards for borrowers everywhere

Inventory plunges to seven-year low in Q3, sales strong, prices little changed

Streeteasy finds decline in price cuts, time on market compared with same quarter in 2011

Penthouse owner sues board president on claim she sabotaged $27.5 million co-op sale as revenge for rejected lowball offer

Managing agents say residential building in better shape than years ago, but watching pennies

Enduring family feud, Charles Rutenberg Realty has progressive business model making it Manhattan’s 6th largest brokerage

Life as a 20-percenter isn’t a bed of roses, resident of mixed-income building confesses

Landmarks subcommittee blesses expansion of Upper West Side historic district, clearing way for Council approval

Who will be able to claim credit for 95-story Park Avenue tower soon to be constructed?

Pundit frustrated by cable-TV news sells TriBeCa loft above $1.32 million asking price

Actor trades outer space for outside space in $2.5 million purchase of Park Slope duplex

Aerobic exercise fanatic Continue reading

Can you imagine a 2-BR Brooklyn co-op for $19,000?

The city has just announced the lottery to be placed on waiting lists for one-and two-bedroom Mitchell-Lama co-ops in the FortGreene/Clinton Hill part of Brooklyn.

One-bedroom units run $13,599-$16,757 and two-bedroom apartments, $18,985.  Monthly carrying charges are no more than $620 for the small units and $722 for the bigger ones.

As is the practice of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, however, there is no clue either in the ad or on the department’s Web site just which buildings will be available.  And unfortunately, I do not know the neighborhood well enough to guess.

If you qualify for Mitchell-Lama income limits and Continue reading

There’s a chance you’ll be disabled someday too

Avalon Morningside Park

When most of us think of the Fair Housing Act, what occurs first is its prohibition against discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or familial status.

Perhaps we  overlook the additional requirement to treat fairly someone with a handicap.

Although I hope no one who reads this post is or will be disabled, chances are pretty good you at least know someone who fits the federal definition as articulated in the Americans with Disabilities Act.  According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development,  it says:

An individual with a handicap is a person who Continue reading