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Manhattan, NY Real Estate News

By Laura Cerrano, Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher
(Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island)
Have you ever resented or hated your home? This is a topic in the Feng Shui community not often spoken about, but is extremely important to be aware of. Occupants who resent or hate their home enable huge levels of unsettling energy that have the potential to engulf the entire home if gone unchecked. The intention of this article is to bridge science, practicality and a simple Space Clearing healing ritual to realign your home and self with harmonizing frequencies of love, compassion and peace. Read the full article by visiting: How Does Resenting and Hating My Home Affect The Energy?I'm working on a second article to offer an example of this situation to provide more context. 
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By Laura Cerrano, Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher
(Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island)
Besides providing Feng Shui Consultations, Reiki Healing sessions and more, I've been playing for local bands based out of Long Island, Brooklyn and New York City. I had the pleasure of joining forces with Dan Strauss and Zigline to perform at Shrine World Music Venue in Harlem, NY on Wednesday night (April 17th, 2024). The evening was filled with soothing eclectic experimental sounds featuring Dan Strauss as the lead vocalist on guitar, Todd Rogers on violin, Raymond Russel on bass and myself, Laura Cerrano on percussion. To watch a live recording of our performance you can click on this link, Dan Strauss and Zigline at Shrine World Music Venue in Harlem, NY. Enjoy!P.s. this is an example of living the Feng Shui lifestyle.  In this case, it was planting a seed of an idea that brought j...
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By Jeffrey Ditri, New York City Residential Rental Specialist
(JAD Realty Group, LLC.)
    Kirk Henckels, who handles the high-end property division at Stribling & Associates, said that for a long time, the luxury market was supporting Manhattan real estate, but now the low end is seeing more buyers. Sales under $5 million are continuing, but at higher price points, there have been so few sales that no one can gauge the loss in apartment and townhouse values, Henckels said. Brokers said only a handful of deals above $8 million have gone into contract since October, and most of the closings in that price range have been for properties that went to contract earlier in the year.
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By Eileen Hsu, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Closing Costs This closing cost guide is designed to give you the general costs associated with the purchase or sale of a cooperative, condominium or townhouse property. Please note that these are estimates and that potential buyers and sellers should consult their real estate attorney or financial advisor for specifics. Please take note we do not represent that these are the entirety of potential costs, but are only to be used as a guide. Mortgage closing cost estimates have been furnished by our affiliate, Preferred Empire Mortgage Company. Condominiums For the Seller (approximately 3% of total sales price)Broker: Typically 6% Own Attorney: Consult your attorney Processing Fee: $450+ NYC Transfer Tax: Residential: Up to $500,000 = 1% $500,000+ = 1.425% Commercial: Up to $500,000 = 1.4...
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By Mitchell J Hall, Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn
Chanukah begins tonight Sunday December 21st at sundown. The celebration of Chanukah is about rededication, commemorating the Jewish people’s fight to worship as they choose. It’s about religious freedom. The story of Chanukah takes place 2000 years ago. The Syrian-Greeks ruled the Jewish homeland and sent their army to the cities and villages and ordered the Jews to pray to the Greek gods, placing a statue of Zeus in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and burning Jewish holy books. One day an old Jewish priest refused to pray to the Greek Gods as ordered by the soldiers and gathered supporters to fight the Syrians. The old priest's son Judah became the leader. His army of supporters was called the Maccabees. There were several battles but the Maccabees won, retaking Jerusalem from the Syri...
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By Ross Ellis
(Halstead Property, LLC)
The holiday season of 2008 is an especially important one. The past year and most importantly the past few months have been historic. The economy is the most volatile it's been since WWII. People have lost jobs, homes and savings. Our country is facing many changes with President Elect Obama who will be inaugurated into office on January 20, 2009. We're all hoping for the best. People are worried and even scared, but is that any reason to be unkind? During 2008 I noticed an increase of people who are rude and don't go the extra mile. Isn't treating people with kindness and respect the way we all should be treating our fellow man? I've especially noticed this behavior in customer service people, who on an average are rude, and don't help. When you are in a service industry it is essentia...
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By Morgan Evans, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
When I first started selling real estate in Manhattan an experienced broker said to me, "Sometimes you either co-broke or go-broke."  New York City is a different animal as far as the exclusive broker being the gate keeper to every single one of their exclusive properties.  As I have blogged before we don't have keyboxes on our properties.  Any time an appointment is made to look at an apartment we have to show it ourselves.  In years past when the market was red hot getting appointments to see a great apartment could become very difficult.  The listing broker would have a variety of reasons why they couldn't show you or accommodate anything.  This is a reason why building a relationship with big listing brokers is very important.  Many times I was able to view an apartment with my cust...
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By Eileen Hsu, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Renters Guide - 2008 This is a step-by-step, easy to follow outline of the entire process of renting an apartment in New York City. The rules are different here. The items which we categorize as "necessary" in this guide are in fact crucial. We can guarantee that if you do your homework, the process will flow smoothly for you. Assume that there are no exceptions to the items on these lists. Step-by-Step Process to Renting an Apartment in New York City If you are relocating, call us at (212)321-7122 to determine when to come to New York to begin your search. At that time, schedule your appointment. Your needs will be discussed, questions will be answered about the process, and you will be assigned to one of our team member best matched to your needs and budget. Organize and prepare the n...
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By Eileen Hsu, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Glossary of Terms New York City Terminology Familiarize yourself with the following terminology. It's almost all unique to New York City. It's also important to know that we speak in "number of rooms," as well as using the definitions below. A room in Manhattan must be at least 100 square feet and have a window...except in the case of a kitchen. Most kitchens are considered rooms, unless they are Pullman types, which would be found as part of the living room. And we don't count baths as rooms. So, a Three Room Apartment would be comprised of a Living Room, a Kitchen and a Bedroom. A Four Room Apartment would have a Living Room, a Kitchen, Two Bedrooms, or One Bedroom and a Dining Room. You'll hear the term Half of a Room, e.g., Three And A Half Rooms. This means that the Living Room has...
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By Eileen Hsu, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Steps to Purchasing an Apartment The steps to purchasing a co-op or a condominium in Manhattan are very similar. To give you some idea of the timeframe, Let us assume that you have found the property on which you wish to place an offer and that you have spoken to a bank or mortgage broker (if financing) to determine a comfortable financing price level. Offers are made orally or through emails in New York City. When you have found the right property, a bid or offer will be placed through your agent. They will convey your offer to either the seller's agent or to the seller directly. The seller may "counter" your offer. This will begin a negotiation process that will eventually lead to a "meeting of the minds," at which point price, terms, and closing date have been agreed upon. A real est...
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By Morgan Evans, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Walking away from $152,000.00!! When a buyer signs the sales contract in New York City they also make a deposit of 10% on the agreed upon sales price.  Essentially this is their earnest money deposit.  Considering that the average sales price is over a million dollars in New York City, this deposit can become a small fortune.  Some unfortunate new construction buyers have been forced to walk away from their contracts because at the time of contract signing they put down their 10% deposit and qualified for a specific loan program.  While they were under contract and the building was going up, the credit crisis hit, and now their lender requires a more extensive down payment or other requirements that they are not able to satisfy.  These buyers forfeit the deposit because they cannot sati...
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By Morgan Evans, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
The closing table at a New York City closing is organized chaos to the casual observer.  New York is an attorney state, no escrow companies who handle the closings in most of the rest of the country.  Depending on the type of property being purchased will determine the specific players who will be at the closing, but let's take for example the co-op closing that I was at last week.    Both the buyer (husband and wife) our customers and the seller (husband and wife), both buyer and seller have the attorney's who have been representing them at the closing, the bank that is financing the purchase has sent their attorney, the bank that holds the mortgage for the seller has sent an attorney, the co-op sends their attorney who represents the building, then both the buyer and seller's real est...
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By Mitchell J Hall, Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn
The option ARMs, in particular, lured borrowers in with low initial interest rates - so-called teaser rates - sometimes as low as one percent. But after two, three or five years those rates "reset." They went up. And so did the monthly payment. A mortgage of $800 dollars a month could easily jump to $1,500.   Last night 60 minutes did another gloom and doom report on housing. The report focused on the next waive of foreclosures. "The Option Arm" They reported that the fallout from homeowners with option arms will be much worse than the sub-prime fallout. I felt the report was irresponsible. They never explained how an option arm works. All they did was report that when they re-adjust millions of people will be in foreclosure. Maybe that will be true. If someone bought more home than the...
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By Jeffrey Ditri, New York City Residential Rental Specialist
(JAD Realty Group, LLC.)
  New rent-to-own programs are allowing tenants to use their rent toward down payments   In the rent-to-own program at the Decora in Williamsburg, all rent goes toward the down payment. As the market sours and potential first-time buyers become more indecisive about whether it makes sense to plunk down money for a purchase, some developers are allowing them to hold off on the big decision. Those developers, who are predominantly in Brooklyn, are trying to woo would-be buyers with deals that allow them to rent a unit in a condo building while at the same time putting their monthly rent checks toward a down payment.   The so-called "rent-to-own" programs, which started popping up in the last few months, collect the rent money in escrow until the end of the lease period.      Early last m...
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By Jeffrey Ditri, New York City Residential Rental Specialist
(JAD Realty Group, LLC.)
Baltic House, the condo at 360 Baltic Street in Cobble Hill, has seven units up for rent on Streeteasy.com. According to Halstead Property, the project's exclusive broker, the rent-to-own program is now available for the rental units. Rents for three-bedroom units are $4,200 to $4,500 per month, two-bedrooms are going for $3,500 and one-bedroom apartments are $2,900.
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By Jeffrey Ditri, New York City Residential Rental Specialist
(JAD Realty Group, LLC.)
Brokers say the down commercial market is a good time for companies to trade up to better buildings and better built-out spaces. A large downtown block of space that's available and fully built-out is Citigroup's 1.2 million square feet at 125 Broad Street, at South Street. Citigroup notified landlord Mack-Cali Realty Trust that it won't be renewing its space there at the end of 2009, and can make space available sooner as some of the floors are sitting empty.   125 Broad Street
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By Morgan Evans, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
Part 3 - KNOW THE FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE BUILDING: Whether you are a first time buyer or a seasoned investor buying a New York City Condo, Co-Op, Condop, or Townhouse it is important to understand the full financial picture of the building. When you are buying an apartment, besides buying the single apartment unit in the multi-dwelling complex you are also buying into a building. Having a financially sound building can help avoid any future unexpected costs.  A number of common questions usually asked by prospective buyers are does this building have any upcoming assessment, what is the underlying mortgage, if so how much, and what is the tax deductibility in this building.   Your attorney as part of their due diligence will go over the buildings financial documents, but here is an ove...
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By Mitchell J Hall, Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn
Apthorp Apatments With it's iron gates, its monumental tunnel like entrances, and its impressive interior courtyard, the Apthorp is one of Manhattan's most dramatic and most frequently photographed apartment buildings. The Apthorp has many famous former and current residents some still in rent-regulated apartments.The elegant full-block apartment complex built by the Astor family for the New York elite has converting its 163 apartments to condominiums. The landmark 1908 Upper West Side building has two addresses 390 West End Avenue and 2207 Broadway between west 79th and west 78th streets.The total asking price for all apartments, including apartments of 88 tenants protected by rent-regulation laws, is approximately $1.06 billion, which makes it one of the most expensive condominium-co...
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By Jeffrey Ditri, New York City Residential Rental Specialist
(JAD Realty Group, LLC.)
Massey Knakal announced that it has been retained to handle the sale of an East Village portfolio, 17 walk-up apartment buildings throughout the East Village. Fifteen of the buildings are mixed-use and the remaining two are purely residential. These buildings were originally purchased by developer Extell in 2006 for $72 million and then sold to Westbrook Partners for $97.5 million in 2007. Many of the retail and commercial tenants have since left the properties. The buildings are listed individually -- and Massey Knakal said it hopes to sell them that way, to make financing easier and to get more for the buildings -- but are listed for a total of nearly $120 million.
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By Morgan Evans, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
According to the appraisal firm Mitchell, Maxwell & Jackson the average home price in Manhattan has fallen 8.8% since the beginning of 2008.  The number of contracts signed in September and October is 75% lower than the same time last year.  These numbers are not that surprising but are the first to specifically indicate that the once red hot real estate market has slowed down significantly .  Manhattan is the epicenter of the financial markets and is directly affected by the job losses and turmoil.  The lag time between properties going into contract and closing in Manhattan is significantly greater than in other parts of the country.  The first quarter reports from the major real estate companies will be very interesting as these reports are predicted to show a decrease in prices for ...
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By Morgan Evans, LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
(Douglas Elliman Real Estate)
When you see those red and white booths set up you know the holiday season has arrived in New York City's Union Square.  In its 11th year over 100 merchants set up in the Union Square market come rain and shine and offer New Yorker's and shoppers a variety of eclectic gifts, including holiday presents,  fine art, delicious gourmet food and drinks, jewelry, gifts for your pets, and much more.  If you walk through the rows of stalls you have a great chance of finding the perfect gift. Union Square is also known as a 'cool' and 'trendy' area that the center of 'Downtown Manhattan'.  Downtown lovers love to live near Union Square, the convenience of restuarants, cafe, movie theatre, social scenes.... It is next to the farmers market steps away New York University (NYU), Greenwich Village, E...
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By Jeffrey Ditri, New York City Residential Rental Specialist
(JAD Realty Group, LLC.)
  Rents in some Manhattan neighborhoods plummeted nearly 7 percent in November, according to a Manhattan rental market report released today by the Real Estate Group New York, while rental vacancies have skyrocketed in the months since Wall Street's meltdown. Rental vacancies in November increased 7.5 percent from October, and 17 percent from September, the report shows. The 17 percent is "a very large number," said Daniel Baum, COO of the Manhattan-based rental and sales real estate firm Real Estate Group. "It's a lot more inventory than we thought was out there." He said the true figure may be even larger since many landlord don't list all the apartments they have available for rent, preferring to keep the true number of vacancies under wraps to help control asking rents and the pace...
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