In the true tradition of Broadway, when a great actor, director or composer passes on, they are honored by a dimming of the lights in the Theater District of New York City. And although the lights may not dim this week for my cousin Millie, who passed away this weekend, Broadway will never be the same. Millie, a life-long patron of the theater has left us after a brief battle with cancer. She was 82 years young when she passed; and although her eyesight had diminished throughout the years, her energy, her love for the theater and her passion for people remained strong.   Millie was sharp as a tack and taught me one of the most important life lessons I had ever learned. It proved to be a lesson that has helped me in every one of my endeavors. She made everyone in her presence feel right... 11/17/2008

A basement storage room sold for $801,000.00 in the renowned Dakota apartment building.  The Dakota, located on Central Park West in the Upper West Side, is most well known as the home of John Lennon and still is the current residence of Yoko Ono.  The apartments sell for upwards of 10-20 million dollars.Now this was no ordinary damp tiny storage room.  The room was about 800 square feet had 20-foot-high ceilings and two windows.  There is a bathroom and electricity wired already into the unit.  Despite The Dakota being one of New York City's most expensive and desired buildings there is no common exercise room for the building residents.  The new owner of the storage unit was planning on converting the room into a small gymnasium and opening it up to the buildings residents.  How altr... 11/17/2008

About two weeks ago I was reading an article about Donut Plant.  Donut Plant is the promise land for the doughnut lover in all of us.  Donut Plant has been featured on the Throwdown with Bobby Flay which Donut Plant won, and has gone global opening stores in Tokyo, Seoul and has plans for shops in New Orleans, Toronto, and Washington D.C.  The biggest problem with Donut Plant is its proximity to where I live in Manhattan.  I live on the Upper West Side and it's located in the Lower East Side.  So I can't exactly just stop by and check it out, I have to make a decent size effort to go down there and what happens if I make it down there and the donuts are disappointing.  This could make for a disastrous Saturday afternoon. After a few hours I convinced my girlfriend to make the hike down ... 11/15/2008

    Closed transactions in Brooklyn and Queens by quarter. Source: PropertyShark.  Price cuts hit the Manhattan multi-family market hard last quarter, according to a new report covering residential investment properties released by real estate analysis company PropertyShark.While the median sales price for an apartment building fell 11.2 percent from the prior year quarter, the median price for each unit fell by 17.5 percent over the same period, the data released today showed. At the same time, building sales volume, median sales price per building and median sales price per unit all declined citywide, according to the report, which examined multi-family sales greater than $10,000 in the five boroughs, but did not include package deals."The takeaway is that Manhattan is not immune, so... 11/15/2008

Wall Street's recent wild volatility has caused the New York City real estate market to freeze in its tracks, with sales volume screeching to a halt and deals falling apart as potential buyers have watched their net worth evaporate. With the passage of the $700 billion financial rescue package on Oct. 3, analysts hoped the nationwide economy, mired in the credit crisis and housing slump, would show signs of improvement. Instead, the stock market saw wild volatility throughout the month of October, with frequent, jaw-dropping daily moves of 400 and 500 points. By late October, arguably the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression had gripped the nation, with more than $10 trillion erased from the market value of equities, credit-related losses topping $660 billion and the yield ... 11/14/2008

Vacancies in Manhattan apartments increased from 1.46 in September to 1.71 percent in October, a 12-month high. While Battery Park led all neighborhoods with a vacancy rate of 2.02 percent, vacancies were up in each of the other 10 neighborhoods tracked by Citi Habitats, including always popular neighborhoods like the East Village and the Upper West Side. There is also some downward pressure on rents, perhaps due to the uptick in idle apartments. Average rents for studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms all fell modestly from September to October. Some neighborhoods are falling faster than others, however, and some of the most severe drops are in surprising locales. Yes, studio rents fell by over $100 on average in Harlem and the Financial District, but average monthly re... 11/13/2008

11/13/2008

Oh my - I've been reading posts about how great the National Association of Realtors' Convention was in Orlando, Florida and I agree!  The commercial investing classes were excellent as well as the class on Short Sales.  I'm an attorney and you might think we should know about all of this already -- but to hear it from people working at it every day is very different.  It's where additional information from the trenches so to speak, is very useful. We haven't seen short sales in the Manhattan market and if there have been any, it's been kept completely under wraps.  I will not say we won't see them.  People who have invested in some of the changing neighborhoods may find themselves in this situation and hopefully we will be of value to them. 11/12/2008

 Toll Brothers, the country's largest luxury homebuilder, said its fourth quarter revenue fell 41 percent, due to the credit crisis and falling demand for luxury homes. Fourth quarter contract cancellations rose to 233, or 30 percent of contracts, and net contracts signed fell 27 percent. In fiscal year 2008, Toll closed on 4,743 homes, which the company said was its lowest number since 2002. The company has urged the government to take action to bring buyers back into the real estate market. 11/11/2008

  As of last week, 847 listings in Manhattan priced over $5 million were marked down, 24 percent of them by at least 5 percent, according to Streeteasy.com. Of the marked down units, 145 of them were discounted in the past two months. At 15 Central Park West, 11 apartments are for sale, and five of them have had price cuts. At the Plaza, 24 units are for sale, nine of which were marked down. 11/11/2008

Some of the city's neighborhoods have started to see the economic downturn in lower home sales prices. Prices in Harlem were down almost 20 percent between third-quarter 2007 and third-quarter 2008. Prices for condominiums in Midtown East, Turtle Bay, Midtown West, and Hell's Kitchen also dropped substantially. Experts expect to see further price declines in the fourth quarter. Brokers said they have been urging sellers to price their apartments 10 or 15 percent below recent comparable sales. 11/11/2008

According to the New York Times, a crack in New York City Real Estate's mighty armor has finally showed its ugly face.  On the front page of the New York Times real estate section states, " Even though the average price for a Manhattan apartment, at $1.5 million, is higher than it was a year ago, some New York neighborhoods have already started to feel the downward tug that has wrenched the housing market elsewhere in the nation." Though this is the first major article stating that a downturn has begun, we have been seeing this for awhile now.  Since the credit crisis began about a year ago a lack of buyer confidence has started to grab hold and the once piping hot market began to cool off. These outer neighborhoods or fringe neighborhoods have showed the first signs of the downturn.  H... 11/09/2008

With the holidays upon us, it's a time to give gifts to our loved ones, friends and customers. In a volatile economy gift buying could decrease for some. And at the same time there are wonderful groups doing important work whose donations are suffering. This holiday season, rather than buying expensive gifts, I will be making donations to charity in the names of my loved ones, friends and customers. It's like giving twice! Here is a list of top registered charities you may want to consider: Alzheimer's Associaton To eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. American Cancer SocietyThe American Cancer Society is the nationwide communi... 11/09/2008

November is a wonderful time in New York City. The election is over and a new administration will soon be in place.  Friday (November 7th) was the opening of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. It's a feast for the eyes and ears of every child and even adults during the holidays. The show runs through December 30th. Yesterday (November 8th) volunteers planted 15,000 trees across the city for the Million Trees NYC Fall Planting Day. Holiday Shopping November 15 - December 29The Grand Central Holiday Fair In its 10th year, The Grand Central Holiday Fair continues to attract New Yorkers and tourists alike. It is known for its exceptional product mix with a choice of 76 specialty vendors. The fair consistently impresses people from all walks of life. Located in th... 11/09/2008

New York City New Development. As we are in fourth quarter of 2008, brokers are receiving tons of incentives from different new development projects. The most recent one is if you preview the new development, you will receive 1% extra in commission on top of your 4% commission. Attention Buyers out there... If you are all cash, I think this is the time for you to be out on the market viewing the different new developments and listings. Putting in some strong/aggressive offers. Not every single new development is offering incentives, not every single seller is going to entertain your offer, but if you are in the know as far as the % of contracts that have been signed in a new development, you may work that to your advantage. Sometimes the new development needs to have x amount of contrac... 11/09/2008

"Why is it so hard to rent an apartment in New York City?" I had a young woman relocating from San Francisco ask me this question just a few weeks ago after we found her an apartment in the Upper West Side.  The other statement I usually here is, "I'm so sick of looking for an apartment!"  Despite the difficult nature of finding an apartment in Manhattan things might be getting a little bit easier. As the Manhattan real estate market turns into a buyer's market, many buyers are becoming renters to wait out and see what happens to the market.  Typically the summer market for rentals is very hot and properties get snatched up very quickly.  Not so much this summer, properly priced units still rented quickly but more inventory sat until the prices adjusted.  Now that we are into the fall s... 11/08/2008

The stock market is down nearly 500 points this afternoon, we're in the middle of a deep recession, and tens of thousands of New Yorkers have lost their jobs. But if by some crazy chance you've managed to avoid the pain and suffering and you're looking for, say, a five-bedroom penthouse in Midtown, it's never been a better time to swoop down and make an offer. The prices of dozens of luxe apartments have been slashed in recent weeks. And while the rental market hasn't been crushed just yet, prices are very, very negotiable. That $60,000-a-month rental? You might just be able to offer up $30K a month and walk away with a deal. After the jump, the 20 most expensive apartment rentals in Manhattan, including Donald Trump's insanely overpriced $200,000-a-month penthouse at 502 Park, and Mary... 11/08/2008

Landlords in the city are afraid the now Democratic-controlled Senate will eliminate the vacancy decontrol law. Housing advocates expect to make a push to get rid of the law -- which allows landlords to charge market rates for rent-stabilized apartments once the tenants move out and the rent reaches $2,000 per month -- in the next legislative session. Landlords believe eliminating decontrol measures would harm real estate investment in the city, and hurt developers who were expecting to eventually convert apartments into market rate. 11/07/2008

  Apple Inc. leases 21-25 West 34th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, but is no longer planning to open a store there. Apple has put the site up for sublease through Robert K. Futterman, with the three levels, totaling 18,000 square feet, available as of April 1, 2009. SL Green and Jeff Sutton own the land, and Apple reportedly pays $5.906 million in annual rent for it. 11/03/2008

Last minute Halloween costume shoppers waiting on line on the Upper West Side The 35th annual Greenwich Village celebration begins tonight at 7 p.m., when thousands will gather to show off how frightening and funny their costumes can be. The parade stretches down Sixth Avenue, beginning at Spring Street and wrapping up on 21st Street. I just got home. There are kids in costumes everywhere. Waiting for the elevator there is a man who looks like the cable guy. I've been having problems with my digital TV and road runner. I've been meaning to call them but I never have time to wait for them because they won't give a specific appointment time. I asked him if he was with Time Warner and if he could fix my cable. He asked me what is wrong. I told him the picture breaks up. He seemed concerne... 10/31/2008