Archive for Blog
The Luxury Market is Sitting Pretty
After being listed for just nine days, hedge funder John Read Taylor shelled out $22 million for an apartment at 1068 Fifth Avenue. Listed at $17.5 million, Taylor saw their price and raised them $4.5 million. That’s almost a 25% rise.
The 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom co-op is designed “for preeminent collectors of contemporary art,” according [...]
New Appraisal Rule Fallout
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct passed in May of 2009 with the goal of ensuring appraiser independence. But the rule has also produced low-ball appraisals that can shatter deals, and appraisers say it has harmed appraisal quality. It seems the only group happy about the law are the mortgage lenders, who have seen their [...]
Top Ten Biggest Manhattan Mansions
While Manhattan is certainly a city of condos and coops, it also has some of the biggest and most beautiful townhouse homes anywhere. The Real Deal highlighted the top ten single-family townhouses in Manhattan last week- here are the highlights.
Manhattan’s Biggest Homes
1. 4 East 75th Street. 21,700 square feet
The Harkness Mansion, built in 1899, is [...]
Stocking Your New Bar on a Budget
I offer a lot of information on how to get the right condo or home, but what about once you get that perfect spot? It’s time to sit back and drink it all in- figuratively and literally. Manhattan is a cocktail city- there’s even one named after us. You want to make sure when you [...]
Material Girl Flexes a $1.7 Million Renovation
What more could the Material Girl want than her $32 million Upper East Side triple-wide townhouse? How about a $1 million plus gym? The Real Deal and NY Post report that she’s flexing her financial muscle and adding 1,614 square feet to her mansion, for a grand total of 13,847 square feet. And then there’s [...]
Mortgage Math Tests?
Should you have to take a math test to qualify for a loan? Columbia University assistant business professor Stephan Meier thinks maybe you should, and he has the survey results to back up his question. According to a New York Times report on Meier’s survey, people with poor math skill are three times more likely [...]
Mae West’s Celebrity Upper West Side Mansion
Want to live in the mansion Mae West once graced? Her former Upper West Side residence at 266 West End Avenue is listed at $30 million, pending the complete restoration currently in progress.The building is 28 feet wide with 14,000 square feet of space. It was built in 1896 seemingly out of limestone and pure [...]
Why Section 1031 Will Cut Your Taxes
1031 Exchanges
If you own one or more investment properties, you probably know about Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. If you dont know abot 1031 exchanges, it allows an owner of an investment property to defers the tax consequences around a property sale. Basically, it allows you to roll over the proceeds so you can buy [...]
Will Ferrell in the West Village
You stay classy, New York City… Ron Burgundy is moving to town. After waiting in contract since March, Will Ferrell and his family closed on a 2,699 square foot loft at 345 w 13th Street for $4.2 million. The purchase was finalized by Ferrell’s trustee Matt Lichtenberg.
The cost is actually a bit less than the $4.4 [...]
Roth Replants the Plan to Move Madison Square Garden
Remember the plan to move Madison Square Garden that came and went just before the recession? Developer Steven Roth is trying to cultivate support to replant the arena once again. The plan is to move M.S.G. one block west, taking it off of Penn Station and moving it to where the James A. Farley Post [...]