Monthly Archives: April 2018

Real estate

What is a tenant buyout?

*Please note the below is not legal advice or meant to substitute for legal advice. If interested in approaching a tenant of your building for a buyout, it is best to consult with an attorney so that you remain in compliance for all applicable laws. *

A tenant buyout is when a landlord offers money to a tenant to vacate an apartment. For example, a landlord wants to offer a rent stabilized tenant money to surrender their apartment so that they charge market rate rent. Recently, I showed an Upper West side townhouse where the rent controlled tenant was in place for approximately 50 years. They are paying around $600 for a 3bd/2ba that would rent for around $7500. There is no amount of money that can be offered to this tenant to have them leave. They are saving approximately $80k per year in rent and are in their 60’s. This townhouse has transferred in the past with the same tenant in place.

A tenant buyout will be a function of the age of the tenant, likelihood that there is someone that can succeed them in the apartment like a son or daughter, difference between their rent and the market rent and their and the owner’s motivations.

For landlords, there are many applicable laws to this situation. See the below link for some assistance and consult with your attorney as this is a place where many landlords are running afoul of the law either intentionally or unintentionally.

Tenant buyout overview

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

Selling tips

Thinking of selling your Manhattan property-Choosing a broker

I think when you are choosing a broker to sell your Manhattan apartment, it comes to 5 questions that you need to answered.

1- How long have you been working in real estate?

2- Do you work by yourself or in a team?

3- What experience have you had in my building or nabe?

4- What is your marketing plan to sell my apartment?

5- How did you arrive at your proposed listing price?

Continue reading Thinking of selling your Manhattan property-Choosing a broker →

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, CentralParkWest, Marketreports, Selling tips, Upperwestside

Park West Village on Manhattan’s Upper west side inventory low

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Here is the update on the market conditions in Park West Village, the 4 building condo complex that runs from West 97th street to West 100th street between Columbus and Central Park west. Inventory is low with each building having no more than 3 units available for sale. Considering that each building has over 400 units, that’s a minuscule amount of inventory available. Interestingly, there are no 2 bedroom/2bathroom apartments available right now in the Upper West side complex.

The table below shows the number of active listings, contracts signed this year that have not closed and closed sale since the beginning of the year.

 

Building # listings contracts sold
400 3 1 3
392 2 1 3
382 3 4 3
372 2 1 5

 

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

multifamily, Rentals, rentstabilization

NYC landlords score victory in courts in rent stabilization case

The New York Appeals court has confirmed that a landlord who deregulated an apartment back in 2004 did so correctly. The case had to do with the 20% vacancy allowance and how it is applied. The apartment was deregulated after applying the 20% vacancy allowance but a lower court had said the rent paid by the previous tenant needs to exceed the rent stabilization threshold. Previously, the court system had awarded the tenant over $100k in overcharged rent and that decision was vacated.

Real Deal coverage

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

Soho, Store Openings, Upperwestside

Trader Joe’s Upper West announces opening date

The Upper West Side Trader Joe’s, located between 92nd and 93rd street on Columbus avenue will be opening on May 4th at 10am according to NBC.

A Soho Trader Joe’s is not far behind as they recently held a job fair for the store on Spring street.

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

 

Airrights, Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Historic district

What use are air rights in a Manhattan townhouse in a historic district?

If your plan is to expand a Manhattan townhouse in a landmark district you will need to get approval from the Landmark Preservation Commission(LPC) before getting a Department of Buildings Permit. You  should hire an architect who is familiar and has worked before with the LPC so that they can best advise you. Generally, you might be able to build an extension on the back of the house that will match what the LPC has approved for neighboring properties but they may or may not let you go as high as they did. Also, materials used in the renovation will influence their decision to approve or deny including down to the types of windows and colors of the window frames.

Putting a penthouse on the roof might also be acceptable but it can not be visible from the street. So you might have 3000 square foot of air rights left on an Upper West townhouse on park block but the likelihood that you will be able to use  them all will be small.

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Selling tips

Manhattan closing costs for buyers and sellers

Here is a look at the closing costs for buyers and sellers of Manhattan real estate.

For the Seller:

Coops,Condos,residential 1-4 family
Brokerage Commission negotiable typically 6%
NYC Transfer tax:
1% of price for purchases up to $500,000
1.425% of price for purchases over $500,000
NYS Transfer tax
$2 per $500.00 of sales price
Attorney fee $1500 and up
Flip tax (depends on building) 0-5% COOPS*** Continue reading Manhattan closing costs for buyers and sellers →

BuyingtipsforManhattanproperty

Should you make a bid for a Manhattan property at or before an open house?

If you are looking at a Manhattan property which just listed and the first open house is set up for Sunday, I would say that it makes little sense to make an offer prior to the open house. At the open house, the agent can potential shop this offer to all other interested parties. I would recommend instead to have your offer submitted Monday morning. Recently, an interested client asked what would have to be done to have an open house cancelled. The answer the seller agent gave, was that it would be nearly impossible to have that happen.

The exception being if that the property is listed on Monday or maybe Tuesday and the open house is 5-6 days away, you might be able to submit an offer and have the contract fully executed prior to the open house but that will be unlikely due to the amount of time needed for due diligence.

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

BuyingtipsforManhattanproperty, HamiltonHeights, Harlem, Real estate, Renovation, Townhouse, Upperwestside

Is it better to purchase and renovate a townhouse or spend more for a renovated one?

Many townhouse buyers like the idea of buying a Manhattan fixer upper but underestimate both the cost, time and effort involved with a renovation. If you purchase a fixer upper, the positives are that you can make the home exactly as you want from unit number, to finishes to outdoor space like a roof terrace or penthouse. But you will pay for that convenience in renovation costs which could be as low as $150 per square foot to as much as $700 or more per square for a high end renovation.

Additionally, a renovation will require approvals from Department of Buildings, as well as Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) if the building is one of the coveted Manhattan historic districts. Also there is no guarantee that if you purchase a $7 million Upper West side townhouse and add $4 million that your space is worth more than $11mm total.

I think the questions you should ask are:

1- Can you find something in a higher price range that is already finished close to what I am looking for in a townhouse?
2- Do you have all of the necessary capital to pay for the renovation including architecture fees, permits and expediters? Also, do you have the time to dedicate to supervising the work and making sure your expectations are met?
3- Do you have the patience to wait between 1-3 years or more for the townhouse to be finished while undergoing renovation?
4- Do you have enough capital to cover the cost overruns or increased costs associated with the unanticipated items?
5- Are you okay with the potential increase in real estate taxes due to the renovation and potential alteration? Speak to your real estate tax attorney for more details on that.

A townhouse renovation is not for the faint of heart and should be entered into with care and tons of research. Perhaps it might be wise instead, to purchase a Manhattan townhouse that is already renovated and ready for occupancy.

The dining area at 189 Edgecombe, a gut renovated townhouse in Hamilton Heights that is for sale for $2.525 million.
The marble clad kitchen with island, dishwasher, garbage disposal, wine refrigerator and sliding doors to the deck. 189 Edgecombe avenue

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Marketreports, Real estate, Selling tips

Manhattan market reports as of April 19

According to the latest market reports, the average listing price is down about 10% compared to last year, but 25 contracts over $4 million were signed last week. $849 million dollars of contracts have been signed in the $4million and up segment since the last week of March which is the best start of the Spring market since 2015. What do these seemingly differing numbers mean? The luxury/new development market has been in a buyer’s market for about 2 years now. As a result, the buyer and seller expectations are more inline with each other than lower price points. For the last year or so, new developments have been open to negotiations. Additionally, some projects have been paused or never got off the ground. So the existing inventory is being sold.

This is unlike the below $4 million price market where sellers’ expectations needs to adjust to the current reality and that they will not achieve the same prices that were reached a year ago. Manhattan buyer’s market tend not to last very long.

Additional data here

Broker confidence up according to latest study

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.