All posts by Brian Silvestry

I have been in the real estate industry first as a licensed agent and as a broker since 1999. I have sold in every Manhattan neighborhood though do work a lot on the Upper west side where I live and upper Manhattan. I speak French,Portuguese, and Spanish.
Architecture, Harlem, New Developments

303 West 137th street New building construction update

303 West 137th street, a new 6 story building by Harlem developer, Icer, has topped out. It will eventually house 16 units over 14,655 square foot. It is located on a beautiful, double brownstone block, near Saint Nicholas park. The building has a brick facade and terraces. Unfortunately, the design is lacking in any architectural merit and could be the poster child for adding more landmark designations to protect historic homes and blocks.

West 137th street looking east. 303 is in the background

Previous 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.

 

BuyingtipsforManhattanproperty, Listings, Marketreports, Soho

Soho residential listings selling at 15% discount according to report

According to a recent report, the residential listings in Soho are experiencing price cuts of approximately 10% and usually are chopped another 5% after that. The market like many neighborhoods in Manhattan is a buyer’s market. Seller’s expectations are coming down but as this is happening in Soho, the sellers do not have to sell so the market is at an impasse.

The below table shows the number of active listings by bedroom count in Soho.

# Bedrooms Active Low Price High Price
1 36 $580,000 $11,000,000
2 58 $630,000 $12,250,000
3 + 80 $1,995,000 $40,500,000

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.

Airbnb, New legislature

REBNY supports bill for Airbnb to share owner information

The Real Estate Board of New York(REBNY) fully supports a proposal of the City Council to mandate that home sharing sites like Airbnb share their users’ information with the City.

REBNY believes that Airbnb is one of the main reasons that rents have risen in the last decade in New York City while Airbnb maintains that home sharing is not even among the top 20 reasons that rents have risen. They do acknowledge that there needs to be measures to ensure that landlords maintain control over their buildings and is in favor of measures to eliminate abuse of the site.

Some regulation is definitely needed as there is a security issue with the rampant use of home sharing sites as not only buildings but blocks become more transient due to the widespread use. Landlords do have a right to better enforce the abuse of the sharing economy.

REBNY opinion here

Airbnb side here.

Previous 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.

 

 

Inventory, Luxury, Marketreports

Manhattan rental market stabilizing as sales market continues to slide

According to the latest report by Streeteasy, the Manhattan rental market is stabilizing ahead of the peak summer rental season as the sales market is still declining. I think this is supporting by what I am seeing with the summer rental market in full swing and the sales market struggling especially as owner’s expectations come to grips with the new buyer market conditions.

The median asking price on the upper west side of Manhattan is down about 10% year over year but this is also skewed by new development impact which pulls the median asking price higher. Now that the market has slowed, new development activity has slowed and the smart developers are bringing to market more affordable luxury product.

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, Investment, Luxury, Marketreports

Top Manhattan buildings outperformed stock market over the last decade according to report

According to a recent report by City Realty, buildings such as 15 Central Park west out performed the stock market over the last decade. Buildings with tons of amenities, famous architects(starchitects) and celebrity residents certainly do get lots of attention but are they truly worth the investment? According to the report, the compound annual growth rate at 15 CPW was 6.84% compared to stock market which was -2% and gold which was 3.2%.

Recently, I had a client that sold their Manhattan townhouse for $15 million to an investor. Is this a good investment for the buyer? According to most experienced Manhattan real estate brokers, 2016 was more or less the peak of the ultra luxury market and since then we are in a buyer’s market. There are certainly a fair amount of coverage in the press of buyers who are liquidating investments in ultra luxury, new development buildings that are being sold for less than they paid.

One strategy to increase liquidity,  would be to split that investment up to smaller investments. The 2 bedroom/2 bathroom market continues to be a sweet spot as it’s the family sized apartment that is within reach of many buyers. Also, performing really well now is the multi-family market. Would it have made more sense to buy a 1-2 buildings with anywhere from 6-40 units? With professional management, these properties have been performing well and continue to perform well right now as there is a shortage of inventory.

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.

 

CentralParkWest, Listings, Rentals

400 Central Park west 19P rented

A 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment in the Upper West side condominium 400 Central Park west, was rented for $5,200, in as is condition. The apartment features an extraordinary view of Central Park as it has two exposures, one facing south and one facing east directly into the park.

The building features a 24 hour concierge, bike room, storage, parking, live-in-super, on site management, laundry room in basement and resident’s lounge. The building also has private gardens and a superior location adjacent to central park, close to Whole Foods and many train and subway lines.

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, Luxury, Marketreports

21 luxury contracts were signed last week

Manhattan’s luxury market continues to record strong sales this spring with 21 contracts signed last week for properties at $4mm and above. Roughly half of those contracts were signed for downtown properties.

 

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.

 

HamiltonHeights, Harlem, Listings, Rentals

189 Edgecombe avenue townhouse rented

The 2 family townhouse at 189 Edgecombe avenue has now rented. It has a garden apartment 1 bedroom with washer/dryer and a triplex apartment with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. The triplex rented for $6,100 and the garden apartment for $2,200. Both apartments rented within 2 weeks of being listed.

The house underwent a full, gut renovation and restoration which took just over a year to complete.

 

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, Investment, Propertytaxes, Real estate, Townhouse

Manhattan townhouse owners-understanding your property tax bill

NYC puts out a guide of how to understand your real estate tax bill of your property. It’s amazing how many NYC property owners do not understand their real estate property tax bill. In fairness, the system is very complicated and you might see two identical Manhattan townhouses with the same number of units yet radically different tax bills.

It is always advisable to consult with a real estate tax attorney before making any changes to your tax classification, and doing renovations especially alterations.

Generally speaking, your real estate tax bills will go up when you do an alteration to your building like changing the number of units or adding gross square footage. If you do not make a change to your building, there are caps on your assessed value which is the amount that your real estate tax bill is derived. For class 1 properties which are 1-3 family homes, it is 6% per year or 20% for 5 years. For tax class 2A (4-6 units), class 2B (7-10 units) the cap is 8% per year or 30% over 5 years. For properties that are class 2 (11 units or more) no cap exists which is one of the reasons a SRO building as classified by Department of Finance with 11 rooms(units) could see taxes climb steadily per year without cap.

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.

 

Architecture

730 Saint Nicholas Historical home being converted to methadone treatment facility

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730 Saint Nicholas,a home full of historical details, is being converted as of right by the owner, to an outpatient methadone clinic according to the West 147th street block association. Apparently, the center will service patients all day Monday through Friday and for a half day on Saturday. According to the Community Board meeting last week, Argus Community Ltd. the current owner,  does not need community approval to go forward with this plan. The home was purchased for just over $4 million only a few months ago.

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.