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.
If you are going to be selling your Manhattan property and it’s been a number of years since you painted, and/or you had chosen a dark color, a paint job can really help to spruce things up. Choosing a light color like a designer white can help to brighten up a room or rooms and help to bring out the spaciousness of your offering. If you live in a building, it might be more frugal to have one of the handymen or super do it on his off time. But you will probably see a more favorable reaction from potential buyers with a fresh coat of paint.
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.
If you are thinking about selling your Manhattan single room occupancy(SRO), now is the time to apply for the certificate of no harassment. Changes are coming starting to the application process,in September. Suffice is to say that the City is expanding the program to encompass areas where tenants are susceptible to harassment in rapidly gentrifying areas like West Harlem, East Harlem and several parts of the Bronx. The new program will have a 5 year look back and will not just be for SROs but will include as well properties with a history of proven harassment as well as an expanded set of buildings in the pilot areas.
24 Luxury contracts were signed last week for property $4mm and above in Manhattan. Discounts drove the action as the average discount from the listing price is over 10%. It’s not unusual that property owners who purchased in the last 3 years are selling at a loss in order to liquidate.
In other reports, rents are still trending down with concessions like free month’s rent and owner paid broker fees fueling activity especially in new developments where 90% of the apartments were rented with concessions. Just under half (44%) of the new leases signed in Manhattan in April included concessions.
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.
I am constantly searching for apartments for clients and occasionally come across buildings that are tax abated. Generally speaking apartments above 96th street had 20-25 year tax abatements and below 96th street the length of the abatement was only 10 years. As a result, in the last several years, the abatement is phased out, and the taxes go up substantially.
When the monthly numbers are lower, buyers will pay more for the apartment which helps developers of new condos make more profits. But how do you analyze the value of a condo with a tax abatement expiring shortly and how much time is enough that is left on a tax abatement?
If you are fortunate enough to have an outdoor space in your Manhattan property, you are truly one of the lucky few. Now that Spring is finally here, BuzzBuzzNews gives us 22 ideas of how to inexpensively take your balcony to the next level.
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.
A new building is rising at 61 West 104th street. The previous building was a 10 unit building which was demolished. The new building will have 7 stories, 34 apartments and just over 23k of residential square footage.
Previous building housed 10 units while the new building will house 34 units.
According to analysis done today, there are 78 townhouses for sale in Central Harlem and Hamilton Heights ranging from $1.7 million to $5.7 million. There are 20 buildings in this area in contract bringing the total number of active plus contract to 98.
Most but not all of these 20 contracts were signed within the first four months of the year. 34 listings closed since the beginning of the year. That means there is approximately 10 months of existing supply in the market at this time.
Active listings
Contracts
Sold
78
20
34
For that reason, even listings in Central Harlem and Hamilton Heights that look to be very attractively priced are languishing on the market and price reductions are pretty steep these days.
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.
Understanding NYC’s archaic and often inequitable system of real estate taxes might be a life long pursuit but for the purposes of this blog, let’s take a look at a couple of the items that influence your real estate taxes of a Manhattan townhouse.
One of the influencing factors is how recently the property transferred. You have some long time owners in Manhattan whose properties are now worth several million dollars yet their assessed values are artificially low due to the lack of a recent sale. However, once the property changes hands, the Department of Finance might be right there adjusting the value and raising your taxes.
321 West 136th street in Harlem is still sitting dormant with the windows removed from the building. It appears as if the property transferred late last year for $3.525 million 2 years after being purchased for $2.2 million. Plans were filed with DOB for a new 6 story building with 10,000 sqft of residential space. A loan was taken out at the same time so perhaps some sort of construction is imminent at the site.
West 136th street from Edgecombe look east toward Frederick Douglass.
Since the current market conditions are heavily in favor of buyers in Manhattan’s residential market, now is the time that you can negotiate more on a potential purchase. According to the latest market reports, in Manhattan’s luxury market, the average discount from asking price to sale price is somewhere around 8-9% percent. With new development, this number can be tougher to gauge because developers are loathe to discount the sale price but instead offer incentives from the mundane like paying transfer and mansion taxes to offering a free parking space. Generally, though now is the time when you can do a bit of negotiating but you really need to understand how motivated the seller is, how long the property has been in the market and how long the competing listings are staying on the market. In this market, some buyers might even make multiple bids and play one against another to see who will cut the best deal.
Patience is the key in today’s market as I have told a couple of buyers. Depending on the segment, you may need to let the market come to you as the seller’s expectations become more in line with the current conditions.
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.
News about the NYC real estate residential and commercial markets provided and interpreted by an industry veteran licensed since 1999. Brian Silvestry of BSRG Inc. Licensed real estate broker
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.
