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.
Billionaire'sRow, New Developments

Are you ready for elevators that go sideways?

As Manhattan buildings continue to go up and up, elevator companies are racing to provide the technology for these supertalls. Among the features are elevators that not only go up and down at a max velocity but also go sideways. Click on the link below to read the full story from the Real Deal.

Full coverage from The Real Deal

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

 

Upperwestside

Pomander Walk Upper west side hidden gem

Pomander Walk image

Pomander Walk is one of the Upper West side’s best kept secrets: Pomander Walk. It’s a series of low rise, garden apartments that evoke a feeling of England. It is located on West 94 street between Broadway and West end avenue. The apartments are coops and the vetting process is rigorous in that they want to make sure that shareholders are going to be part of the community.

There are 61 units in this community with none available for sale right now. 1 year ago there was a duplex 3bd/2ba for sale for $2.3 million with a monthly maintenance of $2400.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Co-ops, Condos, Real estate

Differences between co-ops and condos part 2

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There are many differences between Manhattan co-ops and condos and in this series we take a look at a couple at a time.

1- Condos typically let you rent your apartment out without limit. So if you experience a job change and do not want to sell, you can rent out the apartment without an issue. In a co-op typically, you can rent out 2 of 5 years and then need to move back or sell.

2-Co-ops normally have higher monthly carrying charges than condos but lower prices. For example a 2bd/2ba co-op on the upper west side of about 1100 sqft might cost you  $1.5 million and have monthly charges of about $2900. A similar condo might run you $2.1 million but the monthly charges might only be $2000.

Price differences, and ability to rent out are just two differences of the many between co-ops and condos in Manhattan.

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

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Real estate

Understanding the mortgage process in Manhattan

Many buyers and sellers do not understand the mortgage process unless they have recently purchased a Manhattan apartment. Here is an overview of the main steps in the loan process.

1- Application
2- Appraisal
3- Approval
4- Clear to close
5- Closing

When you put in a loan application to purchase a Manhattan apartment, they will typically ask for a plethora of documents including last 2 years tax returns, W2s, employment letter and bank statements. Simply, the bank wants to see that you have enough income to support the loan that you are applying for and that you have the down payment money plus an appropriate amount of reserves for post closing.  After the last financial crisis, banks are much more cautious.  So you have a stable job history, make at leasat 2.5 times or more the monthly mortgage, plus maintenance plus any installment debt that you have, have good credit and 20% down payment, and you are more or less in good shape.

During the loan application, the bank will send out an appraiser to confirm the value of the property is equal to or greater than the price on the sales contract. Assuming that all of your documents check out and the appraisal comes back okay, you will receive an approval. Sounds simple but from when you get your application in, this process can take from 2 to 4 weeks on average. Once you have your approval, you can close right? Not exactly.

Once your loan commitment (bank approval) is issued, there will be conditions to the commitment that the bank will require to clear the file to close. These can be as simple as a letter explaining a large deposit in your bank account or obtaining homeowner’s insurance. Sometimes these conditions can be quite numerous. Once when I sold an apartment on the upper west side, the lender required the purchaser to show 12 months of cancelled checks for rent that they paid for the previous year. When you submit all of the items required the bank will clear the file to close. This can take another 30 days or so and when that is done the bank is ready to close!

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

 

 

Battery Park City, Tribeca

Should we put Amazon’s new NYC HQ in the Hudson River?

New York City is among the finalist cities for Amazon’s new headquarters and suggested locations have included Long Island City, the Brooklyn Tech Triangle, Midtown west and lower Manhattan. One real estate mogul, the founder of the Battery Park City Authority(BPCA), has suggested to put their new HQ on landfill. Charles Urstadt recommends that NYC use landfill to extend BPC roughly from Chambers street north by about a half mile. His scheme calls for Amazon to pay a nominal land rent and the project and extension would be managed by the BPCA. It would add 60 acres to one of the most valued neighborhoods in Manhattan, Tribeca.

Full coverage here

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

 

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Co-ops, Condos

Differences between a Manhattan co-op and condo Part 1

There are many differences between a Manhattan co-op and condominium and in this first installment we will explore 2 of them.

1- Co-ops can turn down the application of a prospective purchaser without any reason given and that’s it, the buyer can not complete the purchase.  Any fees or costs incurred are not reimbursed and that’s it. A condo grants a waiver of the right of first refusal when they take an application from a prospective purchaser. The only time that they may exercise the right of first refusal is when an apartment is being sold far below market. Instead of letting the sale go forward, they can purchase the apartment.

2- Co-ops more closely scrutinize the financial wherewithal of prospective buyers than condos. So you need to have a down payment of 20-25% plus a debt to income ratio of no more than 28% plus stable job history, and excellent credit. A condo may run credit but they are satisfied with you obtaining a loan commitment or purchasing cash. They are not going to turn you down because you do not make enough money.

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

Harlem, Investment, Listings

313 West 138th street 8 unit in contract

313 West 138th street, one block west of Strivers’ Row in Central Harlem,  has gone to contract. The property which has 5 studios and 3-1 bedroom apartments was asking $1.8 million. After a flurry of activity, it has gone to contract for more than the asking price.

 

313 W 138th street listing details

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

 

Buying tips for your NYC apartment

What a Manhattan buyer broker will do for you

Here are a few simple things that a good real estate broker will do for you when assisting you with a purchase of Manhattan property.

1- Help you to get a pre approval or recommend you to a lender. Most experienced Manhattan real estate brokers will be able to recommend you to a lender that will help you to at least have a pre approval on hand when you go to make an offer.

2- Interpret data- These days, the general public has access to data from many sources including streeteasy, zillow, and trulia. What may be missing is the interpretation of the data and in some cases that can best be done by an experienced real estate broker. Why did an apartment sell below market value? What about a foreclosure or auction purchase? Is the market going up or going down? What is an appropriate amount to seek to negotiate the asking price? All questions that I have heard and there are very specific answers depending on the market conditions and the individual property.

3- Do some due diligence for you. Your lawyer will do due diligence for you once you have an accepted offer. They search for potential issues with neighbors or a major capital project coming down the pipeline by reading the minutes of the Board meetings. But a good real estate broker knows the questions to ask the seller’s rep to get a lot of information that will save you the time and cost of having the attorney find out later or worse, you find out after you move in. Why are the common charges and taxes so high on this given building? What other construction projects are happening nearby that may affect the views of the apartment?

4- Be familiar with local condo projects, new store openings or anything else that may affect the future value of your purchase. No one has a crystal ball to know what will happen in the future. But an experienced Manhattan broker will be able to guide you to the neighborhoods that will see the greatest appreciation if you are looking for an investment. Or they can tell you if you are renovating a townhouse, what the layout most desired by buyers would be as well as the type of finishes or amenities that you should include.

5- Protect your interests always and especially ahead of their own. Of course when you close, the real estate broker gets paid but there must always be a clear indication that they will protect your interests ahead of their own. A few years ago, a client asked me what I thought of a potential townhouse. I told him that the square footage was incorrect because it included the below grade which does not count and the price per square foot was too high. Ideally, your Manhattan buyer broker is going to realize that he must protect your interests even if that means you do not buy.

Obviously, there are many other things that a buyer broker will do for you when assisting you to purchase a co-op, condo or townhouse in the NYC market but these are 5 important ones.

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

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Selling tips

How to choose a real estate attorney

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Let’s assume you are doing a residential purchase or sale and need a Manhattan real estate attorney to represent you. How do you find one and what should your criteria be? Let’s take a simplified look at what they do first to assist the process.

On a purchase, your attorney will review the proposed contract and examine the financial information of the co-op or condo building which might entail going to the building to read the minutes of the Board meetings. If there is some project coming up or a noisy neighbor that is wrecking havoc,  it might show up in these minutes.  Your attorney will meet you to sign the contract and fedex/messenger the contract and deposit check to the seller side. After that, assuming it’s not a complicated transaction that will be about it until you go to closing and then he will reconcile the numbers at the closing table and provide you with a closing statement.

On a sale of a Manhattan co-op/condo, the attorney or assistant will prepare the NYS contracts, then will negotiate any changes proposed by the buyer side. You will meet your attorney once the buyer signs and counter sign the contract. If there are issues with the mortgage or closing, the attorney will intercede and if not your attorney will attend the closing and reconcile the numbers with the other side.

Attorneys charge generally as low as $2000 for this transaction and generally an average fee is closer to $3000 or more.

The easiest way to find a good real estate attorney is to ask a friend, family member or your real estate broker for the name of someone that they have used and had a good experience.

You want to make sure that any attorney you use specializes in real estate so that you have a true expert on your side. Sometimes your family attorney also “does” real estate transactions but if there is an issue along the way, experience in doing many transactions may be an asset that you are happy that they have or may hurt you if they do not. So choose someone with experience.

Find out if there is an assistant or someone that you can speak to in case you need a quick question answered. If your attorney spends all day in court and is unreachable by phone/email, it may add stress unnecessarily to the process. Most attorneys will have staff and in some cases they will be able to answer your questions.

Lastly, while you might be recommended to a big name law firm, ask who will be the one handling your transaction. A big name firm that delegates you to a junior attorney or paralegal may not be the wisest choice. Much in the same way, a big name real estate brokerage that passes you off to the 3rd assistant may also leave you feeling that you are not receiving the service you expect.

So while the description I have given of what an attorney is very simple, it is not easy and you never what bumps you will hit on the way so it’s always best to have an expert on your side. To find the right person may take a little bit of research.

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

Billionaire'sRow, New Developments

Dell founder revealed as purchaser of most expensive Manhattan pad

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers was revealed as the buyer of the most expensive Manhattan residential apartment which he purchased in 2014. The condo at 157 West 57th street on Billionaire’s Row is an 11,000 sqft duplex penthouse that cost him $100.47 million. The building has seen its ups and downs and recent values have not supported the price per square foot that was attained back in 2014. In 2014, there was little competition for the One57 but in the last few years the super luxury market has become a buyer’s market as inventory has risen and days on the market has exceeded at times 2 years!

NY Post coverage

The 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 Manhattan market from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.