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.
CentralParkWest, Upperwestside

Is 418 Central Park west the best kept secret on Manhattan’s Upper west side?

418 Central Park west aka The Braender condo located between 101 and 102 street in the Manhattan valley section of the upper west side,  features 88 units and a unique facade. The doorman building has storage, laundry and bike room. The building is located directly across from Central Park and within 1 block of the B,C subway and a short walk to the shops at Columbus Square including Whole Foods, Michael’s and Home Goods.

Recent sales included a renovated 3bd/3ba with park views that went for $2.4 million. Common charges and taxes were combined $2098 for this 1372 sqft condo. Pretty reasonable given the location. Currently, no apartments show available for sale and there is one rental of a small 500 sqft 1 bedroom for $2400.

 

The Braender condo features 88 units and is located between 101-102 street.
The Braender condo features 88 units and is located between 101-102 street.
The archway at the entrance of 418 Central Park west.
The archway at the entrance of 418 Central Park west.
418 CPW seen from Central Park west
418 CPW seen from Central Park west

 

Buying tips for your NYC apartment

Is now the right time to buy a Manhattan apartment?

Periodically, we ask the same question that maybe many buyers ask themselves. Is NOW the right time to buy a Manhattan apartment? So many reports and so much confusing data, broker speak, developers’ spin etc…. How do you interpret it all and make a wise purchase that your family can enjoy without overpaying?

Let’s start with the obvious and state the market is a dichotomy right now. Over $5mm, you need to be patient as a buyer and make sure you find value. A 2500 sqft apartment with a view of Central Park on Manhattan’s upper west side in a recent conversion that is selling well is value. See 360 CPW for example. According to streeteasy.com, 26 active listings and all 26 properties in contract. Look for higher prices on the next round of listings. Take a look at 50 Riverside boulevard, aka One Riverside Park, the amenity rich building at the southern tip of Riverside boulevard. A 3 bedroom/3 bathroom there that sold for $4.1 million is up for sale for $4.35 million. At a price under $2000 per sqft. That’s pretty reasonable if that word can be used to describe Manhattan real estate.

Abover the $5mm mark, it gets dicey, above $10 mm even more so. In this range,  the market has slowed and it really warrants a careful analysis to see if you are actually getting value to avoid buying something that will be worth 20% less in 1 year. But in some cases, when you shop for a unique property(let’s say over $20mm), it might just be that you want a specific location, amount of outdoor space or a certain building. At that price points, if you found that needle in the haystack you probably will need to pay for it.

Where do you need to be very careful if you are searching for a value or solid investment under $3 million? Watch out for walk ups or first floor units. These type of apartments sell well when the market is hot. Let’s say you want to sell in 5 years in a tepid market ,you might take a hit. Also, watch out for buildings with higher than normal monthly charges. Ask why are they so high. Generally speaking, you will pay about $2 to $2.5 per sqft in monthly charges depending on the building. Above that, you are in the higher end of the range and may end up with even higher charges in the coming years. The higher your common charges go up beyond the norm, the harder it will be for your apartment to appreciate.

In summary, it might be the exact time to buy right now with interest rates low, and if you find either an apartment that has built in value due to price or the amount of space that you will need long term.

 

Real estate

Here comes the Sun: Will NYC become the Solar City?

Sunday’s NYT article detailed some of the many reasons that not only single family homes in the suburbs are installing solar systems. Thanks to falling costs and grants from NYS, many buildings can recoup their expenses in about 5 years from installing solar panels. Additionally, thanks to some new innovative techniques, more solar panels can be installed on even flat brownstone roofs. However, one of the limited factors is the NYC fire code which restricts how much surface area of a roof can be covered by panels.

 

Upperwestside

New playground comes to Upper west side

Well if it took somewhere around 100 years to get the 2nd avenue subway line built, then maybe it’s not so bad that the playground on West 60th street opened yesterday after a defunct pool closed about 2 decades ago.

The park with entrances on West 60th street and West 59th street between West end avenue and Amsterdam, was funded by real estate developers as well as about 15% by the City.

Read the full story from DNAInfo

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Upperwestside

Is the Upper west side the best place to buy your first apartment?

A quick search on listings site streeteasy.com shows 417 apartments under $1 million on Manhattan’s upper west side with 64 of those being condos. Under the $600k threshold,  there are 124 co-ops and 7 condos. The upper west side has a mix of housing with walk up apartments, as well as doorman and non-doorman buildings. They run the gamut from a tiny $275k studio to penthouses in amenity rich buildings on Riverside boulevard with river views and outdoor space.

There are pockets of affordability in the far west 90’s and 100’s as well. With the B,C subway line serving Central Park west and the 1,2,3 running along Broadway, the work commute is not as much a hassle as the Upper east side which is overcrowded in the mornings.

There are plenty of restaurants of every imaginable type in the neighborhood as well as a cluster of bars on Amsterdam avenue in the low 80’s. You also have neighborhood live music venues like Smoke and also Cleopatra’s Needle. On the upper west side, you have plenty of super markets including two outposts of Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Zabaar’s, Fairway and the West side market. In addition, you can choose a park between Central Park and Riverside Park depending on location.

image
Cherry Walk on the Upper West side runs alongside the reservoir in Central Park.

Affordability, convenience, and plenty of space make the upper west side a wise choice for your first Manhattan pad. Of course that is only my opinion and probably why I have lived on the UWS for 13 years. What do you think? Where do you want to buy your first Manhattan apartment?

 

CentralParkWest, Listings, Upperwestside

400 Central Park west apt 15C sold

A 2 bedroom/2 bathroom, south facing apartment, was just sold in the 400 Central Park west condominium. The property was in the market and sold right away for the full asking price of $1.75 million. The 400 Central Park west condo is located at the corner of West 100th street and features a 24 hour concierge, on site super as well as management, in addition to a bike room,storage, childrens’ playroom, laundry and private gardens. Parking is available on a wait list and at this point takes about 1.5 years but costs just north of $200.

The apartment itself featured a living room/dining room, galley kitchen and south facing balcony with beautiful views of Central Park. The market below $2 million continues to move well and apartments in this building as well as the Park west Village complex continue to sell.

Buying tips for your NYC apartment, Uppereastside

Is the Upper East side the best place to buy your first apartment?

A quick scan of listing website streeteasy shows 99 condos in the market under $1 million on Manhattan’s upper east side.  Compare that with the West Village which has a mere 10 condos under $1 million.  Taking a look at co-ops,  you have 48 listings under $1 million in the WV and a remarkable 448 co-ops on the UES. Why is there such a discrepancy?

Well,  the Upper east side is about twice as large as the West Village but there are nearly 10 times as many listings available not two times. The Upper east side has more low rise tenement style buildings and less fancy new construction or converted industrial buildings so in some ways the housing stock is more modest and friendly for a first time buyer.

With the 2nd avenue subway line opening either Dec 30th 2016 or the near future, the area will certainly benefit with the addition of another subway line to ease crowding on the Lexington avenue line. As the luxury market has pushed even further east, past 2nd avenue, the neighborhood is changing. But still among many of the side streets in the 80’s and 90’s you can find low rise buildings, mostly co-ops that are in stark contrast to the super luxury of Midtown. Perhaps this may be the best neighborhood to pursue your first purchase…

CentralParkWest, Upperwestside

400 Central Park west 11K enters contract

Apartment 11k, a 1 bedroom condo with a south facing 18′ terrace has now entered contract. The building is the 400 Central park west condo which is at the corner of Central Park west and West 100th street on Manhattan’s upper west side. Amenities including storage, parking, 24 hour concierge, gym, childrens’ playroom, laundry, live-in-super, private garden and coming soon renovated interior hallways and a combined heat and power aka cogen system.

Recently in the Real Deal, Jonathan Miller of Miller-Samuel Inc., commented that apartments in the 1 million to $1.5 million have a inventory of about 8 months for condos and 4 months for co-ops. The lower end of the market continues to move well….

 

 

 

Upperwestside

Decision on Upper west side nursing home pending

The New Jewish home is developing a nursing home at west 97th street and Columbus avenue right next door to PS 163. A previous court ruling stated that environmental and air quality issues were not taken into account in the proposal. According to the Chief executive, a decision is expected in the next several weeks following a May court hearing.

 

Full article on Crain’s

Upperwestside

Is the Upper west side the best neighborhood in Manhattan?

Well, it guess it depends on who you are speaking with but let’s take a look at what you get when you purchase an apartment on the upper west side.

You got to have Park
Anywhere on the Upper west side, you are sandwiched between Central Park and Riverside Park. Chances are you are near to one or the other.  In both parks, you can ride your bike, play tennis, go for a picnic, dance, and watch outdoor movies. In Riverside Park, you can see the sunset while sitting at Pier I cafe having a burger and beer. In Central Park, you go swimming in the summer and ice skating in the winter in the same place! So if greenery and a park are important to you, you will love a pad on the UWS.

Great Schools
The Upper west side of Manhattan has some of the best public schools including PS 87 and PS 199. PS 87 had a profile in the New York Times a few years back because they were able to raise over $1 million through the PTA and provide the principal with much needed equipment. There are several other public schools also within District 3 and the upper west that are coveted as well. If you are looking for a private school, you have many excellent choices including-Trinity, Columbia Prep, Collegiate and the Dwight School.

Transportation
There are many options in the neighborhood including the B and C train on Central Park west and the 1,2,3 trains on Broadway. So if you work in midtown or downtown your commute will be reasonable. Plenty of crosstown buses that transverse Central Park west are available to help you go West-East as needed. Now thanks to Citi Bike’s expansion, you can find stations everywhere up to 110th street.

Housing Options
You can find everything from prewar to postwar to brand new on the Upper west side and plenty of townhouses if you want more space. Typically, you can find a 1 bedroom co-op starting in 600’s and condos start in the high 700’s for JR1 (studio converted to a 1 bedroom) Family sized apartments of at least 1000 sqft (93m2) will start at around $1.3 million for a co-op and slightly higher for a condo. If you want to find something on Central Park west, in the high 90’s to low 100’s there are some excellent values and not all are co-ops. Included among the best values are the buildings of Park West Village at 372,382,392, and 400 central park west where a 2 bedroom/2bath of 1141 sqft (106m2) will start at just under $1.8 million.
If you are searching for new, you can find a new construction condo of about 2000 sqft(186m2) for as low as $4 million and for a little more, a great view of the Hudson River. Townhouses start at just under 4 million and go up depending on the condition.

Restaurants and night life
While the upper west side is not known for the nightlife of downtown or Brooklyn, it has it’s fair share of bars especially in the low 80’s on Amsterdam avenue including Brother Jimmy’s and Dead Poet’s Society. For foodies, the only problem may be too many options including vegetarian and vegan options :Ayurveda Cafe, Peace Food Cafe as well Hampton Chutney. For the more carnivorous, you have Stella’s, Gabriella’s as well as many other choices like Carmine’s.

Supermarkets
Whole Foods is present in Columbus Circle as well as Columbus Square (West 97th street) in addition to Trader Joe’s (W 72nd st and coming soon to W 93rd st), Fairway, Zabar’s and the Upper West side market. Plenty of choices for organic fare anywhere on the UWS.

With all of these conveniences, it’s easy to see why many people purchase on Manhattan’s upper west side and many of those purchasers stay for the long haul. Is it Manhattan’s best neighborhood? What’s your opinion?