According to a recent report from Construction Coverage, a website that compares construction software and insurance, becoming a homeowner remains largely out of reach for many Americans, despite home price growth stabilizing. A recent …
Buyers who were looking to acquire homes before the city's new mansion and transfer taxes went into effect on July 1 was a factor in increased Manhattan co-op and condo sales during second quarter 2019. According to the latest Manhattan ma…
As the COVID crisis has evolved, and states have moved into different phases of reopening, swimming pools and other aquatic amenities have been flashpoints for some of the biggest, most contentious questions around reopening (or not) common…
While homelessness rates in the U.S. fell between 2007 and 2019, the problem has started to increase again. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in 2017, the U.S. began seeing a rise in homelessness year over y…
Like people, buildings come in all shapes and sizes. They can range from single-story garden apartments to multi-story high-rise complexes larger than many small towns. What they have in common is some amount of community space, known as co…
Late last year, a conflict developed between a board and some residents at the Windsor Oak co-op in Queens over shelters protecting a colony of feral cats that lived behind the property. As the New York Post reported, a contingent o…
Manhattan’s residential co-op and condominium market ended 2018 on a down note, a change from the more stable picture it displayed in 2017, according to Corcoran’s 2018 fourth quarter report. “Market-wide closed sales declined as potentia…
According to Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief (2005), “The holding of assemblies of the elders, fighting men, or people of a tribe, community, or city to make decisions or render opinion on important matters is doubtless a cus…
When the average American taxpayer (or tax-dodger, one supposes) hears the word “audit,” they’re likely struck with a feeling somewhere between annoyance and terror—usually because being audited means that something has been found amiss in …
First impressions may not always tell the full story of a building (or a person, or a book, for that matter), but in the case of a multifamily building or HOA, the very first experience of a property—its exterior, entry spaces, even how sta…
It was a very mixed second quarter 2018 for the Manhattan residential market (condos and co-ops), according to the latest report by Douglas Elliman. Those results included a decline in sales prices and number of closed sales, along with an…
Sales of NYC luxury residential properties flagged last week after three previous consecutive high-performing weeks. According Olshan Realty Inc.'s latest luxury market report, the week of November 12-18 saw 14 contracts signed f…
New York City's new congestion pricing plan could be a financial boon to residential real estate, even if it poses an inconvenience to drivers who regularly commute into Manhattan. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journ…
To actually remove floors or space from a newly-constructed building because of a violation of zoning rules is quite rare as it is drastic. And i t is a situation that a nearly-completed Upper East Side condo tower could be facing. Manh…
Compared to previous generations, Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996, give or take) have a conspicuously low rate of homeownership. While the ranks of millennial homeowners have expanded slightly over time, the numbers still fall…
A survey released on August 24th by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce confirms what many New Yorkers knew - or at least predicted - would happen as the coronavirus pandemic has dragged on, with guidance and support at all levels of governmen…
According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the median annual property tax paid by homeowners was $2,578 in 2019, or 1.03 percent of home value - not a huge percentage on average, but many households pay far more than this bas…
Q. I have received high results on an environmental relative moldiness index (ERMI) test, and a certified mold investigator has completed their work and identified two hidden areas in my apartment (6-unit walkup) under the kitchen sink ca…
There have been many people who have decided to pack up a truck and move during the pandemic. Moving company move.org surveyed 700 Americans who made the decision to move in 2020 to find out their biggest challenges, mistakes, and wha…
In a report released on January 28, NYC-based trade association the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) notes that after three consecutive record lows, confidence among the city’s real estate brokers appears to have rebounded in the last …