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  • Dear Ms. Demeanor: Inquiring minds want mortage payment details

    by Jamie Lauren Sutton | 12/21/12 - 2:42 PM

    Dear Ms. Demeanor,

    Is it rude to ask someone what their mortgage payment is?

    Signed,
    Curious Georgia

    Dear Georgia,

    In a word?  Yes.  

    In a city where sexual positions, Botox, and stock tips are freely discussed at bus stops, school drop-offs, and over dinner, the only real mystery left is money. Certain upper-echelon salaries may be published in the New York Times and apartment rents and sale prices are available to anyone with a StreetEasy account, but generally speaking the only known mortgage payment is the one you pay (hopefully) yourself each month.

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    filed under mortgage

  • No-Fee Apartment of the Week: $2,500 studio in the Financial District

    by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 12/21/12 - 12:44 PM

    This well-sized studio at 99 John Street has condo amenities.

    This studio at 99 John Street is in a full-service condo building.

    Pros: At over 600 square feet, this studio is a good size, and the fact that it's a condo means it comes with amenities not usually seen in rentals (plus the owner might actually take care of repairs swiftly). There's a fitness center, roof deck and laundry in the building. Also, the apartment has a seperate kitchen (and not a kitchen wall).

    Cons:  The price is a bit high for  one room, plus some people might not like the feel of the neighborhood -- very busy during the week and quiet on the weekends. Also, since it's a condo, you could be out of luck if the owner decides to sell at some point.

    No-Fee Apartment of the Week showcases an apartment that’s currently on the market and is being offered with no broker fee (otherwise known as the holy grail of New York City rentals). For tips on how to find more no-fee apartments, check out the The 8 best websites for finding a no-fee apartment in NYC and our Guerrilla Guide series.

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    filed under financial district, rentals, renters, renting

  • StreetEasy’s Most Wanted: Apartments with a little something extra -- and some that need a little extra care

    by Sara Alessi | 12/21/12 - 8:58 AM

    A new air conditioning system and an in-unit W/D are just some of the perks of a two-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op on Charles Street and Seventh Avenue in West Village going for $995k. 

     

    Whether you’re looking for a home that’s been updated or you’d like to fix one up yourself, grab a pencil. This week’s edition of StreetEasy’s Most Wanted (the 10 sales listings StreetEasy users saved more often than any others this week) features a range of apartments from tricked-out to in-need-of-a-little-TLC.

    A $1.995m three-bedroom, three-bath condo on West 61st Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues) falls into the tricked-out category. Features include a wrap terrace, two Samsung flat screen LCD HD TVs, and a NAD stereo system and KEF speaker system. There’s also a full-size W/D perfect for a growing family’s laundry load. Besides Viking, Miele and SubZero appliances, the kitchen also sports a 50-bottle wine fridge and custom Italian cabinets.

    A new air conditioning system and an in-unit W/D are just some of the perks of a two-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op on Charles Street and Seventh Avenue in West Village going for $995k. The renovated pre-war apartment also features a windowed kitchen that’s been opened and upgraded with granite counters, stainless steel appliances and a breakfast bar. Relatively low monthly maintenance ($1,215/mo) rounds out the bonuses.

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    filed under Boerum Hill, buying, Chelsea, Fort Greene, Upper West Side, west village

  • Real Estate Want: A little bit of Paris in the heart of Greenwich Village.

    by Julie Inzanti | 12/20/12 - 3:52 PM

    Picturesque windows lend a Parisian feel to this village co-op.

     

    The hardwood floors, fireplace and rustic ceiling beams in this one-bedroom, one-bath $1.2M Greenwich Village co-op on Ninth Street help make it feel more like a charming Parisian apartment.  

    But it's the row of stunning arched windows--with their romantic foreign film feel--that seals this apartment's dual citizenship status with a big old French kiss. 

    We don't have to move in to imagine getting cozy on the window seat with a glass of Côtes du Rhône under the warm glow of holiday lights, watching the first snowfall of the season.  Or just admiring the beautiful brick buildings on the tree-lined Greenwich Village street.

    Ahhh, c'est magnifique…

    Real Estate Want is a weekly column featuring New York City apartment details we're coveting right now.

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    filed under windows

  • Rent Coach: We're waiting for condo board approval on our rental. Any reason they could turn us down?

    by Mike Akerly | 12/20/12 - 1:17 PM

    Rent Coach Mike Akerly

    Q. I am currently in the process of renting a condo.  I found it through my broker and I met with the owner of the apartment about a week and a half ago.  She loved us (the apartment is for me and my boyfriend, and our cat) and we signed the lease.  She said she had to submit the lease to the board for approval.  I gave her my security deposit, which was deposited into her account.

    I heard from her last week and she said that the management company approved my application and that she was now just waiting for the board to approve. 

    From what I can gather, the board in a condo can only exercise its right of first refusal?  So that would mean that unless they want to rent the condo under the same terms as my lease states, we should be approved?  Is there any other reason they can turn us down?

    I am just so nervous about this process. I have to be out of my current apartment and just want the official ok.  Any info would be GREATLY appreciated.

    A. Your understanding is correct.  Unlike a co-op board, a condo board only has a right of first refusal, not a right of approval.  It must either exercise that right (which is exceedingly rare for them to do) or issue a waiver of their right. 

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    filed under mike akerly, rentals, renters, renting, sublet, sublets
  • Confessions of a Neighborhood Blogger

    Long Island City "will look like a hybrid of Battery Park City and Downtown Brooklyn before long"

    by Julie Inzanti | 12/20/12 - 10:25 AM

    Tech entrpreneur (and Stanford philosophy Ph.D.) Amol Sarva settled in Long Island City in 2001 and has been blogging about the transforming neighborhood ever since.

    LICNY is a blog about arts, culture, restaurants, real estate and life in Long Island City. Founder/blogger Amol Sarva--a Stuyvesant High School graduate with a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford--is a tech entrepreneur who leads Peek and was a founder of Virgin Mobile USA. 

    Sarva was born in Queens, raised in Little Neck and lived in San Francisco and Paris before settling in Long Island CIty in 2001. He is no stranger to real estate. He built East of East, a 13-loft residential building in Long Island City dubbed  "the most important new building in the borough" by New York Daily News in 2010.

    LICNY started in 2002, around the beginning of the real estate boom for the neighborhood. The only hotspots were PS1 and a few local shops like Sage. His blog gets over 10,000 unique visitors per month.

    Long Island City is a quick and easy commute to Manhattan, and the mix of artists and finance-types populating the nabe make the demographic a little hard to pin down. Luckily there are neighborhood bloggers for this!  We asked Sarva to give us the inside scoop on Long Island City.

    1. What would you tell someone moving in? 
    LIC is great and changing fast. History is artists and industry. Present is increasingly professionals that work in Midtown but hail from the Island or Queens. Future is going to be lots of little kids crawling these streets. Be ready.

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    filed under buying, Long Island City, renting
  • StreetNoise

    A sponsor apt isn't always a sweet deal, Sandy victims get a broker fee pass, and more

    by Ronda Kaysen | 12/20/12 - 8:56 AM
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    filed under buying, hurricane sandy, hurricane sandy nyc, renting

  • Lazy doormen, delinquent supers still rake in the tips, according to holiday poll

    by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 12/19/12 - 2:18 PM

    Seems when it comes to NYC apartment building tipping, it doesn't matter too much whether you're a naughty or nice staffer.

    At least not according to the 400+ voters who've participated in BrickUnderground's naughty vs. nice holiday tipping poll so far.

    Three-fourths say they still hand out tips to "bad" doormen (mostly in the $25-$50 category, less than good and avg doormen) and about 60 percent are tipping delinquent supers (mostly in the $25-$100 range).

    We've also noticed that 7 percent of people are not tipping their favorite doorman at all, and 14 percent are not tipping their super-star super at all. 

    To examine the results in detail, take our 5-second poll yourself.

    If you are one of the vast majority tipping building staff this year, remember that there is no better time to request favors than when handing over an envelope full of cash.    Now's the time to ask the staff to wash your windows, touch up your paint, hang pictures, shelves or mirrors, even feed the cat when you're away on your holiday vacation.  For more ideas, read this. 

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    filed under doorman, doormen, super, tipping

  • Your Celebrity Neighbor: Donny Deutsch

    by Sharon Krum | 12/19/12 - 12:14 PM

    Prphotos.com

    WHO:  Donny Deutsch, advertising guru, lives in a renovated townhouse Matt Lauer once called the coolest apartment in New York. Can we come over to see it? We’re cool.

    WHERE:  The ad man and TV pundit lives in his art filled manse on the Upper East Side, where the median sales price is $1.395 million and the median rental price is $2,995, according to StreetEasy. But we're guessing a decked out, Lauer-approved townhouse goes for far more than the median.

    Your Celebrity Neighbor is a weekly heads-up on the A-listers who call your neighborhood home and (in theory) shop the same Duane Reade as you.


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    filed under celebrities, neighborhood, neighborhoods, neighbors, Upper East Side

  • Room for Improvement: Longing for a tree, a little less heat and a way to receive packages

    by Sasha Berger | 12/19/12 - 10:44 AM

    Photo Credit / Mickamato

    We asked five New Yorkers to name the one thing they would change about their apartment if they could.Here’s what they had to say:

    • More mail options: "I would change the ability to receive packages in my non-doorman building. Right now, I have my packages delivered to work or to my parents’ house in New Jersey!" -Julia, Prospect Heights
    • Wishing a tree grew in Brooklyn: "The one thing I would change about my apartment is that I want a tree outside my window. In my experience, having a tree outside one's window is like having a friend when you are lonely. It's like having an art piece you didn't have to buy or frame. Plus you can tell if it's windy really easily."  -Yael, Boerum Hill
    • More light: "I’d prefer that all apartments would have a skylight. So you would get more sun into the apartment, and use less electricity." -Moses, Bronx
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    filed under renting

  • Can't afford/find a two bedroom apartment? The right one-bedroom just might work

    by Tracy Kaler | 12/19/12 - 8:55 AM

    Can't afford to buy a 2-bedroom? Consider carving a small guest bedroom/home office out of a living room, as our very own Tracy Kaler did. 

    If you’re living in a one-bedroom apartment somewhere in New York City, you’d probably love to have an extra nook for the in-laws, occasional out-of-town guest, or a potential baby in the not-so-distant future.

    When my husband and I began shopping for our Upper West Side co-op, we were no different. Our mothers each visit a few times a year and we didn't want them camping out in our living room. We browsed, perused and labored over dozens and dozens of apartments, searching for the two-bedroom that we ultimately couldn’t afford.

    Eventually we decided to search for a one-bedroom that was large enough for a wall and an extra space for a cozy guest nook.

    We bought an apartment with a huge 16'x20' living room that easily accommodated a wall, and now most of our visitors can’t imagine the apartment without the little room we built--for which we spent a total of less than $10,000, which was a lot less than the $150,000+ we would have had to spend up for an average two-bedroom ($850k+) in our neighborhood.

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    filed under approvals, architect, co-op board, contractors, design, home office, renovating, renovation, supers

  • 10 reasons to love being a New Yorker during the holidays

    by Alana Mayman | 12/18/12 - 11:03 AM

    Photo Credit / hipsterpuppies

    New Yorkers--overworked, overtaxed, and usually real-estate-challenged--are not always the most upbeat bunch. But come the holidays, even we can come to appreciate our blessings and feel a bit of cheer. 

    Here are 10 reasons to love being a New Yorker during the holiday season.

    1. It's toasty warm (read: hotter than balls) in your apartment, and the open window gives Santa easy access.
    2. Your super/porter will assemble kids' gifts.
    3. Your super/porter can break down the boxes.
    4. Your building's no-pet rule is a great excuse not succumb to your 4-year-old's request for a puppy. 
    5. Your shoebox of an apartment means you can only buy one Big Toy per child.  And there is no room for the treadmill you won't use anyway...
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    filed under heat, porter, super

  • Ask an Expert: We moved out of our co-op for 2 weeks after Sandy. Do we still have to pay maintenance?

    by Teri Karush Rogers | 12/18/12 - 8:56 AM

    Photo Credit / upsidesunny

    Q. My co-op's basement was flooded during Hurricane Sandy and we had no heat or electricity for two weeks.   My husband and I checked into a hotel with our 3-month old and 2-year-old.

    Shouldn't we get a credit on our maintenance bill for the two weeks we couldn't live in our apartment? 

    A.  Probably not, say our experts.

    "This is an often asked question not only because of Sandy," says co-op and condo attorney Dean Roberts of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, referring to the myriad reasons--from fire to burst pipes--that can trigger a temporary relocation.

    "While technically an abatement can be claimed under the proprietary lease," says Roberts, "any maintenance that is waived as part of a warranty of habitability claim would have to be offset by an assessment or maintenance increase applied equally to shareholders."  

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