The Real.Est List
Ask an Expert: Battle of the outdoor spaces--backyard/patio vs terrace/roofdeck
by Teri Karush Rogers | 4/23/13 - 1:37 PM
The terrace of a $95 million condo on Fifth Avenue: A little slice of heaven, or...?
Q. After 12 years in a building with no outdoor space, my husband and I are determined to buy an apartment with a private outdoor area. What are the pros and cons of a patio/backyard versus a terrace/roofdeck?
A. There is a considerable difference between owning a ground-floor outdoor space and one many stories above, says our experts, and each will cost you.
"Be prepared to pay dearly for it, and sadly, be prepared to compromise," says real estate broker Gordon Roberts of Warburg Realty.
The StreetEasy Hot Dozen: 12 rentals that may or may not be available by the time you read this
by Alex Hughes | 4/23/13 - 10:55 AM
This second-floor walk-up studio/junior-one apartment at 221 West 28th Street is listed for $1,875. While certainly not big, it seems bright and clean.
SoHo and Chelsea are two of Manhattan's trendiest locales, with upscale boutiques, cutting-edge galleries and lots of tourists to boot. Like most other 'hoods, the best apartment deals tend to be in walk-up buildings, such as four rentals that made this week's Hot Dozen--the 12 rental apartments Streeteasy.com visitors clicked on most often over the past seven days.
A studio at 221 West 28th Street (between Seventh and Eighth Aves) is listed for $1,875. It's actually a junior one-bedroom, with a foyer and lots of closet space. The apartment is on the second floor and looks bright and clean. Guarantors are permitted, and so are pets. Also, notes the listing, there is "NO BED BUG HISTORY EVER IN THE BUILDING."
The buyer's and renter's guide to the NYC elementary school game
by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 4/23/13 - 8:58 AMIn BrickUnderground's parents guide to buying and renting in NYC, we covered the real estate basics for finding an appropriate place to dwell with kids. Now we're taking a closer look on the one issue (besides price) that may influence a young parent's real estate decision more than any other: Elementary school options.
Whether you're looking to rent or buy--and whether you have young children now, expect to in the next few years, or just want to make sure you buy a place that will be in demand by families when you sell--read on for advice from the experts about how to navigate public and private school choices.
5 things you may live to regret doing in your own apartment
by Julie Inzanti | 4/22/13 - 1:46 PMYou have to watch what you say to New Yorkers. Tell us we can’t do something in our apartments and we’ll do it anyway when you’re not looking, like plugging too many things into one outlet (danger: electrical fire), hanging potholders directly above the stove in our way-too-tiny kitchens (danger: regular fire) and building temporary walls without the proper egress (another fire-related danger).
But in talking to our fellow New Yorkers we've discovered some other chances people take that they later wish they had not. Here are five things we'd like to politely urge you not to do in the comfort of your four walls.
- Diary of a First-Time Buyer (cont'd)
Hell is applying for a mortgage...as a self-employed writer
by Elle Bee | 4/22/13 - 11:41 AMThe joy of finding another place to buy in such short order—after three days of searching and looking at fewer than 10 apartments—was not tempered by writing a big check (10% down) at my contract signing. The prospect, however, of pulling together another co-op board application was daunting, as was the process of updating all my financials for Wells Fargo.
Mary, my loan coordinator, assured me it would go faster this time, and within a week, sent me the list of materials she required. I set to work assembling new bank statements, the IRS income verification forms, letters explaining credit inquiries and copies of paychecks. I also set about refreshing my letters of recommendation for the co-op board.
The new co-op application was 35 pages long, about one-third were separator or index pages that I had to customize, clarifying multiple bank accounts or detailing the types of documents I included.
The Open House Scorecard: Flex layouts galore
by Sara Alessi | 4/22/13 - 10:16 AM
In this $699k two-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op on the UWS, the dining area shown here can be converted into an additional bedroom, and a separate nook in the master bedroom can serve as a nursery or home office.
Want some flexibility in your new home’s layout? This week’s Open House Scorecard--the 10 open houses those browsing StreetEasy saved to their open-house planners more often than any others this weekend--includes a group of apartments with convertible layouts.
It’s possible to convert part of the living area in this prewar $699k Upper West Side two-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op on 78th between Broadway and Amsterdam into another bedroom. Plus, the master bedroom allows for flexibility because it has a separate nook that can be used as a nursery or home office. The building is an NYSERDA certified green building with a live-in super, part-time doorman and children’s playroom. A storage bin carrying a monthly fee comes with the apartment.
- StreetNoise
How to attract int'l buyers, living next door to a construction site really stinks, and more
by Sara Alessi | 4/22/13 - 8:57 AM- Want to appeal to foreign buyers? Raise the cabinets, get a white leather sectiona, and throw in a wok kitchen and concierge (WSJ)
- Wall Street pushing risky mortgages and loans eerily similar to those from 2005, before the housing bust (New York Times)
- When a new building goes up next door to yours, watch out for cracks in the wall, falling brick--and evacuation orders (The Local)
- Bidding wars erupt in Long Island City (NY1)
- Turns out you don't actually have to cross the street just because a production assistant says so (New York Observer)
- Bushwick residents complain delinquent dog owners are ruining beautification efforts (DNAinfo)
No-Fee Apartment of the Week: $4,100 three-bedroom in Williamsburg
by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 4/19/13 - 2:12 PM
This $4,100 three-bedroom has condo-style fixtures and is in the ever-hot Williamsburg neighborhood.
This $4,100 three-bedroom condo in Williamsburg's appears to have all the fixins. Plus, it's only two blocks from the Metropolitan stop on the L train.
Pros: The apartment has (condo-style) high-end fixtures, good closets and follow-to-ceiling windows. There's a private terrace (no photos though), and laundry, a common roof deck and a gym in the building.
Cons: The building doesn't have a doorman.- Transitions
Astoria to Harlem: A neighborhood that feels like the UWS (circa-1985)
by Ben as told to Marjorie Cohen | 4/19/13 - 10:46 AMI knew that there would be a lot I would miss when I left Astoria, Queens, but after six years, it was time for a change. And, since I was making the change in order to move in with my girlfriend and start our life together, I was excited about what was coming next.
Julia had been living in Harlem for six years and liked it a lot and although I probably would have considered staying in Queens, the commute to her job at the Metropolitan Opera would have been pretty awful from there. I’m a graphic designer and can easily work from a home office so we decided to focus our apartment search on Harlem, because of the convenience factor and because space would be affordable.
Harlem also has a culture, which at the moment, is still intact, and is asserting itself against gentrification. This may not last over time, but at the moment it is definitely true.
StreetEasy’s Most Wanted: Roaring 20s
by Sara Alessi | 4/19/13 - 9:16 AM
This rustic-looking $1.899m two-bedroom, two-bathroom co-op is a prewar loft on West 20th in Chelsea.
If you're looking to live in the classic chic Gramercy Park neighborhood, the funky/artsy chic Chelsea area, or the convenient-if-slightly-bland Kips Bay neighborhood, grab a pencil and paper and take notes, because this week’s Most Wanted (the 10 sales listings that were saved more often than any others by those surfing StreetEasy this week) features several pretty cool pads in the East and West 20s.
A full-floor $1.899m two-bedroom, two-bath co-op on West 20th between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea (pictured) features a key-locked elevator that opens directly into the apartment.
Your Celebrity Neighbor: Jimmy Fallon
by Sharon Krum | 4/18/13 - 2:29 PMWHO: Sorry, Los Angeles-- New York’s own Jimmy Fallon is not only taking over "The Tonight Show" next year, he is bringing it back here.
WHERE: The host of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” lives in Gramercy Park, where the median sales price is $824k and the median rental is $3,500, according to StreetEasy.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.
- New on The Real.Est.List
Need a Murphy bed? Or a mortgage? We can help
by The List | 4/18/13 - 12:29 PMNew Yorkers are busy people--so busy in fact, that they don’t always have the time to conduct extensive Web searches when they need to locate a product or service.
Fortunately, BrickUnderground's expansive resource directory, The Real.Est. List, features several hundred local businesses that can help city-dwellers fix/buy/sell/find whatever they need.
This week, The List welcomes two new featured members:
techlineStudio (212-674-1813, http://techlinestudio.com/) New Yorkers are notoriously short on space—so much so that some folks even have trouble finding room for a bed in their purported bedrooms. techlineStudio can help.
For 25 years, the store has been providing Murphy beds and wall beds, as well as modular furniture and cabinets to help space-challenged urban dwellers maximize every inch of available room. The modular units can be stacked as high or as wide as needed to make full use of limited space.
- Confessions of a Neighborhood Blogger
Dumbo's got history and cool lofts, but don't expect deals, says DumboNYC.com
by Julie Inzanti | 4/18/13 - 10:24 AMDumboNYC is a hyper-local neighborhood blog founded in 2006 by Hide, a resident of Dumbo Brooklyn, for people to find information about Dumbo...he blogs about everything from the history of the artsy neighborhood to news and updates about entrepreneurs and businesses in the area.
.To support the local businesses and residents of Dumbo, Hide reinvests all ad revenue back into the community.DumboNYC is a labor of love for Hide. While he maintains a full-time job elsewhere, he tries to keep the community regularly informed. He says the site currently receives 50,000+ unique visitors per month.1. What would you tell someone moving in?Like most NYC neighborhoods, the constant is change in Dumbo. Industrialist Robert Gair settled in the area in the 1880s to build up an empire of factories, warehouses, and dock storehouses. - StreetNoise
NYC room rents climb faster than apt rents; hope for buyers who can't pay all cash, and more
by Sara Alessi | 4/18/13 - 9:05 AM- Can't swing an all-cash offer? "Appraisal protection" may be all you need (NY1)
- ...or you could waive your mortgage contingency altogether--if you're feeling lucky (The Real Deal)
- Renting a room in Manhattan & Brooklyn got a lot more expensive this year, outpacing rental market as a whole (Spareroom.com)
- Doorman and porters in some new buildings say they're being stiffed (The Real Deal)
- The market is hot, but are we in a new real estate bubble? Not exactly--at least, not 2006-style (New York Magazine)
- See if you make as much money as the rest of the people at your subway stop (The New Yorker)
- Garbage trucks are NYC's No. 1 enemy of the peace; "banging/pounding" is third (The Atlantic Cities via CurbedNY)
- Yes, sellers, you must clean out your closets before showing your apartment (NY Times)
- Looking for a deal on a small apartment? Try Long Island City (The Real Deal)
Real Estate Want: Cobble Hill carriage house summer rental
by Julie Inzanti | 4/17/13 - 4:23 PMWondering where to rent this summer? Depending on your pricepoint, you may want to trade in the Hamptons house for this rather amazing Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, carriage house....
The $15K per month three-bedroom carriage house at 36 Strong Place is available starting June 1 for three to five months. It features rustic wood ceiling beams, sliding windowed barn doors, a private driveway, a chef's kitchen, and bluestone patio with private dining area and BBQ--enabling you to skip the three hour drive to the beach and have all the steamy cookouts you want any (or every) night of the week.
Real Estate Want is a weekly column featuring New York City apartment details we're coveting right now.













