BrickUnderground

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

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- 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)
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filed under nuisance, selling
No-Fee Apartment of the Week: $4,100 three-bedroom in Williamsburg

by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 4/19/13 - 2:12 PM

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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.

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filed under brooklyn, rentals, renters, renting, Williamsburg
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 AM

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I 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.

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filed under neighborhood, neighborhoods, Queens, renting
StreetEasy’s Most Wanted: Roaring 20s

by Sara Alessi | 4/19/13 - 9:16 AM

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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.

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filed under buying, Carroll Gardens, Gramercy, Park Slope, TriBeCa, Upper West Side
Your Celebrity Neighbor: Jimmy Fallon

by Sharon Krum | 4/18/13 - 2:29 PM

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prphotos.com

WHO: 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.

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filed under celebrities, Gramercy, neighborhood, neighborhoods, neighbors
New on The Real.Est.List

Need a Murphy bed? Or a mortgage? We can help

by The List | 4/18/13 - 12:29 PM

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New 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.

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filed under built-ins, design, mortgage
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 AM

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DumboNYC 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.
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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.

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filed under brooklyn, DUMBO
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

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- 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)
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filed under buying, renting, roommate, roommates
Real Estate Want: Cobble Hill carriage house summer rental

by Julie Inzanti | 4/17/13 - 4:23 PM

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The perfect alt-beach summer rental?

Wondering 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.

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filed under brooklyn, Cobble Hill, renting
Dear Ms. Demeanor: I'm too old for beer pong--but my neighbors are not

by Jamie Lauren Sutton | 4/17/13 - 2:49 PM

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Dear Ms. Demeanor,

My communal roof turns into a beer pong party every Friday and Saturday night when the weather warms up. How can I ask my neighbors to cool it without seeming like an old fogey?

Sincerly,
Fairly fogey-ish

Dear Fogey,

Let's be honest, you probably can't. You will be yuckng their yum or they will be yucking yours. Why not propose alternating Fridays and offer to front them the money for the booze for one night of the summer?

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filed under neighbors, noise, nuisance, outdoor spaces
Room for Improvement: Ceiling fans, beepless elevators, non-smoking neighbors

by Mayra David | 4/17/13 - 11:39 AM

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Susan NYC

A bathroom with two entryways, beepless elevators, and neighbors that don't smoke… six New Yorkers tell us what they’d add to their homes--or subtract--if only they could…
- Less social neighbors I’m in the basement of a brownstone and my neighbors like to sit outside and talk and sometimes they smoke, too. I’d say something but I know they are moving out soon anyway. I hope the next tenants don’t smoke -- or entertain -- much. - Kwenelle, Harlem
- It’s getting hot in here With the weather warming up I remembered that I really want ceiling fans throughout the apartment. -Gerald, Gramercy Park
- What happened to good ole elevator music? I wish the elevator on my side of the building didn’t have that loud, high pitched beeping sound every time it passes a floor. The beeping turns into a long squeal whenever it reaches a floor where it has to stop. I can hear it from my bedroom. - Joyce, Hamilton Heights
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filed under bathroom, elevator, neighbors, nuisance, windows
Real.Est. List Spotlight Gallery

Eco-shop for your NYC abode with ease at Green Depot

by Leah Hochbaum Rosner | 4/17/13 - 10:19 AM

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You recycle your newspapers and your glass bottles, bike to work when you can, and pay all your bills online. You’re doing your part to help the environment. But you want to do more.
Just in time for Earth Day (which is next Monday, by the way), Green Depot—the subject of this week’s Real. Est. List Spotlight Series—wants to show you how.
Going green doesn’t have to be daunting, says Green Depot marketing manager Susanna Schultz.
“You don’t have to throw out everything in your apartment,” she says. “That’s not exactly sustainable. But it’s easy to switch stuff out as you go.” (See below for specific suggestions.)
Green Depot was founded in 2005 when former MTV executive Sarah Beatty faced a mold contamination scare after remodeling her Manhattan apartment.

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filed under green, renovating
Rent Coach: Our management company is dragging its feet and we're losing rental income. Help!

by Mike Akerly | 4/17/13 - 8:58 AM

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Rent Coach Mike Akerly

Q. My wife and I are shareholders in a large co-op and I am on the board. We own shares in two apartments and are in the process of trying to rent out one of them.
Recently the board voted to allow our property management company to perform and review credit and background checks of rental applicants.
Our prospective tenant submitted the required application well over two months ago, and neither she nor us have heard any response from the management company. We’re losing thousands of dollars in rental income and will still have to wait for a board interview and approval even after we receive their acknowledgement of the application and credit check.
Is this delay typical of management companies? Without giving the appearance of impropriety as a board member, is there anything else I can do move this along?
A. A two-month delay after an applicant has submitted an application is extremely atypical and frankly, inappropriate. As an agent of the co-op, the management company has an obligation to fulfill its duties with the care and diligence normally exercised by agents in similar circumstances.

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filed under co-op board, landlords, managing agent, mike akerly, property manager, renters, renting
Ask an Expert: What could be causing my plaster wall to bulge?

by Teri Karush Rogers | 4/16/13 - 2:41 PM

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thirteenthbat

Q. The plaster in the middle of my living room wall started bulging a little where it backs up against my shower.
What could be causing it? How concerned should I be? Who is responsible for fixing it--me or my co-op?
A. A leak is almost certainly the cause, say our experts, and the first thing you must determine is its source.
"With plaster, the water will just sit and cause the bubbling you are seeing in your wall," says Alex Ushyarov, a general contractor and the co-founder of home improvement website Click and Improve.com. "A plaster ceiling, on the other hand, will eventually give in and the portion of the saturated plaster will fall."

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filed under leaks
The StreetEasy Hot Dozen: 12 rentals that may or may not be available by the time you read this

by Alex Hughes | 4/16/13 - 1:07 PM

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This tiny lofted studio at West 20th Street and Eighth Avenue is only $1,500 a month, but you'll have to share the bathroom.

There are highs and lows in this week's Hot Dozen--the 12 rental apartments Streeteasy.com visitors clicked on most often over the past seven days. Among the lower-end apartments are single room occupancy studios in the $1,000 per month range, and on the high-end an over-$7,000-per-month three-bedroom on Central Park West.
A compact, lofted $1,500 studio (pictured) at 20th Street and Eighth Avenue (another hip and convenient neighborhood) is a single room occupancy unit in a townhouse. Again, utilities are included and pets are allowed (if you can find room for one), but note that this apartment features a communal bathroom, shared with two other tenants.

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filed under rentals, renters, renting