BrickUnderground

Real estate broker-blogger Malcolm Carter takes a look at the kitchen-related regulations of New York City's Administrative Code. Apparently, many Big Apple apartments do not have kitchens, only kitchenettes. How can you determine whether your food preparation space can be called a kitchen? It must contain at least 80 square feet, and "the total window area must be a least one-tenth of the floor area, and all required windows must be at least 12 square feet." Kitchenettes, unlike kitchens, are allowed to be windowless as long as mechanical ventilation is provided.  Does your apartment sport a lowly kitchenette? You're in good company. This 1,285 square foot apartment at the Sherry Netherland, located at 781 Fifth Avenue and currently listed for sale at $3,975,000, has a 10'3" by 4'7" kitchenette. (Malcolm Carter)

Crain's New York is reporting that the Saudi royal family has rented seven apartments at the Waldorf-Astoria, for the princely sum of $210,000 a month on a six-month lease--an all-time rental record, according to brokers. The apartments, located on floors 37-41, are intended to accommodate 29 family members.   So what's $210,000 a month in denominations real estate commoners can understand? We ran the numbers: At today's median rents in Midtown East, that works out to about 100 studios, 74 one-bedrooms, or 42 two-bedrooms. (Crain's NY)

Move over Pictionary. The Village Voice has just unleashed a new "game" called "Who's My Landlord?." Rule Numero Zero?  "Your building sucks" because otherwise "you really wouldn't care who you wrote your monthly check to." But it's not so simple to determine who your landlord is.  Slums have a surprising tendency to change hands, city records can be woefully incomplete, and some buildings don't even show up in the deed recording system because the building is in foreclosure (in which case you will need to turn to New York Supreme Court to find out the identify of the person engaging in domestic terrorism against you and your building). The game may not be simple to win, but at least this sets forth how to play. (Village Voice)

Even if you are fortunate enough to live in a building that permits washer-dryers in apartments, there’s a better-than-even chance you will not be allowed to vent the dryer to the outdoors. But how well does a ventless dryer work? Over on StreetEasy, the ventless dryer crowd says not bad at all provided you don’t overstuff the machine, keep the lint filter very clean and the door to your laundry area propped open while the machine is on.  Preferred brands? Miele, Bosch, and Asko. (StreetEasy.com)

These days we frequently see apartments close below their last sale price, but rarely do they start out asking for less than the price they last commanded.  Downtown, that may be changing: In the last couple of days, we've noticed a number of apartments come onto the market below their previous sale price. Here are a few that caught our eye:

• A two bedroom, two bathroom condo  at the Cocoa Exchange on 1 Wall Street sold in November of 2006 for $977,250. Yesterday it came on the market for $875,000.
• A small studio at the Greenwich Club at 88 Greenwich Street, came on the market for $450,000 yesterday. It last sold for $580,000 in September 2007. 
• A 1,681-square-foot two-bedroom at the Cipriani Club Residences at 55 Wall Street, was just listed for $2,100,000. It sold in November of 2007 for $2,530,713.

is in order: According to CurbedNY, the Atelier, 478-unit luxury condo on E. 42nd  is lowering its common charges...for the second year in a row.  Nice bragging rights for the owners of the 69 apartments currently for sale. So how'd the Atelier do it?  We already know that the building rents out its roof deck to non-residents for $5-10k a pop, but we'd like to hear more.  And we want to know how much the common charges have gone down. Anyone? (CurbedNY)