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The Board Room: Top 3 reasons to sue your developer. (Or not.)

11/09/10 - 12:31 PM

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How do you know whether your leaky windows, Jacuzzi-sized “Olympic” swimming pool, and IKEA lobby furniture are worth suing your developer over? Bounce it off NYC co-op and condo attorney Robert Braverman of Braverman & Associates, who will address the sue-or-not-to-sue question this Sunday from 3 to 4:30 pm at the Annual Housing Conference sponsored by the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums.
We have seen Braverman speak, and BrickUnderground's own founder lives in a building on the receiving end of a mid-six-figure settlement won by the man: In short, the guy knows what he's talking about. Read on for his take on the right time to sue a sponsor over construction defects:

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filed under boards, developer, lawsuits, new construction
Give that man a dustpan!

by A. Ready | 11/09/10 - 12:30 PM

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According to a new work/life balance study of 1,100 Brits, men are happiest "when they do more of the housework themselves, spend longer with their children and have working partners who are in the office just as long as they are," says a report in The Guardian. Eighty-two percent of full-time working men want more time with their families. What's preventing this scenario? Employers, who are ignoring the fact that family dynamics are changing. As Apartment Therapy notes, anecdotal evidence indicates the same is true in the United States. Read on to hear what the commenters had to say...

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filed under housekeeping
One more mouth to tip this holiday?

One more mouth to tip this holiday?
There's the housekeeper, the doorman, the parking attendants, the nanny. And now, the New York Times reports, some families are adding an in-home study-hall monitor. With a job description that falls somewhere between a babysitter's and a tutor's, the primary duty of these household helpers is to help the students FOCUS, making sure the television is off and the books are open. "'If you can afford the luxury, it’s worth it," says one mother, who reported that her son’s grades and organizational skills improved--and that parent-child conflicts declined after she hired a homework-helper. (NY Times)

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filed under children, domestic help, overheard, tipping
Ask an Expert: Do I have to pay for my neighbor's water damage?

by Teri Karush Rogers | 11/09/10 - 6:57 AM

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Q. The super called me yesterday and told me that my bathroom needs to be renovated because it's leaking into the bathroom in the apt below mine and causing damage. It's true that my bathroom needs to be renovated. It's very old and has been regrouted and recaulked many times, but i need to rip out the tiles and install wonderboards behind them in order to stop the leaking. I plan to renovate my bathroom -- my question is about the damage in the bathroom in the apt below mine.

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filed under lawsuits, leaks, neighbors, plumbing
10 signs of a user-friendly co-op board

by Teri Rogers and A. Ready | 11/09/10 - 6:40 AM

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If you're on the prowl for a co-op board that embraces a dictionary versus despotic interpretation of the word "cooperative," you can find a multitude of clues from the listing itself and from the answers to a few strategic questions lobbed at the seller's broker.
Read on for the lowdown, and remember: The more you can check off, the better the chance you won't spend 14 years nursing the sting of a board turndown.

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filed under boards, buying
Dining a la shoebox

Dining a la shoebox
Wondering how to shoehorn holiday revelers into your shoebox? Apartment Therapy & friends offer some ideas for svelte dining areas. Suggestions range from creating a multi-purpose space, such as having a table double for both office and dining, to the more novel idea of mounting your dining room table to the wall, to those "coffee tables with levers that transform into a comfortable dining table and the skinny console tables that extend to fit up to 10 guests." One commenter suggests offering finger foods instead of tying up limited space. More>>

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filed under overheard
No-Fee Apartment Building of the Week: Luxury & a washer-dryer for a little bit less

by A. Ready | 11/08/10 - 2:27 PM

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This week's pick for no-fee building of the week is River East, a luxury high-rise building in Yorkville at 408 East 92nd Street (First Ave.). According to no-fee apartment search site UrbanEdgeNY, there are currently five apartments for rent (each with its own washer-dryer) in the building: A studio for $2,350, three one-bedrooms ranging from $2650 to $2,895, and a two-bedroom for $4,050. The two-bedroom compares quite favorably against the median price of $4,725. While the other apartments are higher than the medians for the neighborhood ($1,650 for studios and $2,103 for one-bedrooms), the smaller unit market overall tends to have much greater variability in terms of quality, and the River East apartments seem well-priced for a luxury full-service building.

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filed under rentals, renting
Mover's remorse

Mover's remorse
Do you regret moving to New York? On a WiredNY thread pondering that question, some hate the pedestrian traffic, the Europeans, the noise, the strollers, the people who pay more attention to their electronic gadgets than their surroundings, and the expense, but most have no regrets. Read on for some comments you can probably relate to... More >>

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filed under overheard, rentals, renting
Schools declared Ground Zero for bed bugs

Schools declared Ground Zero for bed bugs
This may help you feel less awkward about handing your kids' playdates giant Ziplocs for their backpacks and coats: "I'm calling for a full on war against bedbugs starting in the public school system," Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer tells the Daily News in a story noting that bed bug cases in NYC public schools have nearly tripled to 336 in the first two months of this year versus 135 this time last year. Stringer wants the city to hire a search-and-destroy army of inspectors and exterminators, and some schools are apparently already taking extreme measures like putting coats and bookbags into sealed containers to control the spread. For more info on keeping the school's bed bugs out of your home, check out our Back to School Advice for the Paranoid and Merely Cautious. (NY Daily News)

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filed under bed bugs, overheard
Forget timing the market. Time the building instead.

by Teri Karush Rogers | 11/08/10 - 6:10 AM

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At the New York Real Estate Expo on Friday, NY Magazine real estate columnist Jhoanna Robledo asked a panel of real estate types including StreetEasy.com research director Sofia Song, Upper West Side broker Klara Madlin (who flinched as she recalled trying to sell real estate in 1981 when interest rates were 20%), and yours truly whether it is really possible to time the market.
The general consensus: You only know you’ve hit the peak or the bottom when you can see it in your rear view mirror.
But if you can’t time the market, can you time the building? Read on for a few mostly counterintuitive ways we can think of to spot opportunity where other buyers see none--or nothing but trouble.

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filed under buying
Anatomy of a Craigslist scam

by anonymous renter as told to Teri Rogers | 11/08/10 - 5:54 AM

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I was the victim of a Craigslist sublet scam last week. I’m still in shock, because I consider myself very knowledgeable about New York real estate and the kinds of scams that can happen, but I was taken.

I saw the ad on Craigslist (pictured). It was for a $1,200 a month walk-up studio at 40 Horatio Street, #14, in the West Village. The ad had a cell phone number rather than an email address, so I texted and arranged with a woman who said her name was Delores Dunk to see the place on Sunday morning, Halloween.

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filed under crime, rentals, renting
Name that building

Name that building
Taking a cue from Madison Avenue and condo developers, some existing co-ops and condos formerly known as mere street addresses are in the market for upscale names like Hardenbrook House and The Sterling, according to the November issue of Habitat Magazine. Slightly less contentious than remodeling the lobby and cheaper than a roof deck, the right name may not only improve marketability, it can also “give even a tenement an individual personality and make its dwellers feel less like cogs in numbered boxes,” says the article (not yet online). More >>

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filed under overheard, selling
Bed bugs at home? Don't tell your co-workers, future landlord...or your doctor.

by A. Ready | 11/05/10 - 2:30 PM

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The plight of a man laid off for having bed bugs has prompted Bedbugger.com to examine the question of whether you should let your co-workers know that you have bedbugs at home. If you're employed in an "at-will" state like New York, this is apparently perfectly legal. As far as we know, it's also okay for potential landlords to discriminate against bed bug survivors. But your doctor? A commenter on BedBugger tells what happened--twice--when doctors found out he had bed bugs.

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filed under bed bugs, rentals, renting
Concession Alert!

Concession Alert!
BrickUnderground has learned that 184 Kent--the new and nearly leased-up conversion of a former warehouse on the Williamsburg waterfront (sexy website here; listings here on Rose Associates' website)--is throwing in one month free and paying the broker's fee as well. The luxury building's amenities include a large gym, roof deck, bike storage, landscaped interior courtyard, common areas with wifi and valet parking. A quick search on StreetEasy reveals that Post Towers and 30 Lincoln Plaza are also giving rental incentives. More details here>>

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filed under overheard, rentals, renting
Secondhand smoke gag order

Secondhand smoke gag order
Secondhand smoke is harmful all right--to resale values. Which is why some UrbanBaby commenters advise a co-op owner to keep her clean-up campaign out of the minutes: “My best advice is keep it out of your board minutes because you don't want that on record if and when you try to sell.” Another agrees: “My neighbors' front door has been sealed with the acoustic stuff they use in concert halls and recording studios (it also blocks the odors) they have the smoke eaters (though I don't think they consistently use them). The walls that we share have had the base boards ripped out, all ‘cracks’ and space sealed and then boards reinstalled. It makes it slightly better but does not solve the problem. In our case we each own half the floor so we only have this one terrible neighbor. Keep it off the record because it will hurt you.” But if the smoke is that bad, wouldn't buyers find out through their noses anyhow? (UrbanBaby)

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filed under overheard, secondhand smoke