Brick Underground

Buyer agent commission rebates in NYC are contributing to falling commission rates for sellers and lower closing costs for buyers.

If you are buying an apartment in New York City, you should know that when you live in a co-op, you pay maintenance fees, and when you live in a condo, you pay common charges. These fees are structured differently, depending on which type of apartment you own, reflecting the different types of ownership.

“Liquidated damages are fees imposed by a condo or co-op board to give the building some control over a shareholder or owner’s renovation project,” says Niki Khindri, an associate attorney at Manhattan law firm Wagner, Berkow & Brandt, who negotiates construction contracts and handles construction issues for co-op and condo boards as well as shareholders and owners. 

This is Part II of a first-time buyer's story of finding a studio in Chelsea and partnering with Bolster to renovate it.

A couple struggled to connect with architects for the gut renovation of their historic Clinton Hill townhouse until they turned to Bolster, a New York City-based firm that has designed a radically transparent renovation experience.

This week we bring Brick Underground's "Take It Or Leave It" column to our listeners, discussing what to look for in rental listings and how to avoid getting tripped up by, among other things, net effective versus gross rent, or legal bedrooms versus dens. Host Emily Myers is joined by Brick Underground’s managing editor Jennifer White Karp and Constantine Valhouli, founder of the real estate research and analytics firm NeighborhoodX.