Emily Myers

After a year of L train woes, and thanks to the averted L-pocolypse, Williamsburg rentals are hotter than ever.

After nearly two years of declines, the number of sales in Brooklyn, as well as the median sales price, have seen increases. It's too early to conclude the market has stabilized but numbers from Douglas Elliman’s fourth quarter 2019 sales report for Brooklyn, Queens, and Riverdale suggests sellers and buyers might finally be a little more in sync. 

The LIC Amazon bid that went bad was backed by $800 million more in incentives than previously thought.

The wet -over-dry rule is a NYC building’s way of preventing owners or tenant shareholders from putting in new wet areas, typically bathrooms or kitchens, directly above a dry area like a bedroom or living room. Buildings like to keep plumbing lines straight and uniform and there's less likelihood of major damage through flooding from above if wet areas are stacked above and below each other.

A red herring notice is the paperwork issued to renters when a landlord or sponsor wants to convert a building from rentals to condos or a co-op. In the past, tenants who weren't in a position to buy might face eviction, but that changed in 2019.

This week two high school teachers share their experience buying a co-op in Forest Hills, Queens. Stephanie and Gregg Bolsaro (pseudonyms) bought a 950-square-foot one-bedroom co-op without a buyer's broker so they found themselves relying heavily on the seller’s broker to guide them through the interview process, but say it was their letters of recommendation that clinched the deal.