As we leave Battery Park City, we are now on our way to South Street Seaport (Pier 17) which is around the corner. This is Part 3 of a 5 part series of Manhattan. The South Street Seaport is considered a historical district with some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan. This area includes renovated original mercantile buildings from the early 19th century, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and a few malls featuring food, shopping and nightlife, with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Some of the original buildings were built in the early 1800's. It was later founded by Peter and Norma Stanford in 1967 as a museum. Its intent was to be an educational historic site to show its operational environment from 1820 to 1860. It began its redevelopment of the Pier ... 04/28/2007

It's Sunday morning, April 22, 2007, and we went to breakfast around the corner from our hotel. Now we are off to see more sites. If you didn't get a chance, here is Part 1 of our journey. My Visit to New York City -- "Manhattan as a tourist" -- Part 1 of 5 -- Day 1  Our first stop was Battery Park City, Manhattan. The picture that you see to your left is a picture taken from a point in New Jersey over-looking the Hudson River before Battery Park City was built. The World Trade Center is in the background which was located in Lower Manhattan before September 11, 2001 took place. The picture to the right is after Battery Park was built and still before 911. The World Trade Center photograph in black and white was taken by photographer Edgar de Evia. The picture opposite of this is from W... 04/27/2007

So, here is my reason for a nice trip into New York City and Manhattan. It was my niece's First Holy Communion on April 21st, 2007. My sister and brother-in-law decided instead of a party for her, that they would allow her to pick something that she wanted to do. She wanted to go to NYC for the weekend. We decided that we would leave after Mass and go up for the weekend, coming back early Sunday evening. It was myself, my mom and dad, and my sister's family which included 2 boys and 2 girls. Yes, we took 2 vehicles up and no, this wasn't a National Lampoon's Vacation to NYC. But what a great weekend, not a cloud in the sky both Saturday and Sunday. I was just honored to be invited to spend time with everyone. Besides, it had been a few years since I had been back to Manhattan.  So, we l... 04/26/2007

Niche Marketing to Pet Owners  I recently read a funny post by Maureen Francis Sell-Lord Lesson: Peeing Dogs Do Not Sell Homes. My comment made her laugh but I was serious. Maureen, That house needs to be marketed to buyers with a bigger smellier dog. It should say in the description Dogs love this house! Mitchell At the time of this writing,The NY Times was planning a story about pets and real estate in Manhattan. Our PR company often pitches story ideas to the media. Through our publicist the writer Christine Haugney contacted me. They were looking to interview buyers willing to pay more for "pet friendly buildings". Since I was the listing/marketing agent and the building had an "easy" pet friendly board I wasn't included in the article.  NY Times: So, Do I Make the Cut? So, I didn't... 04/25/2007

One of the first blogs I ever wrote was last July about a new law that would make the once secret Co-op sales prices public for the first time under a bill by the Albany legislature. The bill was awaiting signing by Governor Pataki and was strongly supported by Mayor Bloomberg. When the law passed I wrote another blog in August NYC-Coop-Law-brings-Manhattan-Real-Estate-into-the-21st-Century. Before the law was passed there were many in the real estate industry that were opposed to the new transparency law. They liked having secret information that was how business was always done in Manhattan and they liked it. Janny Scott of The New York Times reported Sunday Pushing coops to Explain why you can't buy about a bill before the New York City Council that will require Coop Boards to Explai... 04/24/2007

TRIBECA -  10013  - The name is an abbreviation of: TRIANGLE BELOW CANAL Tribeca, Manhattan's downtown neighborhood runs from Canal Street south to Park Place, and from the Hudson River east to Broadway. Tribeca's charming cobblestone streets are lined with spacious residential loft buildings that were converted from industrial warehouses. There are new glass condo lofts, restaurants and boutiques.    Tribeca only became one of Manhattan's most fashionable places to live in the last 15 years. The neighborhood has evolved from an in expensive area where shopkeeper's and artisans, who could not afford the higher rents along the East River, built their wooden houses in the 18th century. After the Civil War, the area became home to the city's produce sellers and remained the central produce... 04/11/2007

It's no secret that I love Long Island.  But for fun, excitement, and lots of good Energy, you'll find me in New York City.  A few of my favorites:  Central Park, Soho with it's trendy Art Galleries, The Village, Times Square (with the not to be missed famous "Naked Cowboy.")  I make the trek to Magnolia's quite often and the very BEST tour I have ever taken was a behind the scenes tour of Lincoln Center.  If you hit it right (and we did), you get to see them practicing for an upcoming opera.  Or a ballerina praticing the same step over and over again until she gets it right. The artwork there amazes me as well.  There truly is no place like it.  I'm not the only one that thinks so.  According to the NYDailyNews.com, here's a list of the BEST of New York City:Reader's Digest set out to ... 04/10/2007

So you want to move to South Florida? For every one person who hates it here you will find five more who love it. After all we do have it all; high property taxes, high insurance premiums, hurricanes and alligators, who could want anything more. Even with all theses nuisances millions of people live here and by some estimates hundreds more are moving in every day. The numbers don't lie; this is the best place to live in these United States.I moved to South Florida from New York five years ago, at first I kept this crazy place at arms length but within a year I was in love. The first thing that will get you is our weather. I have completely forgotten that winter even exists. We have average temperatures in the mid seventies all year round. I was riding my motorcycle in shorts on Christma... 04/10/2007

This Thursday is set to launch a historic 4th go around for the 2nd Ave Subway.  Groundbreaking is scheduled for Thursday morning when Govenor Eliot Spitzer and several dignitaries take a few cracks at the concrete wall to symboilically start the construction.  Why they don’t have actual workers there starting it makes no sense to me but, who am I..  The last groundbreaking took place in 1972, slightly before my time..  If all goes according to plan this time around the first part of the project will be complete around 2013.    Another report said the project is slated to be finished in 2020.  Perhaps we should just take it one day at a time and see what happens..  Here’s what the NYTimes is saying about it.  For many daily subway riders this new subway has endless amounts of potential... 04/09/2007

  After clearing up the debris in 24 hours 290 Mulberry is getting its noise on.  It’s only beginning but it’s the beginning of a whole new neighborhood.  Exciting?  Maybe…  We think so!  Other recent buildings like the Avalon Christie project which has been going on down the road for years has changed peoples perspective on the neighborhood but this is one that will truly change the Little Italy landscape from old school low rise buildings to a cutting edge, state of the art, lux SHoP  design that everyone is already talking about and will certainly make everyone happy (as soon as they are finished).  One emailer says “This is a change that will tempt older neighborhood residents to see what they can get for their property”.  Another believes “Kids need a place to live down here and th... 04/09/2007

New Construction Resales in Manhattan -  Save Thousands of Dollars in Closing Costs Seller Pays New York City and NY State Transfer Tax except when Buying from a Developer/Sponsor. If you're looking to buy new construction you might save thousands of dollars by buying a resale in a brand new building. When a buyer purchases a condo or coop in a new development directly from the sponsor (developer) the buyer is usually required to pay New York City and New York State transfer tax. When buying from a sponsor in a coop, (unsold shares) the transfer tax is not only the percentage of the sale price but the amount of the underlying mortgage allocated to the shares associated with the unit being purchased is also included. In resales seller's pay transfer taxes. NYC transfer tax is 1.425% of s... 04/08/2007

Family Friendly Manhattan - Upscale Suburbia in New York City Last week I was showing a 2 bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side to one of my buyer client's a couple with a new baby. The apartment was listed by an attorney/broker/owner who lived in the apartment with her husband and children. Their Asking price: $1,450,000 with monthly maintenance of $2215. My client asked her if they were moving to the suburbs? She said Oh no we love it here we're buying a bigger apartment in the building and we don't need to sell this one first. As we left the apartment and we were in the hall, my buyers said to me "we would be considered wealthy if we were looking in the suburbs, but here we feel poor". Then they asked me if I saw the article in The NY Times about Manhattan having the richest todd... 03/31/2007

      Is History repeating itself in Manhattan? What else is new? In this coming Sunday, April 1, 2007 The New York Times Real Estate section has an article by Josh Barbenel titled Listing dream in Disarray that reports that after REBNY spent weeks meeting the objections of smaller firms, the two largest brokerage companies in Manhattan, Prudential Douglas Elliman and the Corcoran Group, announced that, partly because of the costs involved, they were planning to boycott the new Web site. These two firms have more than 50% of the listings in Manhattan. Each firm has more than 1000 agents. When REBNY first announced the search portal, the smaller member firms objected that they would be paying a disproportionate cost of joining the system. They objected that joining would be mandatory. No... 03/30/2007

A great opportunity to own this large 4-family house located in the Newark area, all large bedrooms, recently renovated, with new vinyl windows. Building is currently approved for section-8 tenants, it has 4-separate heating units and each tenant is responsible for paying their own utilities such as heat, electricity and gas. It has a total of 14 bedrooms, with three car detached garages. It shows very well and in-move-in condition, it generates a positive cash flow. Feel free to visit my website if you need additional information. www.metropolitancastles.com     03/27/2007

Craigslist has been cracking down on phony advertising significantly over the past year, which is great, but companies are still trying to get away with the “fake ads”.   These may not be bogus ads but they certainly are pretty Bad. Have you ever heard the famous line “O I’m sorry that was just rented, but xyz apartment is similar or available”…  It was invented for ads like these.  How do the following “Ads” appeal to you??  Would you even call one of these??  What if anything can ever be done to stop wasting a persons valuable time with all these false ads? Here’s the Top 5!  The first one is from Best Apartments Inc.  I hope for their sake they have the “Best Apartments” because this is close to the Worst ad we’ve ever seen.     http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fee/299064077.html –... 03/27/2007

The Puck Building is under going a much needed face lift.  Remodeling is slated to start soon as the scaffolding was put up yesterday.  Building employees were excited saying “it’s about time”.  This is going to be a crowded summer as both the northwestern and southwestern corners of Mulberry and Houston appear to be having serious work done.  See 290 Mulberry (curbed) article.The Puck Building was originally a Printing house for the Puck Magazine.  The magazine publication ended in 1918.  The building now houses NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service as well as ballrooms that host some of the most glamorous events from fashion designers runway shows to Democratic politician’s celebration parties.                   03/27/2007

As NYU plans to expand an underground power plant they once again plan to ruin another staple of the Village. The residents and neighbors around NYU’s new $120 million dollar expansion plan are set to rally against the privately owned university / real estate tycoon. I’m sure residents do appreciate NYU’s extra bonus to put in a new sitting park with pathways, but if it’s not broke should they fix it? The power plant is necessary for NYU to meet updated environmental laws which would improve the air quality by burning a cleaner natural gas as opposed to the one currently being used which is diesel powered. The university is examining other options but they are also controversial. One option is to place half the plant on NYU property which would be nice considering it is their power plan... 03/23/2007

Moving to a new apartment? Do not forget some of your necessities like your slippers, your toothbrush, and… oh yeah your petsAt times having a pet whether a dog or a cat can make that apartment hunting much more difficult. More than 50% of all rental agencies and Condos and Co-ops do not allow any pets. The other 50% have rules in place dictating their policies and spelling out the specific types of pets , their maximum size, breed and weight. The policies vary from place to place and it is up to you or your Real Estate Broker or Agent to check on policies prior to viewing apartments so to avoid a disappointment upon filing an application only to later on find out that your pet is not welcome. In rental buildings the guidelines are usually more simple and clear. Pets are either allowed ... 03/23/2007

Foreclosures? 100% Financing: NIMBY: Not in my Backyard - It's a BULL Market! Manhattan is an island.  There has been much media attention including some great blogs from activerain members like Brian Brady. Many of the headlines are negative some predicting a slow down in the economy the stock market has already become volatile and is in a correction. I know in many markets the fall out must be terrible. Fortunately in Manhattan nothing can be further from the truth. Our market is on fire. Inventory is very low. We are experiencing multiple bids, no contingencies, full ask and over. I've been receiving calls 15 minutes before a showing that an offer has been accepted, but still showing for backups. I've been trying since Monday to get an appointment with my buyers at a new development ... 03/15/2007

Morningside Heights is the academic quarter of New York City. It stretches irregularly from north of 96th Street to about 123rd Street between Morningside Park and Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. From the top of a 135-foot bluff, it overlooks the Hudson River on one side and Harlem on the other. It is about 15 minutes from midtown Manhattan by subway. With apartments on the "Gold Coast" of Riverside Drive selling for well over $1,000,000, Morningside Heights is one of th granted scenic landmark status toe more desirable residential neighborhoods in Manhattan. The area that is now Morningside park was described as "inconvenient for use" by a city surveyor in 1867, meaning difficult to build property on, so it was made into a park, which was called "Morning-side park" ... 03/11/2007