July 2003 – Sold for $3,044,786 March 2015 – Listed for $11,995,000 This week’s Digs Watch takes us back to the Upper West Side, where a curious example of a seller (or their broker) trying to jump on the billionaire bandwagon is taking shape. After nearly 12 years, the owners of PH3A at 220 Riverside Boulevard have put the condo on the market trying for a nearly 400% return by listing it at...
Digs Realty Blog
Every week, REBNY sends its members a "Legal Line Question of the Week" email, which answers a legal question asked by one of REBNY's members. This week's topic dealt with the legality of the real estate brokerage commission rebate and the answer, copied below, was written by Neil Garfinkel, REBNY Broker Counsel. This is nothing new, as per Section 442 of New York’s Real Property...
Digs Realty and the Broker Commission Rebate in New York What is the typical commission structure of residential real estate deals in New York City? In New York City residential real estate deals, the seller typically pays 6% of the purchase price to his or her broker. This is split with the buyer’s broker if the buyer has a broker. On larger transactions, the commission can be 5%. Buyers do not pay...
If You Build it, They Will Come...But How Will They Get To Red Hook? Red Hook, the sleepy enclave of large warehouses, industrial buildings and housing projects situated on the western side of the BQE, southwest of Brooklyn’s vibrant Carroll Gardens neighborhood, is back in the news this week as Estate Four, a Los Angeles-based developer, announced plans to transform a 12-acre expanse on the Red Hook...
Brooklyn Brownstones 2009 – 11 Brooklyn townhouses sold for over $3MM 2014 – 98 Brooklyn townhouses sold for over $3MM This week’s Digs Watch takes us back to Brooklyn for a look at the bananas townhouse market. Just how bananas is it, do you ask? Well, according to a new report from Brooklyn-based brokerage Ideal Properties Group, townhouse sales in Brownstone Brooklyn* reaching the majestic...
October, 2004 – Sold $575,000 May, 2007 – Sold $650,000 November, 2009 – Sold $865,000 December, 2014 – Listed $1,850,000 This week’s Digs Watch takes us to the Spencer Arms, a building located in the prime Lincoln Square area of the Upper West Side. Built in 1903, this former hotel was converted to co-ops in 1986, and has retained much of its gorgeous exterior pre-war features. Recently put up...
Prince Akeem, sole heir to the throne of Zamunda (in the 1988 Eddie Murphy masterpiece Coming to America), was ahead of his time. After exiting the airport following his flight to a very different 1980s New York to find his bride, he stepped in front of a moving taxi cab, held up his hand to stop it, and calmly advised the driver (who had some choice words for the prince), “Take us to Queens at once.”...
In the past few weeks, several Digs Watch listings have been cut down a bit from their lofty goals. While I wouldn’t necessarily look at these price chops as indicative of any broad market trends, other than that aspirational pricing almost always retreats to a more market-driven level before meeting a buyer (which is always the case), there is certainly a feel that the market has perhaps plateaued in Q4...
February, 2008 – Sold $4,250,000 December, 2011 – Sold $3,500,000 October, 2014 – Listed $6,350,000 This week’s Digs Watch takes us to the former Jehovah’s Witnesses printing and shipping facility turned amenity-rich Brooklyn waterfront condo behemoth One Brooklyn Bridge Park. The building is located on the southwestern fringe of Brooklyn Heights, and as the name suggests, in the middle of the...
Stay Away from NYC Ground Lease Co-ops! Ground leases are relatively common in New York City commercial real estate. Some of New York’s most notable properties, like the Chrysler Building, are encumbered by one. In a ground lease, the owner of land leases it to a developer with the intent that the developer will build something valuable on it. The term of a ground lease is typically very long (for...
October 22, 2013 – listed $4.187MM (removed October 23, 2013) October 24, 2014 – listed $5.9MM Rather than examine a resale’s wild price swing, this week’s Digs Watch takes a look at a wild price swing from a prior list price (albeit for a listing that was removed from the market after only 1 day). We go north of the border – that is, north of that natural neighborhood border otherwise known as...
Move Madison Square Garden to Hudson Yards! I recently read an article that discussed the future of Madison Square Garden. Here are my thoughts: For more than 60 years, the destruction of the original Penn Station – McKim, Meade and White’s 1910 Beaux Arts masterpiece – has relegated proud New Jersey Transit, Long Island Railroad and Amtrak commuters to an existence akin to that of a sewer rat (or...