State Increases Mansion and Transfer Taxes in New Budget Deal The New York State legislature and Governor Cuomo agreed to a state budget deal that created new progressive mansion and transfer taxes for residential real estate purchases and sales. The changes went into effect on July 1, 2019. The so-called "mansion tax" - perhaps the most reviled of levies since it is paid by the purchaser and triggered...
Rejection from Co-op Boards Buyer’s and seller’s real estate agents do everything they can to avoid rejection from co-op boards. Before accepting an offer, a seller’s broker will scrutinize the buyer’s profile. They will look at the buyer’s financial profile, including their debt to income ratio and their liquid assets after closing. The agents will consider where the down payment (in the...
The Perils of Price Per Square Foot The NYC real estate market has never been more transparent than it is today. This is due to the volumes of useful data available on free, user-friendly websites like Streeteasy, ACRIS and GIS Map. With all this data at their fingertips, homebuyers have never been more well-informed. With the ability to search for real estate at their convenience, they pore over...
In addition to a new tax code that has drawn the ire of many New Yorkers, 2018 has brought with it a material rise in mortgage interest rates. Mortgage rates have now risen for eight consecutive weeks to start the year, and, with the economy chugging along and continued robust home sales, the Federal Reserve is not planning on doing anything to return to the days of 3% 30-year fixed rate loans. While...
Happy New Year, everybody! As we wrap up another year helping home buyers and sellers navigate the complexities of the NYC real estate market, and saving them real money with our real estate broker commission rebates and discounts, I would like to extend a personal thank you to all of you for continuing to refer your friends, family, colleagues, and others in your networks to Digs. Without you, we...
The new tax bill approved by the House and Senate and signed into law this year presents a world of unknowns for the real estate market going into 2018. There is (a) one major piece of the legislation that will directly make the ownership of most NYC real estate more expensive (the lowering of the cap on the mortgage interest deduction from $1,000,000 of mortgage principal to $750,000), and (b) one major...