Market News

Buyers who require financing can improve their chances to compete with cash buyers by waiving the mortgage contingency.  Most of my deals over the past few years have been cash or non-contingent.  An increasing number of my deals today are contingent, but it is still a minority.  This blog post discusses a bit about the mortgage contingency, what it means to waive it and the ramifications, and how to...

According to a report published by three Rutgers economists, land prices in Manhattan have risen 15.8% per year since 1993 and, if you go all the way back to Dutch settlement in 1626, there's been a 6.4% annual rate of return.  Not a bad investment. Article can be found here.   About Digs: Digs Realty is a full-service residential brokerage company specializing in home purchases and sales in...

Let's assume you just spent $15,000,000 on a Manhattan penthouse - would you rather receive an all-expenses-paid Vegas vacation with your real estate broker or a check for $300,000 cash back at closing?  Or how about a $1,200,000 Brooklyn condo - a Tiffany key ring and bracelet or a check for $24,000? It really should not take you too long to answer this question. The Wall Street Journal...

In a talk yesterday, Larry Silverstein, the head of Silverstein Properties, who six weeks before 9/11 acquired the lease under the World Trade Center and is currently developing many of the new buildings at the site, addressed one of the burning questions on people's minds these days - where is NYC real estate going? Having seen cycles come and go during his decades in the business, Silverstein had...

Crain's published an interesting piece today trying to explain the supply crunch in Manhattan and exorbitant price of condos here.  The article can be found here. Although a bit simplistic, and in some cases reliant on statistics that are not useful, this is a decent piece because it highlights one of the most important reasons why it costs so much to own real estate in Manhattan - because there is just...

Normally, I don't report celebrity real estate because it is really non-news, but since The National happens to be one of my favorite bands, I decided that I had to mention it in these pages. ...and that they recorded an incredible album - High Violet - in the garage-turned-recording studio in Ditmas Park, is super cool.  Would love to check out this house.  Any buyers out there looking for a...