In this blog, we regularly advocate working with a rental  agent that you can trust .   New York is a fast moving, highly competitive housing market, which means you need to know who you are working with. Sadly, there are many people in the world who try to take advantage of this. If you do decide to work with someone outside of Oxford or...

    Average rental prices climbed for the 23rd consecutive month to $4,073. Average Condo prices in NYC are now around $2,662,100; while average prices reach $1.15 million. Buying is a better option for higher income earners, while rentals are a...

Luxury median sales prices surged by 25% to over $6MM from Q4 2014. New Development closing sales prices rose by 15.37% to $2,059,411 Closing time to close deals has fallen by 21.9% to 82 days, from 105 days in Q4 2014   The fourth quarter Manhattan market ended seeing fantastic price movement. Median sales prices rose 17.3%,...

The New York City Department of Finance has priced the “Full Market Value” of NYC to be $1,071,973,871,651 (Trillion)!   Tax Revenues to grow to over $211 Billion due to new inventory by FY2017.   Brooklyn sees the greatest growth; however, Manhattan dominates in terms of total dollar value invested.   Commercial property...

    The New York Times published an informative cover storyon how the quoted square footage of apartments is frequently “exaggerated, massaged, misrepresented and manipulated.”       I have noticed for years that sellers and landlords routinely overstate square footage. I would estimate an average embellishment of over 10...

How To Find An Affordable Apartment In NY C      In a city infamous for high rents, finding a great deal on an apartment may be as elusive as finding a pearl inside an oyster. But there are some great deals out there IF you know where to look. Over the next few weeks we will share tips on how to uncover them in our series How To Find an Affordable Apartment in...

In this video, Austrian economist Peter Schiff cites the experience of a Manhattan co-op that issued coupons as a means for sharing baby-sitting services.       While excoriating Paul Krugman, Peter humorously demonstrates that printing money creates inflation and bubbles rather than wealth or prosperity.         The collapse of the babysitting market in...

As we discussed in an earlier blog post, co-op maintenance charges in New York City can be expensive, causing many owners to wonder just where their money is going.  Many shareholders believe that trimming discretionary spending could result in significant savings and hold the line on increases. Unfortunately, about 90% of a co-op’s budget consists of fixed costs, with the largest...

When reviewing sales listings for a client, some will jump out as great deals - a 925 square foot “junior 4” on the Upper East Side for $199K, a 1000 square foot  “junior 4” in Trump Plaza for $715,000, a one  bedroom condominium in Battery Park City  for $335,0000.  Upon further examination, however, these discounted prices are usually offset by high maintenance....