Ever wonder how the monthly charges are determined on condos and co-ops?

How Monthly Fees Are Calculated in Co-ops and Condos

Wednesday, March 27, 2013, by Jeremiah Budin

Curbed University delivers insider tips and non-boring advice on how to buy, sell, or rent a home or apartment. Additional questions welcomed to tips@curbed.com. Today's topic: monthly fees!
Today's Curbed U lesson is short and sweet. Those pesky monthly fees that you're always having to pay. How are they calculated? This is how:
Condos: Common charges in a condo are calculated by taking each unit owner's percentage of common interests and multiplying it by the total operating costs of the building. Percentage of common interests is figured based mostly on the total amount of space that an apartment occupies, but also on other factors, such as its location within the building. A penthouse, therefore, would generally have higher common charges per square foot than a second-floor pad. The total operating costs of the building include things like heat, hot water, electricity in common areas such hallways and the lobby, building staff, and amenities such as pools, gyms, concierge, etc. Subtracted from that total is any income received by the building from things like laundry rooms.

Read Full Story Here: http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/03/27/how_monthly_fees_are_calculated_in_coops_and_condos.php

Why the Upper West Side may be your best investment

Study Finds Upper West Side Is A Magnet For Real Estate Investors

By: Jill Urban

 

More than any other neighborhood in Manhattan, the Upper West Side is attracting real estate investors at a breakneck pace, according to a new report by Eastern Consolidated.

 

More than any other neighborhood in Manhattan, the Upper West Side is attracting real estate investors at a breakneck pace, according to a new report by Eastern Consolidated. NY1's Real Estate reporter Jill Urban filed the following report.
There is little question that investors regard New York City as a safe place to put their money, but a new report by Barbara Byrne Denham, the chief economist of Eastern Consolidated, finds that one neighborhood in particular — the Upper West Side — is proving to be an investor magnet.

Read the full story here:

http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/real_estate/179230/study-finds-upper-west-side-is-a-magnet-for-real-estate-investors

Not your Grandma's murphy bed...Is this the house of the future?

Linon Luxor Folding Bed (Google Affiliae

New Trend? More siblings becoming roommates.

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Suzanne Dengel, at left, and her twin, Colleen, have been close since their days of dressing identically. Now they share a studio in the financial district. “It felt like a natural progression to get an apartment together,” Suzanne Dengel says.

By JOANNE KAUFMAN

Published: March 1, 2013

From the time they were middle-school students in Manhattan, Arielle Patrick and her brother, Andrew, had an agreement: come college graduation, if they weren’t married they would share a “bachelor/bachelorette pad” in the city. They were serious enough about the matter to put the pact in writing on a piece of loose-leaf paper and, with great earnestness, to sign their names at the bottom.

So it was that in September 2012, a dozen years later, the Patricks signed their names at the bottom of a lease for a fourth-floor walk-up in Midtown East.

Read full story here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/realestate/siblings-as-roommates-mom-always-said-to-share.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&partner=rss&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1362585889-zG3U6pKPAnVH40/eyC3OOQ

Tenant to Landlord: Let's Make a Deal!

Ben Erickson's prepared to make a rental deal few homeowners could refuse...

• ByC. Zawadi Morris
• Email the author
• February 4, 2013

Four years ago, Bed-Stuy resident and professional furniture designer and builder Ben Erickson struck a deal with his current landlord:
Erickson would renovate and restore the landlord’s double-wide brownstone mansion, located at 247 Hancock Street, in exchange for a reduced fixed rent on a 5-year lease.
So in essence, Erickson invested approximately $60,000 upfront and then divided that cost over the 60 months of his lease. At the time, the market value of the apartment was $2250 per month. So the negotiating parties subtracted the $1000-per-month investment, making his rent $1250/mo.
It was a win-win situation: Erickson put his passion for building to work in the 2,000 sq.-ft of space where he lived, while the landlord received rental income and at the same time a high-end restoration.
The original gutting and construction of the mansion on Hancock took about four months. And then Erickson completed the design and rebuild over the next 2-3 years, sourcing almost every fixture, including tiles and appliances from architectural salvage warehouses.
“I like to live in the space and have it tell me what it needs while also maintaining its original architectural integrity,” said the 34-year-old West Jersey native.
“I moved to Bed-Stuy ten years ago because I fell in love with the homes and the architecture here, and so I would never bastardize any of these gorgeous classic buildings.”
Also, he gave his current landlord's home the works, adding two new luxury bathrooms, a rustic chef’s kitchen with walnut slab countertops and a stone floor, plus almost 2,000 sq. feet of restoration and design on every square inch.
But as much as he loves building, his work is not just for kicks and far more than a hobby. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts (he’s originally a sculptor and photographer), Erickson opened a custom furniture design studio at 222 Clifton Place in Bed-Stuy.
He specializes in one-of-a-kind, modern custom furniture, primarily for NYC architects, interior designers and private clients, many of whom are A-List celebrities, art collectors and philanthropists.
The woodshop is a collaborative space where 6-7of Erickson’s friends – also builders who own their businesses – can share space and the overhead costs of all the big machinery. But he promotes all of his work and design aesthetic on his website and blog.
And now, the search is on again!
“My current lease is going to be up in about a year and I’m starting to put out my feelers for another interesting living situation,” said Erickson.
“The dream situation would be to find a gorgeous raw loft space. All I need is height and light. I'd love a big fixer-upper in rough shape that I can build out and design to the teeth. I would renovate it amazingly enough to hopefully get it photographed and published.”
And how does his current landlord feel about the deal she made with Erickson?
“Are you kidding? She loves it!” said Erickson. “I pimped that place out. I’m actually heartbroken to have to leave, because I poured my heart and soul into it.
“But… I’ll just have to do it again!”
To contact Ben Erickson, you can email him at benerickson@me.com.

Link and More pictures:  http://bed-stuy.patch.com/articles/tenant-to-landlord-let-s-make-a-deal#photo-
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Things to consider before becoming "neighbors" with your landlord

Landlord and Tenant: Natural Enemies?

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Dorothy Lashley, left, is landlady to Barbara Morris in Harlem. The women often share stories and dinner.

By JOANNE KAUFMAN

A young woman spent the night with Rob Curtin at his apartment in Astoria, Queens, some while back, and a good time was had by all.       

Mr. Curtin’s landlady, who lived in the ground-floor unit of the two-family house, made no secret of her disapproval.

“She said: ‘You shouldn’t be partying with girls this late. Girls like that are no good,’ ” recalled Mr. Curtin, 33, who works in television production. “She was very interested in my love life.”

The landlady’s assessments of those friends, while not necessarily or consistently off the mark, were disconcerting, said Mr. Curtin, who had previously — and happily — lived in a landlord-occupied building. There, the owners had given him espresso, not advice.

Read the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/realestate/landlord-and-tenant-natural-enemies.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&partner=rss&emc=rss

 

Will these Tiny Apts that Bloomberg is proposing take off?

New York City Extols Virtues of Tiny Apartments

Jack Sproule tries out a fold-down bed in a 325 square foot model apartment at an exhibit called "Making Room: Models for Housing New Yorkers" at the Museum of the City of New York in New York, Jan. 15, 2013. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)

Read Full Story Here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nyc-extols-virtues-tiny-apartments-18281708

Brooklyn 2013 Real Estate Predictions

Three Brooklyn neighborhoods poised to be the city's hottest real estate spots in 2013

 

New York City home values are forecasted to barely budget in the coming year, but parts of Brooklyn are ready to take off, according to a new report.

By Elizabeth Lazarowitz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 12:49 PM

New York City home values may be ho-hum in the year ahead, but parts of Brooklyn appear poised to blaze, a report released on Tuesday showed. Some of the city's hottest properties of 2013 will be in Brooklyn's Prospect Lefferts Gardens, where the median home value is set to surge 8% to about $901,000, according to real estate data company Zillow. Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill, where home values are expected to rise about 7% by December, will round out the top three biggest gainers, according to Zillow's forecasts. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/brooklyn-home-real-estate-hot-spots-article-1.1244947#ixzz2J0P9gNQ7

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Rarely Available Designer Loft Space in Brooklyn

What you need to know about the appraisal process since “there is no category for superexcellent,”

Understanding the Home Appraisal Process

By JIM RENDON

Published: January 11, 2013   

BEFORE anyone can buy a house with a loan from a bank or refinance a mortgage, the lender needs an objective assessment of the property’s value — after all, the home is the bank’s collateral for the loan. Assessing the value is the job of the appraiser.

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Illustration by Phil Marden for The New York Times

Appraising a home, particularly in New York City, is not simple. Similar apartments just a few blocks from one another can have very different values. The floor that a home is on, the kind of view or light it gets — each factor contributes to its value. The best appraisers are intimately familiar with the neighborhoods they work in.

Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, says that with a co-op, he begins by examining the building’s financials: if there is likely to be an increase in maintenance or a special assessment, it might lower the appraisal.

 

Read the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/realestate/getting-started-assessing-the-value-of-a-home.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=realestate