Entries from March 2010
After receiving a resounding rejection from the local Community Board last week, another blow was dealt last night to an ambitious $1.2-billion plan to turn the landmark Domino Sugar Refinery site in Williamsburg into a residential complex with 2,200 apartments and four acres of public park on the waterfront. At a public hearing held by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, freshman City Council member Steve Levin came out against the project, which could spell much bigger trouble for developers than the Community Board’s vote, because Council members typically defer to the local councilmember on land-use issues. At last night’s hearing, an aide read from a statement explaining Levin’s objections:
The project is simply too big. Too big, too high, too many people. The plan would introduce over 6,000 new residents to the neighborhood, a nearly 25-percent population increase for the half-mile area surrounding the site. How does everyone get to work? [The L] train is over capacity during morning rush hour as it is.
An environmental impact study found the development would increase rush hour subway ridership in the area by 1,350 people and have a “significant adverse impact” on the transit system. Domino developers insist that increased ferry service to Manhattan would reduce that impact, as would a potential MTA plan to replace the M train with the V, theoretically giving Domino residents a direct link to midtown from Marcy Avenue and alleviating pressure on the L.
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News · Uncategorized
Tagged: CPRC, Domino, Landmark, Mark Markowitz, New Development, Steve Levin, Williamsburg
This week, the Federal Reserve reaffirmed its intention to stop buying mortgage-backed securities, signaling the likelihood that the mortgage rates you can get today are as good as they’re going to be for a long while. Once the Fed stops buying, after all, rates are likely to go up.
And current rates are quite good. At about 5 percent, in fact, they’re so good that they’ve helped change the age-old debate over whether homeowners should make extra mortgage payments to pay off their debt well before their loan periods are up.
Back when rates ran at 7 or 8 percent, making extra payments offered what amounted to a guaranteed return on your money. When you’re ridding yourself of debt that costs you much less, however, it’s easier to imagine a future when you could more easily earn a higher return by investing those potential extra mortgage payments someplace else.
Meanwhile, at a time when just about everyone knows someone who is unemployed or who owes more on a home loan than the house is worth, keeping extra cash someplace more liquid than a mortgage seems like a safer approach.
So is the case against extra payments closed for good, given that so many people have locked in rock-bottom mortgage rates for the long haul?
The answer depends on two things: how likely you are to leave the extra money in savings and how good it would feel to wipe your debt out years earlier than your mortgage requires.
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Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Federal Reserve, Interest Rates, Mortgages, Return, Ron Lieber
By Phil Mattingly and Alison Vekshin
March 20 (Bloomberg) — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd will begin weighing amendments to his proposed overhaul of financial rules next week after accepting a change sought by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair.
Dodd plans to begin committee meetings March 22 that will consider some of the 399 amendments senators have offered to the plan he unveiled this week, his spokeswoman Kirstin Brost said yesterday. The Connecticut Democrat has already agreed to revise language that Bair said could lead to “backdoor bailouts” of firms through a Federal Reserve lending facility, Brost said.
“There are provisions that would suggest that the Federal Reserve Board could support an open institution if it’s involved in payment processing or clearing facilities,” Bair said in a speech yesterday at the Independent Community Bankers of America convention in Orlando, Florida.
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News
Tagged: Bailouts, Christopher Dodd, FDIC, Senate Banking Committee
By Dawn Wotapka
Time is almost up on the federal home-buyer tax credit, the government’s gift of up to $8,000, crafted to jump-start a stalled housing market. Just about six weeks remain for buyers to get those contracts inked. Home builder Lennar has a bright countdown on its Web site. “TIME IS RUNNING OUT,” warns KB Home (yes, it is in all caps), which is tracking the expiration to the millisecond.
For those just now getting into the market who want the cash, “you’re going to have to move quickly,” says Walter Molony, a spokesman with the National Association of Realtors, one of the trade associations that pushed hard for this credit and its two extensions in February and December 2009. “You’ve got to be prepared to make quick decisions.”
In honor of the countdown, here are six things to keep in mind:
- This round is actually an extension, but it doesn’t just cover first-time buyers. Move-up buyers are also eligible, though they only qualify for up to $6,500.
- Only the contract has to be signed on or before April 30. The home purchase must be completed by June 30. Real-estate experts advise signing the contract as soon as possible and leaving plenty of time for closing, given lenders remain extra careful these days. Don’t try to squeeze in a July 1 deal. It won’t work.
- The definition of a first-time buyer isn’t as limiting as the words indicate. In this case, the “buyer” hasn’t owned a principal residence in three years. For married taxpayers, both parties can’t have owned.
- It might seem genius to “buy” a home from your parents, but skip any such notion. You can’t purchase a home from most family members: Parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren are excluded.
- Consider that prices might fall after the credit expires: Buyer traffic will undoubtedly decline once this enticement goes away. As sellers adjust to this slower new reality-they’ll be more than likely to shave prices.
- Of course, there’s talk of another extension, given housing’s recovery remains choppy. (Mr. Molony says the NAR isn’t advocating for a third round.) Some think the time has come to end the program. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com pushed to extend the tax credit last fall but he said last month it’s time to let it expire. “It’s worn out its benefit,” he said. “If you extend it again, it isn’t going to do much, and what you’re doing is providing a tax break to folks who bought anyway.”
Article Here
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News · Uncategorized
Tagged: Home Buyer Tax Credit, Deadline April 30th, Dawn Wotapka, Walter Molony, National Association of Realtors
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The Federal Reserve on Friday will conduct the last round of purchases of existing commercial mortgages, marking the end of a government program designed to buoy markets and boost investor confidence in securities that have been battered since the financial crisis in 2008.
The end of this part of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, leaves a corner of the commercial mortgage market on its own, and investors won’t see new deals until later in the year, when regulators are expected to provide more clarity on securitization.
While the Fed’s role has been small relative to other programs–the central bank has granted only $11 billion in loan requests since last June–the impact has been much larger in a sector still in the throes of a painful correction.
“TALF provided psychological support for the market,” said Darrell Wheeler, head of commercial mortgages at Amherst Securities. “It served its purpose at the time it was needed.”
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News
Tagged: Commercial, Dow Jones Newswire, Federal Reserve, Mortgage, TALF, Wall St
Johnathan Miller – The Housing Helix
25 Feb 2010 | Interviews, Law, Podcasts
I speak with Nancy Chemtob, a partner with Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert, LLP a New York City law firm specializing in divorce, family and matrimonial law. My firm has done a lot of work with Nancy and her partners over the years and admire her approach and candor. Plus she’s fun to talk with.
The biggest asset in a divorce action is most often the real estate. The housing market crunch of the past 18 months has played havoc with the divorce process. What’s most interesting is the fact that divorce attorneys are often at the leading edge of a changing real estate market as their clients deal with the reality of market conditions within their strategy.
Note: I’ve got a new equipment set-up (again) and I am still wrangling with it so my audio track is a bit too loud. But Nancy makes her presence heard.
Interview Can Be Heard Here
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News
Tagged: condo, Coop, Divorce & Family Law, Law, Market Conditions, NYC Law, podcast
Published: February 26, 2010
MORE than $1 in every $10 that American banks have outstanding in loans is lent to a troubled borrower, a ratio far higher than previously seen in the quarter-century that such numbers have been compiled.
Bad Bank Loans Soar
The problems are greatest in construction loans for single-family homes, where nearly 40 percent of the loans either are delinquent or have been written off as uncollectible. But they are also high in mortgage loans for single-family homes, where $1 in every $8 of loans is troubled.
The figures were released this week by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as it announced that the number of banks in trouble had risen sharply, and forecast that the rate of bank failures would increase.
Full Article at NYTs
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News
Tagged: Banks, delinquent loans, FDIC, Finance, Loans, Write offs
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd’s draft bill for sweeping financial reform will consolidate banking regulators, as well as create a systemic risk council and a new consumer watchdog agency within the Federal Reserve, according to a source familiar with the contents of the legislation scheduled to be unveiled Monday.
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Orlando Sierra | AFP | Getty Images
US Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (right) and Bob Corker.
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Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) who’s been working with Dodd on a bipartisan bill for more than a month, told CNBC.com Sunday evening that he expected Dodd to “introduce a bill that will be to the left of where we were — close, but left.”
Corker called Dodd’s draft “a much better bill” than the one the Connecticut Democrat offered in November, but added “he knows that will be a bill I cannot support.”
“Hopefully we can offer some amendments in committee and get it back into the middle,” he said.
Continue Reading at CNBC
By: Albert Bozzo Senior Features Editor
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News · Uncategorized
Tagged: Congress, Financial Reform, Legislation, Senate, Wall St
THOUGH the economy appears to be stabilizing, the market for financing remains tight.
THE MORTGAGE WARS Dr. Stephen Krieger and Dr. Nada Gligorov prevailed over a lender who didn’t like the size of their prospective building’s reserve fund.
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
Some people are able to get mortgages without much trouble, but others find the process arduous, mystifying and prolonged. Then there are the buyers who think their financing is secure, only to see it evaporate sometime between the signing of the contract and the closing table.
“Is it a problem? Yes, it’s a problem,” said Dottie Herman, the president of Prudential Douglas Elliman. “When these things fall through, it’s not because people are destitute — they have good incomes. It’s because banks are very, very tough now.”
Banks can be such sticklers that missing just one payment on a bill can result in a thumbs down. Change jobs and expect the microscope. To complicate matters, sometimes it is the buildings themselves, not the buyers, that fail to qualify, thanks to new or newly relevant Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lending guidelines.
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Categories: NYC · Real Estate · Real Estate News
Tagged: Bank Loans, Banks, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, Lending, Pre-Approval
Despite real estate slump, city tells some homeowners that their market values are up
March 01, 2010 By Caren Chesler
Down market? What down market? In the wake of one of the biggest housing declines since the Great Depression, some New Yorkers saw the values of their homes rise last year — on the city’s tax records.
Townhouse prices in Manhattan were down 32 percent in 2009 from 2008, according to data from Miller Samuel. And yet the city’s Department of Finance hiked the market values of some townhomes in Upper Manhattan by as much as 20 percent. (Co-ops, as a class, were up 1.8 percent on average.)
In the eyes of the city Department of Finance, the market value on Meghan Beard’s two-family Harlem townhouse increased from $1.15 million to $1.32 million in the last year, which will apply to the tax year beginning on July 1. Alan Wang’s one-family, meanwhile, rose from $1.05 million to $1.2 million.
Continue Reading at TRD
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Categories: Real Estate · Real Estate News
Tagged: Dept. of Finance, NYC Townhouse, Tax Increase, tax records, Taxes, Townhomes, Townhouses
Luxury Rental Building NYC Directory – 45 Wall Street
Residences The residences at 45 Wall Street are as varied as they are spacious, with unique layouts that make traditional boxy Manhattan apartments pale by comparison. All homes feature extra high ceilings, pass-thru kitchens, oak parquet floors, and oversized windows. Some residences feature walk out terraces and home offices with seperate entrances.
Amenities 45 Wall Street is geared not just for today but tomorrow as well, wired and inspired to make your life easier. With seven subway lines steps from your door, communting is a breeze. Incomparable features include 24 hour concierge, walet service, on-site parking, golf driving and putting green, tenant storage facilities, bicycle room, conference center, and cold storage for grocery delivery. Tenants may tone up at the complimentary fitness center or relax at Club 45, both located on the Penthouse level. The Club offers leather lounge seating, a pool table, large screen TV and a huge wrap terrace for sunning.
Neighborhood The financial district has become one of Manhattan’s most exciting new neighborhoods. This is the neighborhood of 45 Wall Street. As convenient as it is beautiful with trendy restaurants, waterfront parks, museums, galleries, choice of retailers, speciality merchants and historical sites. Enjoy the renaissance of 45 Wall Street where the heart and energyis truly unparalleled.
Availability Choose from a wide array of studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments. Several residences offer party-size terraces with dramatic skyline views and many apartments are large enough to share. For those who prefer to work from home, there are specially designed home/office residences featuring two entrances – which provide completely seperate living and work areas.
For appointments call 212-227-0021
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Categories: Luxury Rental Building NYC Directory
Tagged: Financial District nyc apartments, manhattan
- Historic Front Street
Buildings Historic Front Street is the restoration of an entire block of landmark buildings on Front Street between Beekman Street and Peck Slip, one block south of the Brooklyn Bridge. The eleven 18th century buildings and three new buildings will contain unique and very special residential rental apartments and ground floor retail spaces. Historic Front Street is at the center of a revitalized landmark district and is the largest historic preservation project to incorporate Green Design as an integral part of its design, construction and operation.
Residences Historic Front Street combines historic preservation, modern architecture and green design to create a community of ninety five apartments in one of New York’s oldest and most authentic neighborhoods. Each of the apartments reflect the unique character of the buildings and the rich historic fabric of this wonderful landmark district.
Neighborhood Seaport North is one of the oldest neighbordhoods in the City with its roots going back to the mid 18th century. Having been bypassed by the development of Downtown, it looks much like it did 200 years ago and it has retained the feel of a gritty, working waterfront community. With the relocation of the Fulton Fish Market this winter and the completion of Historic Front Street, the uses of the buildings will change but the qualities of this waterfront community will be retained. It will become a 24/7 residential community with vibrant retail and restaurant activity on the ground floor. There will be access to a new public space on Peck Slip and to the waterfront that will be transformed to provide access to the River, cultural and recreational facilites and parks.
For appointments call 212-227-0021
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Categories: Luxury Rental Building NYC Directory
Tagged: downtown nyc apartment rentals, seaport nyc apartments
NYC Directory – Ocean 1 West
Amenities Once you enter, you’re transported to a 14th Century Venetian Palace. Arched ceilings with classic Italian frescoes and inlaid marble create a feeling of opulence and luxury throughout.
- magnificent Venetian-style lobby
- on-premise valet
- fully equppied “residents only” fitness center
- 24 hour parking garage
- private laundry room on every floor
- full service business center
- The Lookout on the outdoor roof deck: private parties and stunning views during sunset hours
- Zaytuna Market
- Duane Reade
- pet friendly
- storage facilities
- ATM machine
- DVD rental machine
- building resident manager
- on-site management and leasing office
Residences Quite simply, Ocean is New York living on a more refined level. A level as rich in creature comforts as in location and convenience.
- wide range of spacious studio, one and two bedroom residences
- sensational two and three bedroom duplex penthouses
- oversized entry doors, high ceilings, oak parquet floors
- state-of-the-art kitchens, including General Electric appliances, granite countertops, traditional white and glass cabinetry
- luxurious marble bathrooms
- of course, extra-large windows to enhance the incomparable views
Neighborhood Located across from Historic Battery Park, Ocean offers a one-of-a-kind feeling of luxury most Manhattan residents can only dream of. The park features a sensational harbor front esplanade and is the perfect setting for a wide range of enjoyable recreational activites. While downtown has always stood for the best of old New York, it now stands at the cutting edge. In essence, you will find what your heart desires.
- tremendous variety of restaurants, shopping and services
- close to World Financial Center, city and government buildings, Chinatown, South Street Seaport, TriBeCa, Soho and the Village
- subway lines 4, 5, 1, 9, N and R city; city buslines at your doorstep
- United Artist Battery Park Stadium 16 Movie Theater
- Jewish Heritage Museum
- Statue of Liberty
- ferry to Ellis Island
- top rate private and public schools in the area
- Century 21 department stores
- Nine West
- GAP
- South Street Seaport
For appointments call 212-227-0021
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Categories: Luxury Rental Building NYC Directory
Tagged: No fee nyc apartment rentals, nyc apartments
No Fee Rentals NYC Directory – 90 West Street
Building 90 West Street’s neo-gothic architecture extends into the lobby where an original gargoyle now resides with wings spread to welcome you home along with a 24-hour doorman and valet. Here a unique lifestyle akin to a private club greets you with lavish couches, pool table and WiFi. Need an invigorating work-out? A health center awaits you. An inviting lounge with atrium garden, on-site attended parking garage, convenient laundry facilities and advanced building saftey systems are all here.
Apartments Each one of the 410 apartments in this Cass Gilbert masterpiece is stylishly appointed with fresh bamboo floors, handsome stone countertops and bathrooms dressed in fine Italian tile and marble. With views of the Hudson River or the lights of Lower Manhattan, 90 West offers an array of unique and spacious studios and one, two or three bedroom layouts. Many of our larger apartments feature private washer and dryers. Soaring ceilings, crisp, clean lines and contemporary details fuse the elegance of the past with the energy of the future in the heart of New York City.
Neighborhood New York City’s Financial District radiates historic charm and teems with the powerful revitalization of Downtown. Let the summer concert series at South Street Seaport, quaint outdoor dining on cobbled Stone St., and sunbathing in Battery Park brighten the warm months. Stay cozy in the cooler months by persuing a myraid of museums, dining in world-class restaurants, and indulging at the annual downtown Brewfest. When you crave more, fourteen subway lines within walking distance deliver immediate access to the rest of what the greatest city in the world has to offer.
For appointments call 212-227-0021
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Categories: Luxury Rental Building NYC Directory
Tagged: Downtown nyc apartments, Financial District nyc apartments, nyc no fee apartments
Luxury Building NYC Directory- 75 Wall Street
Residences Residences designed by Rockwell Group. Lofty ceilings over 10 feet high. 6 foot tall windows. Wide planked cerused oak flooring. Washer and dryer. 421-G tax abatement.
Amenities 24-hour concierge and doorman. Dedicated bellhop for residences. Refrigerated storage for grocery deliveries. On-site building management. WiFi in amenity spaces. Parking on premises. Bicycle storage.
Rooftop Lounge & Terrace Glass-enclosed lounge with a bar and full kitchen. Indoor and outdoor entertainment spaces. Barbeque pits with outdoor dining. Panoramic 360 degree Manhattan views.
Neighborhood Exceptional convenience. Easy access to all major transportation lines, taxis at your doorstep, walk to work, new luxury boutqiues, grocery stores, restaurants, peaceful parks, waterfront access, cultural destinations – all just around the corner.
For appointments call 212-227-0021
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Categories: Luxury Rental Building NYC Directory
Tagged: Financial District nyc apartments, no fee nyc apartments, Wall street nyc apartments
