CO-OP/CONDO BUYERS

A couple of weeks ago, StreetEasy compiled some stats showing that, not surprisingly, sales of co-ops and condos tend to slow down in winter and rev up in spring. StreetEasy analyst Alan Lightfeldt calls February the turning point between winter and the busy spring season. But although sales were expected to be on the slow side last month, there were just 3,175 condo units available in February, down 2.4% from January — a record low for the borough. Lightfeldt adds that although there is no anticipated dip in prices, price growth will likely slow slightly in March, as spring sellers begin to flood the market with new units. The listings websites forecasts that prices will rise by 3.9% in 2015, compared with a 7.1% growth rate in 2014.

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Neighbor-to-neighbor noise complaints are almost always tricky for co-op and condo boards. Ideally, boards have to find a way to resolve the problem without resorting to time-consuming and expensive litigation. Not all noise complaints, however, are created equal.

When the neighbor making noise is clomping up and down the apartment in heavy shoes at midnight, the solution can be as simple as enforcing existing rules. Most co-ops have a rule that a certain percentage of floor space outside of kitchens, closets, and bathrooms — typically 80 percent — must be covered with rugs, carpets, or other materials that reduce noise. When the neighbor making noise has made it a habit of playing loud music at 3 A.M., the board can also point to house rules and encourage compromise.

But what happens when the neighbor who's made the complaint works from home, and the neighbor making noise is simply practicing the piano (or other musical instrument)?

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If you're looking to buy a condo in Dumbo, then boy have we got some good news for you. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has given architecture firm ODA's design for 10 Jay Street a thumbs up. DNAinfo reports that by the end of this month, the last commercial tenant left in the building will bid the space farewell so the space can be converted to condos. The commission was reportedly won over by the design "because it honors the building's history as a sugar refinery" by using "oddly shaped glass pieces in the façade to represent the crystal-like shine of sugar" as well as brick and steel, which echoes the building's manufacturing past. How sweet it is! Crews begin demolition and renovation in May and the condos should be ready by middle of next year, so start saving those pennies.

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When it comes to potential buyers, co-op boards have not only a fiduciary duty to vet prospective shareholders' financial viability, but also a leadership duty to try to ensure that new neighbors are neighborly. One of the tools boards use to help them determine whether a candidate is viable is the admissions package, which offers them a snapshot of the applicant. Here, we break down the admission package into its most basic parts so that boards can streamline their processes and avoid discriminating against anybody, even unintentionally, and so potential buyers know what to expect when navigating the complex world of New York City real estate. 

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Right before Christmas last year, Freddie Mac announced a new loan program called Home Possible Advantage, which would let potential condo buyers borrow up to 97 percent of an apartment's value — a 3 percent down payment. Fannie Mae also has a similar program that allows qualified buyers to pony up a 3 percent down payment. But it looks like bad news for anyone trying to take advantage of these deals in New York. According to the Daily News, the average down payment in New York City is — hold onto your hats — nearly $350K. "This was supposed to be the year of millennials and first-time homebuyers," writes the Daily News, but "low down payment loans accounted for just 7% of all home purchases in the top 25 U.S. housing markets by price, including New York, in 2014, according to a new report [compiled by RealtyTrac]. The average down payment for homes in those markets was $138,547, or 24% of the total purchase price." That's just the way it is in high-priced markets. A first-time buyer's best bet for a low down payment: Nashville, Philadelphia, Des Moines, Little Rock and Columbus, or Ohio, according to RealtyTrac's report. That's one hell of a commute. 

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A green roof isn't a roof garden — access is usually limited to weed-pulling and other maintenance. Many buildings with green roofs keep their roof doors locked and let staff or volunteers go up once or twice a week to pick weeds (and maybe, as a little perk, bring a book and relax for a while).

A green roof — that is, a layer of vegetation that covers your entire roof — can help keep your building cool, reduce rainwater flooding and pollution, and clean the air. It's a costly but effective way to make your building more environmentally friendly. It's not for everyone, but if your board is considering a green roof, here's what you need to know. 

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Just days after a piece of Plexiglas fell onto two parked cars from luxury megatower One57, a sheet of plywood ripped away by high winds from a condo construction site fatally struck a woman in a parking garage at 175 West 12th Street. Police officers told the Daily News that "Tram-Thuy Nguyen, 37, died Tuesday at Bellevue Hospital shortly after the freak 5:50 p.m. tragedy near the former site of St. Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village." She was hit by a 4-foot-by-8-foot sheet of plywood, which was torn from a construction site security fence on West 12th Street, police said — where the shuttered St. Vincent's Hospital is undergoing conversion into a high-end condo development called The Greenwich Lane. According to the National Weather Service, winds in Manhattan at nearly 6 p.m. topped out with gusts of 38 mph. The Daily News reports that "the W. 12th St. building was the subject of numerous complaints during construction in 2013 — but no complaints were made in 2014."

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The idea of heading to the local watering hole to unwind after a long day or an even longer week certainly has its appeal for many. But it's one thing to go to a bar, and quite another to live anywhere near one. Trust us, some of us know. Take Wednesday, for example, typically a work night for the 9-to-5 set. It's 11 p.m. and you're ready to tuck in for the night because you have to be up at 6 in the morning. Except that it's karaoke night at the bar across the street, that one guy is singing "Ice Ice Baby" for the millionth time, and the revolving door of smokers talking and laughing without a care in the world will carry on until 3 a.m. or so. A group of residents who live along the perimeter of Seward Park, who are reportedly part of the SPaCE block association, know all about living near bars. They live near three of them. Three bars located within two blocks. A proposal for a fourth establishment, a Mexican restaurant with a full liquor license and a 4 a.m. closing time, reports Bowery Boogie, has fueled the group to launch a grassroots campaign to stop it from opening. "Flyers were littered around the vicinity this weekend ahead of tonight’s Community Board 3 meeting of the SLA subcommittee. The message is simple — no more bars for Essex Street." This is why when you live near a bar it's a good idea to invest in a white noise machine.

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You might say it was fun while it lasted. The luxury market was on fire, and developers were testing those one percent waters to see how high prices could climb. As 2014 drew to a close, however, experts warned that the bubble would burst and a slowdown would begin. Sure enough, old man winter did manage to slow everything down. And now, as the Daily News reports, it looks like developers are getting "real about real-estate prices." That's right. Developers are slashing prices by as much as 25 percent. That sure sounds like a lot, but of course when you're not a gazillionaire, there simply isn't much difference between $40 million and $29.95 million or between $110 million and $82 million. It's interesting to see, however, that even the super rich, who arguably according to many have money to burn, can spot when something is overpriced. You can't blame the developers for trying their luck, though. The Daily News calls it "the real-estate equivalent of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks" and quotes one developer as saying, "at the beginning of the sales process, you have nothing to lose when you list your penthouse at a pie-in-the-sky price." You never know when someone rich enough is going to bite.

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Who doesn't like a good story? Especially when it's a juicy bit of gossip about an author, a former celebrity, a famous photographer, or the man who founded Random House. Well, it looks like luxury property owners and their brokers have noticed, and according to the Daily News, they are doing some homework and learning about "the fascinating — and sometimes salacious — histories of their listings in an effort to catch attention in a competitive market." Brokers told the Daily News that while "factoids [about who's lived there or filmed a well-known movie there] didn't make the properties any more attractive to live in, but they increased attention to the listings, differentiating them from other buildings of the same ilk." And brokers aren't targeting only the starstruck, either. There's some fodder, too, for literati who still make it a point of walking along 44th Street to catch a glimpse of the bronze plaque in the front of the Algonquin Hotel bearing the names of its Round Table elite, which includes writer, wit, and satirist Dorothy Parker. Take, for example, the "140-year-old brownstone at 132 E. 62nd St. with a rich literary history. It turns out that Random House co-founder Bennett Cerf and his wife, actress turned "Dr. Seuss" editor Phyllis Fraser Cerf, bought the property from the Barnes family — of Barnes & Noble fame — for just $20,000 in 1941. After that, the couple hosted a who's who of New York scholars and celebrities, including William Faulkner [and] Truman Capote." Depending on the history, not to mention the tastes of potential buyers, this could make selling a learning experience on both sides. It's nice to get to really know the city. But of course, the technique will hardly be compelling if we're talking about someone who dated the assistant of some photographer who ended up marrying a person who wrote some self-help books a decade ago. 

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