(VIDEO) Inventing Inventory! Feeling the Challenges of Being A Buyer Today.


  Imagine that you learn that the gas in your building will be turned off due to a leak.  Not only that, but it’s likely going to stay off for at least six months.  Based on what you know, that could easily become a year, or longer. Well, this happens in New York City apartments,
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Hello From Our 2021 Award-Winning Team! What We Won!


2021 Award Winners! We’re fresh off our 2021 Brown Harris Stevens Recognition Awards Ceremony.  We are proud to announce that the Harris Residential Team has won a couple of recognitions. First, we were awarded #1 Team in our Upper West Side Office.  Among a talented group of agents that did close to $1 Billion of
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Adventures in Desperation: Welcome to New York City Rental Market


Adventures in Desperation I don’t cover it much, but it’s sometimes nice to touch on the rental market from time to time.  Why talk about it today?  A few reasons: The Rental Market is at an all time high.  Prices have never been stronger I’m seeing bizarre behavior I’m never seen before from renters. I’m
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Where is New Inventory Going to Come From? Headwinds that Buyers and Neighborhoods Face in 2022


It’s Almost Spring We’ve spoken about the momentary bump in the road, the uncertainty surrounding the last gasps of the pandemic.  We have midtown buildings which are being repurposed, such as this new campus for Touro College being announced.  Two years into the pandemic, there is plenty of focus on the future of Midtown.  While
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The Real Scourge: Open Permits Slowly Down Deals in New York City


When I’m pitching ideas to news outlets… the advice that I’ve been is that they want trends.  For something to be considered a trend, I had better find at least three examples.  It seems safer to use the rule of three (which also applies to comedy) for the confirmation of a trend, so I have
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(VIDEO) How You Can Benefit From Uncertainty


What is the one thing that markets don’t seem to like? Uncertainty.   Many people are over COVID, not just in the hinterlands far away, and not just some kooks on whatever side of the aisle that you dislike.  Your neighbors, your magazines, see the health risks far outweighing the bureaucratic risks of having to
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(VIDEO) More Than Ten Years of Our Newsletter! Thank You!


    I realized that I have been consistently sending this newsletter to you, month after month, since 2009.  My oh my! Thank you for helping us grow this newsletter from a pretty lame, poorly designed, all text email blast in 2009 to what it is today.  It is a joy sharing what is going
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The Double Deuce – A Seller’s Market, Not A Test


The Double Deuce I remember when I was nearly a college graduate, and my birthday rolled around.  22!  The double deuce!  Somehow 22 felt much more substantial than 21.  And so it goes for 2022 vs 2021.  This year, as fun and rollicking as its been for real estate, has felt fleeting.  Everyone’s been waiting
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(VIDEO) What Happens When Rents Jump 30-40%? The Reckoning Has Already Begun.


The rental reckoning has begun. It started more than a year ago.  The rental trucks and moving vans lined up all over the city to bring hundreds of thousands of renters away to parents’ houses, second homes, and far away, with apartment items in storage, sold on Craigslist, or donated. The news was dire.  Everyone
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New Fannie Mae Limits, Rate Rises Sooner than Expected- How Will It Impact Lending?


Tiny shifts at the margins will help first time buyers in this market.  As mortgage rates appear to be slated for possible increases in 2022, buyers need all the help they can get.  Enter Fannie Mae! As of December 16th, now buyers will be able to borrow up to roughly $650,000 and have the looser
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Recent Blog Posts

The End of Rental Broker Commissions As You Know It. The Beginning of Even-Higher Rents.
The Sometimes Secret to Dealmaking? Waiting. (Our Deal of the Month @ 52 Riverside Drive)
(VIDEO) Don’t Take My Word For It. The NYC Housing Market is Better Than You’ve Heard.
How Much does Overcustomization Cost? (Our Deal of the Month)
A New Way To Save Real $$ on your Prewar Apartment Renovation—by Using Smart Home Systems (and Calling the Electrician)
(VIDEO) The Win-Win Window is Closing
What Happens when Your Agent Becomes an Advisor? Our Deal of the Month: 24 East 82nd
The Nothingburger of the Buyer Representation Scandal
The Non-Binary Housing Market
(VIDEO) How Lower Rates Are Already Impacting the NYC Housing Market

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