We finally return to the heat of late spring and early summer, and search for leafy and shaded runs to hide from the sun! In its glow from the recent Governor’s Ball, which I hear was a lot of fun, I’ll share one of our many trips through Randall’s Island by way of the 102nd
READ MORE

Market data has not changed much in the last couple of months. New development selling out in record time and an utter lack of property, especially at the low end of the market. Thoughts about what is causing the continued lack of inventory, along with what levers might move the market to a healthier equilibrium.
READ MORE

This month, I had the pleasure of seeing a few of the scads of new development sites hitting the market. I saw: 400 Park Avenue South 215 Sullivan Street 505 West 19th Street not to mention 306 West 116th (in previews in West Harlem) Toll Brothers’ 400 PAS is in previews right now, much like
READ MORE

It could be difficult to find a New Yorker who does not know a runner of last weekend’s Brooklyn Half Marathon. 40,000 runners took this 13.1 mile stroll through Prospect Park, then down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island. (I had some fun covering that course a bit in a recent post!) This year’s race enjoyed
READ MORE

How are we looking this spring, readers? In short, very tough hunting for buyers, and very lucrative poaching for sellers. The latest Annual Market Report came in, for 2013, which dovetails nicely with our discussion of the Spring Market. I had a short meeting with Gregory Heym, head of our firm’s in-house economic team, which
READ MORE

If you took a peek at my other recent post about housing starts being up significantly from 2012 to 2013, note that many of those Manhattan projects are online and in construction. I’m not trying be the frontline reviewer of these projects, necessarily, but in the past month I did get to see 2 projects
READ MORE

A year (and a day or so) ago, I was writing back to hundreds of people who knew I was running the Boston Marathon, telling them that I was safe and okay. Until that point, running always had been at worst a logistical pain, or some leg cramping. I’m glad to see that aside from
READ MORE

Let’s talk about mortgage rates for a moment. My understanding is that despite the Citibank earnings that came out yesterday, mortgage originations are way down, 71% from a year ago. It sounds like originations across other major lenders, like Wells Fargo, are far down as well.   A thought – make sure you hire a
READ MORE

The First Quarter Report is out! The British are coming! The Russians are coming! Asia is coming! The Middle East is coming! Here is the link. The headline news will make sellers drool. Unfortunately, the numbers are skewed on both sides. Year over year, Q1 2013 was down because of the massive number of end
READ MORE

Almost all the latest indicators point to a strengthening local economy. Lower mortgage rates, averaging 4.28%, down a few basis points – a year ago, rates were averaging 3.52% Over 91,000 jobs added in NYC over the last year A push for less Federal involvement in mortgages, which should make mortgages easier to get! Unemployment
READ MORE