Warburg Blog

It is customary in this week of Turkey with all the fixings, Macy’s Day Parade Floats and Balloons and Black Friday shopping to take an ever brief moment to say thanks and to be grateful.

So while I am incredibly thankful for my family and friends (you know who you are!)  I want to say thank you to my home for the last 14 years, New York City!

Now now, I know it is cool to be jaded and not love New York, after all, no true New Yorker ever says it aloud or even worse (gasp!), actually wears an I Love NY t-shirt in public. But hear me loud and clear world, make no mistake, I really do LOVE New York.

Recently I enrolled in a continuing education class at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation or GVSHP. As a licensed Associate Broker in NYC, it is compulsory to take 22.5 hours of continuing education every two years. Mostly these classes are a joke—and involves me sitting in a room watching a clock very slowly tick off each excruciating minute so I can obtain a certificate to hand over to my office manager who in turn will mail it to the state so I can continue selling real estate. These 22.5 hours have been nothing like that.

The GVSHP is dedicated “to preserve the architectural heritage and cultural history of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.” I have read about the GVSHP in local papers and blogs in passing, and certainly understood their connection to my profession (sometimes working together, sometimes in opposition), but hadn’t been involved in any of their programming for the public.

The 22.5 hour course is focused on fair housing, landmark law and zoning, which seemingly sounds so dry but all the lectures and walking tours were artfully imbued in New York City’s rich history by some serious scholars.

Sometimes the only way to figure out the present (and the future) is to look to the past—understand all the layers of paint beneath the most current one.

It can be easy to live in NYC and love it for the architecture, the restaurants, the art, the music, the energy, etc—but it is so much more powerful to know how there were others before our time who loved NYC for the architecture, the restaurants, the art, the music, the energy.

Here are some tidbits from the lectures and the walking tours that I thought I would share:

·         Stuyvesant Street in the East Village is the one of the only true east-west streets in NYC and one of the city’s oldest. If you have never seen it, it diagonally cuts across  from Third Avenue through 9^th and 10^th Streets.  While this may not seem like a huge deal at first blush, what is cool about it, is that it is also from the original city planning grid by who else but the Stuyvesant family themselves. When the Commissioner’s Plan of 1811 called for strict use of a grid in Manhattan, Stuyvesant Street was the exception and thank goodness. I love walking down that short street, gazing at all the townhouses—some of the oldest original houses in the city are right there.  One of note is 21 Stuyvesant (AKA the Hamilton Fish House). The home is a  landmarked Federal style townhouse originally inhabited by the great granddaughter of Peter Stuyvesant,  Elizabeth Stuyvesant Fish and her hubby Nicolas Fish. They went on to have a son who was none other than Hamilton Fish, a governor and senator of New York.  Also interesting tidbit—Cooper Union owns the home now and the university’s president lives there.

·         The East Village was full of…Germans! Oh you could fill a book with what I don’t know about NYC, but that one was a big surprise to me. I always think Irish and Italians when I think NYC immigrants, particularly downtown but in fact  1 in 5 New Yorkers were German in the mid-to-late 1800s. Many were arriving because of the Franco-Prussian War—and interesting enough, the Germans that were settling in NYC were artisans, iron-workers, masons, bakers, builders, etc and as a result were able to set up a better immigrant life for themselves. Tompkins Square Park was an important public space that the Germans called the Weisse Garten. There were beer gardens, sport clubs, libraries, choirs, shooting clubs, German theatres, German schools, German churches, and German synagogues all over the East Village.  The theatre that  La Mama on East 4^th Street off of the Bowery, is housed in what was originally a German music hall—the Germans loved their music!

·         The history of tenements downtown is fascinating. They probably most exemplified the increasing stratification between the wealthy class and the poor immigrants. The Tenement Houst Act of 1867 dictated that there was 1 water tap per building and 1 toilet for every 20 occupants.  Meanwhile the population of NYC was swelling—and doubled from 1.8 to 3.4 million people—and 70 percent of them were living in tenements. The population density south of Chambers street was greater than Bombay or Calcutta’s population density has EVER been.

So here it is. I give thanks for NYC and its incredibly rich history. Happy Thanksgiving!

This has been an unusual summer for me in that I have actually been taking a few vacations–but I am so glad I am–it has been great for my general outlook on things.

I just spent last week in Montauk for the first time–and found it very relaxing. I checked out to the Montauk Point Lighthouse and loved its history and the care that the local historical society has taken in its upkeep and splendor. I can see why a few brave Manhattanites staked claim in Montauk many years ago. The town still functions as an unspoiled fishing village–all the locals are connected to fishing–which rings true of my childhood home in Virginia, also a small town of 11,000 people, many of them watermen.

In Montauk, I loved the local haunts like The Dock (instead of Gosman’s) and Clam Shack (and yes, I had breakfast at Joni’s every day!). It may sound simple but for me it was an epiphany that every town will have a touristy Times Square section and then fab neighborhood finds. And really I never needed a guide book because the locals, if you engaged them, loved telling you where to go because they love their town so much.

When I got back to the city, it made me realize that even though I have lived in the city for 15+ years and I really am a local, there is no reason to not engage other locals–I think sometimes we New Yorkers (admit it!) don’t want to ask for advice since we are all so knowledgeable–but it is a boon that we live in a city filled with so much knowledge.

Earlier today I read a piece on Forbes.com about the three myths of networking–one of the big ones being that all networking is sleazy and inauthentic. But we network all the time and don’t even realize it–it is just letting yourself be curious about your surroundings and another person’s perspective. That is exactly what I was doing when I was asking our waitress at Clam Shack about where we should have breakfast and where we should have drinks when I learned about what a fight it was to put the 7-11 in town and how lovely Montauk is in September. It made me want to come back in September which I probably will which is the best kind of networking–win-win. I will (in a small way!) support the economy in the off season and have a lovely time.

Right before I went on vacation I was in a discussion about why we help others from a business perspective. And there are clearly two camps, Camp #1 thinks that you help someone because eventually they will help you but Camp #2 thinks that you help someone because you want to and maybe not through that person directly but the good deed will come back to reward you. This vacation made me think I am a proud member of Camp #2–maybe I should go on vacation more often…

Last week I attended a community meeting being hosted by the Soho/Noho Action Committee to discuss the elimination of the artist certification requirement and a rezoning of the area, releasing the 200 or so Artist-in-Residence (or AIR) buildings. 

So here is the background–during the ‘60s, artists illegally converted many of the unused industrial spaces in Soho/Noho into live-work lofts. The city eventually legalized the conversions on the condition that there be at least one city-certified artist living in each loft. These artists came to Soho when nobody else did and helped to develop and build the neighborhood.

In 1977, Soho/Noho neighborhoods were formally zoned for Artists in Residence (AIR) only. For practical purposes, what this means is that any person who purchases OR rents a loft with AIR Regulations needs to be certified by the Department of Cultural Affairs as an “Artist in Residence.”  And this certification should be designated before occupancy. In 1986, the city grandfathered all residents in the area, whether or not they were certified artists.

The regulation was to preserve Soho/Noho for artists. But frankly (some would argue for better and some would argue for worse) it was ignored for years. Buyers and renters signed a waiver acknowledging they understood they needed AIR certificates and won’t hold the building management liable if they are found to be living there illegally. And, look, since nobody was policing the buildings, the waivers became de rigueur. Anyone could live in a loft and the neighborhood continued to blossom and changed the character of the neighborhood to how we think of it today. 

And all was status quo until about a year ago, when city regulators began cracking down on the rule. Suddenly buyers’ attorneys were advising against purchasing in AIR buildings and banks started refusing to lend almost all together. And many residents are scared. Would they be able to continue living in their homes (for many of them, their nest-eggs) in peace and quiet and be able to sell them when the time came? Enter the Soho/Noho Action Committee, led by real estate attorney, Margaret Baisley who is starting the dialogue to change the zoning. The Committee is suggesting that the zoning is archaic and artists don’t dominate the joint/live work spaces.

I have read that in the city as a whole, 3,410 artists have been certified since 1971, according to the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the city agency that grants artist certification From a real estate perspective,  that number isn’t enough to support the real-estate market in Soho and Noho.

But every argument has two sides. According to an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal, Soho Alliance Director Sean Sweeney worries that repealing the artist requirement could lead to the “mass evictions of renters” as landlords seek higher paying tenants. Still, Sweeney says his group hasn’t taken a position on the matter.

Back to the meeting. So when I walked in at 6:15 at St. Anthony’s Church I was really struck by how full the church’s basement was on a lovely Tuesday almost summer afternoon. And as the meeting progressed and people begun to speak, it was very clear there were two issues, 1. The actual zoning and 2. How artists are certified. The other major takeaway was the passion in which both sides spoke with—and how change is such a scary concept even if it has actually happened years ago and now it will be legally acknowledged. Underneath all of this dialogue is the fact that the lack of affordable housing is an incredibly real issue in NYC and will continue to be. I am not sure of the solution but sometimes I wish we would talk more about these kinds of matters rather than what a congressman  (albeit stupidly) tweeted or facebooked.

Time may heal all wounds but it also kills all deals–if there is too much of it. Never has that been truer with an incredibly tight market–boasting almost absolutely no inventory–rentals or sales. Grizzled rental brokers are working with customers who don’t need to move til June or July. Buyers brokers who always set up listings alerts for themselves are madly checking for newly listed properties before the sun comes up every day. And many deals are getting done. The latest in signed contract activity certainly proves that.

But for every deal that happens, there are many that don’t–and time is often the culprit. Some of it seems simple–time wasted on collecting paperwork–time wasted on selecting an attorney–time wasted on making any straightforward decision–are all opportunities for another buyer or renter to scoop your potential dream apartment up.

So, if you are buying,  before you look at one apartment, take the time to fill out a financial statement (essential in submitting an offer), reach out to your mortgage broker and submit all necessary paperwork to him/her (tax returns, bank statements, letter of employment) and hire an attorney (remember, you don’t pay them until they start work when you are at accepted offer).

If you are renting, have your tax returns, 2 months of bank statements, a letter of employment and cash ready for deposits and application forms.

Time can be on your side–if you are just a little organized.

One of the things I have always loved about New York City is how the streets are a living, breathing entity. One swath of Fifth Avenue can easily provide a fashion show, a movie (either comedy and tragedy), a business school level lecture on the markets or a Trumpdidian (Yes I made up that word) real estate moment.

Last night I went to a special screening at the Film Forum of the Bill Cunningham‘s documentary. Mr. Cunningham is the celebrated photographer, known for his On The Street and Evening Hours pictoral columns in the Sunday New York Times. At first blush, you may see his collage of photographs and think oh sure, this is just a society page or pretty girls in pretty dresses, but in fact it is a vision, a beating pulse of where NYC is right now. His photographs captures a living breathing New York.

It did make me think of NYC real estate right now–how in fact it isn’t the Sunday New York Times real estate section (sorry Grey Lady), Curbed (though their deliciously snarky commentary is absolutely part of our world), but brokers and buyers and sellers that can tell the true tale of what is going on in our marketplace.

Real estate in our fair city is–more than ever–gut oriented. Does it feel right? If yes, the tea leaves will most likely confirm it.

One of things Mr. Cunningham quips in the film is staying honest in New York is like Don Quixote chasing windmills. I am sure that Curbed.com would have their fun with that in regards to real estate, but in fact, good brokerage is about telling the truth the best you can with the information in place and trusting your gut.

See this movie when you get a chance–it is as much a love letter to New York through the ages as it is homage to an artistic great.

I am working with a first time buyer looking for a studio–a young woman who was born and bred in NYC and whose parents have bought and sold in the city several times. And yet, there are some different considerations to bear in mind when buying this room of her own.

Historically, studios are harder to sell in a downmarket–so while I am never the type of agent that thinks we can outsmart the market, (if I was to pick an epitaph based on my career, it would be “The market is smarter than all of us,”) I do think there are factors to be on the lookout for.  So here we go!

1. Location, location location. Before you say “duh, thanks for illuminating the most basic rule in real estate Captain Obvious,” give me a chance to explain .  No matter what you are buying, it is key to think about resale–so who lives in studios? Well, either typically they are considered home for single persons, usually younger. So think young! Look at buildings near residential universities such as NYU or Columbia. NYU in particular doesn’t have a lot of housing forcing parents to find a home for their child. So, let’s consider point number 2.

2. Type of building. A condo is ideal but if you go the co-op route, make sure it is one that permits parents either co-purchasing or helping to purchase.

3. Location, location, location–part 2! Other than students or young persons, studios also make great pied a terres. So think of buildings near Lincoln Center, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Flatiron/Gramercy–all popular neighborhoods for pied a terres.  Which takes us to point 4.

4. Type of building–part 2! Again, a condo is ideal but if if you go the co-op route, make sure it is one that permits pied a terres. Some coops frown upon it as they don’t want transient traffic in their buildings.

5. Type of building–part 3! It is good to know the makeup of the building–is it mostly studios and one beds with no combinations? Or is it a healthy mix of studio-three bedrooms? And if there are combinations how do studios figure into that–do owners typically combine studios with other studios or with the three beds only? Look to see what is on either side of the studio under consideration (and above and below if duplexes are permitted) and see if a combination would make sense.

6. Room for a bed. Many studios have lofted spaces for sleeping or suggest a Murphy bed is the best space solution. While there are some people that don’t mind those bed options, better to have a studio where a full sized bed is a realistic  in the space, because really who over the age of 12 sleeps on a day bed?

7. Light. Again, sounds obvious, but a smaller space is going to need light even more than a larger space.

8. Closet space. Studio living isn’t so bad if there is storage. Make sure that the apartment itself has good closet space and storage in the building is a huge plus.

9. Maintenance and Common Charges. Keep ‘em low! Most likely the purchaser will be a first time buyer or a second home owner–the numbers have to make sense and cannot be intimidating.

10. Rental policy. A studio is often a starter home–and because life moves faster than we think, if the original owner outgrows the space more quickly than anticipated, it may be necessary to rent out the studio. Make sure the building permits it, what the process and fees involved would be, and a sense of the rental income.

I have always considered myself to be a broker that sells to persons with downtown sensibilities (though price and need for more space has dictated that buyer either purchase above 14th Street or to Brooklyn). That being said, I realized this weekend that it is really about selling to people who are invested in living in a community.

I went out with new buyers last Sunday. This couple lives in the East Village currently and are considering all sorts of options in their ‘hood: a straight up apartment, a live/work, an investment property, commercial space…so needless to say I had to serve quite the pu-pu platter of properties. We were fairly exhausted and as we were winding down on Avenue C around 9th Street–we saw a “for sale” sign for a building–which was a sort of garage-like space with an apartment (occupied–someone waved at us as he was smoking a cig). I took a picture of the address and the number of the broker who represented it.  I thought–okay, I will call this broker and get more information.

Right next to the building was a delightful cheeseshop called Barnyard Cheese. The proprietors were a lovely couple chock full of neighborhood gossip and limitless cheese samples. They quickly told us that the building has been on the market for over a year and the broker has paraded all sorts of potential buyers in there.  And yes, the man who waved at us while smoking was a gentleman named Vito who owned the bar next door, Speakeasy.

After thanking Barnyard Cheese for their information with a smile and a purchase of rosemary infused manchego (yum!)–I went around the corner to pair it with a bottle of wine at Brick Wine Shop. My buyers left me at that point and said this is where we want to live and do business–”these are our kinds of people.”

Back at the wine store, the shop girl/sommelier schooled me on wine in juice boxes (it is a thing people, who knew?) and reinforced that the building on Avenue C has seen all sorts of buyers without any luck, mostly due to price she thought. She asked me for my card and the owner called me the next day thanking me for my business. I let her know that I enjoyed doing business in the East Village so to call if she knew of anything.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the virtual communities that I am connected to via Facebook and Twitter, but it was refreshing to engage face to face rather than by status update or tweet both personally and professionally.  It was a good reminder to me that I don’t have to log into a computer to figure things out.

What an exciting week in the news, bookended with two huge stories. It started with the Huffington Post and AOL mashup (darn you Glee–you seem to creep into everything) and ended with Hosni Mubarak stepping down as President of Egypt. While the latter may affect Beverly Hills real estate–the former is about to change NYC real estate.

AOL’s purchase of HuffPo gave Arianna Huffington a 315 million dollar payday-most of which was in cash (she is a smart cookie–cash has never been more king than now). It also clinched a permanent move to NYC. Celebrity real estate watchers have been eagerly noting that her ex-husband has been checking out West Village townhouses for about a year now.

It made me think–where would I direct Arianna if I were advising her? If she didn’t go for townhouse living–which buildings would make sense for her? After all, out of the many things Arianna represents it is community–so it seems she could so easily embrace community living in a NYC building.

In many ways, this new home will marry many opposing forces in her life–old (new)media (AOL) and new media (HuffPo); east coast (think Empire State of Mind) and west coast (Brentwood baby–think swimming pools, movie stars); old money (thanks to ex-hubby) and new money (thanks to the visionary thinking of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong). Yes while Arianna is a citizen of the world, she is about to become a New Yorker.

It is reported that when Arianna is in NYC she uses a driver. I urge her to ditch that driver and start walking, subwaying or busing her way around–that is how we roll in NYC. In that vein-while celebrity buildings like 15 Central Park West, the Plaza and of course the AOL/TW building may be the usual suspects–a downtown building near the AOL/HuffPo offices of 770 Broadway makes a lot more sense–she could roll out of bed and man her battlestations. May I recommend the low key but beautiful architecture in the trio of coop buildings on 9th Street between University and Broadway, 29-35-45 East 9th Street that houses bold faced names from all walks of life–art, finance, politics, law, design and real estate. It does represent NYC at its best–we are not a company town like Los Angeles but instead a city of many disciplines and industries.

Lower Fifth may be a good place to hang her hat as well for both their style and proximity to work–1 Fifth and 40 Fifth are the two buildings that come to mind immediately. Also the penthouse at One Jackson Square could be a great fit too.

But of course privacy is key too–so  I understand why a townhouse in the Village–East OR West–could be the avenue she pursues to the end. But I do hope she at least considers a building. I would remiss if I didn’t urge her to consider Tribeca. An open renovated loft in an old warehouse building could be a great marriage of modernity and history on perhaps N. Moore or Harrison would also provide her with privacy. After all, these are the streets of JFK Jr, Robert Deniro, Jay-Z, Jon Stewart, Edward Albee. Need I say more?

Maybe she is already in contract but I can’t wait to see where Arianna ends up negotiating the tricky politics of a finding a home in New York City.

I came across the popular World War II British slogan  “Keep Calm and Carry On” serendipitously this week on a friend’s Facebook status. I thought what a timely saying to meditate on. These are not easy times, globally, nationally and locally–and some days it seems like all of our glasses are half-empty, not half-full.

If you are a buyer in NYC, particularly downtown, you are probably frustrated by the lack of inventory and want to throw in the towel. Keep calm and carry on buyers because while as much as we want to will that perfect apartment onto the market, prices are mostly holding from 6 months ago in the mid-luxury sector ($1M-$5M) with some incremental upward price pressure.

Buyers, the search process, no matter what market we are in, is an interesting hybrid of a marathon and a sprint. Initially, think like a long distance runner and don’t burn out–work closely with your buyer’s broker to discern if an appointment is necessary to see the home and yes, I know it is hard but don’t refresh Streeteasy every 5 minutes. A few reasons for this–1. there isn’t so much new property hitting the market in the next six months and 2. your sanity. Check 2-3 times a day–once in the morning, once at lunch and once after the close of business. Yes, the market is moving fast for good properties, but these are homes, not stocks. Seller’s brokers want to expose the property to the market–so as a buyer, you won’t lose out on a property because you didn’t request an appointment within an hour of it hitting the market.

That being said, given that there is a lack of inventory, it is very possible you will find the apartment you want in the first day of open houses or appointments. Now the sprint mentality has to kick in–but do keep calm and carry on buyers–and kick it into high gear to pull the trigger if that happens to you.

This week a customer I have been working with since the Fall–she is pregnant and due in April and has a toddler in tow–said she just couldn’t physically go out and see the same old apartments anymore and to only alert of the “unique” ones.

So it really made me think of what a “unique” apartment meant for her–I mean just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is uniqueness.

From the start they were looking for an aparment they could make their home comfortably for the next 10 years, either in Tribeca or Chelsea, modern fixtures and feel, ideally a 3 bedroom but more realistically a 2 bedroom with a home office due to price–and condo or coop with reasonable monthlies below $2.5M with doorman optional. Not a particularly unusual request–in fact at first blush it is fairly status quo request.

So I have really been thinking about what she really is asking me in the context of our market. We are in a marketplace where terms like “the homeless wealthy” are being bandied about because of the repeated complaint of no inventory–it reminds me of that scene where Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman returns from the Beverly Hills boutique with a clump of money and cries, “I have all this money and no dress!” I feel like I have a few buyers having that Julia Roberts moment.  So there aren’t many options, there are a lot of buyers circling out there, and downtown is, as always, really competitive.  Buying an apartment is much like the NYC dating scene!

And it led me to think–a unique property is like a good mate–it doesn’t necessarily look good on paper, but it makes so much sense once you meet him or her. Truthfully the unique property for most people is the one that they didnt even know they wanted (just like the perfect mate!)–it may check off  most of their boxes of price, neighborhood, etc–but something is just a little “off” on paper–it is our jobs as buyers’ brokers to figure out what that is. Clearly I have my work cut out for me.