Warburg Blog

Price per square foot, or ppsf, is only one of several factors that contribute to a property’s value. Other considerations include condition, view, layout, light, time on market and market conditions. Yet ppsf has become the common denominator, if not the virtual currency in which real estate properties trade. Although it’s a basic unit of measure for floor area, the square foot is not always absolute and sometimes grows bigger by degrees depending on who is doing the measuring.

 

Without industry approved standards to calculate square footage, comparisons between properties are problematic. In condominiums, the methods for measuring square footage have changed over the years. In the early 80′s, floor area measured interior space for the most part. In sharp contrast, square footage of new condo construction of the 90’s and 00’s was and continues to be measured from exterior brick to exterior brick and also includes a percentage of common elements. While variations may be minimal between smaller units, when comparing larger apartments, the disparities are proportionately greater. As a result, comparing condominium apartments in different buildings is a lot like equating apples and pears. 

 

The practice with condos is to rely on the number provided in the Offering Plan.  Michael Vargas, Principal and Co-Founder of Vanderbilt Appraisal Company LLC finds that “… many banks are now requiring appraisers to re-measure for accuracy, and you will not be surprised that we have found most units are 5-15% off in the offering plan quoted square footage.” 

 

James Lanfranchi, President at Archer Meade Appraisals notes, “The real problem comes into play when considering comparables. Since most of the time we haven’t personally measured them, we must rely on what is reported in the schedule A or in the offering plan. Appraisers at Archer Meade are directed to do “take-offs” from floor plans with an architect’s ruler to better consider the interior floor space of a comparable.” 

 

With co-ops, the property’s prospectus lists the total number of rooms and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but not square footage. Vargas notes that he approached REBNY for help to establish measuring standards for co-op apartments, but “did not get very far.” 

 

A Google search for measuring square footage shows some standards are available in some markets:

 

-       In 2008 Building Owners and Management Association (BOMA) and International Facility Management Association jointly published “A Unified Approach for Measuring Office Space” –a 36 page illustrated manual that was the result of a three year effort by field experts to establish best practices for measurement in commercial office buildings. BOMA also publishes guides for industrial buildings and multi-unit residential buildings.

-       Buildingareameasurement.com has been around since March 2000 and offers expert witnesses to resolve disputes. Their website says they provide “voluntary standards that serve to bring measurement consistency and comparability between properties.”

-       The National Association of Home Builders publishes guidelines for single-family homes.

-       The North Carolina Real Estate Commission mandates that “real estate agents are expected to be able to accurately calculate the square footage of most dwellings” (effective since May 2001) and provides “helpful hints” and measurement guidelines.

 

It would be good to have consistent methods to use on a voluntary basis especially when comparing similar properties. Some of the obvious steps:

 

-       Start with as accurate a floor plan as possible. If stated dimensions seem incorrect, use a steel tape measure or laser distance device to measure. The latter is especially useful in crammed spaces when furniture blocks a straight line. Total area includes bathrooms, hallways and closets.

-       To simplify calculations, the floor plan can be broken down into several rectangles, and occasionally into a triangle. Then arithmetic formulas determine area:  for a rectangle, multiply length times width, and for a triangle, multiply base by height and divide by two. 

-       One website advises to keep a record of supporting drawings and any documentation to show how total square footage was determined. 

 

Some of the not so obvious considerations:

 

-       Are six inches sufficient to add for exterior walls, as one website recommends, and four inches for an interior wall? When measuring brick to brick, thickness of walls vary—especially between postwar and prewar buildings. In corner apartments, there are two exterior walls to consider.

-       What about stairs in multiple levels and interior elevators?

-       Do you round off to the nearest whole number, nearest inch or nearest 0.01 square foot? With large apartments, I’ve seen agents round off to the nearest 10, 50 and even 100.

-       Do you include loft bed areas in square footage calculations? How high would the ceiling height have to be? 

-       A 2% tolerance seems to be the accepted standard for commercial real estate.  What would be wiggle room for residential spaces?

 

Even with uniform standards, disclaimers are necessary given the litigious nature of our culture. Square footage should be qualified as “approximate”—which according to Wikipedia means “inexact representation of something that is still close enough to be useful.” Or to paraphrase Warburg President and blogger Fred Peters, even without uniform standards, if we measure comparable properties using the same inexact methods, our totals may be off, but they’ll be off proportionately, so that’s close enough to be beneficial.

 

Granted price per square foot is only part of the value equation. Other factors, some quantifiable and others incalculable need to be considered and weighed to determine and compare prices,  Nonetheless, measurement standards would definitely help both agents and consumers.

 

The end of the year is always a time for reflection. Here is my list of some of the events and issues which made a real impression on me or our business in 2011:

1. Unbelievable real estate purchases, primarily by Russian oligarchs. These included the $40 million sale of a 4,000 square foot apartment at 15 Central Park West to Taiwanese tycoon Min Kao; the approximately $88 million pending sale of Sandy Weill’s 6,000 square foot apartment in another part of the same building to 20-something Russian fertilizer heiress Yekaterina Rybolovleva and her father Dmitry; and the $220 million sale of the penthouse at One Hyde Park, in London, purchased by Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmatov. This provided an interesting context to one of the year’s great ongoing soap operas, the London litigation between Russians Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky, which has provided a fascinating and appalling look into just how some of those fortunes were made.

2. The freak October snowstorm. Central Park was devastated by the loss of tree limbs as a result of the huge snowfall on trees which had not yet lost their leaves. A tragedy for all New Yorkers who depend on the beauty of the Park to keep us sane!

3. The Euro meltdown. The United States, a nation of immigrants, had been banded together for over a century before we attempted a Federal income tax, which is still contentious a century later! How could anyone expect that the Eurozone countries, which have been at war with each other on and off for millennia and have such distinct and antipathetical cultural identities, would band together and bail each other out easily when the economic lifting got heavy. We certainly have not seen the last chapter on this one.

4. China. Their manufacturing economy slowed. Their high handed internal governance is provoking more and more pushback from an increasingly informed and prosperous populace. They are our major bondholder. And they have a major appetite for New York City condominiums though not, like the Russians, of the $40 million variety. They prefer prices under $2 million, and they may buy several. We have learned that you may have to go to them, but their interest in investing in our coastal cities is as vast as their country.

5. Landmarked districts in New York City. A great idea gone a little awry. No one believes more than I in the preservation of our city’s diverse and gorgeous architectural heritage. But when sweeping districts begin to include gas stations and tenement buildings, something is not right. The population of our city is growing and we will continue to need sites for development. It is fair neither to the owners of the real estate nor the potential users of the more effectively deployed sites to bar them from development when there is no possible reason to preserve them.

6. Shadow inventory. There was a lot of talk a few years back about how all the condo inventory available in the city when the recession began would hang over the real estate market for years to come. It was always my feeling that absorption would bounce back and the big issue for us would be LACK of supply, not oversupply. And here we are! Buyers are snapping up that “shadow inventory” all over town, while the few new projects under construction, like Toll Brothers’ new building on 65th and Lexington, are selling briskly from plans while the buildings are still a year away from completion!

There’s more…but those are today’s highlights. With that I am signing off till 2012, and wishing all of my readers a wonderful holiday season!

I have spent the last 14 years helping people move in an out of every neighborhood in NYC.  I have seen some amazingly beautiful apartments and some where I have wondered,”What are they thinking?”  I have become friends with many of my customers and have learned a lot about what makes them finally say yes to a home.  I use my passion for cooking and eating to discover the best food in an area and then I share my discoveries with my buyers as they go on their hunt for a place to call home.  Whether you are moving to NY for the first time or are moving from one neighborhood in the city to another, finding that perfect cup of coffee or the best bowl of pasta can be as important as having a washer/dryer in the apartment; and knowing that you can find something delicious to eat or drink at any hour of the day is what makes NYC so enticing. No matter the neighborhood, excellent restaurants, plentiful farmer’s markets and gourmet food shops abound.  Now that the holidays are here, I thought I would share my 5 favorite places to find great holiday food gifts for the house warming party you are throwing or attending.

Murray Hill:  http://kalustyans.com/

For the most amazing array of spices (over 4000), exotic condiments, middle eastern sweets, grains from every corner of the world, and thousands of other specialty food items.  

Chelsea:  http://nymacaron.com/

Delicious macarons with flavors like lavender, apricot and champagne, caramel fleur de sel, and rose lychee.

Soho:  http://despananyc.com/

Foods from Spain.  The most delectable olive oils, chorizo, cheeses, and Serrano and Iberico hams.

Noho:  http://ilbuco.com/products/

Beautifully packaged gift boxes of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Tuscan sea salt all from artisan producers in Italy.

Upper East & Upper West Side:  http://alicesteacup.com/

The perfect holiday gift of scones and tea, cupcakes and brookies (brownie/cookie), and the most delicious chocolate cake.

Over the last fifteen years, all our lives have been revolutionized by technology in ways we could not even have imagined when the Internet (or World Wide Web as it was known in those days) first came onto the horizon. Business has been profoundly transformed by the transparency inherent in full access for everyone to information about anything. We have had to keep up, as best we could, as change races ahead of us. We are challenged by change not only to stay current but also to sort through its myriad directions and promises to determine what we believe in, what works for us. In other words, one of the greatest challenges of the new millennium has been to embrace change without sacrificing our identities to it. This process, every day and every week, profoundly engages me, my agents and staff.

How do you redefine yourself while remaining true to the values which you most believe in? I think each of us has a different answer, but I can tell you mine, and with it the vision I embrace for Warburg.

First, I believe you have to build on the bedrock of who you are and what you know your values to be. More than anything else I want Warburg to be a values based company. I want us to be known for doing not only the smart thing, but also the right thing. I want us to believe in and support each other, to believe that a success for each of us is a success for us all. And I want us all to remember that, although we are here to make money, money is not always the most important thing. Pride in ourselves and what we represent, in our companies and our communities, both bring success and enable us to savor it.

Second, I believe that we need to embrace the future while honoring the past. We have an extraordinary history as a company going back almost 120 years; each of us should be proud to be a carrier of that tradition and to embrace what remains best about it. At the same time, we need to understand that some traditions need updating. Print ads gave way to online ads, phone appointments to e-mail appointments, cocktail parties to Facebook. Who today can imagine not having a BlackBerry or an iPhone? In three years everyone will feel the same way about tablets. An e-blast reaches more people in seconds than a mailing could in days or weeks. Blogs define the writer as an expert, a go-to person, in a way that has no precedent in the pre-Web 2.0 era. So we need to be thinking, not “ how have I done up until now?” but “how do I see my place in the future, and what steps do I need to take to realize that vision?” Our only successful direction is forward.

Finally, I believe every one of us has a role to play. The vast majority of you will not have your names read this year as having been one of the top earners in your office. So I would like to address this third category to you. There are many ways to be a significant member of our Warburg family. Perhaps you are a great recruiter, spreading the word about what a terrific place Warburg is to work (believe me, we need as many of YOU as possible.) Perhaps you always have great ideas about listings when your colleagues are trying to figure out what to show. Maybe you just brighten everyone’s day a little by saying hello. While we are a business, and we need to function like a business, we are also a little world, and it takes all kinds of skills and personalities to make that world go around. So I honor you all, those who have made a million dollars and those who have not, those of you whose careers are ramping up and those of you who may be slowing down – you are all threads in the fabric of Warburg’s vibrant, evolving tapestry and you have my deep gratitude and respect.

I have been reading this afternoon (thanks to my wife) about the endowment effect, a behavioral economics term defined by Nofsinger as the fact that “people often demand much more to sell an object than they would be willing to pay to buy it” (it is also called the “status quo bias”), or by Goldberg and van Nitzsch as “the phenomenon in which most people would demand a considerably higher price for a product that they own than they would be prepared to pay for it.” This reading brought on an acute moment of clarity for me – here is much of my real estate career defined by a term I did not even know existed!

 

Most of us believe we are rational decision makers, and many of us (men in particular) believe strongly that those rational decisions are “data driven.”  But data is only information. It is the interpretation of data which leads us to conclusions; and as the endowment effect research indicates, such interpretations are substantially subjective. Otherwise how could we explain the different conclusions economists (or for that matter appraisers) arrive at when analyzing our economy (or the value of our homes). Because of our own desires and beliefs, we skew data interpretation towards the conclusions we prefer.

 

Those of us who work in real estate have seen this phenomenon in action over and over. Most of us have even felt it ourselves when we were acting as principals; I know I have. The way you relate to buyers when you have your seller hat on and the way you relate to sellers when you have your buyer hat on are completely different. Warburg recently worked with a seller who sold with us first, in a complex transaction involving multiple bids, time pressure, and a lot of reactivity. We then moved on to find that seller a new home. They immediately began contemplating making offers at percentage levels (relative to reasonable asking prices) at or even below those which they had found so infuriating and insulting  just weeks before, when they were sellers and not buyers. We found that our most effective antidote to this inclination was to invoke the buyer they had liked the least during their sales process (let’s call him “Dave”), and remind them that they didn’t want to “act like Dave.”

 

There are benefits for us all in awareness of the endowment effect. First, awareness of it should make it possible for sellers and agents alike to aim at more realistic value assessments. For buyers, forget that fantasy that this seller is “desperate” or that the estate HAS to settle by year’s end. Make a reasonable offer and that can probably lead to a reasonable deal. Overcoming the endowment effect is tougher for sellers. First, mint condition is, well, mint condition. The buyer won’t be wearing rose colored glasses or remembering the wonderful times you had there. And the market DOES speak when it comes to value. Enough time on the market, enough showings, and what the market will bear becomes apparent. The repute of your designer, the amazing hand painted murals, the heretofore undiscovered mine in Carrara  whence came the marble for the master bath … in the end, all that matters is what a buyer is willing to pay. The endowment effect reminds us that we are all only rational and data driven within limits, and it is healthy to remember what those limits are.

FUN THINGS TO DO IN NEW YORK CITY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON 2011

Having spent so many wonderful holiday seasons in New York City, we felt we’d share some of our favorite traditions and activities. We hope the attached serves as a useful guide to help you and your family navigate your way through some of New York’s great sights and attractions this season.

Christine Miller Martin & Hunter Hulshizer,

Warburg Realty Partnership

Christmas Holiday Shows and Events in New York City

Radio City Christmas Spectacular Presents its NEW 2011 Show

The Rockettes – Magical Journey.” (Radio City Music Hall, 1260 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10020; Now – January 2, 2012; $45 – $250)www.radiocitychristmas.com 866-858-0007.

12th Annual Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Square

Sidewalks come alive with street performances by musicians, jugglers, stilt walkers and more. The celebration begins with a neighborhood tree lighting ceremony at Dante Park – Broadway and 63^rd Street. Festivities continue along Broadway from Time Warner Center to 68^th Street. November 29, 2011 at 5:30pm. www.winterseve.org 212-581-3774

The Nutcracker

Angels, soldiers, and sugarplum fairies prance across the Lincoln Center stage in a show that delights children and adults alike.
(New York State Theater, Columbus Avenue & 63rd Street, Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023; November 25 – December 21, 2011. For tickets: www.nycballet.com/nutcracker/nutcracker.html

Handel’s Messiah

Trinity Church Wall Street – The perennial favorite that always sells out, this incredibly rich oratorio features an elaborate mix of chorus, soloists, and orchestra that must be heard live … and what better place than Trinity Church where it received its New World premiere in 1770. Conductor: Julian Wachner. With the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Robert Mealy, concertmaster. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Trinity Gift Shop, inside Trinity Church. Sunday, December 11, 2011 from 3pm to 6pm. 74 Trinity Place. 212-602-0800. http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/calendar/2011/12/11/messiah-george-frideric-handel/

Grand Central Terminal’s Kaleidoscope Light Show

See Grand Central in a whole new light! An all new Kaleidoscope show will grace the walls of New York's most famous historic landmark again this year. Come see what is becoming one of the most popular holiday shows in the city. Grand Central Terminal, 15 Vanderbilt Ave at 42nd St., New York, NY 10017; December 1, 2011 – January 1, 2012 . Shows run every half hour from 11am to 9pm daily. Free to the public. www.grandcentralterminal.com.

Holiday Shops and Activities in NYC

The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park –
Now – January 8, 2012. Open daily, the over 100 boutique-style shops and specialty food stores from around the world offer exquisite and distinctive apparel, jewelry, decorative goods, imported and local food, and much more. For a complete list of vendors, an insider’s guide to The Holiday Shops and more, please visit www.theholidayshopsatbryantpark.com or call 212-661-6640.

Holiday Shopping in Union Square - One of Manhattan’s most popular Holiday Markets, The Holiday Market in Union Square offers shoppers a wide variety of items which include handcrafted jewelry, fine art, clothes, handmade ornaments and toys. The market will be open from November 18, 2011 to December 24, 2011 from 11am to 8pm daily. Please note that it will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. www.urbanspacenyc.com/union-square.

Grand Central Holiday Fair- (Now-December 24th, 2011; Grand Central Terminal; 87 E. 42nd St. at Park Ave.) Stop by Grand Central Terminal for a warm and festive holiday shopping spree. The annually held Holiday Fair offers fun and original gift ideas and a merry atmosphere. Hours are 10am-8pm daily. Closed Thanksgiving Day.

Holiday Market at Columbus Circle- Open December 1 to December 24, 2011, 59^th Street and 8^th Avenue. 10am to 8pm daily.
www.urbanspacenyc.com/columbus-circle-holiday-market/

The Holiday Gift Shops at St. Bartholomew’s – 2011 marks the 7^th year for the Holiday Gift Shops at St. Bart’s. Open November 15 – December 24, 2011 from 8am to 8pm daily. On Park Avenue at 50^th street.

Holiday Window Displays

Lord & Taylor Holiday Window Displays (424 Fifth Avenue at 38th Street)
Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Window Displays (Fifth Avenue and 57th Street)
Saks Fifth Avenue Holiday Window Displays (611 Fifth Avenue between 49^th and 50^th Street)
Barneys New York Christmas Window Displays (660 Madison Avenue at 61st St.)
Bloomingdale's Christmas Window Displays (Lexington Avenue between 59th Street and 60th Street)
Macy’s Christmas Window Displays (Herald Square, between 34th and 35th on Broadway)

Most department stores run their holiday displays from mid-November to mid-January.

Not Just For Kids

The Museum of the City of New York 2011 Children’s Holiday Party- Arts, crafts, magic shows, a buffet supper and meeting with Santa Claus is enough to get any child in the holiday spirit. (Museum of the City of New York 1220 Fifth Avenue; Monday, December 12, from 3-6pm; visit http://www.mcny.org/public-programs/all/CHP2010.html 212-534-1672

Tenth Annual Grand Central Holiday Train Show November 22, 2011-January 16, 2012; New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex; Grand Central Terminal, 42nd St. between Vanderbilt & Lexington Avenues.
The New York Transit Museum Gallery at Grand Central Terminal is returning with its 9th annual Holiday Train Show which features a full train track with a fully functioning train and miniature New York City background. The vintage trains made by Lionel, American Flyer and Louis Marx & Company, which date as far back as the 1920s, will also be on display. www.mta.info/mta/museum/whatsnew.htm

New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show

November 19, 2011 - January 16, 2012 - The New York Botanical Garden- Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road. The New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show is a beautiful scene of The Big Apple built entirely out of plants and natural material like seeds, bark and leaves. A few of the included landmarks are the Brooklyn Bridge and The Statue of Liberty constructed by Paul Busse. The miniature trains are also incredibly impressive works of art to view and run the familiar New York City Landscape. www.nybg.org/hts

New York Zoos

Winter Fest at The Central Park Zoo – Enjoy the beauty of the Zoo at the best time of year – the winter holidays. On Fridays and Saturdays in December, hours will be extended to 6:30 pm so you can stop by in the afternoon or after work for a stroll under the lights. Visit cold weather creatures, enjoy family activities and Wildlife Theatre in the Zoo gallery, and watch the animals get gifted during holiday enrichment sessions. The snow monkeys will forage from trees strung with tasty fruits, red pandas will unpack gift boxes brimming with treats, and polar bears will receive frozen fish-cicles. www.centralparkzoo.com/plan-your-trip/events-calendar/presents-to-the-animals.aspx

Also enjoy holiday shopping at the Zootique, take a family holiday photo, and treat yourself to cookies and cocoa in the café. Activities take place from 2pm-6:30pm. December 2-3, 2011; December 9-10, 2011; and December 16-17, 2011.

Hess Clydesdale Carriage Rides at The Bronx Zoo-

Weekends November 6 through December 19 & December 26-31, 2011. Beloved Clydesdale horses Ranger, Jesse, and Monty will take guests on festive wagon rides around the zoo. Other features will include a petting zoo, ice carvings and puppets. Saturdays and Sundays throughout the holiday season. Special winter activities continue in December. $5 per person for ages 3 and up. http://www.bronxzoo.com/plan-your-trip/events-calendar/horse-drawn-carriage-rides.aspx

Hotels, Museums, Trees and Lights

Stop by to enjoy Madeline Tea at The Carlyle’s famous Bemelmans Bar. Madeline Tea is a delightfully playful afternoon for children and parents alike. Guests can listen and sing along to tunes from the Madeline Song Book with Tina de Varon while dining on Madeline’s Children’s Buffet, afternoon tea, or an a la carte menu for adults. Every Saturday with seatings at 10am and 12:30pm. Don’t forget to check out the gingerbread house on display in The Gallery. It’s an endless source of temptation for both young and the young at heart. Located at 35 East 76^th Street. www.thecarlyle.com 212-744-1600

Victorian Holiday Lighting (At the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center – Inside the Park on 110^th St between 5^th and Lenox Aves) - Sunday, December 4, 2011 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm. Celebrate the season in Manhattan’s Victorian winter wonderland at the Central Park Conservancy’s 15^th Annual Holiday Lighting. Enjoy hot cocoa, live carolers, cookie decorating, crafts and an opportunity to take photographs with Father Christmas. FREE. No advance registration. All ages welcome. For more information, call 212-860-1370. http://support.centralparknyc.org/site/Calendar/1253496182?view=Detail&id=112081

Origami Christmas Tree at the American Museum of Natural History – For over thirty years the museum has celebrated the holiday season with its origami tree. This year will be no exception as it will be decorated with the theme of discovery, from dinosaur digs to space exploration. Also, don’t miss the two 19-foot Holiday Barosaurs lit up for viewing as well. Tree viewing begins on November 21, 2011 and will remain up until January 2, 2012. Central Park West at 79^th Street. 212-875-5456 www.amnh.org

Christmas Tree at The Metropolitan Museum of Art- November 23, 2011-January 6, 2012. The Museum will display its Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Creche. The twenty foot spruce will be adorned with 18^th century Neapolitan angels and Cherubs flanking the nativity scene in the Museum’s Medieval Sculpture Hall. Lighting ceremonies are held Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 3:30pm and 4:30pm, and Fridays and Saturdays at 4:30pm, 5:30pm, and 6:30pm. 1000 5^th Ave at 82^nd Street. www.metmuseum.org 212-535-7710.

Park Avenue Tree Lighting Ceremony– Sunday, December 4, 2011 6:30pm. The Brick Presbyterian Church located at 91^st Street and Park Ave. Every year since 1945 the firs that line Park Avenue have been lit to remember and honor those who have lost their lives in our nation’s wars.

Tree Lighting Celebration at Citi Pond inside Bryant Park- Thursday, December 2, 2011 at 6pm. www.bryantpark.org

Lighting of the World’s Largest Hanukkah Menorah- This 32 foot tall, two ton candelabra will be lit at the Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue and 59^th Street. The nightly lighting ceremonies will be accompanied by folk dancing and holiday jelly donuts. The festivities take place on December 1 – December 9, 2011 at 5:30 pm and 3:30pm on Fridays.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting- Tuesday, November 29, 2011. 7pm-9pm. The Norway Spruce will be illuminated by 30,000 environmentally friendly LED lights on five miles of wire! www.rockefellercenter.com

Chorus Tree at South Street Seaport - Don’t miss the tree lighting on Friday, November 25, 2011 at the South Street Seaport’s Historic Cobblestone Area – South Street and Fulton. 6pm. Soon enough, the bright lights of New York City are going to be drowned out by the beautiful lights of the holiday. The South Street Seaport is kicking it off with a traditional tree lighting ceremony where a 55 foot Norway Spruce will be lit up the day after Thanksgiving. Santa will be available for complimentary photos from 6:30pm-8pm. Carolers perform Fridays at 6pm and 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm and 4 pm through Christmas. It provides a festive break from the holiday madness. www.southstreetseaport.com

Santa

Macy’s Santaland and Puppet Theatre- Visit the real Santa Claus at Macy’s Santaland located on the 8^th floor of Macy’s Herald Square. Open daily from 9am to 9pm, from Friday, November 25 through Saturday, December 24, 2011. Admission is free.

Ice Skating in New York

The Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center – www.therinkatrockcenter.com 212-332-7654

Citi Pond at Bryant Park - Citi Pond is the centerpiece of Bryant Park’s winter season. The 170’ x 100’ rink features free admission skating in addition to high quality rentals. Open October 29^th, 2011 until February 27^th, 2012. Sunday through Thursday, 8am – 10pm and Friday and Saturdays from 8am –midnight. www.citipondatbryantpark.com

Trump Wollman Rink – Located in Central Park, the rink is near the east side of the Park, just steps from the Central Park Zoo and The Plaza Hotel. It offers ice hockey, a skating school and party facilities. For more information including rink hours call 212-439-6900 or visit www.wollmanskatingrink.com.

Best Places for Hot Chocolate

Dylan’s Candy Bar – Visit the upper level of this Willy Wonka like candy store for a mug of hot chocolate topped with either cookies, birthday cake or, of course, candy. One size $7.00 www.dylanscandystore.com 1011 Third Ave.

Sant Ambroeus – 1000 Madison Avenue (between 77^th and 78^th St.) 212-570-2211 www.santambroeus.com . Their hot chocolate is beyond!

Lexington Candy Shop – Sit at the counter and have an old New York experience as you and your children will enjoy the classic Nestle’s cocoa. One size: $1.50 or $2.95 made with milk. 1226 Lexington Avenue at 83^rd Street. www.lexingtoncandyshop.com.

Holiday Lights Bus Tour

Year after year New York is the top destination for Holiday travels. Come get a taste of why Christmas in New York makes the season bright for so many. See the lights, the music, everything that makes New York spectacular during the holidays! On this guided bus tour through New York you will see the city’s famous holiday lights! Come see Rockefeller Center’s Holiday splendor. Rockefeller Center’s lighted Christmas tree and its outdoor skating rink are just some of the many sites you’ll enjoy on this unforgettable tour of New York City and its Holiday lights. The tour runs approximately 3 hours daily at 7pm, 7:30pm, or 8pm, November 23, 2011 – January 1, 2012. Tickets range from Free for children under the age of 5, $33.95 for children between the ages of 5-11 and 48.95 for Adults. There is a $5 savings for tours booked online. Reserve online or call toll free at 888-880-9108.

http://www.nytours.us/?event=offer.detail&offerId=5170

Christine Miller Martin, Managing Director - 212-439-5194 / cmartin@warburgrealty.com

Hunter Hulshizer, Licensed Salesperson - 212-439-4564 / hhulshizer@warburgrealty.com