LuxuryBlurb
Posts Tagged ‘Real Estate’
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 23rd, 2011
Are we all too quick to pass judgement without taking a long hard look in the mirror?
This week saw two amazing instances of mass judgement: Firstly, everyone everywhere, especially in the press, voiced their OUTRAGE at Rupert Murdoch and his organization’s hacking misdeeds….of course, NONE of these organizations passing judgement have participated in any form of ‘questionable practices’ to obtain their stories, and of course NONE of the people who read (and often believe the trash) these newspapers are in any way complicit by having supported these papers for so long by buying and reading them….hmmmm…..
Last night fair and balanced FOX’s Bill O’ Reilly highlighted what most people were thinking: that the Norwegian extremist who killed dozens yesterday in Oslo was a Muslim or Muslim sympathizer. Bill automatically assumed something as heinous as this crime against society could only be perpetrated by a Muslim. Well, he was wrong, and so were many (most?)of us who assumed the same thing. We had all forgotten the Oklahoma bombing. We had all forgotten just how violent all religious fanatics are, or have been, throughout history. Hopefully this horrible incident reminds us all that we as a society need to fight off all extremists, on the left and on the right: Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Aetheist, whatever. Extremists are the cancer of our planet.
Here are some other ironic, often stupid, examples I have been pondering of our natural leaning towards passing judgement on others:
The LEFT is keen on raising taxes on the rich. They have classified the rich as those earning above $ 250,000.00 without any regard of where they live and the cost of living in that city. Wait till these same judges see the effects of these “rich people” losing their mortgage tax deduction which looks like it will either be removed or sharply reduced.
The RIGHT runs on fiscal conservatism, yet operates like the most disfunctional corporation on the planet: Would a good CEO only focus on cutting costs without raising income? Would any smart CEO continue to allow some corporations to benefit by huge tax breaks that don’t need them? If the right was so outraged about the ‘bailing out of Wall Street’, why are they not as concerned about the add-huge-profits-to-the-bottom-line for the most profitable companies on the planet such as EXXON and GE?
On GOOD MORNING AMERICA on Wednesday, a segment showcased twins wearing very similar outfits, one inexpensive, and the other the ‘designer’, expenisve version….we had to guess which was which…..everyone cheered loudly for the inexpensive version: why would anyone not want those $ 30 jeans? …..the ones made in China…..the ones that took a job away from an American….the profit from those jeans will stay outside of the US so they will not get taxed….the tax dollars that may have helped pay down our debt….
New York liberals complain bitterly about the rising costs of renting in the City. These are often the same people that demand more benefits from the City and State, earlier retirement ages, etc. So real estate taxes are raised to pay for these benefits on those who own the real estate…. who are then compelled to raise the rents. How DARE they?
Christian Conservatives are outraged by abortion (and often any form of birth control)…..yet they seem quite comfortable with wars. Who chooses what life is precious and what life is not? These same Christian conservatives know well that once you ban abortions, the least educated, poorest will produce even more welfare recipients……the benefits the Christian conservatives want to cut the most…..
Many Sellers who earn millions of dollars each year are outraged by brokers fees. Why can’t brokers work for free?
Condominiums pride themselves at being the ‘un-co-op’, the sane alternative to revelaing your life to your neighbors, yet now demand disclosure from buyers on a very similar level to that of the craziest co-op boards.
New York City cyclists DEMANDED respect from the awful car-driving masses, so they were given miles of biker lanes…..have you noticed how many of them (the vast majority?) disobey any form of the law? Running lights, going up streets the wrong way…..and avoiding the bike lanes?
Last week all applauded (myself included)the new computer-system to control mid-town traffic in New York. That computer will replace the need for several low skilled workers with a few high-skilled workers, thus eliminating more jobs. Yes, technology is wonderful, but it does eliminate jobs. And if we do not educate the unemployed to thrive in the new high-tech world, they will remain unemployed…..and cost the States and Federal governement lots….and they won’t produce any tax revenues….and they won’t be in a position to consume in the same manner as if they were employed. Thankfully Mayor Bloomberg announced in the same week plans for bidding on a new high-tech college campus: We need more Bloomberg’s in government. Smart. (not perfect either, who is?)
And lasty, the poor consumer. For the last two years everyone has been deriding them for their irresposible, evil and wreckless spending habits, charging up those credit cards (that benefit the bankers and all their shareholders most with those crazy interest rates), getting mortgages they could not afford on homes they did not need, spending out of control, landing us in the GREAT RECESSION. Now those same fiscal conservatives are stunned by the slow growth in GDP, realizing (what a shock!) that the USA’s economy is driven by the consumer….who is being so much more responsible now…..but it is their fault the economy is not growing, because they are not spending as extravegantly.
My verdict: we are all guilty. There is only one way to clean up the mess, and that is to start in our own back yards.
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 29th, 2011
Some banks are being like governments right now: stupid. When banks do not want to lend to highly qualified, super-reliable, well educated, credit worthy clients, we should conclude that we have a MAJOR problem. When these same banks make everything in the application process so difficult, cumbersome, illogical and painful, they cease being real banks in my opinion.
When banks willfully hire inept appraisors that appraise property stupidly (without a detailed understanding of the market, often citing comparable sales that have little or no bearing on the property at hand) we all lose. The economy loses. The taxpayer loses. Governments lose. Job growth stalls. The process grinds. Transfer tax revenue slows. Income tax revenue slows. Home improvement and renovation stalls. The list goes on.
Another bank stupidity: Why would banks wait endlessly (in the hopes of a default that would lead to foreclosure?)and not renegotiate the rate of a loan to make the monthly payment manageable for a property owner experiencing difficulty?
When you hear about some banks reliance on excessive punitive fees to create the bulk of their profits, one cannot be surprised at their inability to create smart profits through real banking practices.
Obviously this stupidity does not apply to all banks: there are exceptions. One has to hope that banks that are acting prudently now destroy those banks that are not and rid our society of this dirty, stupid element of society.
Sunday, May 8th, 2011
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 8, 2011
We live in new times, which requires adjusting. All of us are doing it. Some Democrats are talking about deficits, some Republicans are talking about energy savings and green energy. Condominiums are talking about reserve funds and closer scrutiny of buyers. Yet many co-ops appear to be stuck in a time warp, and very clearly impact the value of the real estate they own.
I was chatting to a broker the other day about a co-op apartment she is trying to sell on the Upper East Side. It is a large one bedroom, over 1,000sf in size in a doorman building. It is asking a little over $ 650/sf. It is not in the most desirable location, but certainly a good one, moments from a Park. Maybe its time for buildings like this one to re-evaluate its co-op policies. Maybe co-ops that are under-valued could take on new life by adopting new rules such as a more liberal sub-leasing policy, installing a slick gym in the basement, updating the lobby, not just through a design comittee of owners, but through a serious comparison to other buildings that are valued at more than double. I often see apartments in these tired co-ops and marvel at the scale of the rooms, although ceiling heights in some are horrible. I wonder why a co-op would think that AC window-units were either economical or esthetically pleasing to anyone anymore: they are neither.
Another good idea would be to specify more clearly what board requirements these co-ops have, and maybe align them more with the real world.
Condo’s have adopted many ‘co-op-style’ rules to improve the quality of life in their buildings.
Yes, it is true the co-op structure has kept the New York market very stable and that should continue, but maybe the time has come to re-invent the co-op, keeping all that is good and eliminating all the bad, counter-productive stuff that hurts the prospects of future owners, but worse, de-values the homes of many un-necessarily.
It is time for all of us, condo’s and co-ops, Democrats and Republicans, parents and kids, husbands and wives, corporations and employees, unions and governments, to stike a fair balance and meet in the middle…..do whats best, not focusing exclusively on what is purely self-serving and counter productive to the big picture.
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 23, 2011
Overheard tonight at a little gathering in a swell penthouse overlooking all of Manhattan, amidst dramatic lightening and ice/hail….A 3-unit combination apartment st THE PLAZA has gone to contract for around $ 48million….and a rather swell pad at TIME WARNER has gone to contract for around $ 33million: The luxury, BILLIONAIRE BUYER is back in town! These prices are headline grabbing indeed even for the New York luxury real estate market.
Saturday, January 8th, 2011
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 8, 2011
Robert Knakal of Massey Knakal, a leading brokerage for smaller commercial buildings, just reported that Commercial real estate market conditions continue to exert upward pressure on value as an acute supply/demand imbalance leaves thousand of active buyers fighting over relatively few available properties. Coupled with an extraordinarily low interest rate environment, sellers are able to obtain surprisingly strong prices today. The recession is officially over and the upward climb has begun. (we saw this starting many months ago.)
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
  Yesterday I visited EATALY for the first time, the new food emporium of Mario Batali…..what an experience! The line at the front door was the reminiscent of Studio 54: who would be chic enough to get past that velvet rope from a line stretched around onto 5th Avenue? I had to negotiate hard, explaining a friend was inside seated at a table waiting for me. That explanation was not good enough. I put on my svelte sunglasses and pretended to be uber-chic….that helped.
Inside was a truly cavernous melange of incredible displays of every imaginable food type….fresh fish, vegetables, ice cream, books, wine….EVERYTHING ITALIAN. The presentation is beautiful, although a bit chaotic with the drones of people everywhere. For anyone on vacation its a dream come true. For anyone wanting a gastronomic escape on a rainy day, its amazing. Real Estate wise it fuels the neighborhood around Madison Square Park to the point where I would estimate values will rise 5%….easily. The service is super-slow, almost bad, but this is to be expected at the very beginning. they had better work on it hard before they lose repeat business though.
Leonard Steinberg, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman and author of the LUXURYLETTER says: “Overall it’s a winner!”
Sunday, August 29th, 2010
 The USA may indeed be following another European trend: The birth rate has dipped due to the recession according to a report on Yahoo news. This is an alarming trend: While reducing population that may require welfare, it is usually the more educated , wealthier citizens who cut back on family size thus reducing the number of future consumers (and taxpayers!). Then again, fewer kids could translate to more disposable cash for adults, especially of benefit to the luxury market. Maybe its time to re-evaluate our immigration policies and invite more, educated, smart, hard-workers into the country? They usually end up buying high end real estate too….
ON YAHOO NEWS to-day…..Forget the Dow and the GDP. Here’s the latest economic indicator: The U.S. birth rate has fallen to its lowest level in at least a century as many people apparently decided they couldn’t afford more mouths to feed.
The birth rate dropped for the second year in a row since the recession began in 2007. Births fell 2.6 percent last year even as the population grew, numbers released Friday by the National Center for HealthStatistics show.
“It’s a good-sized decline for one year. Every month is showing a decline from the year before,” said Stephanie Ventura, the demographer who oversaw the report.
The birth rate, which takes into account changes in the population, fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That’s down from 14.3 in 2007 and way down from 30 in 1909, when it was common for people to have big families.
The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation’s history. The recession began that fall, dragging down stocks, jobs and births.
“When the economy is bad and people are uncomfortable about their financial future, they tend to postpone having children. We saw that in the Great Depression the 1930s and we’re seeing that in the Great Recession today,” said Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“It could take a few years to turn this around,” he added.
The birth rate dipped below 20 per 1,000 people in 1932 and did not rise above that level until the early 1940s. Recent recessions, in 1981-82, 1990-91 and 2001, all were followed by small dips in the birth rate, according to CDC figures.
The Great Recession “is definitely a deterrent” to people having more children, said Dr. Michael Cabbad, chief of maternal health at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, where births declined from about 2,800 in 2008 to about 2,500 last year.
Even Cabbad’s son said he’d like to have more children “if his business plan works out.”
Nearly half of low- and middle-income women surveyed a year ago by the Guttmacher Institute said they wanted to delay pregnancy or limit the number of children they have because of money concerns. Half of those women also said the recession made them more focused on contraceptive use. Guttmacher researches reproductive health issues.
Besides finances, experts said a decline in immigration to the United States also may be pushing births down.
The downward trend invites worrisome comparisons to Japan and its “lost decade” of economic stagnation in the 1990s, which was accompanied by very low birth rates. Births in Japan fell 2 percent in 2009 after a slight rise in 2008.
Not so in Britain, where the population took its biggest jump in almost half a century last year and the fertilityrate is at its highest level since 1973. France’s birth rate also has been rising; Germany’s birth rate is lower but rising as well.
Cherlin said the U.S. birth rate “is still higher than the birth rate in many wealthy countries and we also have many immigrants entering the country. So we do not need to be worried yet about a birth dearth” that would crimp the nation’s ability to take care of its growing elderly population.
The new U.S. report is a rough count of births from states. It estimates there were 4,136,000 births in 2009, down from a year ago’s estimate of 4,247,000 in 2008 and more than 4.3 million in 2007.
The report does not give details on trends in different age groups. That will come next spring and will give a clearer picture who is and is not having children, Ventura said.
Last spring’s report, on births in 2008, showed an overall drop but a surprising rise in births to women over 40, who may have felt they were running out of time to have children and didn’t want to delay despite the bad economy.
Women who postpone having children because of careers also may find they have trouble conceiving, said Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based demographic research group.
“For some of those women, they’re going to find themselves in their mid-40s where it’s going to be hard to have the number of children they want,” he said.
Heather Atherton is nearing that mark. The Sacramento, Calif., mom, who turns 36 next month, started a home-based public relations business after her daughter was born in 2003. She and her husband upgraded to a larger home in 2005 and planned on having a second child not long afterward. Then the recession hit, drying up her husband’s sales commissions and leaving them owing more on their home than it is worth. A second child seemed too risky financially.
“However, we just recently decided that it’s time to stop waiting and just go for it early next year and let the chips fall where they may,” she said. “We can’t allow the recession to dictate the size of our family. We just need to move forward with our lives.”
“This trend could result in smaller houses, apartments, and so much more,” says Leonard Steinberg, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman. “It could also result in larger cities becoming more and more desirable.”
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
 Imagine these awnings (or a version thereof) attached to all sunny sides of buildings in Manhattan where the awnings not only provide cover from the sun and rain, but also produce power…..what about small solar panels or wind turbines that you plug in just like a small appliance?…..that’s the promise of a Seattle, Washington-based start-up that is working to provide renewable energy options — solar panels and wind turbines — for homes and small businesses. The panels cost as little as $600 and plug directly into a power outlet.
The company, Clarian Power, aims to be the first to bring a plug-in solar power system to the market, in 2011.
Clarian’s president, Chad Maglaque, says the company’s product is different from existing micro-inverters, which convert solar panels’ power into AC current. Maglaque says his system has built-in circuit protection, doesn’t require a dedicated electrical panel and plugs directly into a standard electrical outlet.
“Within the next 5 years, we will see a radical volume (think i-pod) of new, highly creative systems in New York real estate installed to create clean energy,” says Leonard Steinberg, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman and leader of the LUXURYLOFT team. “We have been touting these systems for years in LUXURYLETTER, the monthly newsletter on the goings on of luxury Manhattan real estate.”
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
 So you felt sluggish through the Summer heat because of the heat? Think again. A city Department of Health study on summer air quality released yesterday showed a troubling finding: Even quieter neighborhoods that don’t have New York’s infamous crowds, traffic and skyscrapers suffer from high levels of smog…..and this bad air quality contributes greatly to one’s feeling of well being besides the heat.
The report, which examined various types of air pollution, revealed that a variety of contamination occurs throughout the city, depending on the type of neighborhood. ”The take-home message here is that the air quality just isn’t great anywhere in New York City. What’s surprising is just how variable the air quality is across the city,” Deputy Health Commissioner Daniel Kass said.
While cars, busses and trucks are a great cause of the pollution, buildings are equally offensive. So will this affect Manhattan real estate? Here is a list of where we think changes can be made to improve the air quality:
1) A greater reliance on hybrid and electric vehicles
2) Increased planting of trees, a tremendous asset in cleansing air.
3) More public transportation.
4) Heavier fines for heavy polluters to persuade them to clean up. What about all those retail stores that keep their front doors open in Summer blasting icy cold air onto the streets while doubling their consumption?
5) More pedestrian zones without traffic, especially Midtown.
6) Buildings wil have to clean up and LEED certification will become a pre-requisite for new construction.
7) Pre-war buildings especially will have to re-think those super-inefficient window units.
 Existing buildings will have to retrofit with new, more efficient systems throughout, including more energy efficient windows and upgraded insulation.
9) Green roofs, wind and solar power will become more prevelant on building roofs. Think of the MILLIONS of square feet of roof space that could be utilized….
10) Energy efficient thermostats that modify AC use more efficiently.
11) Build smoke chambers on the streets for those pesky smokers who stand in front of buildings smoking up a storm: Maybe if they had to inhale 100% of the smoke they create, not the 10% they take in while puffing, they would re-consider this filthy habit that impacts us all.
“Maybe this is why Rush Limbaugh moved away from New York: For someone so anti-environmental causes, he probably saw how polluted the city was and continues to preach against cleaning up from a less polluted location so that he is not affected by it,” says Leonard Steinberg, leader of the LUXURYLOFT team, a broker specialized in the marketing of luxury New York real estate. “With evidence this clear, it must be extremely difficult to deny that something has to be done to clean up our air: Sitting in an air-conditioned studio, or the back of a Maybach of course does not help expose you to the realities of life.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/choke_on_us_jlddqVpVYRYpktYNtYbJ7I#ixzz0wxO7p4r5
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
 While politicians bury their heads in the sand and focus on pointing fingers for blame, building mosques and Bristol Palin, the single largest problem our economy is dealing with is still housing. Until we have a solid plan in place to clean up the housing mess and a solidly revised plan for the future of financing housing, the chance of future financial meltdowns remains strong and certain. We MUST remove politics from this debate: voters should insist on it. The lax laws governing qualifying for housing financing has cost this country way too much. And both parties are to blame for this in their embarrassing quest for power.
Reuters reports that the Obama administration called for “fundamental change” at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but a long, politically explosive debate lies ahead on the future of the bailed-out mortgage finance giants and U.S. housing policy.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday raised basic questions with housing industry leaders about the U.S. government’s long-standing role in subsidizing and supporting the $10.7 trillion housing market.
“It is not tenable to leave in place the system we have today,” Geithner said at a conference hosted by the Treasury Department almost two years after the government seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to save them from collapse.
Since then, the two firms have received nearly $150 billion in taxpayer bailout money and have been placed in conservatorship, sharply restricting their past activities.
“We will not support returning Fannie and Freddie to the role they played before conservatorship, where they took market share from private competitors while enjoying the perception of government support,” Geithner said.
“We will not support a return to the system where private gains are subsidized by taxpayer losses.”
The conference, with some of the mortgage sector’s top lenders and investors, is billed as a “listening session” for the administration to gather ideas as it develops an overhaul plan by January. No major changes are expected before 2011.
“It’s safe to say there’s no clear consensus yet on how best to design a new system,” Geithner said. “But this administration will side with those who want fundamental change.”
With Congress focused on elections in November, federal spending coffers depleted and nerves on edge about changes that could trigger another housing crash, lawmakers looked likely to move slowly on overhauling housing finance, analysts said.
Enthusiasm in some quarters for removing government from housing finance was certain to collide with the political reality that housing subsides, such as the mortgage interest deduction, are deeply entrenched facets of U.S. economic life.
The problems and costs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not addressed in the sweeping Wall Street reform legislation approved by the U.S. Congress in July — a yawning gap in the Democratic bill that Republicans have sharply criticized.
Bank and mortgage-backed securities investors are watching warily as the administration weighs options, ranging from full nationalization at one extreme to privatization with no government support at the other, and alternatives in between.
Geithner said there is a strong case for a carefully designed government guarantee for mortgages, and that a key question will be whether the private sector can provide a form of insurance or guarantee on its own.
“The challenge is to make sure than any government guarantee is priced to cover the risk of losses, and structured to minimize taxpayer exposure,” Geithner said.
A government guarantee is considered essential to at least one major investor — Bill Gross, co-founder of bond-trading firm Pacific Investment Management Co. Gross told the housing conference participants that a government guarantee is needed to keep mortgages affordable.
Geithner also said government should reassess how it promotes access to affordable housing.
Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, told the conference the government’s “footprint” in housing finance needs to be much smaller than it is today.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration now back 90 percent of new U.S. home mortgages, he added.
Geithner stressed a smooth transition period so as not to disrupt the fragile housing market. “As we go through this transition, it is important that consumers maintain access to credit at attractive rates,” he said.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both jumped into subprime mortgages during the housing boom in the early 2000s in an attempt to broaden home ownership — with disastrous results.
Participants at the conference included executives from Wells Fargo and Bank of America, as well as Lewis Ranieri, who helped develop the model for the private mortgage-backed securities market that was central to the housing bubble that burst in 2007-2008.
The conference occurred a day after U.S. home-builder sentiment unexpectedly fell for a third straight month in August to its lowest level in nearly 1-1/2 years, according to a survey that added to evidence of slowing economic recovery.
A stubborn housing crisis is likely to weigh on voters already concerned about a sluggish economy headed into November elections.
Across America, the average congressional district has more than 9 percent of its mortgages delinquent by 90 days or more, according to a study by Deutsche Bank. That’s more than 2-1/2 times the delinquency rate on election day in 2008
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lola gardner 
One of many far better reports Truly learn just lately, great issue.