Brokers
April 25, 2008
Oh, Baby! Class Action Suit Alleges Broker Discrimination
This morning there are articles in the Times, the Sun, and the Post about a class-action lawsuit alleging that agents from Brown Harris Stevens' Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights offices discriminated against a couple because they had a kid. The couple, Jamie Katz and Lisa Nocera, started looking to move from Manhattan to Brooklyn in 2006, when Nocera was pregnant. They found an apartment they wanted to rent in Brooklyn Heights but a broker from Brown Harris Stevens told them they couldn't rent it because the landlord didn't want kids in the unit. A year later the couple, who now had a baby, was once again trying to uproot to Brooklyn but were denied a Park Slope rental they wanted because the owner told another Brown Harris Stevens agent that the apartment had lead paint and therefore wasn't safe for kids. Katz and Nocera are claiming that the refusal to rent to them violated federal, state, and city anti-discrimination laws, which specify that a landlord can't say he won't rent to prospective tenants based on "family status." As the Times article points out, many brokers are unaware—or choose to ignore—the laws. The broker for the Park Slope apartment, for example, allegedly left a voice mail message for the couple saying the following: “There was a child there before and ... it was just a big, big, big problem and they’re just, they just absolutely are not going to go through that again...They just don’t want to have to deal with it.” The suit seeks to ensure that Brown Harris Stevens agents comply with the law, and, if successful, it'll probably influence the way brokers around the city behave towards would-be renters with children. "The brokers are enabling the discriminatory goals of the landlord," the lawyer representing the couple told the Post.
Couple’s Suit Accuses Real Estate Firm of Bias Against Children [NY Times]
Real Estate Firm Sued Over Child Discrimination [NY Sun]
Apt. Suit: It's Bias Vs. Kids [NY Post]
Photo by Lab2112.
February 20, 2008
Corco Sets Up Shop in Williamsburg
The real estate market is alive and well in Williamsburg. Or not. Sandwiched between bagels and hardware, Corcoran's latest office—their fourth in the borough, first in the Burg—opened yesterday in a L-shaped space that runs through from a storefront at 241 Bedford Avenue to an entrance on North 3rd Street (above). Under the watch of broker Eric McFarland, the office has room for 42 brokers and is currently about 2/3 full. The office launches with a couple of big projects already under its belt, 349 Metropolitan and 100 North 3rd Street. Whether this is a prescient call that will position the Big C to cash in on the thousands of units slated to come online in the area in the next few years or a case of being the last one to board a sinking ship remains to be seen. Either way, it can't be good news for the likes of Apartments & Lofts. GMAP
November 26, 2007
Brokerage Switcheroo Frustrating Sellers?
We missed news of this when it was first announced, but last month Brooklyn-based Fillmore Real Estate bought 1,400 New York City-area listings from bankrupt discount brokerage Foxtons. Fillmore said the $110,000 buyout would increase the brokerage’s listings by almost 50 percent and help it expand beyond Brooklyn. But we’ve been getting reports that the deal may not be great news for some sellers. Apparently, Fillmore hasn't been completely cooperative about letting some people out of the contracts they had with Foxtons. We got in touch with Fillmore president John Reinhardt, who told us that only about a dozen ex-Foxtons sellers have tried to get out of their contracts with Fillmore, in most cases because they're dealing with another broker who wants to get a full commission for the property. And Reinhardt says that most of the sellers who had been using Foxtons have been "thrilled" with Fillmore's services. "We've hired a number of new agents and publicized the homes better than Foxtons," says Reinhardt. "We've been selling those homes left and right." Anyone who's personally experienced the Foxtons-Fillmore changeup care to differ?
Fillmore Rises, As Foxtons Sinks [NY Sun]
November 7, 2007
Prices Too Lofty on Warren Street?
It’s looking like a Cobble Hill condo’s having a tough time finding takers. We got word from the fine folks at StreetEasy that Two Trees had been yanked as the exclusive brokers for 335 Warren (aka the Warren Lofts)—a job they’d been on since late spring—and that Brown Harris Stevens has started marketing the Scarano-designed building just off Smith Street. The eight units, which range from 1,000 to 2,500 square feet, are running between $585,000 and $975,000—prices that don’t seem too far-fetched for this neck of the woods (though they’re pretty near the Gowanus Houses). We’re hearing buzz that sub-optimal layouts may be to blame for the lackluster sales here. Can anyone corroborate?
335 Warren Listings [StreetEasy] GMAP
335 Warren Listing [Brown Harris Stevens]
October 15, 2007
Brooklyn Sales Market: Let's Make a Deal
The Times examines what a Brooklyn homebuyer’s gotta do to catch a break in a market that’s “a bundle of contradictions.” On the one hand, tony nabes like the Slope and the Heights are pricier than ever before. On the other hand, developers in areas where a lot of new construction’s recently been completed, like Williamsburg, are cutting prices so that units don’t languish on the market. For example, the developer of 149 Conselyea Street recently decided to sell units for $425,000 to $799,000; a year ago, the condo’s projected asking prices were running between $599,000 and $995,000. Across the board, brokers say sellers are now more open to negotiations than they have been in quite some time. “We’re definitely negotiating,” said Christine Blackburn, a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker. “It’s not a market in which anyone wants to lose deals. Every deal is precious because there’s a lot of uncertainty.” Can house hunters out there vouch for an uptick in give-and-take?
Brooklyn: A Bargain Hunter’s Guide [NY Times]
October 12, 2007
Brokerage Switcheroo at PLG Condo Project
The 15-unit condo at 2233 Caton Avenue, Lefferts South, has been taken out of the Developers Group's marketing hands and passed along to a team at Prudential Douglas Elliman. Three of the building's units went into contract c/o TDG, according to Hakim Edwards, one of the Elliman agents who's now marketing the building's remaining nine units (the sponsor sold the other three). Prices haven't dropped at the condo since March, and are running between $399,000 and $499,000 for two-bedrooms ranging from 831 to 979 square feet. To drum up interest, Elliman is planning on staging units and is co-broking between 5 and 6.5 percent, as opposed to TDG's 4 percent. Any drama, scandal or intrigue behind the brokerage switch? Not really. "We have more of a network of brokers than the Developers Group does," says Edwards. "And the Developers Group had the misfortune of not working with a finished project."
2233 Caton Avenue Listing [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
New Development: The Oddly-Named Lefferts South [Brownstoner]
October 4, 2007
The Argyle: Using 5th Avenue to Sell 4th
A new 4th Avenue condo is temporarily taking up prime 5th Avenue space. The marketing team for 4th Avenue’s Argyle, a 12-story development on 7th Street, is opening a sales center on foot-traffic heavy 5th Avenue, between 1st and 2nd streets. The sales center’s construction crew said the space would probably be completed within the next few days, and that it would include a model bathroom and kitchen (see photo on jump). Corcoran is handling sales for the Argyle, an L-shaped building designed by Meltzer/Mandl. And how much sense does it make to market a 4th Avenue condo on 5th? A lot, according to one of the crewmembers sprucing up the sales center. “So many people have come in here and asked what we’re doing,” he said, “that I think these apartments are going to sell in a flash.”
Is it a pattern? [Bklynking] GMAP
Development Watch: 410 Fourth Avenue [Brownstoner]
October 2, 2007
Not Much Brooklyn Love on REBNY Site
The Brooklyn Eagle gives the Real Estate Board of New York's new website a whirl and finds its Kings County listings a bit lacking. As of Friday, there were 501 Brooklyn listings from six firms (as search we did yesterday only came up with 490, while a search for Manhattan listings yielded more than 2,300 results). Corcoran and Elliman have already received a lot of press for opting out of the REBNY portal, but it turns out a number of heavy-hitting Brooklyn brokerages—including RE/MAX, Fillmore and Brooklyn Properties—have also decided not to participate. And that’s left REBNY’s site with a dearth of Brooklyn listings, especially in some prime areas: As of yesterday, there were a scant 36 listings in Brooklyn Heights and 25 in Park Slope. (Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Kensington and Sunset Park each had fewer than 10 listings.) It remains to be seen whether more brokerages will decide to participate in the site and swell the number of Brooklyn listings. For the time being, it looks like it’s going to be of limited utility for Brooklyn house hunters.
New Real Estate Web Site Lists Relatively Few Brooklyn Properties [Brooklyn Eagle]
21st Century, Ahoy: REBNY Rolling Out Web Listings [Brownstoner]
September 25, 2007
21st Century, Ahoy: REBNY Rolling Out Web Listings
The Real Estate Board of New York announced it would launch its long-in-the-works web portal this Friday. The site, ResidentialNYC.com, will be free and feature sales and rental listings from participating REBNY brokerages. The idea is to offer a centralized, one-stop shop for prospective renters and buyers so they don't have to jump from one brokerage's website to another. The portal's not necessarily going to fulfill the one-stop goal, though: The city's two biggest residential brokerages, Corcoran and Elliman, reportedly decided against participating in the public listings service. Think this'll fly if the big C and E aren’t joining the party? Would you use it?
REBNY Readies Web Portal--Where's Corcoran & Elliman? [NY Observer]
REBNY to Launch Free Web Portal [Real Deal]