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Feds: Senator Stole From Brooklyn Foreclosure Victims
State Senator John L. Sampson has been indicted for allegedly embezzling more than $400,000 from escrow accounts containing money from the sales of foreclosed homes in Brooklyn, numerous outlets reported. He spent the money on a campaign for Brooklyn D.A. in 2005, according to prosecutors. He has also been accused of enlisting a real estate developer Edul Ahmad to help cover his tracks. Ahmad pled guilty to mortgage fraud in 2012, according to The New York Times. Senator Sampson’s district includes parts of Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Brownsville and Canarsie.
Senator in Corruption Case Spoke of Silencing Witnesses, Prosecutors Say [NY Times]
Senator Sampson Surrenders to FBI on Charges of Embezzlement [NY Daily News]
Senator Sampson Stole $440K from Foreclosure Victims, Feds Charge [DNAinfo]
Photo via nysenate.gov
05/07/2013 9:30 AM
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The Real Estate-Schools Connection
Over the weekend, the Times examined the relationship between real estate and school zone. Securing a place at a good public school has become more difficult recently, according to the paper; overcrowding and rezoning mean parents can’t count on admittance to certain schools based on where they live. (The recent rezoning of Park Slope’s P.S. 321, above, was cited as a prime example.) The paper offers several methods of coping: Rent until a child is admitted, then move; find an as-yet-undiscovered but good school; move into a developing neighborhood and either send the kids to a school several neighborhoods over or wait or help the local schools to change; move into cheaper housing and send the kids to private. The story related the experience of an editor and music booker who moved from a rental in Prospect Heights to buy an apartment in Crown Heights and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of a new school in their zone. Have any of these methods worked for you?
The Get-Into-School Card [NY Times]
Photo by DNAinfo
05/06/2013 9:00 AM
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Closing Bell: Real Estate Summit Happening Next Week
Next week on May 9th, it’s the Brooklyn Real Estate Summit. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, TerraCRG and aptsandlofts.com are hosting the all-day, Brooklyn-based real estate conference, which will take place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It’ll feature keynote speaker Jed Walentas as well as a long list of heavy-hitting guests in the Brooklyn real estate scene. Panels will cover the retail activity in the borough, building with green materials, the hotel development boom, tenant buyouts, and the Brooklyn residential development pipeline. Check out the summit agenda here, and register for the event here.
05/03/2013 4:00 PM
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Stribling to Open Brooklyn Office
Real estate firm Stribling is planning to open an office in Brooklyn, its first, at 386 Atlantic Avenue later this month. “The time really was just right for Stribling to formally land in Brooklyn,” said Catherine Witherwax, Executive Vice President and Director of Sales Brooklyn. “We have several developments out here, several listings and have sold many listings from the buyers side.” Right now they are putting the finishing touches on the office and getting the systems up and running. The official opening is set for May 21. The firm’s other three offices are in Manhattan.
05/02/2013 2:00 PM
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Why the Brooklyn Market Is So Uneven Right Now
A story in The Real Deal documents a phenomenon we are seeing a lot of in Brooklyn these days, although it didn’t mention the borough specifically. “With full-fledged sellers’ markets under way in dozens of metropolitan areas around the country, new research has found curious statistical patterns emerging: Even in cities where listings get multiple offers within days or hours, significant numbers of homes are sitting on the market for six months, 12 months, or more with no takers,” said the story. In hot neighborhoods from San Jose, Calif., to Boston to D.C., most homes sell in about a month, but a small percentage linger for six months or more, the story said. For example, in the D.C. area, houses in the hottest neighborhoods sell in five to 12 days, while 10 to 12.5 percent of listings in those same neighborhoods sit for six months or more, according to data from MRIS. “Even in the tightest markets, there is a ‘long tail’ of homes languishing” unsold for extended periods, said Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko. We see this happening here in Brooklyn, where some houses sit around for more than six months (as we see in Open Houses: Six Months Later), while others go in days for record high prices and all cash (as we have been documenting for some months now). The story calls the houses that don’t sell quickly “turnoff listings” and speculates the reasons might be mispricing, too many restrictions on access, a property that is dirty or in need of repair, or other mistakes in marketing. What do you think holds back some properties in Brooklyn?
Photo by Man+machine
“Turn-off Listings” Languish, Even in Fast-Moving Markets [TRD]
04/29/2013 9:30 AM
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Let’s Play Flipper, Part 2
So, the listing is up for the Prospect Lefferts Gardens two-family we told you about last week. That was really fast. But our flipper did not just turn around and put the property back on the market without doing some work first. He cleaned it out, exposed the floors, did some plaster work, painted, sandblasted the limestone stairs, cleaned out the back yard, inspected the mechanicals and brought them to working order — including the gas lamp outside — and put on a new roof. Here is what he had to say about his first project:
The thinking is that the property will speak for itself and a buyer would want to apply their taste to the kitchens and bathrooms (although I personally would do simple subway tile, etc.). A prospective buyer I spoke to said that they would want to avoid paying for a second place while they renovate so I’m making the garden floor immediately livable.
The first open house is this Sunday, April 28. How do you like the new look? And do you think they will get their price of $995,000?
04/24/2013 11:00 AM
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Halstead Acquires Aguayo, Development Projects
Halstead Property has acquired Brooklyn real estate and development firm Aguayo Real Estate Group, The Real Deal reported. Halstead will take over the firm’s office at 224 5th Avenue in Park Slope as well as about 20 development projects in the pipeline. Aguayo is known for developing Haus 96 in Prospect Heights, the first passive house condo building in the U.S., which uses no more energy than it produces, according to The Real Deal. All four units sold in about a week. Projects in the works include apartment buildings in Carroll Gardens, Prospect Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Williamsburg. Firm founder Peggy Aguayo and her son Brendan Aguayo will join Halstead.
04/24/2013 9:00 AM
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New Build Inventory Down 98 Percent
There are hardly any new homes available for sale in Brooklyn, and that is pushing prices sky high, reported several outlets, based on a report from real-estate firm MNS. Lenders have been reluctant to lend for condo buildings, so most of the new builds coming on the market now are rentals, even if they were originally slated to be condos. Four years ago, some new condos sold at “fire sale prices” of 20 percent off or more, and now those same units are selling for nearly twice the price, said The New York Post. New development sales inventory in Brooklyn in the first quarter “was down a whopping 98 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the latest reports from brokerage MNS,” said Curbed, because “there just aren’t a lot of new apartments coming to market.” The lack of supply of new builds pushed prices per square foot up 8 percent, according to Curbed. Incredibly, over in Clinton Hill, the average sales price for new condos jumped from $505,000 to $745,000 in three months, according to DNAinfo, based on the MNS report. Do you think there will be any relief soon?
Brooklyn Bump [NY Post]
Brooklyn New Development Sales Plunge by a Ton [Curbed]
Clinton Hill Gets Fancy and Sees Major Jump in Real Estate Prices [DNAinfo]
04/19/2013 9:00 AM
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Brooklyn Secret Agent: A Real Estate Industry Upgrade?
Today we bring you an anonymous weekly column about real estate by one of the most experienced agents in Brooklyn:
I’ve written before about there being no barriers to entry to becoming a real estate agent. Virtually no capital is required. The New York State required education is pathetic — when I took the state test, there were hordes of people taking it who needed instructions on filling out a bubble answer sheet. Really? Did they not complete 4th grade? And getting hired is easy since no one has to pay you a cent until you produce. Little wonder that the quality of agents varies widely, to say the least. (more…)
04/11/2013 11:30 AM
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Sales Dip, Prices Rise in Brooklyn
A report out from Douglas Elliman sheds some light on the by-now-no-longer-news that real estate prices are rising in Brooklyn. Curiously, it found that the number of sales declined in the first quarter vs. a year ago — but that’s because inventory is so low, not because no one is buying in Brooklyn. And it’s that very lack of inventory, combined with high demand, that is pushing prices up. The firm also reported a rise in bidding wars. To review, here are the highlights of the report:
- Lowest inventory levels recorded in five years.
- Sales below year ago levels as lack of inventory impairing sales volume.
- Prices are up as supply limitations keep pressure on market.
- More bidding wars.
Rents are also rising, natch. And they’re rising faster in Brooklyn than in Manhattan, another report out today from Douglas Elliman said. As The Real Deal put it: “Indeed, in the first quarter of 2013, rents in Brooklyn grew 14 percent compared to the same period a year earlier — more than double the percentage growth in Manhattan, where rents rose a not-too-shabby 5.9 percent…In Brooklyn, the median rent in March was $2,560, up 11.3 percent year-over-year.” It seems these pricing trends are having a measurable impact on where people choose to live. The Census shows that folks are moving out of Manhattan and into Brooklyn, and out of Brooklyn to the outer boroughs and suburbs, according to a story in yesterday’s Times. Makes sense.
Move Over, Hipsters! Brooklyn’s Rents Rising Twice as Fast as Manhattan’s [TRD]
04/11/2013 9:30 AM
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It’s Official: Brooklyn Real Estate Is Back
This just in from a press release from the Real Estate Board of New York: New York real estate is back from the dead. “The luxury market continues to show strength but a broader look at various market segments shows that the residential real estate market has recovered,” said REBNY president Steven Spinola. The evidence? ”The number of sales of all homes (cooperatives, condominiums, and one-to-three-family dwellings) citywide climbed 11 percent from the first quarter of last year, and four percent from the previous quarter, to 10,012 sales,” said the release. “Median sales prices in the first quarter of 2013 climbed seven percent from the first quarter of last year to $480,000, the highest median sales price for all homes in the city since 2008.” More specifically, in Brooklyn, sales for the first quarter of this year totalled $1.6 billion, a 21 percent increase over the first quarter of 2011. The biggest number of sales occurred in Park Slope, Bed Stuy, Gravesend, Kensington and Bay Ridge, in that order. But, cautioned REBNY, inventory of new developments in Williamsburg is low (until all the new builds finish up, that is!) “There were 73 condominium sales in Williamsburg during the first quarter of 2013, a post-recession low for the Brooklyn neighborhood,” said the report. “This is a 52 percent decrease from the first quarter of last year due to a lack of new inventory. The last time there were fewer condo sales in the first quarter in Williamsburg was in 2009, immediately after the financial crisis.”
04/09/2013 12:00 PM
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Brooklyn Secret Agent: Siblings and Sales
Today we bring you an anonymous weekly column about real estate by one of the most experienced agents in Brooklyn:
All is us making our living selling real estate here have been hired at one time or another by the children who have inherited a Brooklyn townhouse. It is always interesting to see how the process works amongst them and certain dynamics occur over and over.
Usually we are called in while the children are clearing out the house. As you can imagine, there is a lot of squabbling about who gets what. “Mom always said she wanted ME to have the Danish modern dining set.” Nobody, and I mean NObody, wants the 40-piece Hummel collection. The out-of-town sibling usually gets the worst of the lot.
(more…)
04/04/2013 11:30 AM
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Brooklyn Secret Agent: Lines at Open Houses
Today we bring you an anonymous weekly column about real estate by one of the most experienced agents in Brooklyn:
WHAT is going on here? This week I listed a new house. It is on a previously shunned Carroll Gardens block and it is small — 2,000 square feet. It has been totally renovated and has a large, lovely garden. The sellers and I agreed that we would reach a bit and price it slightly above where we felt the market is at right now. Fingers crossed.
I arrived for the Sunday open house 10 minutes before the start time. Cars were double parked and people were bunched up outside, all waiting to see it. That was a first for me in all these years — a crowd waiting for an open house?
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03/21/2013 11:30 AM
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The Hot Seat: Jennifer Johnsen
Welcome to the Hot Seat, where we interview folks involved in Brooklyn real estate, architecture, development and the like. Introducing Jennifer Johnsen, the new executive director of sales for real estate firm MNS. Jennifer oversees the sales and rental divisions at MNS and will open a new office for MNS in Williamsburg this spring.
Brownstoner: What neighborhood do you live in, and how’d you end up there?
Jennifer Johnsen: I currently live in Williamsburg. It was a day trip that turned into a new home. My kids and I went over from the city one weekend to check out the Smorgasburg and fell in love with the neighborhood. Two weeks later we leased an apartment and made the move.
BS: You’re opening up an MNS office in Williamsburg this spring, the second for the firm in the neighborhood. Why did it feel important to be in this particular neighborhood?
JJ: The Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhood is the hottest submarket in Brooklyn. MNS has had incredible success with our new development projects along the waterfront and surrounding neighborhood; we have a great presence in this area combined with a large group of very loyal and important clients. We do a lot of resale business in Williamsburg and have outgrown our space on Bedford Avenue.
After the jump, Jennifer discusses the market boom in Williamsburg, how to balance gentrification in a growing neighborhood, and the projects MNS is tackling in Brooklyn now… (more…)
03/15/2013 11:30 AM
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Brooklyn Secret Agent: Two Weeks of Attempted Buying
Today we bring you an anonymous weekly column about real estate by one of the most experienced agents in Brooklyn:
Unusually, I have spent the last two weeks working with a number of buyers in failed attempts to become owners of Brooklyn real estate. Boy, is it brutal out there.
Since when does one have to have all cash to be a successful bidder? Sellers have raised their expectations so fast and by so much that we all know bank appraisers will not be able to keep up. So now unless a buyer has at least 50 percent cash, their bid is not going to be accepted, no matter how high they go. For normal working people, that much cash is hard to come by. (more…)
03/07/2013 11:30 AM
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Market Surges, Says Corcoran 4th Quarter Sales Report
By every measure, sales of residential properties in Brooklyn are up, according to a fourth quarter report from Corcoran. Sales of all types of properties increased in volume, average price and on a price per square foot basis. Of particular interest: The number of sales of single-family townhouses tripled in the fourth quarter vs. the same period a year earlier, and the average sale price was $1.9 million, the highest in two years. Meanwhile, the average sale price of apartments clocked in at more than $600,000, an increase of 18 percent vs. the same quarter in 2011. The bottom line: Overall, throughout the Brooklyn market and for all types of housing, price per square foot increased 11 percent vs. the same period last year. Well, this certainly accords with the tales of crowded open houses and bidding wars we have been hearing.
03/01/2013 11:45 AM
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Brooklyn Secret Agent: The Trouble with Downsizing
Today we bring you the 16th anonymous weekly column about real estate by one of the most experienced agents in Brooklyn:
One reason inventory is so tight in brownstone Brooklyn is that there are so many downsides to downsizing. Here are a few — maybe a creative type might use them to drum up a great purchase.
When a brownstone becomes an empty nest, thoughts turn to downsizing. Visions of high sales prices turning into bulging bank accounts abound. I have been called in to discuss the sale many times. Once the subject of taxes comes up, the visions are deflated. (Please note that I am NOT a tax advisor.) Capital gains taxes will eat a substantial amount of profit and real property transfer taxes will be due. Many sellers stop dead in their tracks when they learn those numbers and vow to be carried out of the house on a box. (more…)
02/28/2013 11:30 AM
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Real Estate Firm Sues Crown Heights Protesters
Details are scarce, but real estate firm MySpace NYC Monday filed suit against a group identified as Crown Heights Assembly, The New York Daily News has reported. Apparently a group of that name organized a protest in November outside the Crown Heights office of the real estate firm, according to an announcement posted on the I Love Franklin Ave blog. A press release purportedly authored by the group and posted on the blog took issue with the real estate firm for supposedly brokering apartments whose landlords kept them in poor repair and overcharged for rents under the rent stabilization laws.
Real Estate Firm Files Suit Against Crown Heights Activists [NY Daily News]
02/27/2013 10:00 AM
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Brooklyn Secret Agent: Off-Market Sales
Today we bring you the 15th anonymous weekly column about real estate by one of the most experienced agents in Brooklyn:
Well, it has come to this. Inventory is so tight that we brokers are scrounging for listings by going to people who hadn’t considered being sellers at this time and begging them to consider a deal. Is this a good thing? Maybe, maybe not.
The best place to start is with a buyer who has very specific needs and a clear budget. Without this in mind it can be very difficult to entice a seller. This buyer must also be able to make decisions fast without having to visit many, many properties. Let’s say we have a family relocating from London who lived in Brooklyn before. They’ve got the cash to avoid a mortgage and they want a prime neighborhood. This is an ideal situation to lure a seller into action. (more…)
02/21/2013 11:30 AM
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A Two-Family in Brooklyn for Under $200,000?
Over the weekend, the Times’ real estate section profiled a young couple looking for a two-family home in Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. And while we’re been reading about homes going for incredibly high prices, like 254 Gates Avenue in Bed-Stuy that topped $2 million, this pair looked at several houses, none of which was priced over $450,000. In the end they did far better than that, on price anyway. They were able to find a bank sale on the home pictured above — the one with the white peeling siding — for $190,000 on Hart Street in Bushwick, just a block and a half from the Central Avenue M train. Obviously this is no grand mansion, but it is a standing two-family home, and apparently in decent enough shape to be renovated. The home was listed quite a bit higher at $280,000. Their loan included an additional $145,000 for repairs. The couple are now renovating — their blog is here. What do you think? Is this a wise investment for the long haul, or an inexpensive initial purchase that may well turn into a never-ending money pit?
The Hunt: With an Income Stream in View [NY Times]
Photo By Nicholas Strini for Property Shark
02/19/2013 11:00 AM
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art-salt
May 16, 2013 | 09:04 AM