Finding what clicks in real estate Agent Reboot Speaker Profile: Mariana Wagnerread morePosted: 9/3/20103 clicks

Zillow: Now Serving 12.5 Million Users When Zillow execs fire up the griddle and serve breakfast to Zillowites, it™s a sign of two things: sizzling bacon, which also means sizzling Zillow results. (Photo above, left to right, General Counsel Kathleen Philips, Chief Economist Stan Humphries and VP of New Ventures Chloe...Posted: 9/2/20103 clicks

Ten Signs That You Need Time Off From SM Guest Blogger Alex Cortez is a REALTOR in Hawaii, specializing in Maui Condos. Visit his Maui Real Estate Blog for local market information. With social media becoming one of the newest and hottest tools in a real estate agent's bag, there are some who have...Posted: 9/3/20102 clicks

Morning Links: Islamophobia, Stuy Town, Miniature Golf New York Times editorializes in favor of mosque near Ground Zero. (NYT) Poll finds New Yorkers slightly less Islamophobic than rest of country. (NYT) A review of the U.S. Open's culinary options. (WSJ) Second time's a charm. During this year's fight for Stuy Town, tenants harder to...Posted: 9/3/20102 clicks

Cash for Clunkers hurt poor and unemployed drivers One year later, Cash for Clunkers was still a dumb, economically harmful idea:IN THE market for a used car? Good luck finding a bargain: The price of pre-owned™™ vehicles has climbed considerably over the past year. ...No great insight was needed to realize that...Posted: 9/3/20101 click

Big Deal: The Weird World of L.L.C. Names The wealthy and celebrities often buy property under limited liability companies, often with whimsical names. Posted: 9/3/20101 click

Stringer opposes Extell's mega Riverside project Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he opposes Extell Development's planned Riverside Center housing development on the Upper West Side. Mr. Stringer has a problem with the density of the 2,500-apartment project and wants more open space and schools.Posted: 9/2/20101 click

Tips for getting homeowners insurance 1. Loyalty is overratedPosted: 9/2/20101 click

Vornado Plans $400M Buyback of Senior Notes NEW YORK CITY-Goldman Sachs is acting as the deal manager for the REIT's repurchase of convertible debentures due in 2026 and 2027.Posted: 9/2/20101 click

Just sold! Manhattan CENTRAL PARK SOUTH $3,500,000 160 Central Park South Two-bedroom, two-bath condo, 1,100 square feet, with dining area, new kitchen, en-suite marble bath, central AC, 1,200-square-foot wraparound terrace and park views; building features doorman, elevator operator, gym, and maid service. Common charges $3,738, taxes $745...Posted: 9/2/20101 click

Goldman arm revives Williamsburg project L+M Development Partners and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group have revived a long-stalled waterfront development site near the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn.Both parties report that they closed this week on the financing for the mixed-use project, located at 11 Broadway in South Williamsburg. The...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Court decision on noise worries bars A recent ruling in favor of a West Side co-op building said that a roof-deck bar operated by well-known restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow at the Empire Hotel exceeded a city ordinance for noise level and interfered with the residents' 'right to use and enjoy their...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Stuy Town locked in legal limbo The fate of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village remained in limbo Thursday after a New York state Supreme Court judge postponed ruling on whether a joint venture, which includes a hedge fund run by high-profile manager Bill Ackman, can foreclose on the property.In a standing...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

5 big banks embrace mortgage mod efforts Amanda Fung - Five of the city's largest banks have responded to a call for foreclosure reform, City Comptroller John Liu announced Thursday morning.Last month, Mr. Liu sent a letter to Bank of America, Citibank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and HSBC asking them...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Stringer opposes Extell's mega Riverside project Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he opposes Extell Development's planned Riverside Center housing development on the Upper West Side. Mr. Stringer has a problem with the density of the 2,500-apartment project and wants more open space and schools.Posted: 9/2/20101 click

Law forces brokers to reveal more Beginning in January, residential brokers will be required by a new law to provide buyers and sellers of co-op and condominium apartments with written disclosure forms outlining who they represent in transactions. The law, which was signed by Gov. David Paterson on Monday, helps...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Brokerage finds novel way to stand out Amanda Fung - In the city's hyper-crowded residential real estate brokerage industry, a brand new firm has come up with a novel way to stand out. Former Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Jason Haber and his brother Cory will donate a portion of their fledgling...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

NY mortgage agency cuts borrowing costs Bloomberg News - (Bloomberg) -- State of New York Mortgage Agency, which provides subsidized home loans to low- and moderate-income families, cut its borrowing costs 31% since April on about $133 million in tax-exempt housing bonds as demand from individual investors helped drive down...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

5-story SoHo building for sale A late 19th century mixed-use building in the heart of SoHo that boasts a cast-iron façade is up for sale. 55 Mercer St., a five-story, 16,600-square-foot property between Broome and Grand streets, is available exclusively through Eastern Consolidated, which is actively marketing the property...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Big NYC landlord dealt second setback Amanda Fung - Tenants of rent stabilized buildings scored a major victory late Monday. A state Supreme Court judge ruled against Laurence Gluck declaring that the landlord unlawfully deregulated rents at Independence Plaza North, a big downtown Manhattan residential complex, while receiving tax breaks....Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Posting: Flip-Flopping on Flip Taxes In the weak economy, more buyers are being asked to shoulder the so-called flip tax. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Town Houses With Condo Amenities In downtown Manhattan, new condo developments offer owners both single-house-style privacy and luxe-building-style amenities. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

The Hunt: Leaving Behind a Loft, but Not a Friendship Two longtime loftmates appeared to be going their separate ways, but the hunt for new apartments landed them in the same building in Williamsburg. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Square Feet | The 30-Minute Interview: Ronald D. Sernau Questions for a principal of the law firm Proskauer Rose and a co-chairman of the firm’s real estate division. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Habitats: The New Jersey Teardown That Wasn’t Where others saw a ruin, the buyer of a house in Millburn — a former contractor — perceived buried charm. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Living In : Sea Gate, Brooklyn A gated community on Coney Island surrounded by sandy beaches, Sea Gate has a suburban feel. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

STREETSCAPES/West End Avenue: Three Apples of Somebody’s Eye West End Avenue and vicinity was once a stronghold of town houses. Three of the now-rare breed bear distinctive traces of the attentions of recent owners. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

In the Region | New Jersey: A Developer Installs Solar Power At River Pointe, a community in Manchester, N.J., solar technology that earns energy credits is a standard feature in each house. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Big Deal: The Weird World of L.L.C. Names The wealthy and celebrities often buy property under limited liability companies, often with whimsical names. Posted: 9/3/20101 click

Big Deal: On 86th Street, a Town House Awaits Former Glory Once a grand mansion steps from Central Park, it had fallen into disrepair. Now it is for sale for $8.95 million. Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

CurbedWire: Bored on Bedford Avenue; Open House New York Update WILLIAMSBURG-Our special Curbed correspondent is really excited about this reveal at 201 Bedford Avenue: "I'm not sure if you'll care about this but the scaffolding is off 201 Bedford. It's been a work in progress for a long time....Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Linkage: Dumbo Building's Penthouse Addition Revealed; More! [Takes one to tow one, via EV Grieve] , Penthouse addition to 25 Washington Street revealed! [DumboNYC] , Century Tower condo conversion faces $6 million lawsuit [Real Deal] , Nearby residents still resisting Harlem Children's Zone project [BH] ,...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Comment of the Day: "Modern architecture and modern architects have... "Modern architecture and modern architects have no regard for humans, they have no straight lines and aren't made of glass."-Lo-Pan [I.M. Pei's Architect Army Fights Newspaper Salesman]Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Eater Tastings: New Waffle Irons in the Greenwich Village Fire; More! This week's top dish from Eater NY, Curbed's restaurant, bar, and nightlife blog... 1) West Village: Waffle shops don't have the greatest track record in the Village, but that's not stopping Wafflemeister, rendered above. The owner is set to appear...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Flipping Out: There was some skepticism (and the... There was some skepticism (and the suggestion that crack had returned to Park Slope) earlier this summer when the buyer who picked up 65 Prospect Park West for $1.4M last year relisted it for a whopping $3.4M. But that seller...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Real Estate Sold: Buyers Go From Williamsburg, to the Racetrack, to $5M Condo The Devonshire House didn't close many units in August, but the white-hot conversion of the pre-war Central Village rental building did bag a big one: A $5.2 million sale of a 4br/3.5ba apartment that matches the building's biggest deal...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Quicklisting: The Visionaire, $1.33M 2 BR, 2 BA 1,209 sq ft Condo Asking: $1,330,000 | W Exposure 70 Little West St., #8J [TheVisionaire.com]Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Video Interludes: A Real Estate Broker. 53 Manhattan Townhouses. Van Halen. What can we say, we're suckers for brokers with a sense of humor about their profession. But you'd better watch this video of Elliman's Harlem specialist Todd Stevens celebrating his triumphs before Labor Day, or else that suit's going...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Neighborhood Names: Flatiron Hotel's New Look Revealed in NoChe (NoChe?) Move over Ace, NoMad, Eventi and all the rest-the latest new boutique hotel we're keeping an eye on in this part of town is the Flatiron Hotel at Broadway and 26th Street. Like most other buildings in the suddenly...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Curbed Hamptons: Southampton Owner Waiting for CEO's $165K Rent Check; More! The latest headlines from Curbed Hamptons, our outpost on the East End... 1) Over at 2170 Meadow Lane in Southampton (above), where Lazard co-CEO Matthieu Pigasse spent a night in August, the owner's still waiting for the $165,000 rent check....Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

A Doorman™s September: ZipCars and static cling September marks the run-up to the greatest month of all in the doorman calendar. (If you don™t know what month I™m talking about, you haven™t been paying attention.) But it™s also got its share of annoyances, such as: Back to school Weighted down by their oversized bookbags...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Questions about bed bug hysteria; how to shush a rooftop bar; and more! Too much bed bug hysteria? (Bedbugger.com) Spy games landlords play (NYT) Raw dealing for buyers without brokers  (Malcolm Carter) Board members: Boost your lawsuit avoidance IQ (New York Law Journal) Got noise? So did this UWS co-op  (Habitat Mag) Why the first offer is always right (StreetEasy forum) Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Nannyisms The cost of raising kids in the vertical village often necessitates two incomes and the outsourcing of care for said kids. But when you share the love and care of a child, open conversation can be challenging... 'Can I make you some coffee, dahlin'?' Translation:...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

My Big Fat Board Interview: Co-ops don't like foreigners? I am from France and still own an apartment there where I am on the board.  I lived in New York for eight years as a renter before looking for an apartment to buy early this year. It took four months to find a one-bedroom...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Tell me more: Sponsor sweetheart deals targeted by new disclosure law In a flurry of bill-signing this week, Governor Paterson enacted several disclosure laws related to real estate:  Landlords now have to tell potential renters about bed bug infestations, real estate agents have to confess divided loyalties to their clients in writing”and now co-op and...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

The Ultimate NYC Open House Guide for SELLERS (Part 3): Showtime On the day of your open house, your agent needs to do more than babysit the sign in sheet and hand out business cards.   For the final installment of our 3-part open house guide for sellers, we put together this round-up of best-practices advice so...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Dear Ms. Demeanor: My housekeeper stole from me. Should I tell? Dear Ms. Demeanor: Last week I came home while my housekeeper was working, and when I moved her bag from a chair, I saw some of my silverware inside. It's not expensive stuff, so I'm guessing that my housekeeper (who came to me last...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

The day after: How to find an apartment without bed bugs As of yesterday, NYC landlords must disclose bed bug problems to potential renters, which will make it a lot easier to find a bed-bug-free rental in the Big Apple. The new law does not apply to co-op and condo buyers. Nor does it require landlords to...Posted: 8/31/20101 click

Can I put recessed lighting in a prewar beamed ceiling? Q. Is it possible to put recessed lighting into a prewar beamed ceiling,  or does the ceiling need to be lowered first? A. You will likely need to drop at least part of the ceiling, according to our BrickTank experts. Your  prewar beamed ceiling is probably...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

The Ultimate NYC Open House Guide for SELLERS (Part 2): You are not welcome here In the second of our three-part series on best open-house practices, we look at setting the scene and keeping out the riff raff (you, mostly). The cleaner, the better By the time of your first open house, we hope that you have already taken steps to...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Tips for getting homeowners insurance 1. Loyalty is overratedPosted: 9/2/20101 click

Housing quagmire: Is it time to remove relief? For the growing number of struggling homeowners in this country, more help is on the way. Additional aid from the federal government will begin making its way to them next month -- one program would help qualified homeowners refinance their mortgages after seeing their...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Home prices gain 3.6% in past year Despite a recent spate of bad news coming out of the housing industry, home prices show signs of stabilizing.Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Surprise! Banks help more homeowners than Obama Remember how everyone complained that banks weren't doing enough to help troubled borrowers?Posted: 8/30/20100 clicks

Remodeling your home? Get online Home improvement is one of the fastest-growing segments of e-commerce. But the consequences of a bad decision when it comes to finding a contractor or remodeling products online are far worse than buying the wrong paperback.Posted: 8/27/20100 clicks

Fewer mortgages are in default Fewer mortgage borrowers are delinquent on their loan payments, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.Posted: 8/26/20100 clicks

Say goodbye to the McMansion The American home is shrinking. Toll the bell for the McMansion.Posted: 8/26/20103 clicks

Best moves for home buyers and sellers Plenty of forces, from overly cautious lenders to inaccurate appraisals, are wrecking real estate deals right now. But one of the biggest roadblocks to getting a house sold these days is the disconnect between buyers and sellers.Posted: 8/25/20101 click

America's most overvalued cities Don't say we didn't warn you.Posted: 1/27/201034 clicks

Foreclosures: How bad is your state?Posted: 3/5/200917 clicks

The Real Deal on hiatus The Real Deal will be off Monday in observance of Labor Day and will return Tuesday. Enjoy the holiday weekend and as always, if you have a tip, e-mail news@therealdeal.com. TRD Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Top sales agents of the week The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city. Top agents, from left: Cathy Franklin, Alexis Bodenheimer, Haidee Granger, Andrew Phillips, Amelia Gewirtz, Cathy Taub, Rosette Arons, Patrick Lilly and Helen...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Laureate exudes sense of serene competence The Laureate at 2150 BroadwayIncrementally, though not without a few false steps, the Upper West Side is getting better. Some of its more recent developments, like the Corner at 200 West 72nd Street, have done the area no favors, but the general trend is...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

NYC charter commission steers clear of land use hot spots Six months after being formed, the city Charter Revision Commission issued its final report yesterday, declining to make any recommendations on the three thorniest land use issues before it. The 15-member panel appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg heard from deeply divided interest groups such...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Harlem residents protest charter school ... and more 1. Bedbugs discovered at Google™s Chelsea headquarters [NYO] 2. Law and Order star Mariska Hargitay buys $7.34 million Hamptons property [Real Estalker]  3. Billy Joel lowers price for Sagaponack home, now asking $19.9 million [Newsday]  4. Downtown™s Flea Theater artist space to launch capital campaign for...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Alexico hit with $197M suit at Flatotel Simon Elias (left), Flatotel at 135 West 52nd Street and Izak Senbahar Alexico Group is facing a $196.7 million lawsuit at the Flatotel, after Atlas Capital accused the developer of defaulting on the property™s mortgage loans. According to the suit, filed in New York State...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

SL Green to gain $66M from 510 Madison SL Green Realty is expected to gain $66 million profit on the sale of 510 Madison Avenue, according to a report from FBR Capital Markets cited by Nasdaq. The real estate investment trust owned $280.5 million of senior and mezzanine debt on the property...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

BlackRock to assess industry's CMBS losses Investment management firm BlackRock was hired by state insurance regulators to evaluate the industry™s potential losses from holding commercial mortgage-backed securities, Bloomberg news reported. By the end of the year, BlackRock will review more than 7,000 securities, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Two Trees to buy building from Moinian David and Jed Walentas, the father-and-son real estate team that heads Two Trees Management, are in contract to buy a $129.5 million Chelsea office building from Joseph Moinian™s the Moinian Group, the Observer reported. In an off-market deal, the company gave a hard deposit...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Stalled Williamsburg project gets new start A stalled waterfront project at 11 Broadway in South Williamsburg is being revived by L+M Development Partners and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, with both parties closing this week on financing for the mixed-use development site, Crain™s reported. The project will include 134,000 square...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Closing Bell: Holiday at the Flea The Brooklyn Flea will be making its regular appearance this holiday weekend both in Fort Greene this Saturday and at Skylight One Hanson, across from the Flatbush Ave. Target, on Sunday. Check out some of the food vendors profiled in The New Brooklyn Cookbook...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Building of the Day: 555 Prospect Place The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy. Address: 555 Prospect Place, corner of Classon Ave. Name: Brooklyn...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Development Watch: 777 Driggs 777 Driggs, between South 3rd and 4th Streets, is moving towards completion. We don't know how long the building has actually been in construction but the new building permit was filed back in 2008. The project will have eight units when all is said...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Streetlevel: Baklava for Bay Ridge? The Cafe at Sam's Bakery opened earlier this month in Bay Ridge, but Sam (short for Samia) has been shipping her famous baklava all over the world via SamsBakery.com for a while now. We heard that Sam was giving out free baklava with...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Open House Picks The selection of open houses this holiday weekend is so woefully slim that it's not even worth trying to come up with some picks this week. If there's anything you think's worth checking out, feel free to post links in the comments.Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Open House Picks: Six Months Later Comment: Not so bad. Open House Picks 3/5/10 [Brownstoner] Previous Six Months Later Posts [Brownstoner]Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Party at the Green Building Over the weekend, a New Orleans-style brass band marched down Union Street, followed by a well-dressed young man - possibly a groom - on a white, wooden, four-wheeled horse, who was being pushed down the sidewalk by a parade of masquerading revelers in formalwear....Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Staycation: Bannerman Castle For many of us, staycations are this year's vacations. Instead of the cottages and castles of the Continent, visit one of New York's fascinating house museums. Each week, for the entire summer, we'll alternate between a site in New York City, or one...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Another Perspective on 25 Washington Here's another angle on the rooftop action at 25 Washington in Dumbo, which will consist of penthouse apartments and cabanas. In related news, 25 Washington is also on the September 7th LPC agenda to establish a master plan governing the future installation of windows,...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Control your online destiny Agent Reboot Speaker Profile: Kristal Kraftread morePosted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Economic genie is out of wishes Commentary: Welcome to the political fun houseread morePosted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Homebuyer tax credit off the radar GAO puts bill for program at $22 billion through 2019read morePosted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Fannie cracks the foreclosure whip Servicers warned to meet timelines or face finesread morePosted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Finding what clicks in real estate Agent Reboot Speaker Profile: Mariana Wagnerread morePosted: 9/3/20103 clicks

Mortage rates still seeking a bottom With fears of inflation at bay, rates set new lowsread morePosted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Pending real estate sales inch up in July West sees biggest month-to-month riseread morePosted: 9/2/20100 clicks

CEO of Sacramento brokerage on leave County investigating alleged use of hidden camerasread morePosted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Agents and their tech thingies Realtor Notebookread morePosted: 9/2/20100 clicks

5 ways to stay positive in a down market Be the agent your clients would love to work withread morePosted: 9/2/20101 click

Ten Signs That You Need Time Off From SM Guest Blogger Alex Cortez is a REALTOR in Hawaii, specializing in Maui Condos. Visit his Maui Real Estate Blog for local market information. With social media becoming one of the newest and hottest tools in a real estate agent's bag, there are some who have...Posted: 9/3/20102 clicks

Using Google to Work More Efficiently Guest Blogger Alex Cortez is a REALTOR with Hawaii Life Real Estate Services. Visit his Maui Real Estate site for local information. The keys to Google's success as a search engine have been its perfect blend of simplicity and functionality. Fortunately, those traits have transcended...Posted: 9/1/20101 click

5 Tools to Turbo-Charge Your Social Media Guest Blogger Alex Cortez is a Realtor in Hawaii, specializing in Maui Condos. Visit his Maui Real Estate Blog for local market information. The importance of social media in a real estate professional's marketing plan is undeniable.  And although there are many different approaches as...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

FOREM Guest Blogger Update! Hi FOREM fans! I am super excited to announce that we have picked our FOREM guest bloggers. Over the next few months you will see about a number guest bloggers that were carefully selected based on their experience, writing ability, and enthusiasm for FOREM...Posted: 8/27/20100 clicks

Gmail users: 4 Highlights of the Gist Google App I am definitely a fan of Gist and the opportunities it has for social media. I love the ability to organize all my social media contacts in one place. I received an email from Gist today announcing the launch of the new resdesign tothe...Posted: 8/25/20100 clicks

FREE Webinar: 3 Things You Must Do Now for More Profits in 2011 Please join us for an Inman News FREE Webinar! 3 Things You Must Do Now for More Profits in 2011 Sponsored by: Market Leader DATE:  Thursday, August 26th, 2010 TIME:  10:00 a.m. “ 11:00 a.m. (PDT) Register Today! Planning ahead is the key to success, especially in this market....Posted: 8/23/20102 clicks

Agent Reboot in Seattle Was A Huge Success! The following post was written by Keoki McCarthy, Designated Broker/President of Real Living Northwest. Thank you Keoki for your post! What a great event. My fellow agents and I headed to Agent Reboot with high hopes of learning some new things. We were not let...Posted: 8/20/20100 clicks

Tip Tuesday: 7 Ways to Increase Your Twitter Followers How do you become influential on Twitter? You can post great content all day long - but if no one is following you then it's not as effective as it could be. You need followers to get followers; it™s a Catch 22. The quality of...Posted: 8/17/20103 clicks

Fun Friday: 4 Killer Retro Social Media Ads What if Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skpye existed 40 years ago? These fake vintage ads for Facebook, Skype and Youtube created by Brazilian ad agency Moma for a media seminar called Everything Ages Fast. Enjoy! The Facebook Company: The sublime, mighty community with just 140 letters: Your...Posted: 8/13/20101 click

Calling all Seattle Agents “ Reboot, Reenergize, and Recharge Your Business! Do you live in Seattle or the surrounding areas? It's not too late to make it to Agent Reboot Seattle! Don't miss the incredible ONE-DAY event devoted to teaching agents the hottest new trends and ‘how-to's' in social media, online marketing and mobile technology. Also...Posted: 8/13/20100 clicks

Vamp in Cooper Sq. Bloodsucking Twilight beauty Ashley Greene has signed a lease for a one-bedroom at the new 2 Cooper Square rental building, where one-bedrooms start around $4,000 per month. Greene, who plans to share the new apartment with her dog, hasn™t moved in yet but has...Posted: 9/2/20101 click

Strawberry's patch Darryl Strawberry is standing in the living room of his two-bedroom apartment at Ohm, a new rental building in far west Chelsea. You want to see one of my favorite things? he asks. The baseball legend hasn™t been in this $5,295-per-month apartment long ” just a...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Just sold! Manhattan CENTRAL PARK SOUTH $3,500,000 160 Central Park South Two-bedroom, two-bath condo, 1,100 square feet, with dining area, new kitchen, en-suite marble bath, central AC, 1,200-square-foot wraparound terrace and park views; building features doorman, elevator operator, gym, and maid service. Common charges $3,738, taxes $745...Posted: 9/2/20101 click

All fall down ˜It™s kinda like the Wild West up here, the town official said, shaking his head. It™s remote. It™s an old road. People do what they want to ” and they usually get away with it ™cause no one™s minding anyone™s business. Except me, that is....Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Flat note on Carnegie 57 Don't worry, says Extell Development Co. chief Gary Barnett -- it's coming! Even though it doesn't yet look that way. "It" is Carnegie 57, the endlessly awaited, 74-story super-luxury condo/hotel tower Extell is building on a vast site across from Carnegie Hall,...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

10 Unique, One-of-a-Kind Homes If you consider yourself a non-conformist, or one who shuns traditional ways of doing things, then here is a perfect lineup of nontraditional homes that should fit your spirit perfectly. Take your pick from a church, an old firehouse, an earthship home, a geodesic...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Rental Eye Candy: Fort Lauderdale, FL Riding on the coattails of our excitement about partnering with Apartments.com, it seemed fitting to find this week™s Rental Eye Candy from Zillow™s 90,000 newly acquired rental listings. An array of museums, beaches and nightlife make Fort Lauderdale, FL one of America™s hottest tourist destinations....Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Rent vs. Buy (Video) Zillow's Spencer Rascoff answers timely real estate questions from Zillow Blog and Zillow Advice. This video touches on the pros and cons of renting versus buying. Have a real estate question you'd like answered? Ask it in Zillow Advice, post it on Zillow's Facebook...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Do Mortgage Prequalifications Make a Difference? Obtaining a loan for a mortgage payment can be a very involved and intricate process. In some cases, there are steps that prospective homeowners can take to expedite the process such as filing for a pre-qualification or pre-approval. Zillow user Mike_O from Brooklyn, NY...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

After a Decade of Ups and Downs, What is Housing™s True ˜Normal™? For the past four years, homeowners across the country have been watching their home values drop. Most have seen them drop substantially - our national Zillow Home Value Index has fallen nearly 24% since home values peaked in 2006. But for nearly a decade before...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Zillow: Now Serving 12.5 Million Users When Zillow execs fire up the griddle and serve breakfast to Zillowites, it™s a sign of two things: sizzling bacon, which also means sizzling Zillow results. (Photo above, left to right, General Counsel Kathleen Philips, Chief Economist Stan Humphries and VP of New Ventures Chloe...Posted: 9/2/20103 clicks

Carnival of Real Estate (CoRE) Kicks Off! For anyone who enjoys staying informed about the real estate industry and reading real estate-related blog posts by RE pros, you'll be happy to know that the Carnival of Real Estate (CoRE) has returned. The first host of the new and improved CoRE was Drew...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Is it the Right Time for You to Buy? It seems like a great time to buy a house (if you don't have to sell), values are down (so affordability is up), interest rates are at all-time lows, and high levels of inventory are languishing on the market. It all adds up to buyers who...Posted: 9/1/20101 click

Mortgage Definition: FHA Streamline Refinance This week, mortgage lender Justin McHood explains an FHA streamline refinance program, which is a program designed for people who currently have an FHA loan to take advantage of lowering their interest rate when rates drop with less documentation than a normal refinance requires.' Justin...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Homes For Sale and Home For Rent in Memphis, TN Last week we compared homes for rent and homes for sale in San Antonio, TX. Today we are heading a little farther east to the home of our beloved King of Rock n' Roll, Elvis Presley. Yup,  Memphis, TN. While the Graceland Mansion isn't included...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Builders of N.Y. mosque face financial hurdles The developers planning to build a $100 million Islamic center near the World Trade Center site are nearly a quarter-million dollars behind on real estate taxes and late fees. World Trade Center - Islam - Real estate - New York City - September 11...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Pending home sales rise 5.2% in July The number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase previously occupied homes increased in July but remained well below last year's levels, a sign that demand for housing remains weak. Contract - Business - National Association of Realtors - Residential Housing - Construction and...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Homeowners feel stress of life 'underwater' A broad swath of homeowners ” those not headed for the worst-case scenario of foreclosure ” are nonetheless grappling with the impact of lost home equity. Foreclosure - Real estate - Business - Investing - Mortgage loanPosted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Banks to allow local groups to buy foreclosures Major banks are agreeing to give local governments and nonprofit groups the ability to buy foreclosed homes before they are sold to private investors. Foreclosure - United States - Local government - Non-profit organization - Real estatePosted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Mortgage applications rise 2.7% on low rates Mortgage applications rose 2.7 percent last week as more borrowers took advantage of the lowest rates in decades to reduce their monthly loan payments. Mortgage - Loan - Business - Financial services - United StatesPosted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Ever so humble, but housing is more expensive You look back 10 years, what did you get? A little bit cleaner and deeper in debt. With apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford, that™s a brief synopsis of how U.S. home life has changed during the past decade. United States - Tennessee Ernie Ford...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Burst of buying drove up June home prices Home prices rose in June for a third straight month as now-expired tax credits inspired a burst of home-buying. Home - United States - Accounting - Tax - ConferencesPosted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Administration undecided on housing credit The Obama administration has not decided whether it should resurrect a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said. Shaun Donovan - Presidency of Barack Obama - United States Department of Housing and Urban Development - United States...Posted: 8/29/20100 clicks

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Foreclosure trims number of underwater homes Foreclosures are helping to thin the ranks of U.S. homes with mortgages that exceed what the properties are worth, new data shows. Foreclosure - Mortgage - United States - Real estate - BusinessPosted: 8/26/20100 clicks

Owners Refuse to Let Newsstand Mar Sublime Beauty of I.M. Pei Building Wall Street Plaza is a 33-floor building at 88 Pine Street that rises up beside the East River in Lower Manhattan. Famed architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed and Partners designed the tower in the late 1960s, and the building now houses the firm's offices....Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Evening Links (Early!): Earl and Hamptons Brokers; Moinian and Foreclosure; Quinn and Vornado Editor's note: We will not be blogging Monday. Happy Labor Day! Twin steel columns from original World Trade Center back at ground zero. (Curbed) Devonshire House ties biggest sale ever with $5.2 million deal. (Curbed) More trouble for Moinian: foreclosure proceedings at 1775 Broadway. (Bloomberg) Columbia wants Inwood...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

In Deed! Uchitel on Park; Kempner's Grandson Buys at 30 Fifth; Hamptons Site Listed for $81.5 M. - Nate Kempner, grandson of society stalwart and rail-thin haute couture clotheshorse Nan Kempner, bought a $1.52 million apartment at 30 Fifth Avenue with his newlywed bride, Baily, though the deed listed both parties by their more formal names, Thomas Kempner (after his late...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Requiem for the Manhattan Bookstore, Large and Small With Upper West Siders still mourning the announcement of the looming closure of the Barnes & Noble across from Lincoln Center, it seems a petty to point out that only 15 years ago they picketed its...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

It's Free to Look: 1055 Park Avenue Finally you can have your Park Avenue view and iPhone-controlled blinds, too. Defying all the musty stereotypes, 1055 Park Avenue features a cascading glass staircase, white oak floors and plenty of European appliances with unpronounceable names. And because every luxury condo should come with a...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Morning Links: Islamophobia, Stuy Town, Miniature Golf New York Times editorializes in favor of mosque near Ground Zero. (NYT) Poll finds New Yorkers slightly less Islamophobic than rest of country. (NYT) A review of the U.S. Open's culinary options. (WSJ) Second time's a charm. During this year's fight for Stuy Town, tenants harder to...Posted: 9/3/20102 clicks

Evening Links: Stuy Town Fight Hits the Courtroom; Affordable Housing Spat in Harlem Former Parks commish Henry Stern really doesn't like 15 Penn Plaza. (HuffPo) The long-sought East River Science Park is slated to open in September, complete with a trendy restaurant. (WNYC) Stuy Town creditors warred in court today, with no resolution, over the property. (Crain's) You can go...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Manhattan, Ho! Brooklyn Walentases Buy Manhattan Office Building from Moinian David and Jed Walentas, the father-and-son real estate moguls whose Two Trees Management got its start decades ago in Soho, before abandoning it to craft Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhoodalmost wholecloth, are buying a Manhattan office building, the only one in their portfolio. The family is in...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Robert Hurst's 950 Fifth Co-op Sells for $25 M. I wonder if Mort Zuckerman will be baking any pies to welcome his new neighbor at 950 Fifth Avenue, the exclusive seven-unit co-op he calls home. According to city records, the duplex on the eighth and ninth floors formerly belonging to Goldman Sachs veteran...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Maddow Wishes Death on Lockhart Steele and Co. On Aug. 11, real estate blog Curbed posted a seemingly innocuous scoop: Rachel Maddow and her partner, Susan Mikula, had bought Michael Stipe's old apartment at 130 Jane Street for a cool $1.25 million. The blogger, Sara Polsky, also posted photos and a floorplan for...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

The Pencil Factory The Pencil Factory, a unique condominium on Franklin Street in Brooklyn, is a perfect blend of the past and present “ a mix of contemporary style and a grand restoration. At one time, the building was home to a pencil factory built in 1872...Posted: 8/6/20101 click

The Dillon The Dillon, a sophisticated mix of residences at 425 West 53rd Street in Hell™s Kitchen, offers heavenly design in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Designed by Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, with landscaping by dlandstudio, the Dillon provides delightful style and award-winning (AIA) design within...Posted: 7/26/20101 click

Setai Fifth Avenue Setai Fifth Avenue, a soaring 60-story luxury tower in the heart of midtown Manhattan, combines a Capella Managed world-class, five-star hotel and a luxurious condominium residence. Capped by an impressive illuminated crown, Setai Fifth Avenue is one of the unique jewels of New York...Posted: 6/14/20103 clicks

80 Metropolitan Developed by Steiner NYC, 80 Metropolitan, a luxury condominium in Williamsburg, brings Hollywood style to Brooklyn, New York. Within its ideal self-contained world including a landscaped Zen garden, private rooftop cabanas, and media lounge, 80 Metropolitan provides a luxurious lifestyle reminiscent of Hollywood glamour...Posted: 3/30/20102 clicks

Griffin Court Condominium Located at 800 Tenth Street, between 53rd and 54th Street, Griffin Court Condominium offers graceful living within the flourishing and chic Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan™s Midtown West. Designed by FXFowle Architects, this distinct luxury residence features two 8-storey towers connected by a communal lobby...Posted: 3/16/20103 clicks

Livmor Located at 301 West 115th Street on Frederick Douglas Boulevard, Livmor, a luxury Upper West Side Manhattan condominium, brings more sophisticated style to urban living. Designed by New York architect, Hugo Subotovsky, the 12-storey, 73-apartment, multi-dimensional building combines luxurious condos, ground level retail, and...Posted: 3/15/20103 clicks

1055 Park Avenue Situated on the corner of Park Avenue and East 87th Street in New York's Upper East Side, 1055 Park Avenue is an unique ultra-luxurious condominium. This distinctive 12-storey, five-unit building allows its residents to feel right at home while living in the midst of...Posted: 1/4/201010 clicks

2280 FDB Situated at 2280 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, New Harlem Condos embody an impressive mix of elements and styles in an equally diverse setting. With its international flavor, European atmosphere, and distinct architectural design, this upscale Manhattan neighborhood has an unique charm. Turn-of-the-century Romanesque row houses...Posted: 11/24/200910 clicks

Graceline Court Condominiums Situated in central Harlem, Graceline Court Condominiums (106 West 116th Street) offer graceful living and great views. This 16-storey, 32-unit luxury residence is all about open spaces, glorious sunshine, and spectacular scenery. The spacious layout and high 91/2′ ceilings lend an airy feel and...Posted: 11/18/20095 clicks

Devonshire House Designed by famed architect Emery Roth and modeled after the Duke of Devonshire's royal estate in London, the historic Devonshire House offers classic style as well as contemporary design. This 1928 building in lovely Greenwich Village has been totally modernized to offer luxurious condominium...Posted: 9/11/200911 clicks

Beech Street Refis Jackson Heights MF NEW YORK CITY-A Fannie Mae DUS loan for $13 million provides permanent financing for Alpine Gardens Apartments, highlighting this week's wrap-up of deals.Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Decision Delayed on Stuy-Town Foreclosure NEW YORK CITY-A judge heard arguments Thursday in the dispute between mortgage holders and a partnership that bought senior mezz debt, but did not issue a ruling.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Vornado Plans $400M Buyback of Senior Notes NEW YORK CITY-Goldman Sachs is acting as the deal manager for the REIT's repurchase of convertible debentures due in 2026 and 2027.Posted: 9/2/20101 click

HRC Closes on $2.8M Mortgage Loan NEW YORK CITY-The loan was used to purchase the existing first mortgage on an 8.9-acre industrial park in Staten Island.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

New Law Demands More Transparency from NY Brokers NEW YORK CITY-New legislation instituted in New York will require realty brokers to disclose information to sellers and buyers of condos and co-ops in written form describing the relationship between the brokers and their clients and the responsibilities of the brokers.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Two Trees Acquires 50 West 23rd Street Building NEW YORK CITY-Two Trees Management, a family-owned real estate firm, has signed a contract to acquire a 340,000 square-foot office building at 50 West 23rd Street, Manhattan, from Moinian Group for $129.5 million.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Metropole Seeks Tenants for Former Fortunoff Building NEW YORK CITY-Despite completing massive renovations to the Fortunoff building, the 18-story building on 681 Fifth Ave., still stands empty.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Stock Performance Drives REIT Compensation Gains NEW YORK CITY-Surveys by Schonbraun McCann and NAREIT both find REITs cautiously optimistic about their prospects for next year.Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

B&N Out, Century 21 In on Upper West Side NEW YORK CITY-A Lower Manhattan fixture for 50 years, Century 21 is leasing 61,000 square feet of retail space near Lincoln Center.Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Wall Street Sees Opportunities in RE Funds NEW YORK CITY-Investors take advantage of funds' need for cash at a time when few funds succeed in going back to the well, the WSJ says.Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Signing Bonus Eight apartments offering extra perks for buyers.Posted: 8/27/20100 clicks

Luxe Studios Seven one-room apartments that go beyond the basics.Posted: 8/27/20100 clicks

Yes, They Do Exist Three-bedrooms for less than $1 million. In Manhattan.Posted: 8/25/20101 click

Fame Slept Here When you picture an idealized West Village townhouse, this is what pops into your headPosted: 8/15/20101 click

Just One More Look Buyers have taken to calling for a second opinion. And a third, a fourth, a fifth …Posted: 8/15/20100 clicks

Old New York Here are nine nineteenth-century properties that tap into the city?s real-estate history.Posted: 8/11/20104 clicks

Brownstone Brooklyn Here are 8 properties in the iconic style.Posted: 8/3/20100 clicks

On the Waterfront East End properties just steps from the ocean.Posted: 7/21/20100 clicks

Life Swap: What If You Left New York? Move from this island to an even smaller one.Posted: 7/11/20101 click

The Starter Celebrities We can’t all live next door to a Streep or a Pacino, but part of the pleasure of New York apartment life is that familiar faces from stage and screen have a way of just appearing down the hall.Posted: 7/11/20101 click

The loss leader strategy of new developments and how to recognize it One strategy effectively used by developers to move otherwise stagnant inventory is that of the 'loss leader'.  They price one or two units in a building below market to generate interest, traffic and press, all of which can help in the selling of the...Posted: 9/2/20101 click

Why an agent would agree to take on an overpriced listing Whether you™re a FSBO (for sale by owner) or a seller interviewing multiple brokers, you may well fall into the trap of choosing to work with the one who quotes you the highest price for your property, or the one who doesn™t push back...Posted: 8/30/20101 click

A summer rental market retrospective We are now at the tail end of the seasonally busy summer months which, as expected, were the busiest months of ‘10 to date.  What can we say looking back?  A good bit of volume came from locals looking for needing to change their...Posted: 8/26/20102 clicks

Is sending out multiple contracts ethical? You have been looking for an apartment for months now, seeking out that right combination of value and emotional pull. You finally found it and work your way through the negotiations process, and celebrate upon arriving at an accepted offer.  Time to break out...Posted: 8/23/20100 clicks

How deep are NYC’s all-cash pockets? Market reports, anecdotal data and the media have all pointed to the high-end market having picked up. The increased activity we™ve been seeing has been greatly fueled by a preponderance of all-cash buyers. They have been coming out of the woodwork both...Posted: 8/13/20101 click

The psychology behind selling to upgrade: avoiding the “loss aversion” trap If you™re in the process of selling your current apartment and upgrading to purchase a larger one, make sure you look at the bigger picture.  We have spoken with many sellers who are looking at the process too myopically by overweighting the outcome of...Posted: 8/4/20100 clicks

Tales from the trenches: 5 broker breeds we could all do without With sales volume seasonably slowing down over the past few weeks and deals becoming fewer and farther between, temperatures are not the only thing on the rise ¦ broker temperament seems to be following suit, bringing out some not so flattering behavior from industry...Posted: 8/4/20104 clicks

Picture imperfect: why great apartments may come with no pictures It™s the tried and true request of all renters to their brokers:  send me pictures.  The rental market moves quickly, especially as compared to the sales market.  Particularly in the busy summer months, it™s not uncommon for an apartment to go on the market...Posted: 8/1/20101 click

To cash or not to cash: should you purchase a property with cash if you can or finance a portion of it? We have encountered many buyers out there who are hemming and hawing as to whether they should pay all cash for a purchase or take advantage of today™s low interest rates.  Even if you have the wherewithal to purchase a property outright, you may...Posted: 7/28/20100 clicks

Why low interest rates have lost their impact on buyers With all the talk of continued low interest rates, we™re asking the question: have low interest rates lost their impact on the housing market? Certainly in the first half of this year, even beginning in Q4 of last year, the name of the game...Posted: 7/26/20101 click

Citigroup Gets Burned in the Caribbean The bank is selling its mortgage on the Viceroy Anguilla to Starwood Capital Group at a hefty discount, the latest example of capitulation by a bank that has nursed a troubled real-estate project for years.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

New Resorts Owners Roll Dice Morris Bailey and Dennis Gomes are paying $35 million for Resorts Atlantic City, at a time when gambling revenue is declining and customers are being siphoned off to Pennsylvania venues.Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Capital Freeze Thaws for Real-Estate Funds Real-estate funds saddled with boom-time properties are getting relief from Wall Street firms and other investors hoping to capitalize on their need for cash.Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Corio's Turkish Strategy Stumbles The Dutch company's expansion has yielded disappointing results due to the weak economy, competition and the difficulties of exporting Western shopping concepts to a country steeped in different traditions.Posted: 9/1/20101 click

Help for Hyatt Isn't Enough A Jacksonville hotel missed paying its mortgage despite $5 million in help from the Hyatt chain.Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

[Van Halen] Right Now: Townhouse Running Video Ok its Friday and we all need to kill some time before the weekend starts. Check out the infusion of Van Halen into Manhattan Townhouses by a guy in a white suit. Todd Stevens, a New York real estate agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman,...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

[Friday Light] What’s In A Name? Miller Takes 7th Place A little more than four years ago I wrote about how many people had my full name. Plus, I think there are something like 8 pages of Millers in the Manhattan phone book (if anyone ever uses them anymore). Well, the census results are in...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

[Patterns] CNBC/Trulia Home Traffic Report Trulia teamed up with CNBC to leverage their unique data, tracking consumer search behavior in the nation's top 100 cities as a possible proxy for future sales activity in a market. It's intriguing and uncharted (no pun intended) waters. I look forward to...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

[NAR] July 2010 Pending Home Sales Index [click to expand] The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, rose 5.2 percent to 79.4 based on contracts signed in July from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June, but remains 19.1 percent below July 2009 when it was 98.1. The data reflects...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Manhattan Co-op Maintenance Up 19% [click to open article] AnnaMaria Andriotis at SmartMoney asked me to look at the state of maintenance charges for Manhattan co-ops on an annualized basis. It's generally easier to look at maintenance charges for co-ops on a per square foot basis per month (ie a 1,000...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

[ChartPorn] New York City Foreclosures et al Crain's New York just released their City-Facts edition which is chock full of data (including ours). Here are a few key charts in the residential section. And charts based on our firm's data. Posted: 9/2/20101 click

[RSS] Thursday Morning Before Earl Infomosis And some other interesting stuff that's been accumulating in my RSS reader... [West Side Spirit] Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer rejects Extell's Riverside plans [Think BIG] Bearish Sentiment Rises to Highest Level Since March 2009 [MyTownCryer] Rational Apathy or Good Common Sense? [Mass RE News] Realtors Should Not...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

[The Housing Helix Podcast] Mark L. Stark, Owner/Broker/CEO, Prudential Americana Group, Las Vegas A few months ago I met Mark Stark, CEO of Prudential Americana Group in Las Vegas, NV so I thought I'd ask him to have a conversation about the challenges of his market. Mark is very candid about his market and we had a...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

[Fannie Mae ] Appraisal Regs: They Actually Want To See What The Property Interior Looks Like To show you how bad things got, Fannie Mae is now in the process upgrading their appraisal regulations to reflect more prudent risk management. Part of this upgrade was to begin to insist that appraisers have local market knowledge and to now actually...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

[Mansion Tax] Behavior Modification: Party Like Its $999,999 [click to open article] In the aftermath of federal tax credit for first time buyers and existing homeowners as part of the stimulus program, I newly appreciated one key thing: buyers and sellers modify their behavior to work a tax to their best advantage....Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Fewer US Jobs Lost in August; Private Hiring Beats ForecastsPosted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Jobless Claims Edge Lower, Productivity Takes DipPosted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Private Sector Hiring Shrinks, But Planned Layoffs FallPosted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Consumers Mood Improves, But Outlook Remains GloomyPosted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Home Prices Rose Sharply in June, Helped by Tax CreditPosted: 8/31/20100 clicks

New York Rebounds From Slump, UnevenlyPosted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Home Market: Lot of LookingPosted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Spending Outpaces Income in July; Auto Sales Pick UpPosted: 8/30/20100 clicks

Economic Growth at 1.6 percent ; Bad, But Better Than ThoughtPosted: 8/27/20100 clicks

Housing crisis is not affecting New York City as badly as rest of the nationPosted: 8/26/20105 clicks

FHA delinquencies continue to grow, refinance apps outnumber purchase apps The rate of serious delinquent mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) remained flat from June to July; however, the gross number of mortgages that are either 90 or more days past due or in foreclosure increased 31.5% from the same period a...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Most GSE capital reductions due to single-family credit guarantee Nontraditonal and high-risk mortgages originated in 2006 and 2007 continue to wreak havoc on the capital levels of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The first Conservator™s Report on the Enterprises™ Financial Condition from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed the single-family credit guarantee programs accounted...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

EU's big step toward crisis prevention With the creation of a clutch of new financial watchdog agencies, the European Union this week took its biggest step so far to prevent a recurrence of economic crises that have thrown the future of the euro into question. But the overhaul will not...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

FDIC sells another $760 million in REO Mariner Real Estate Management (MREM), a real estate investment and management firm based in Kansas, closed a deal to acquire a $760 million portfolio of residential and commercial loans and REO properties from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). MREM is part of Mariner Holdings,...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Ocwen closes HomEq buy, more than 1,000 job cuts possible Ocwen Financial Corp. closed the acquisition of mortgage servicing firm HomEq Servicing, ending the firms time in the marketplace and sending more than 1,000 people home jobless by November. In May, Barclays Capital agreed to sell HomEq to Ocwen Loan Servicing for about $1.3 billion....Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Finance after the crisis: Deutsche Bank, a tamer casino Josef Ackermann, the head of Deutsche Bank, combines a silky manner with blunt words. When the German government set up a bail-out fund to stabilize the country™s banking system, he said he would be ashamed to use it. When Europe and...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

'Recovery summer' ends with economic pothole Whatever happened to recovery summer? This was supposed to be the season the economy heated up, thanks to a wave of public works projects, funded by the governments stimulus program. But summer is coming to an end, and the recovery has not...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Another homebuyer tax credit won't solve housing crisis One of the topics of the moment is whether or not Congress will bring back the homebuyer tax credit. But this misses the point. The real issue is whether another tax credit would solve the housing crisis in one fell swoop. The short answer...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

FHA puts floor on borrower credit eligibility Borrowers with credit scores less than 500 are not eligible for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage financing, according to the new credit score and loan-to-value (LTV) requirements released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is the first time the FHA has...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Credit Suisse sees continued MBS spread volatility Credit Suisse analysts expect continued spread volatility in mortgage-backed securities although the Fed backstop should contain any basis widening. In this weeks mortgage market focus report, the financial-services company said wider spreads or higher paydowns may prompt the Fed to reverse course and reinvest proceeds...Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

New CNBC/ Trulia Home Traffic Report This morning we released a new monthly exclusive report with CNBC titled the CNBC/Trulia Home Traffic Report. The monthly reports will look at the share of traffic in local markets, relative to the top 100 cities searched across the country in the given...Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Christina Aguilera reduces asking price of Los Angeles pad $255K Christina Aguilera just reduced the asking price of her Mid Century Modern home with jetliner views of downtown LA, the ocean and is just minutes away from Beverly Hills and Sunset Strip. Check out the gorgeous pads and see what...Posted: 8/26/20100 clicks

Halle Berry and baby Nahla™s moving to the Bay (Yay) Area! SF Gate told us the other day that actress AND diva, Halle Berry and daughter Nahla are considering moving to the Bay Area. Reason? She wants to get away from the snap happy papparazzi and find a less crazed area to raise...Posted: 8/26/20101 click

Jersey Shore™s ˜The Situation™ may earn $5M in 2010 - buy a home Mike People online reported this morning that Jersey Shore's 'The Situation' (aka Mike Sorrentino) will most likely earn $5M this year (combining earnings from MTV, endorsement deals, personal branded products and club events). Make it rain Mikey! Word from the wise though -...Posted: 8/24/20101 click

Brett Favre™s staying another year with the Vikings Even at the age of 40, Brett Favre is still going strong (granted there were a couple of ‘hot fixes'). The QB will be playing yet another season with the Minnesota Vikings. Brett, we wish you the best of luck with...Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Rapper Eve looking to sell or lease Hollywood Hills pad According to our sources (thank you LA Times), rapper Eve is looking to either lease or sell her Hollywood Hills pad. After some digging and prodding, we were able to locate Eve's home: 2101 Wattles Drive, Los Angeles CA. The ...Posted: 8/19/20102 clicks

One Out of Four Renters Never Plan to Own a Home; 68% Won™t Buy For Two Years, According to a New Survey From Trulia photo credit: Editor B Today Trulia hosted a quarterly conference call with Simply Hired discussing the results from our recent American Dream survey on attitudes toward home ownership. Government and industry experts agree: consumer interest in buying homes is an essential element of...Posted: 8/18/20101 click

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban purchase $10M penthouse in New York, NY Our friends over at NY Post recently reported that Nicole Kidman and hubby Keith Urban just picked up a $10M penthouse near High Line in New York. Other celebrities living in the luxury building include Domenico Dolce of Dolce & Gabbana, ...Posted: 8/17/20101 click

Real estate eye candy: See what a $49M home in San Francisco looks like It's the start of another work week. And I'm sure we could all use something to kick us off. If coffee's not your caffeine of choice, check out this sweet real estate eye candy in San Francisco that will really give you a...Posted: 8/17/20105 clicks

Real estate eye candy: See what you can get for $28M in Chicago, IL As we browsed the Chicago market for luxury homes, we couldn't help but notice this amazing French classic. Let your eyes feast on this sweet eye candy. Bonus: You won't get a single calorie from this. See more homes for sale in Chicago, IL. See more...Posted: 8/13/20101 click

Debt Rally Cracking? Equities Re-Valuing A: The party never lasts forever. There are so many crazy things going on right now, mostly bearish, that to me it feels like the ground under our feet is very 'fra-gi-le, I think that's French'. Props to anyone that gets that movie quote! Bloomberg...Posted: 8/25/20101 click

Manhattan RE Needs More Inventory!! A: As discussed 3 weeks ago, the Manhattan residential real estate market saw a slowdown across all metrics: inventory is down, sales pace is down, pace of listings taken off market is down, and pace of listings coming on to market is down. Clear...Posted: 8/23/20101 click

LOAN DELINQUENCIES PEAK! Yes, believe it or not, according to data released by the Federal Reserve earlier this week, loan delinquencies appear to have peaked (View image). In Q2 2010, for the second quarter in a row, delinquent loans as a percent of all loans declined...Posted: 8/21/20101 click

Give Me Yield! A: The fed once again has engineered an insatiable and dangerous 'search for yield'. As the carry trade and risk trade are on again, its clear the fed will do anything and everything to a) try to recapitalize the banks and b) engineer demand...Posted: 8/16/20101 click

I think The Weeks 'Deal Signed' Award Winner Is... A: Why not? With permission, Id love to start doing the "Great Deals" and the weeks "Best New Signed Deal" again, to kind of mix it up a bit. What do you guys think? Is there room for that kind of content here on...Posted: 8/10/20100 clicks

Stocks or Bonds? And We Have Our Answer... A: It all becomes clear why bond markets disconnected so much from equities recently. The reason is because the marts sniffed out more QE by the fed, and today's announcement confirms the new plans. Via Bloomberg, "Fed to Reinvest Mortgage Proceeds Into Long-Term Treasuries":...Posted: 8/10/20100 clicks

Who's Right: Bonds or Stocks? A: Wow, talk about the bond markets and equity markets showing diverging signals. The bond markets are warning of deflationary risks and a slowdown, while equities just seem to do their irrational march higher. If history is any guide, its usually stock prices that...Posted: 8/5/20100 clicks

Remembering Joe Ferrara The digital real estate world is saddened with the loss of one of its more inspirational and encouraging founding fathers, Joe Ferrara, founder of Sellsius Real Estate Blog. Joe lost his fight with cancer last evening. He will be deeply missed. Joe was a champion...Posted: 8/4/20100 clicks

A 'Seasonally' Slow Manhattan Summer So Far A: Its very clear that this summer has seen a noticeable slowdown in 'sales pace'; especially compared to the activity in the first four months of 2010. But I would like to dig a bit into why the drop in sales pace should be...Posted: 8/2/20101 click

What Are The Markets Trying To Tell Us? Action in the bond, stock and commodities markets have been very confusing to me as of late. The stock market, which has broken critical technical levels (see my recent piece "Critical Juncture") has "hung in there" recently, partly due to the extremely bearish...Posted: 7/22/20102 clicks

MGIC added $1.2B in mortgage coverage in August (AP) AP - Private mortgage insurer Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. said Friday it added $1.2 billion in new primary insurance coverage in August and the number of delinquent loans it insures declined.Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Mo. drops appeal of real estate ballot measure (AP) AP - An initiative barring taxes on home and land sales is clear to appear on Missouri's ballot after the state dropped an appeal Friday of a judge's decision ordering the election.Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Con man could get life under Calif. 3-strikes law (AP) AP - A man accused of bilking elderly South Los Angeles residents out of their homes in a foreclosure scam is facing a potential life sentence in a rare use of California's three-strikes law for a white-collar crime.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Oil prices rise after mixed economic news (AP) AP - Oil prices ended higher Thursday after an initial retreat as investors put a positive spin on reports about jobs, manufacturing and home sales.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Summary Box: Mortgage rates hit low of 4.32 pct. (AP) AP - RECORD LOWS: Mortgage rates fell to the lowest levels in decades for the tenth time in 11 weeks, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.32 percent. The 15-year fixed loan hit 3.83 percent.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

How to Get a Government-Backed, Zero-Down-Payment Mortgage (U.S. News & World Report) U.S. News & World Report - More than four years after real estate values peaked, the historic plunge in home prices remains fresh in the minds of mortgage lenders. After taking painful losses on delinquent home loans, banks have imposed tougher standards--such as increased...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Pending home sales rise 5.2 percent in July (AP) AP - The number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase previously occupied homes increased in July but remained well below last year's levels, a sign that demand for housing remains weak.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Summary Box: Pending home sales up 5.2 pct in July (AP) AP - PENDING HOME SALES RISE: The number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase previously occupied homes increased by 5.2 percent in July from June.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Mortgage rates hit record low: Freddie Mac (Reuters) Reuters - U.S. mortgage rates fell in the past week to the latest in a series of record lows as yields on government debt dropped, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Communities key in foreclosure fight: Fed officials (Reuters) Reuters - Two top U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Thursday called for a more community-focused approach to the country's ongoing foreclosure crisis, which is weighing on its economic recovery.Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Cronin of Q10|New York Realty Advisors arranges $13.75 million mortgage for Houlihan Parnes White Plains, NY Jeanne Cronin, managing director of Q10 | New York Realty Advisors, LLC, closed a $13.75 million ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

York of Arbor originates $23.767m loan with Eastern Union's Zlotowitz, Lefkowitz and Hyman Bronx, NY According to Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. leases 7,100 s/f to Jacobs Neurological Inst. Williamsville, NY Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation, one of Western New York's leading full service real estate ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Gordon and Helbling of Breslin Realty negotiate 10-year lease for Verizon Islip Terrace, NY According to Kenneth Breslin, president of Breslin Realty, Inc., his office recently completed ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler arranges $9.85m financing for Syracuse hotel Syracuse, NY The New York and Dallas offices of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) have arranged $9.85 million ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

VVA managing the development of the new $125 million Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center Yonkers, NY VVA Project Managers and Consultants were hired by Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center to assist them ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Parrish Art Museum celebrates ground breaking for $25 million expansion project; Designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron Southampton, NY According to the Parrish Art Museum, it has commenced construction of its new Herzog & de ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Leary and Burk of CPEX broker two sales totaling $2.47 million Brooklyn, NY CPEX has completed two sales totaling $2.47 million. The deals include the following:* The sale of ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

The Related Companies and Tishman Construction celebrate topping out of $800 million project at 440 West 42nd Street Manhattan, NY Hundreds of construction workers and principals of owner/developer Related Companies and ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Hakimian Org. closes on $263 million loan extension New York, NY According to The Hakimian Organization along with partners Peykar Brothers Realty and Gorjian ...... Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Cash for Clunkers hurt poor and unemployed drivers One year later, Cash for Clunkers was still a dumb, economically harmful idea:IN THE market for a used car? Good luck finding a bargain: The price of pre-owned™™ vehicles has climbed considerably over the past year. ...No great insight was needed to realize that...Posted: 9/3/20101 click

Aid for homeowners may be doing more economic harm than good Fortune Magazine questions the usefulness of government programs to aid struggling homeowners:It's easy to see the need for such programs. Theoretically, they keep people in their homes and bring some stability to fragile housing market. But the plethora of programs announced since the housing...Posted: 9/2/20100 clicks

Banks helping more troubled homeowners than Obama That's the claim made by CNNMoney:Remember how everyone complained that banks weren't doing enough to help troubled borrowers?Well ...Banks have realized that foreclosing on home after home after home may not be in anyone's best interest ” least of all their own. So they've...Posted: 8/31/20101 click

Homeownership fetish harmful Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson writes:The relentless promotion of homeownership as the embodiment of the American dream has outlived its usefulness.Historically, the pursuit of homeownership dates to the Great Depression of the 1930s, notes historian A. Scott Henderson of Furman University. In some...Posted: 8/30/20100 clicks

CNBC housing market discussionPosted: 8/27/20101 click

Graphs: The decimation of the home-building industry New housing permits:New housing starts:New single-family home sales:Posted: 8/26/20101 click

New home sales hit all-time low New home sales in July hit the lowest number ever recorded:New home sales unexpectedly fell in July to the lowest level on record as the housing market continued to suffer from the end of the homebuyer tax credit boost.New home sales dropped 12.4% to...Posted: 8/25/20101 click

Housing no longer a wealth builder From The New York Times, via CNBC:Housing will eventually recover from its great swoon. But many real estate experts now believe that home ownership will never again yield rewards like those enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century, when houses not only...Posted: 8/24/20101 click

Existing home sales continue their death spiral More evidence that the housing bubble will keep deflating when government doesn't prop it up:Existing home sales fell sharply in July, declining for a third straight month, as the effects of the expired homebuyer tax credit continued to add turbulence to the housing market.The...Posted: 8/24/20101 click

Economist Andy Harless asks "What housing bubble?" It's 2010. Economic events have proven us bubbleheads right. Yet, we still have professional economists arguing there was no housing bubble.Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Long Weekend Reading: Communes, Solar-Powered Caipirinhas and LEED-Certified $5 Footlongs From intentional living in western New York to solar-powered grilled corn in Brooklyn to a green Subway in Chicago, here are a few green links for the long weekend.Posted: 9/3/20100 clicks

Down On The Riverside: Scott Stringer Unloads On Extell™s Riverside Center Mega-Development Community Board 7 demanded more sustainability from Riverside Center, a mega-development on the UWS. Now Borough President Scott Stringer is doing the same.Posted: 9/1/20100 clicks

Friday Reading: Bronx™s LEED Neighborhood Booming, TED Types Put Green Building In Context, NYC™s Friendliest Toilet What does a resurgent South Bronx 'hood, big-think essays on the future of green building and composting toilets have in common? They're all part of Friday Reading, but not much else.Posted: 8/27/20102 clicks

Maki, Rolling: Fumihiko Maki™s Ambitious, Green 51 Astor Place Might Actually Get Built Fumihiko Maki's LEED Gold-hopeful 51 Astor Place was a big deal in 2008, then seemingly a big bust. Rumors of its demise, though, may turn out to be greatly exaggerated.Posted: 8/26/20100 clicks

So, Has Anyone Heard About This Empire State Building Thing? Yeah, the Empire State Building isn't exactly NYC's best kept secret. But a host of recent articles finally give the iconic skyscraper's ambitious green retrofit the attention it deserves.Posted: 8/26/20102 clicks

Get Out Of Town: Hudson Passive House In Claverack, NY Aims For Net Zero, Green Prefab Montauk Home Wins AIA Honors Let's leave this Non-Ground-Zero Non-Mosque stuff behind us and check out some impressive green buildings in Columbia County, NY and Montauk, shall we? Right, excellent idea.Posted: 8/19/20100 clicks

Cordoba Initiative™s Park51: Not A Mosque, Not At Ground Zero, But Still Important It's not really a mosque and it's not really at Ground Zero, but Park51 -- you know, "The Ground Zero Mosque" -- speaks volumes about New York City all the same. Fulmination ahoy!Posted: 8/18/20100 clicks

Ground Zero Mosque Set to Become Gotham™s Most Controversial Green Building The controversial mosque that's slated to replace an existing Italianate-style building at 45-51 Park Place just two blocks from Ground Zero could become the first LEED-certified mosque in the country.Posted: 8/13/20100 clicks

Something In The Water: How To Bridge The Gap Between LEED Certification And Building Performance? LEED certification promises green performance, but a recent study indicates that -- when it comes to air and water quality -- LEED points don't necessarily add up to a greener building.Posted: 8/10/20101 click

Solid, Gold: Green Retrofit at 375 Hudson Street Earns LEED Gold Tishman Speyer won LEED Gold and Energy Star certification for their retrofit at 375 Hudson -- and in the process created a remarkably convincing argument for green retrofits.Posted: 8/9/20101 click

56 Leonard Tribeca Condo by Herzog & de Meuron The long awaited design for 56 Leonard Street in Tribeca by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron has been revealed....Posted: 9/14/20087 clicks

HL23 - Condos at 515 West 23rd Street Who said the credit crunch would stem the flow of design driven condo development? Here we take a look at...Posted: 2/26/20084 clicks

15 Union Square West - 15 USW The conversion of the 5-story building at 15 Union Square West into 36 condominium apartments has revealed an 1870 cast...Posted: 2/24/20088 clicks

Twenty9th Park Madison - 39 East 29th Street Urban planners might want to make a case study out of the area just north of Madison Square Park in...Posted: 10/6/20072 clicks

One Madison Park - 23 East 22nd Street This strikingly tall and narrow 60-story condo tower is to be known as One Madison Park and will smartly have...Posted: 9/17/20073 clicks

Superior Ink Condos - 400 West 12th Street If only the most well located new condo projects are getting financing in the credit crunch, then Related's Superior Ink...Posted: 9/5/20073 clicks

One Jackson Square - 122 Greenwich Avenue One Jackson Square at 122 Greenwich Avenue in Manhattan's West Village fills a long vacant lot just below 14th Street....Posted: 8/14/20071 click

166 Perry Street - Asymptote Another week, another "avant garde" condo in Manhattan -- this time from the developers who made the first leap in...Posted: 7/4/20072 clicks

Condos at 151 & 205 East 85th Street The Lucida - 151 East 85th Street The Brompton - 205 East 85th Street Two new condo apartment houses offer...Posted: 6/20/20070 clicks

We can™t critique your home if you™re following us We can't talk about the home if the owner is following us around. 'Why are they following me'.  This is what my clients tell me when I'm showing them a house and the owner is home.  The consensus among home buyers is that they would prefer...Posted: 8/31/20101 click

Real Estate transactions may be more difficult than they appear Why does everyone think that real estate has to be filled with drama? Does it require days or weeks of dead-end frustrating negotiations? Does it really require misleading stories about why the house is overpriced and how the house is 'unique' or 'special'? ...Posted: 8/18/20100 clicks

Radon: it™s not a bug repellent. I can not lie. I copied the entire content from a continuing education program I was taking the other day.  I know what radon is, however, this excerpt seems to do a better job at explaining than I ever can. -- Radon gas decays, giving off...Posted: 7/26/20101 click

Advice for home sellers from my 4 year old Every parent truly believes they have a genius (kid) in the lot.  And guess what? I'm no exception.  I have 3 of them in fact.  All genius in their own special way.  But this post is specifically about my 4 year old son.  ...Posted: 7/12/20101 click

What if real estate agents got paid at the client™s discretion¦ I read this article last about how Panera Bread is piloting a 'pay what you want store' in St. Louis and it got me thinking.  Since there's no established fee or percent for what a real estate agent can and can't charge for his...Posted: 5/24/20101 click

How to get burnt in a real estate transaction in Westchester A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article titled 'What does it mean when a home seller drops their price?' in which I discussed 2 possible reasons why a seller may reduce the price of a home.  One reason being the need...Posted: 5/9/20101 click

Buying a home is not that hard Perhaps I'm over-simplifying the home-buying process.  Perhaps it's because I've purchased homes before or perhaps it's because I'm in the business and I'm accustomed to the process.  Or perhaps the reason is that I don't perceive buying a home as an end-to-all-decision.  I'm not...Posted: 5/2/20100 clicks

Homebuyer Tax Credit Deadline is nearing: Frequently Asked Questions $8,000 Tax Credit The following questions and answers provide basic information about the tax credit for new homeowners. If you have more specific questions, we strongly encourage you to consult a qualified tax advisor or legal professional about your...Posted: 3/29/20100 clicks

What does it mean when a home seller drops their price? I have this conversation at least once a week with a client or potential client.  A drop in the price of the home can mean a number of things.  If you're super analytical, like me, you'll undoubtedly try to dissect the situation every which...Posted: 3/19/20103 clicks

How™s the Westchester Real Estate Market? (to January 2010) As a real estate agent I get asked this questions a number of times a week.  I could answer that question in a number of ways.  I could say the market is down, compared to 2 years ago.  I could also reply with the...Posted: 2/22/20101 click

Pretty Girls in High Places Growing up, I knew girls like Nicole John. They weren't just pretty, they were flames that drew all the guys. They were also a human tornado of mental and emotional issues. Using their feminine charms and looks, they left path of destruction littered with...Posted: 8/31/20100 clicks

Oh Hell No! As everyone knows, I have issues with Philadelphia. Here is something to add to the list.Philly requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business licensePosted: 8/23/20100 clicks

Moonlighting If you google Commercial Mortgages, you get a lot of stories, a lot of them bad.I have heard chatter that it is so very difficult to get a commercial mortgage that I know of one broker who is moonlighting in another industry.Further signs point...Posted: 8/23/20100 clicks

To Be The Shepard When someone commits a social transgression against you. It hurts. It is especially painful when you made the effort to follow societal norms while that person has decided to ignore them. That pain releases in your head a cacophonous set of emotions which include...Posted: 8/20/20100 clicks

For those of you who are drunk If this does not sober you up.I have no idea what will.Posted: 8/19/20101 click

Heat It is going to get hot.Scarsdale has been in the news recently and not for the best of reasons. The link below will give you the rundown.Honky Trek: Scarsdale? The biggest development for Scarsdale is the Affordable Housing Plan. Recently there have been new...Posted: 8/18/20101 click

Yes. There will be a new season. Among the many truths that have been confirmed to me this past year is that time is finite and bad things happen to good people. Fortunately all is well with me and my family. However it has made me think very closely about what...Posted: 8/18/20102 clicks

Where'd You Go? It's been awhile since I last posted. What's my excuse? I've been busy.Pretty lame huh?Seriously. There have been a series of development in my life which I have had to address and which unfortunately has dropped this blog down the list of priorities.I did...Posted: 8/2/20101 click

Something is going on Can't give you full details since I don't have any. But I have had some gut feelings that are slowly being confirmed through personal chatter.What I feel is another shake up is coming. Bigger than the last.Posted: 7/13/20102 clicks

Holding out for what? I was looking for this quote but I think everyone will get the point with this clip reel.American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation This is a story of Scott Nicholson who has an impressive list of accomplishments at 24 years old. a graduate...Posted: 7/8/20102 clicks

Twitter sentiment analysis and media influence This study and this presentation are fascinating examples of what's occurring in sentiment and message analysis. The first study focuses on a sampling of 9,664,952 tweets from 2008 and found that Twitter (surprise ;-D) is an excellent media for analyzing public sentiment on topics of...Posted: 8/19/20100 clicks

Social cues, social responses, humans know when a computer is engaging them This research paper from Nokia Research Center, Stanford, and Queens University implies that humans can ascertain with an uncanny degree of certainty when a social message is sent from a computer versus a human. Social responses to communication technologies theory (SRCT)  predicts that humans...Posted: 7/28/20100 clicks

Persuasive design principles and website user behavior Motivation, ability, and triggers influence users' website behavior, according to this research paper by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg. This is important if you're targeting specific behavioral action (e.g., filling out a lead form). Before a user takes a desired action, she must be sufficiently...Posted: 7/13/20101 click

Gartner hype cycle and emerging media curve balls, change-ups, fastballs and Steve Harney™s 5Cs The Gartner Hype Cycle is a useful graph for analyzing technology hype. Looking at the Gartner graph, I™ll posit we™re somewhere near the Slope of Enlightenment and the Plateau of Productivity with respect to social media. Over the past couple of years, business leaders...Posted: 7/1/20100 clicks

Finding user similarities in social networks This study focuses on how to find similarities amongst individuals using social media based on their behavioral characteristics. Finding such similarities across myriad social networks has beneficial uses: making users aware of other users with similar interests, finding users who comment on the same blogs, and...Posted: 6/10/20100 clicks

Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended for Some Military Personnel Due to the U.S. military™s involvement in overseas conflicts from 2008 to the present, the government has extended the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit until April 30, 2011, for some military personnel.Those who have been unable to receive this benefit due to military service now...Posted: 8/26/20100 clicks

Engage your community by giving them what they want: Daily Deals! You may have been introduced to Groupon from last week's $25 for $50 worth of Gap clothes offering. It sold 441,000 coupons across America and made "Daily Deals" the war cry of the new local advertising model for the Great Recession. We've always...Posted: 8/24/20100 clicks

Why HOW (Home Ownership Workshop) is the new WOW! Real Estate and Lending industry has always been ridiculed for not doing enough towards educating the home buyers. In fact a lot of blame for the mortgage meltdown was placed on the fact that the buyers were not made aware of "what they were...Posted: 6/14/20102 clicks

The Breaking News Network is meeting at Inman Connect in San Francisco We're having our first face-to-face gathering of our Breaking News Network participants at Inman Real Estate Connect between July 13-15 in San Francisco. Inman has generously offered us a 25% discount if you register here with the code BNN . Register...Posted: 5/20/20100 clicks

Guest post: Buying Real Estate While in College: A Very Possible Dream Melissa Tamura approached me to write an article about a collegiate perspective on real estate. The best thing Melissa has done in this article is to tangibly describe how college students think about real estate, and she has outlined a mission statement that can...Posted: 5/9/20101 click

Our sponsor charity at Mortgage Revolution The contraction of the news reporting industry has been well documented, and leaves behind a nagging social question. Who is funding the stories that will illuminate the good causes going unnoticed, and the investigative reporting that uncovers the Watergates. Even more important, who...Posted: 5/2/20100 clicks

Mortgage Panel at Virtual RE Bar Camp At the recently concluded Virtual RE Bar Camp, I was on the Mortgage Panel with Mark Madsen, Chris Brown, Scott Schang and Justin McHood. The purpose of the panel was to show real estate agents who are active bloggers...Posted: 4/10/20100 clicks

Virtual REBarCamp April 6 - my new presentation on the Impact of Geolocational Media I'll be presenting next week at Jim Cronin's brilliant Virtual REBarCamp. Register here and meet me on April 6 at 2:15 in room #4. My new presentation is on "The Impact of Geolocational Media" Geolocation is the new...Posted: 3/31/20100 clicks

Automating Mobile Services for Real Estate Chris Thorman who blogs about real estate technology at Software Advice shares leading edge concepts that are aligned with what I see coming down the mobile social media pipeline. Turnkey / automation / service delivery and execution are critical to mass adoption, and when...Posted: 3/9/20100 clicks

The problem with social media marketing - it's still push marketing The sales methodology of the real estate industry is unique. Its sales force, primarily agents and brokers, needs to market themselves widely to a local community in order to capture transactions that happen infrequently. The traditional way has always been a form of promotion,...Posted: 2/19/20101 click

Brick facades are sturdy, but keeping them that way requires care As old as dirt, the sturdy brick is. Long before fairy tales with pigs and wolves came along, ancient peoples knew the strength, fire resistance and durability of the humble clay brick. Modern people know that it adds value and the aura of prestige...Posted: 9/4/20100 clicks

Lender could end up paying if all fees were not revealed at buyer's closing Q: My wife and I purchased a house in Florida last April. This past weekend we received a letter and an invoice from the law office that acted as the parties' closing agent, informing us that we owed fees for "additional endorsements requested by...Posted: 9/4/20100 clicks

A thick lawn can be yours with just a few steps It is said, "To everything there is a season," and we just reached one of those times of the year. If you want the greenest, healthiest lawn possible, fall is the season to obtain your best results by stimulating strong networks of roots and...Posted: 9/4/20100 clicks

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Fannie Mae's national lending program HomePath is worth a look If you fit the profile -- typically buyers with little cash on hand or small-scale investors looking for a deal on a foreclosed house -- a little-publicized national lending program could be just what you need this fall. Fannie Mae - United States -...Posted: 9/4/20100 clicks

Where We Live: Ashburn Manor in Virginia's Loudoun County Ashburn Manor is a neighborhood best defined by what it is not. Virginia - Loudoun County Virginia - United States - Loudoun - CountiesPosted: 9/4/20100 clicks

Brickmaking employs methods old and new There are three ways to make bricks, explains Gary Clark, a sales manager for brickmaker Glen-Gery Corp., headquartered in Wyomissing, Pa. United States - art - Music - Literature - Religion and SpiritualityPosted: 9/4/20100 clicks

In down economy, owning a vacation home may be more business than pleasure Tina Lambert and her husband wanted an investment that would help them pay for their kids' college tuition someday. When he insisted on paying $49,000 for a condominium in Ocean City in 1997, she worried. But by the middle of this decade, when housing...Posted: 8/28/20100 clicks

The living is easy in Northeast Washington's Brookland neighborhood Just a few miles northeast of the bustling center of downtown, the District has a neighborhood where the buzz of lawnmowers is more common than siren wails, Victorian homes perch on sprawling lawns, and children sell lemonade and oatmeal cookies. Washington DC - United...Posted: 8/28/20100 clicks

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