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519 East 86th Street, 6A - Upper East Side, New York
Open House Details
SOLD & CLOSED~
Your private outdoor heaven!
215 East 24th street #605
The Penny Lane
Please email me for a private showing [email protected]
Chef~
STUNNING BUCOLIC OASIS! Move right into this bright, south-facing duplex home with 2 private outdoor spaces! This warm and welcoming One-Bedroom, One-Bath apartment will make you forget you are in the city with beautiful and peaceful outdoor space, ideal for outdoor dining and entertaining. A gorgeous private, decked TERRACE awaits you on the second floor and a charming balcony on the first floor. Be the envy of your friends with your generous, renovated, eat-in-kitchen featuring stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and a large pass-through opening to the Living Room. The serene bedroom has a deep walk-in closet and is secluded and private from the rest of the apartment. 215 E.24th Street, Penny Lane is a Full-Service Coop with 24-Hr Doorman, Gorgeous Roof Deck, Bike Storage, and Laundry on every floor. Don't miss out on this special home at on the border of Murray Hill and Gramercy and moments away from transportation and all amenities of these vibrant neighborhoods!
http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/penny-lane-215-east-24-street-unit-605-manhattan-tapsoxs
What are the thoughts that go through my wife/ business partner’s mind as we roll into the fall 2011 NYC residential real estate market?
Mrs. Z writes,
"The espadrilles will soon be put away and I am already donning a sweat shirt today! Each September still feels like a fresh start to me--one that I didn't even realize I was missing..That desire for freshly sharpened pencils and new notebooks (even in my ripe 30s), as well as more "adult" cravings such as new Chloe boots and chunky sweaters or knitted A-line dresses perfect with almost any boot. As much as I love that fresh Fall feeling, as I get older, though, summer is a bit harder to let go of..that sweet corn, juicy tomatoes, peach pie from our pie lady, the smell of coppertone, bare feet in the grass, fresh flowers in our garden, Randolph's summer grassy scent, Paul's summer dishes especially the ones with burrata!, Lucien Croce Rosé, outdoor dining, Bbq visits..sigh. As the last unofficial weekend of summer comes to a close we already have 8 appt requests in and 6 voice mails from labor day alone..the end of the summer and the start of the fall real estate market. As sad as I am to see the summer go I can't help but have that crispy sweater feeling of excitement for Fall and all that it will bring......"
Check out what Mrs. Z has got cooking!
http://www.elliman.com/real-estate-agent/carolyn-zweben/3471
SOLD & CLOSED~
143 West 81st street #4/5
NEW PRICE~ $1.995M
Serenity!
Discover the best of both worlds in this charming andf quiet 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath turn-of-the-century townhouse apt w/ TWO spectacular private terraces making the home feel far removed from the hustle & bustle of city living, but conveniently located in the heart of the UWS.
This spacious duplex features a mint chef's kitchen with Caesar Stone Counters, Sleek modern cabinetry, Sea Glass Backsplash, and Professional Grade Stainless Appliances, including a 52-Bottle Wine Fridge.
The well-designed kitchen and breakfast bar is open to the spacious Dining room, which leads to a charming decked private terrace, ideal for outdoor dining.
A dramatic living room, also on this level, boasts cathedral vaulted ceilings, recessed lighting, & the 1st of 3 cozy wood burning fire places.
The lower level includes the grandly proportioned Master Suite with attached bonus office or dressing room, Large Bath with Jacuzzi, plus a Bosch Washer/Dryer, a generous 2nd bedroom with charming Wisteria views and a study/lounge area that could be converted into another bedroom.
Finally, the pièce de résistance is the 800square foot planted roof terrace ideal for outdoor entertaining or simply relaxing at home. Just 3 short flights up to this lovely bucolic home!
For a private appointment, please email me: [email protected]
SOLD AND CLOSED~!
ONE SHERMAN SQUARE
201 W 70th St - 7F
$849K LUX LIVING IN PRIME UPPER WEST SIDE!
Welcome to your Flexible, Over-Sized 1 Bedroom 1 Bath Home with a bonus generous Alcove that could easily be converted to a 2 Bedroom in the coveted White-Glove One Sherman Square. This Sunny and Welcoming Junior 4 apartment has Open Eastern Exposures and even a private terrace offering quintessential views of the NYC Streetscape.
This home is in good condition with hardwood floors, excellent closet space and a great layout, and is ideal for the savvy buyer looking for value. One Sherman Square is an elegant full-service building in the most sought-after part of the Upper West Side just north of Lincoln Center and offers 24-Hour Doorman, concierge, well-equipped health club, roof deck with jaw-dropping views, garage, landscaped front courtyard, central laundry, live-in Superintendent, and on-site Management. Pets are welcome.
For a private appointment, please email me: [email protected]
The master!
Gracious living and dining room!
The view from your private balcony!
By: Gwen Moran
If you’re trying to raise your credit score to get a good rate for a refinance or HELOC, you might be surprised by what affects—or doesn’t affect—your score.
Having many credit lines won't necessarily hurt your credit score, so long as you keep balances below 20% of the total credit line. Image: Rob Daly/OJO Images/Getty Images
You have to keep your credit score up in case you want to take out a second mortgage or home equity line of credit (HELOC), or get the lowest premiums on your home owners insurance. Here’s the 411 on how various money management tactics goose up or ding your credit score.
False. Your level or sources of income don’t affect your credit score, although lenders may look at it when making loan decisions, according to the Fair Isaac Corp., the company that issues the commonly used FICO credit scores.
Mostly false. Having many credit lines isn’t necessarily a bad thing, says credit expert Liz Weston, author of Your Credit Score. Multiple lines give you a favorable debt-to-available-credit ratio. But use them correctly: It’s best to keep any balances below 10% or 20% of the total credit line, she says. Anything more will affect the ratio of debt-to-available-credit, which can decrease your credit score.
True. New credit applications can decrease your credit score, so be careful about applying for new credit cards or personal loans before applying for a HELOC, second mortgage, automobile loan, or other large line of credit.
Surprise: Closing existing credit lines may also hurt your credit score, since it’ll damage your debt-to-available-credit ratio. A good rule is not to make any credit changes in the months leading up to a major credit request, such as for a HELOC.
Mostly false. Although it may seem like a good idea to move all your balances to one card, that can actually hurt your credit score, since your debt-to-available-credit ratio will spike on that card, says Weston.
However, credit expert Harrine Freeman says such a slight decline isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for a loan, especially if the card has a lower interest rate and will allow you to pay off the balance sooner. Your score will increase as soon as that ratio goes down.
Partly true. Taking a new job or losing your job doesn’t affect your credit score. However, if you have a spotty employment history, lenders may hold that against you in making a loan. Dips in income may signal that it could be difficult to pay bills in a timely manner.
Partly true. Simply co-signing on a loan for someone else may not affect your score, but if that person is late on paying the loan, it’s likely to show up on your report, says Freeman. And that’s a nasty surprise if you didn’t know the person was late.
False. If you’ve had a judgment or lien filed against you, it’s considered in your payment history, which represents 35% of your score.
Similarly, while most utility companies don’t report payment history to credit bureaus, your account will likely be reported if it is seriously delinquent and referred to a collection agency.
Additional details on how to manage your FICO score are available on the FICO site.
Gwen Moran is a freelance business and finance writer from the Jersey shore. She’s the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans and writes frequently about real estate.
The rental market, especially the high end market continues to be on fire in New York City.
We literally put 304 West 77th street #1 on the market last week and it is already rented at the full asking price of $9,000 per month… That is $108,000 in rent per year.
The apartment was a 2 bath, 2.5 baths in a fabulous townhouse and was priced perfectly for this rental market.
I cannot tell you how many people wanted to see the apartment and it was amazing how quickly it rented.
So why would people want to spend $108K per year on rent instead of owning?
There are many reasons, but here are a few:
Maybe it is a new area for the people to live and they want to get a feel of the location before purchasing.
Maybe the folks have transient jobs and they don’t want to commit on a purchase.
Maybe they are bearish on the NYC sales market?
Maybe they are trying to time their purchase by renting?
The bottom line is that if history repeats itself, the rental market supersedes the sales market and this could be a good indicator on where sales volume and transaction prices go to?
I started The Culinary Institute of America on September 28th 1982….
I will never forget the 1st day of cooking and meeting all of my classmates.
One dude that I made an immediate connection with was Ken Shore!
He just walked up to me and started talking and talking and talking.
Needless to say, Ken is a major player in the hospitality industry, although no longer sweating in the Kitchen.
But as they say- once you get the food business in your blood, there is no turning back!
Here is Ken’ Rugelach recipe which was tweaked from his Grandmother’s recipe!
(Hint… keep warm or re-warm in bowl in microwave easier to spread on dough)
Sage for smudging!
Judith Wendell, left, a feng shui expert, was hired by Ziporah Reich to improve the energy in her apartment. Since worries about the future or negative vibes from the past are two things New Yorkers cannot complain to management about, a very tiny industry has evolved to fill these needs.
Ziporah Reich sat cross-legged on her living room floor. As Judith Wendell chanted and burned incense that seeped into every crevice of the apartment, Ms. Reich meditated over an altar that included bowls of water with candles and wildflowers and a stack of brightly colored papers on which she wrote her wishes: finding her soul mate, starting a family and having more success in her career.
“I want to bring a positive energy that’s not tied to anything specific and also get rid of the energy of the previous owner,” Ms. Reich said.
Ms. Reich is a well-traveled 38-year-old lawyer. Ms. Wendell is a well-traveled 59-year-old feng shui expert, whose talents include the process of smudging.
The New York real estate industry has been a job machine for thousands of brokers, lawyers, managers, architects, engineers and tradesmen. But since worries about the future or negative vibes from the past are two things New Yorkers cannot complain to management about, a very tiny industry of smudgers — or “space clearers,” the term Ms. Wendell prefers — has evolved to fill these needs.
Smudging, predictably, is a vastly unregulated world with little organization. It can include a real estate broker adopting the Native American tradition of burning sage in an apartment in preparation for the first open house. It can also extend to include the afternoon-long space clearings that Ms. Wendell does with clients, for which she charges $900 to $1,800. Ms. Wendell said that her fees were driven less by apartment size than by “what’s in the space energetically.”
Ms. Reich said she had always been interested in good-luck rituals. While growing up in Brooklyn, she watched how neighbors and friends brought bread and salt as housewarming gifts, a Jewish tradition. While living in Japan, she noticed that car dealers blessed cars before buyers started driving them.
She also wanted to wipe out memories of the delays and construction problems she had experienced while renovating her compact one-bedroom apartment on West 105th Street. Even though she closed more than a year ago, she moved in only recently and still has most of the furniture in storage.
“I definitely think things could have gone smoother,” she said. “I feel like I could have better luck.”
That is why she hired Ms. Wendell. The self-described “child of the ’70s” grew up in a Jewish family in Bayside and discovered spirituality, she said, while living in San Francisco. She calls her influences as varied as the Maharishi’s visit to the United States and a 1995 trip to Bali and Borneo. She also has professional training in feng shui and design. Ms. Wendell said that while she expected her business to drop in the recession, it actually rose because people wanted to improve the feelings in their current homes, or the homes they were moving into that perhaps people had given up.
“I thought my business would go down because it’s not a necessity what I do,” Ms. Wendell said. “But when people are trying to create some security for themselves, this is one way to do it. This is part of their lives they have control over.”
In 2008, Barbara Wagner, a real estate publicist, and her husband, Steve, a lawyer, hired Ms. Wendell when they took possession of an apartment they had been renting to an aunt who died there. They wanted to remove any lingering aura from her death. They were renovating, but they were on a budget and economized by using Ikea cabinets in the kitchen so they would have enough left over for the smudging. But Ms. Wagner said it was worth it to spend the money on her hopes for the future.
“A lot of it really may be in my head,” Ms. Wagner said. “But it was a good start to an apartment we had known for years.”
Carolyn Zweben, a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker, has been a do-it-yourself smudger since 2004, casting out negative vibes from apartments she was trying to sell. In particular, she said, buyers could sense the tension when there had been a divorce in the apartment.
While science has yet to get around to evaluating the effectiveness of smudging, Ms. Zweben, who says she knows other brokers who smudge, can offer anecdotes like this one: One woman hired her to sell her apartment because she was disappointed she had not found love there. Ms. Zweben smudged the apartment and found a buyer. The buyer moved in, quickly fell in love with her neighbor and eventually got married.
And to those who would prefer to ridicule, she and other smudging converts have this to say: It can’t hurt.
She even smudged an apartment that she and her husband, Paul Zweben, also a broker, bought and combined with the one they owned directly above. She said that before they bought it, a curmudgeonly older couple lived there who complained that they made noise. She wanted to smudge out the bad memories of those neighbors.
“Now I don’t feel anything negative from them,” Ms. Zweben said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/nyregion/04appraisal.html?_r=1
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The Zweben Team is a team of licensed real estate salespersons affiliated with Compass. Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. No statement is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of real estate brokerage. New York State Fair Housing. New York Real Estate Standard Operating Procedures.
