New York City Real Estate Blog

Bars and lounges in Flatiron area

“As the NYPD crackdown on Chelsea's wild 27th Street club scene continues, artygoers are migrating east to the Flatiron District, where crowds, clubs and fisticuffs are on the rise, police say.

The capacity of gin mills in the heart of the Flatiron District - 19th, 20th and 22nd streets between Fifth and Sixth avenues, and 21st Street between Fifth and Park avenues - has surged to more than 10,000 people.

Since January, there have been 39 felony assaults in the Flatiron's 13th Precinct - an 18.1 percent increase over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, felony assaults have dropped 17.6 percent from last year in the 10th Precinct, which covers 27th Street and the heart of Chelsea's club scene, where 18-year-old Jennifer Moore partied last year before she was murdered.

Police cracked down on the area following the murder and a series of Post investigations on lax club security and rampant teenage drinking.

The State Liquor Authority has launched 19 investigations into Flatiron clubs since January. The agency has also received 12 applications for new liquor licenses, which is on pace to match last year's flood of 51 applications. ”

Think of it as a Million Mortgage March

“ Amid a 12 percent jump in U.S. foreclosure filings in February, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson on Tuesday called on consumers struggling with subprime mortgages to take to the streets and urged the federal government to step in and help them secure their homes.

"What we must do now is begin to ask for some bailout of victims of this crisis," Jackson, president of Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said at a news conference at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center.

Jackson was the second high-profile civic leader on Tuesday to raise concerns about the subprime mortgage industry, which makes higher-interest loans to consumers with spottier credit histories.

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan vowed to push for legislation that will, among other things, require lenders to verify a borrower's ability to repay a loan, compel mortgage brokers to get the best deal possible for borrowers and prohibit prepayment penalties on all home loans.

More than 130,000 homes entered foreclosure last month nationwide. That's a pace of more than 1.5 million a year, which Jackson calls a "systemic crisis" demanding "some government remedy and protections."

"We must come together and engage in mass protests and make this an issue in the presidential debates," Jackson said.”

Jackson: Bail out subprime loan victimsSays 'systemic crisis' demands protections(ChicagoTribune)

The housing market is continuing to struggle with lagging demand and a glut of unsold homes

“Sales of new homes fell sharply for a second consecutive month in February, a weaker-than-expected performance that dimmed hopes for a rebound in the troubled housing market.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes fell by 3.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 848,000, the slowest sales pace in nearly seven years. All regions of the country except the West experienced weakness last month.”

Sales of New Homes Fall Sharply(Washington(AP))

“The supply of new homes for sale on the market rose to an 8.1-month supply from 7.3 in January. It was the biggest supply by that measure since January 1991. It is now taking builders 5.2 months on average to sell a completed home, the longest wait since April 2001.”

New home sales: Slowest in 6 years(CNNMoney)

“Toll Brothers Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Toll said the number of customers canceling orders may be starting to abate. Still, Toll said he couldn't predict when the housing recovery would begin.

The Standard & Poor's Supercomposite Homebuilding Index has fallen 16 percent since the start of the year. Lenders are raising their credit standards as delinquencies rise, reducing the number of consumers able to obtain a mortgage. ”

New-Home Sales in U.S. Unexpectedly Slide, Prompting Doubts About Recovery(Bloomberg)

Agent teams a trend in Connecticut market.

“Teams are a trend in the region’s residential real estate market. Sharing resources, from office workers to Webmasters, has become practical as agents struggle to keep up with local and Internet listings. According to the National Association of Realtors, Web listings are now consulted by 80 percent of Americans looking to buy homes.

Successful teams like Ms. Genovesi’s are actively courted by big national agencies, which are only too happy to encourage their local, personalized approach. Ms. Genovesi says she has had many corporate suitors but has opted to stay with a parent company, William Raveis Real Estate and Home Services, because its founder and chief executive, William Raveis, “allows you to unleash your personality in the business.”

Super Agents, Super Teams(NYT)

Mr. Greenspan did not predict that a recession was imminent

“They are marketed as “intimate conversations” with Alan Greenspan, and groups pay about $150,000 to hear his economic outlook.

But on Thursday, for the second time this week, these private chats went public, jolting financial markets around the world and upstaging Ben S. Bernanke, Mr. Greenspan’s successor as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Left, Kevin Lamarque/Reuters; Matthew Cavanaugh/EPA

First on Monday and then again on Thursday, Mr. Greenspan upset stock markets merely by uttering the word “recession” and saying that one might but probably would not occur by the end of this year.

Few people have the power to move markets like a Fed chairman. Except, maybe, a retired Fed chairman. Mr. Greenspan’s use of the R-word helped push down the Dow Jones industrial average by about 200 points on Thursday morning, though shares later recovered and closed only slightly lower for the day.”

Greenspan Is Still Able to Move Markets(NYT)

“So far this week, the S&P 500 has fallen 3.6 percent, the Dow has lost 3.4 percent, while the Nasdaq has dropped 4.7 percent. All three benchmarks erased their year-to-date gains.

Investors should cut their equity holdings and buy government bonds because the current selloff isn't over, according to Dresdner Kleinwort.

``The long and widely awaited equity correction is upon us,'' wrote London-based Albert Edwards, a strategist at Dresdner, in a note today. ``We are shifting our asset allocation stance to become much more aggressively underweight equities.''

 Almost four stocks dropped for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Some 186 million shares changed hands on the Big Board, 14 percent more than the same time a week ago.”

Stocks in U.S. Decline After Fed's Poole Says Recession Is a Possibility(Bloomberg)

"We do not see a recession coming," he told a business audience after delivering a speech on energy and the U.S. business cycle at the American Chamber of Commerce.

Poole, a voting member of the U.S. central bank's interest rate-setting committee this year, said the decline in equity prices was not a reason for the Fed to get involved at this stage. Nor did he think that stock prices were obviously too high.

"At this point it seems to me there is no pressing need for any immediate action," Poole told reporters after the speech. ”

 Fed's Poole says no recession coming(CNNMoney)

 

Someone out there has a problem with art

“The evidence is the bright green and purple splashes of paint that began appearing on walls in Brooklyn and Manhattan more than a month ago. The carefully aimed blobs obscured or disfigured dozens of pieces of street art created by people who may not be household names, but who have achieved the esteem of peers and some recognition from the mainstream art world. The targets of the paint attacks have included posters, paper cutouts pasted on walls, and images stenciled on the sides of buildings.

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Paint blotches and a posted manifesto partly cover street art on the Lower East Side.

Many of the paint splatters were accompanied by messages printed on plain white sheets of paper and pasted near the splatters. Those communiqués appeared to condemn the commodification of art, but it is difficult to be sure what the messages really mean. One reads, in part, “Destroy the museums, in the streets and everywhere.” The author has kept his or her identity a secret.

Word of the covert actions spread quickly through the street art community. Web logs began documenting the splatters. Soon the unknown protagonist was named the Splasher.”

Defacer With Mystery Agenda Is Attacking Street Art(NYT)

 

WTC Memorial—$5 M. Apiece!

“The place was Gracie Mansion. And the speaker was the man who, indirectly or directly, determines how high they can build and where—and, on certain city-led projects, whether they can build at all: Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

 

He wanted $5 million from each of them.

 

How could they afford to give that much? On the other hand, how could they afford not to?

 

“When the mayor of the city in which you are doing business asks you for money, it is almost impossible for you to say no,” said one   real-estate insider familiar with the breakfast. As for the possibility that the Mayor would somehow retaliate against those who did not give, the insider added, “I don’t believe that he would ever do that. But I wouldn’t want to find out that he did.”

 

Is it worth $5 million so that you never have to find out?”

Bloomberg Hits Up Real-Estate Bigs For WTC Memorial—$5 M. Apiece! (Observer)

Tax deductions and credits in 2007

"The telephone excise tax refund: "This will be the most overlooked benefit this year," says Steber. Depending on how many exemptions you claim, you can get anywhere from $30 to $60 from the IRS, thanks to the repeal of a tax on long-distance phone service.

Energy efficiency tax credits. "These credits are new, and they only have a couple of years lifespan," says Steber, so they're easy to miss. But they are "applicable to a wide variety of home conservation efforts." The credits are applicable for many types of home improvements, including adding insulation and replacing windows. The changes must be made between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2007. Homeowners can get a credit of up to $500 for both years combined.

Extended deductions for sales tax, higher education tuition and fees, and out-of-pocket educator expenses. Congress renewed several tax deductions at the last minute this year in late December, long after the IRS had already printed its tax forms. "You have to look at the supplementary forms" to find these deductions, says Steber."
The Most Overlooked Tax Deductions(FoxNews)

$39 billion buyout would be biggest ever

“Blackstone Group raised its cash offer Tuesday for Equity Office Properties Trust to $39 billion to thwart a rival bidder, Vornado Realty Trust, a day before shareholders are to vote on what would be the largest leveraged buyout in history.

Blackstone increased its bid to $55.50 a share after investors with almost 12 percent of Equity Office stock said that they favored Vornado's proposal of $56 a share in cash and stock. The latest bid from the New York-based Blackstone is 4 cents higher than Equity Office's closing share price Monday.

The winner will get 540 properties at a time of declining vacancies and record rents in the largest U.S. markets. The Equity Office board, led by the chairman, Sam Zell, rejected a revised proposal from Vornado that would have sped up payment of the cash portion of its offer.

The alternative Vornado proposed Sunday would have accelerated its payment to Equity Office shareholders. Under the new proposal, Vornado would pay $56 a share in cash for 55 percent of the company in about two months. When the offer closed, Vornado would acquire the remaining 45 percent with stock. The total value of its bid for Equity Office remained $41 billion with debt.”

Blackstone Group raises bid for Equity Office to $39 billion(InternationalHeraldTribune)

The New Electronically-traded DJUSRE Index futures contracts

“ The new DJUSRE Index futures contract is the result of extensive research by the CBOT to develop an exchange-traded product that best accommodates the needs of institutional real estate investors as well as the commercial real estate market. It will settle to the value of the DJUSRE Index, which is comprised primarily of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REIT securities often track the underlying U.S. commercial real estate market, with REIT share prices driven in part by lease rates, vacancies, development costs and property transaction values.

The new DJUSRE Index futures contract will trade on the CBOT electronic trading platform from 6:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. CT (the following day), Sunday through Friday. The contract, which will be settled in cash, has a value equal to $100 multiplied by the value of the DJUSRE Index. The CBOT intends to create a market maker program for the new DJUSRE Index futures contract to help ensure that a two-sided market will be available to market participants. -- www.cbot.com”

CBOT To Launch U.S. Real Estate Index Futures(huliq)