Oftentimes, people imagine the real estate closing process as an hour-long meeting filled with seemingly endless paperwork to be signed. The signing process is only a step in the real estate closing process. Equally as important to a real estate closing is the title examination, which is meant to...
Leases are contracts between landlords and tenants for the rental of property. Provisions within these agreements explain the rights and responsibilities of the parties. Laws established by local, state, and federal governments apply to tenant-landlord relationships. Tenants are expected to fulfi...
New York has a unique way of conducting tenant screening for housing. New Yorks Office of Court Administration releases housing court information to tenant screening businesses. Landlords utilize this data to decide whether to rent to applicants who have consented to a background check. Those wi...
In April 2018, the collective bargaining agreement between the owners of New York apartment buildings and roughly 31,000 building service workers will expire. These contracts are negotiated every four years between the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations (which represents the real estate own...
Roughly 35% of the U.S. population resides in rental housing while in New York this figure is approximately 24%. New York City is among the most costly cities to purchase or lease residential property with the median rent price of $1,830 for unregulated units in 2016. The city has managed laws re...
Reasonably priced apartments are not easy to find in New York City, a factor contributing to the citys ranking as 2nd in terms of the cost of living. Since 1991, New York City has added 488,478 units of housing and 1.1 million jobs. New units for ownership have grown much more rapidly than renta...
Under current law in New York City, it is illegal to rent apartments for less than periods of 30 days in multi-unit buildings. Airbnb, the increasingly popular vacation rental platform, is accused of causing a surge in rental prices and limiting unit availability. The Hotel Trades Council and Mc...
The title insurance industry is a small segment in the real estate realm that is accused of spending excessively to obtain referral business. The NY Times explained how clients are routinely taken to sporting events, country clubs, lavish steakhouses and even clubs offering adult entertainment. W...
In 2017, a group of homeowners, renters, landlords and organizations associated with social justice and civil rights has formed a consumer coalition: Tax Equity Now New York (TENNY). This coalition was created to address inequities in the states property tax system through a lawsuit. The group h...
Perhaps you have a roommate that is intolerable, are ending a relationship, or have a great job offer in another town? To break a lease, first you should determine what your remaining obligation is. The best initial course of action is typically to reach out to the landlord. This should be done i...
Leonard Steinbergs real-estate brokerage named Compass has spent years involved in the sales of homes in New York City, often those purchased by very wealthy residents. He claims that buyers are much more open to considering different neighborhoods than they were five years ago. He finds his buy...
A new law will take effect in August 2018 involving Local Law 147, which outlines policies about smoking in a residential building in New York City. The law applies regardless of the ownership structure and requires that all multi-unit buildings implement a formal policy regarding smoking. This l...
As real estate markets in Manhattan and surrounding regions have been flat, the market in Brooklyn continued to rise in 2017. The borough had their third-highest pricing report ever, as the median sales price was $770,000, a 2.7% increase over last year. The appraisal firm of Miller Samuel explai...
According to Orkin, a national extermination company, New York City ranks 8th in the country for most cases of bedbugs. This is an improvement over 2015 and 2016 where the city ranked 4th. The leaders included Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and Columbus, OH. Lawmakers made a change in Nov...
Residential housing in New York City (NYC) is somewhat unique. We will take a look at the primary housing options for buyers in Manhattan. Apartments generally are either cooperative housing “co-ops” or condominiums “condos”. There are also some private housing options including townhouses and br...
Justa Lopez, a 100-year-old woman, has resided in her E. 78th Street apartment on the Upper East Side for over 50 years. Last year she fell and broke her pelvic bone and has transitioned from a hospital, to a nursing home, and to her daughters home over the course of her lengthy recovery from th...
New York recently implemented changes to their civil processes, one of which is Rule 3408. This provision requires that in actions of residential foreclosure, a settlement conference be held within sixty days of when the summons and complaint are filed. At this conference, parties must demonstrat...
Plaintiff Kimberly Shibles had been having financial difficulties and requested assistance through possible mitigation from Bank of America (BOA), her mortgage holder. Meanwhile, she remained current on her mortgage payments. BOA issued her a Trial Modification Contract in accordance with the Hom...
New Yorks Consumer Bill of Rights (CBOR) was implemented to protect homeowners facing foreclosure. New York has been among the states with lengthy foreclosure processes, averaging roughly 1,070 days. The CBOR is part of a comprehensive plan by state leaders to improve these processes by reducing...
Mayor DeBlasio has signed a legislative initiative known as “right to counsel.” This program offers free legal counsel for lower-income tenants who are in the process of being evicted. Those eligible must reside in one of 10 local zip codes and have annual household income of under $50,000 for a ...
A home is often the largest single purchase that people will make in their lives. For this reason it is highly recommended to retain an attorney when purchasing residential property in New York. Real estate brokers do not provide legal counsel or create legal documents under the law; therefore, i...
The 2015 Foreclosure Report generated by the Chief New York Court Administrator, indicated that those in the state that are facing foreclosure are continuing to increasingly retain legal counsel in defense of these actions. In 2011, the percentage of those with legal representation was merely 33%...
Sometimes financial situations surface involving homeowners that cause them to get behind on their mortgage payments. The foreclosure process in New York typically begins with service of a summons and a complaint from the mortgage holder. If personally served, homeowners have 20 days to generate ...
The U.S. endured a housing crisis as part of an economic recession from 2007 through 2012. The effects are still lingering in many New York regions. A primary indicator of the problem was a massive volume of mortgage foreclosures. A foreclosure is a lawsuit initiated by a lender, such as a bank o...
"We understand that a real estate transaction is typically one of the largest financial transactions of most peoples lives. That is why we take the time to properly guide you and keep you informed about the process every step of the way."
