Harlem is HOT

As recently as two years ago, you could get a lovely three bedroom in a great Harlem location for under $1 million.

Those days are gone.

To clarify, the area I'm specifically referring to is part of Central Harlem, loosely from 112-125th street, from Morningside Park to Lenox. I like other areas of Central Harlem as well (Striver's Row, Mt. Morris, CCNY), but I'm confining this discussion to these parameters, which I know best.

A three bedroom, from about 1200 sf to about 1500 sf could reliably be found from just under $1 million to about $1.3 on the high ish end. Obviously they go higher for more amenities or outdoor space, or a newer building, but this was a reliable range.

As of today, there are only a few which fit into this criteria:

1. OK, this is my listing, so the blog seems totally self serving. Which is fine--it's my blog. But it doesn't mean it's not true. This is is 1300 sf in a great location. pretty view, apartment in good condition. Under $1,200,000. It's the best deal out there in Harlem.

http://www.randny.com/listing/2235-Frederick-Douglass-B/10377702

2.  http://www.halstead.com/sale/ny/manhattan/harlem/1845-adam-clayton-powell/condo/11297655

This is not even 1200 sf and it's first floor. It's over $ 1 Million.

3.  http://www.corcoran.com/nyc/Listings/Display/3357131

This is a lovely building and a spacious apt. It's asking $1,350,000, which is out of range for a lot of the buyers looking to spend closer to $1 Million. These apts were asking $100,000 less only a year ago, and selling for that range as well.

Even if you go up to $1.7, there aren't a lot of choices.  I think there's less inventory, but when new construction apartments appear, they seem to go very quickly as well.

Frederick Douglass Boulevard is a fantastic place to live. Close to the B and C train, and not far from the 2 or 3 or the A train at 125th street. Lots of lovely local restaurants, but also services like a butcher, a local wine shop, dry cleaners, a French patisserie. This area will only continue to climb as new developments continue to hit the market.

The Value of Shopping Local

Today I walked out of my local market, Mani Market, feeling grateful to have them in my neighborhood. Mani is a local treasure, run by two Greek brothers. It has fantastic produce, often local when possible, but also incredible spinach pie, homemade Greek Yogurt, and the best sandwiches on the Upper West Side.

Mani has been squeezed for years--first by Fresh Direct, then by Whole Foods. I admit to shopping there less since Whole Foods appeared, but there's a renewed sense of urgency because I wouldn't want to lose them.

What would happen if Mani disappeared? Besides people losing their livelihood, the neighborhood loses a piece of itself. We know that another grocery store won't take it's place, so what--a nail salon? A bank? A CVS? Something will replace it that will chip away at the fiber of what makes that corner special. So I'm making every effort to shop there every day.

Incidentally, Rand Realty is local too. We know the area so well because we live here, our children grow up here, go to school here. We walk our dogs here, we play in the parks here.

Shop local, it makes the neighborhood a more vibrant place.

Upper West Side Street Food

Great News for Upper West Siders, and a sure sign of spring: The Empanada Lady is back!

The lady with the food truck at Riverside near the ball fields at 101 street is back, and she's got a much bigger cart with lots of food from Ecuador!

If you haven't tried them, her beef, chicken and cheese empanadas are the best around. 

In addition, there's a food truck called the El Paso Taco Truck which is often parked in front of Whole Foods on Columbus and 98th street. Yummy tacos and more!

Who says the upper West Side doesn't have great food?

Morningside Heights

The general boundaries for Morningside Heights include 106th street to the South, Riverside Drive to the West, Morningside Drive to the East, and somewhere around 125th street on the northside.

Morningside Heights has always been dominated by Columbia University. The University is the largest landowner, the biggest landlord, and often the center of local protests and anguish. It's also given the neighborhood its intellectual and cultural bent. The area has always been known for its multicultural, lefty feel and its plethora of bookstores. This is the upper West Side that people refer to.

Morningside is home to the best children's bookstore in the city: Bank Street Bookstore. Its staff is unbelievably knowledgeable and helpful and it is the best place to browse children's books as well as educator's books. In addition, there are now 2 offshoots of Book Culture (formerly Labrynth Books) in the area.  What other neighborhood offers 3 independent bookstores?

Broadway is the main shopping avenue, although Amsterdam offers some quirky, often wonderful shops and restaurants. In particular, V and T (some of the best pizza around, next to Sal and Carmines on 101st street), the Hungarian Pastry Shop, Kitchenette Restaurant.

Amsterdam Avenue is becoming the new restuarant row, with Thai market, the ramen shop, and La Toulousaine bakery.

Also on Amsterdam is the Cathedral of St John the Divine, a wonder to behold of architecture and faith. Next to it is St. Lukes Hospital.

In terms of schools in the neighborhood, most people send their kids to public school outside the catchment, but many choose the public option. As for private schools, there are many excellent schools to choose from including the Columbia school, the Bank Street School, St. Hilda's, the Cathedral School, the school at Riverside Church (another architectural wonder).

As for restaurants, those who say that the neighborhood doesn't have any, doesn't know the neighborhood. In addition to Kitchenette (best comfort food around...makes good enough to eat seem like wendy's), there's Community,  Ollie's, Mel's Burgers, Terrace in the Sky. West Side Market is a beloved local market, there's a farmer's market in season at 114th and Broadway, the hummus at Samad's market is the best I've ever had, and Absolute Bagels puts H and H to shame. While technically a little south of Morningside Heights, the Silver Moon bakery has the best bread in Manhattan. Not to mention those ridiculous Bavarian pretzels.

As for the real estate, there is no question in my mind that in general, you will get more for your money in Morningside Heights. West of Broadway is safe and beautiful all the way up. Many apartments on Broadway are glorious and spacious. Some buildings on Amsterdam are equally charming with gracious layouts. 

There's a local subway at 116th, 110th, and 103rd. The neighborhood may to some feel overrun with students, but I find it a refreshing change from the mallification overcrowding of the 70's and 80's.

Morningside Heights feels like a real neighborhood. It's diverse, vibrant and improving all the time. Pilates Shop/Yoga Garage has one of the most experienced team of instructors anywhere in the city. (Peter Roel, the owner, trained with the original disciples). Riverside Park is filled with runners, children,dogs, soccer players (check out the playing fields from 101st and Riverside all the way to 108th and Riverside). At 103rd and Riverside is the Dog Park as well as a lovely seasonal restaurant overlooking the sandy volleyball area as well as the river. It makes me feel sorry for people who don't live here.

For those people who won't look above 96th street, I'd urge you to reconsider. Morningside Heights (and it's southern neighbor Manhattan Valley) have a lot to offer.

The Seven Stages of Buyers

Most of us know about the 7 stages of Grief and a lot can be understood when applying these principles to a buyer of Manhattan Real estate.

1. Shock and Denial. I would amend this for our purposes and add: Elation, then shock, then denial. First, the buyer is elated about purchaing a new home. She visualized herself by her fireplace, next to her window overlooking Central Park. She imagines the dinner parties with 50 guests and the exact shade of green she will paint her skim-coated bedroom. Pretty soon after the second or third weekend of open houses, shock and denial sets in.

She doesn't have enough for the down payment. She might not get a mortgage. What are transfer taxes anyway and why does she have to pay them? Why does she have to submit her financials to the board?

2. Pain and Guilt. Tortured by the lack of resources, our buyer second guesses herself and wonders whether she should have sold her rambling 2000 sf home with a patio, a parking spot, and a playroom. She wakes up with night sweats. She's filled with seller's remorse.

3.Anger and bargaining. Maybe it's her broker. Maybe she could get a different mortgage and have more to spend. She'll re-arrange every spreadsheet and WILL them to change.

4. Depression, reflection, lonliness. Her friends have gotten bored with open houses weeks ago. She spends way too long every night trolling the internet for new listings. (Hint: hitting refresh every five minutes probably won't find you an apartment any sooner).

5.The Upward Turn. Maybe she doesn't need a park view. Maybe she could make the closets in that pre-war work. The maintenance was good on the apartment she saw last week...

6. Reconstruction and working through. In her mind, she has created a false ideal of an apartment. But lately, she's liking more and more apartments on line, and she's able to visualize herself living in some, not all of them.

7. Acceptance and Hope. She found an apartment that she loves, she was able to trust her broker to negotiate, and she got a deal that she's thrilled with. She's moving in 2 months, and she'll invite you to her cocktail party. It may not have a Central Park View, but you can see the River from every room!

Market View April 2014 Advice for Buyers

The current residential market is very familiar: low inventory and pent up demand. Even mediocre apartments are the subjects of bidding wars. We sold all of our inventory recently (not complaining, to be sure) and we have a lot of buyers waiting to pounce on the perfect apartment. I'm telling all of them the same thing: Get Ready!!!!

What does that mean from a buyer's perspective? Let's review...if you need a mortgage, get all your ducks in a row. Speak to a mortgage broker or a bank about how much you'll be able to finance. Get pre-approved if you can for said amount. If you can't get pre-approved, at least get pre-qualified. These days many sellers are able to get all cash deals or at least a non-contingent deal on their property. 

What does that mean? That means that you as a buyer are willing to waive the mortgage contingency that's often found in the contract of sale...that you will be on the hook for purchasing the apartment, regardless of whether or not you can secure the mortgage. It means that you need a back up plan if you don't get a mortgage or you risk losing your deposit.

An all cash or non-contingent offer puts a buyer in a much stronger position, assuming that their offer is also competitive. People often misinterpret a cash deal, in that they think they can offer far less for an apartment. While that may be true on occasion, it's simply not going to work in the current market.

What do I mean by current market? NYC seems to have 2 general selling seasons: Spring and Fall. The spring season starts in February, and the market sees a lot of new inventory in March and April. People have gotten their bonuses, kids have been accepted to schools, people want to be moved in before the school year starts, or just after the school year finishes in June. If you go to contact in March or April, June is a natural move out date.

September is the next big push. School has started again, people have returned from their vacations, and they start thinking about a bigger place/different place/better place. The market is very active until about Thanksgiving and dies down again through the holidays.

Back to getting prepared...as a buyer, you need to have a financial form filled out and ready to go showing your income, your assets and your debt. This is usually something that your broker will have to submit when submitting an offer. In my firm, we don't look at an offer with a REBNY financial form. If you want to see what one looks like, go here:

http://www.comitini.com/pdf/REBNY%20Financial%20Statement.pdf

Last piece of advice for a buyer: go see everything you can so that you'll know the right thing when you see it. If you've only seen a couple of apartments, you might let a gem slip away. In this market, that's a big mistake.

Life in Lincoln Square

Lincoln Square runs from Columbus Circle north until 72 street. (The business district only runs until 70th street, but that's an unnatural cut-off. 72 street feels like an organic delineation).

This has always been a very fancy area to live--maybe the most chic on the Upper West Side. But recently it's gotten much more family friendly with a huge influx of new developments and businesses.

Some of the most beautiful buildings on the Upper West Side can be found in this neighborhood. 69th between Central Park West and Columbus has extraordinary townhouses (and also hosts one of the most famous Halloween block parties in the city). 67th street on the park block is home to Hotel des Artistes, as well as several other buildings that were constructed for musicians and artists in the early 20th century. Many of them feature double height living rooms, North facing for the artists, as well as over sized living rooms to accommodate the pianos and the other musicians. These buildings have a old world European feel to them, and most still have elevator operators.

Over the last 20 years, many condos have been built in the neighborhood. The Millennium buildings (Reebok) are high end condos, many of which have been combined into large, family sized apartments. Of course, a lot has been written about 15 CPW, but there are some extraordinary CPW buildings in this stretch, including 55 CPW (where Ghostbusters was filmed), 41 CPW (Harperly Hall, Madonna's former building), the Prasada (very intimate building with huge apts), and the San Remo. Of course the most impressive of them of is the Dakota, so named because when it was built in 1888, people joked that it was so far away it was like living in the Dakota territories.

To the West, Riverside Boulevard and the Trump buildings (and all the newer condos that have followed) are like a suburban vision of city life. I made fun of those buildings until I was invited to a pool party when my son was younger. At 240 RSB they have a baby pool and a grown up pool. (and about 100 other amenities.) I could definitely get used to living over there...it offers a really nice quality of life for the right buyers. Not to mention a stellar river view...

Along West End Avenue, Lincoln Towers comprise many buildings in the 60's up to 70th street. These post war behemoths were built for the middle classes and provided an affordable way to live in the city. They are still immensely popular and can offer large homes in a great location. They have also become NORCS (Naturally Occuring Retirement Communities) with lots of services for seniors.

As for extras, nothing beats living near Lincoln Center. It's the heart of cultural life in New York City, and as a result there have always been restaurants and other interesting businesses surrounding it.

In no particular order:

THE APPLE STORE

THE TIME WARNER CENTER (including WHOLE FOODS which brought needed grocery shopping to the southern end of Lincoln Square)
FAIRWAY
CITARELLA (just north but worth including)

LINCOLN SQUARE MOVIE THEATERS (including the art houses on Broadway)

THE SENSUOUS BEAN: great little coffee store, a truly endangered species

URGENT CARE MANHATTAN: high end walk in medical center (OK, it's owned by my husband but it's a welcome addition to the neighborhood, ask anyone!)