New Life in the West Side 90's

I'll admit it, retail in the 90's has been pretty dismal over the last few years. Broadway is a wasteland, and Amsterdam and Columbus have not been much better. The 90's has been a location to pass through, on your way to the 80's.

There have been some lonely exceptions, to be sure. Genarro Restaurant has been feeding my family since we moved to the neighborhood in '98. Mani Market is a local joy. We have a great farmer's market on Fridays. And that's been about it.

Until now.

Put the Whole Foods on 97th and Columbus into the category of IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME...the new store is busy every day and PACKED on weekends. It's bringing people in from all over the upper westside (my guess is those people who don't live in walking distance of Fairway, so north of 86th into the 100's).

Whole Foods is a game changer for the neighborhood.

In addition to Whole Foods, there are some other bright spots popping up. Upper 90 is a soccer and sports shop that just opened on Amsterdam and 94th. Filled with knowledgeable and friendly soccer coaches, this feels like a throwback to the mom and pop places of my youth. It's the antithesis of the anonymous sports behemoths at a mall near you. The people at Upper 90 seem to want you to stay, chat, watch soccer on their big screen tv and have your child get excited about their sport.

There's a new dog grooming salon opening on Amsterdam as well (not opened yet as of this writing). But it's exciting to see these kind of services in what had been the wasteland of the Upper West Side. Edgar's Cafe just opened a second branch on Amsterdam and 90th as well.

These may be tiny indicators, but I'm hopeful about our pocket of the world. It's a great place to live and raise your family, and more people will get to see why it's so special.

Now, if we can only convince Danny Meyer to look Northward....

Did I mention that Whole Foods has tables where you can buy your food and sit?

Why Use A Small Firm

We are often asked by prospective clients why they would want to choose a small real estate firm over a large established one. Similarly, I've seen postings on boards about ignoring listings from smaller firms.

First of all, the easy answer is it's often not about the brokerage; it's about the broker or salesperson representing the property. It doesn't matter if you have a huge name behind you if your broker is inexperienced, or unethical, unfamiliar with the marketplace or unavailable. You want the person working for you to be there 100% and to have a deep understanding of the current marketplace. If you are selling your home, you don't want a rental broker. If you are selling a townhouse, you want someone who has sold other townhouses.

My partner, Marty, and myself work as a team for every listing. That means that either he or I will be showing every single time. Many brokers hire assistants with little or no knowledge of the listings, the buildings, the property, the neighborhood, and these assistants do a lion's share of the showings. To me that's like buying a ticket for Broadway and getting community theater. It's not what you signed up for.

As for a small firm versus a large firm: I can only speak for my own company. In terms of marketing dollars, we spend more per listing than most large firms. We still advertise in the NY TIMES on line. We make every listing a featured listing on Streeteasy. We spend a lot on our color brochures, which are significantly bigger and better in quality than a large firms. We are a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) which mandates that we send out our exclusives with a 24 hour period of having the exclusive. That means that we post the listing on the unofficial MLS which gets distributed to about 10,000 brokers in Manhattan. It is virtually the same exact system that every large firm uses.

As a small firm, we have no bureaucracy, which means we have flexibility in commissions. There is no back office--when you want to speak to a manager, we are right in front of you. As for visibility, I would say that because of the rise of Streeteasy, we have the same visibility as every other firm listed there. Streeteasy was a game changer for NY real estate sales.We have a website that gets a significant amount of hits every day, and those are hits that come from Streeteasy or the Times, so we know those are interested parties. Our website is much easier to navigate and understand than at least 2 of the big firm's sites.I'd be pretty frustrated if my listing was on some of those places- they practically discourage you from browsing.

At Rand Realty, our motto is small firm, big difference. We believe in the importance of the relationship with our clients, and we have had great success in the past several years proving what a difference we can make.

Don't Shoot the Messenger!

I've been lucky in my career that most of the people I work with are lovely, sophisticated people who have entrusted my partner and myself to work hard on their behalf. On the client/sell side, I have a fiduciary responsibility to make as much as I can for my client. On the buy side, I feel a moral obligation to help my buyer purchase something, not only for a great price, but something that will make sense for them moving forward. I've talked a lot of people out of apartments because I didn't think it was the right match. I think I've also persuaded a lot of people to jump in when they were hesitant.

Clearly, now is a time of great hesitancy and tentativeness. The pervasive saying among my real estate colleagues is that people are circling but not pulling the trigger. I'm not an economist and I won't make grandiose predictions about market liquidity, inventory, or macroeconomics. But I do know with certainty a few valid facts:

1.When sellers accept the new realities of the current NYC marketplace (meaning 25% off from the peak), they often can sell their property. If it's a special home, they will have an easier time, but even if it's special, they still have to take into account current market conditions.

2. It's not (always) the brokers fault that the price is too high or that it hasn't moved. I know lots of brokers who wanted to price more aggressively but complied (against their better judgment no doubt) with the seller. Then the broker gets stuck, and the seller gets angry. Or stubborn. Or intransigent. This is a hard position for a broker--they want to keep the listing, but they know that the price is an obstacle. The best they can hope for is that someone will make an offer and they negotiate their sellers into a place where they are happy.

3. Sometimes it is the broker. I've also spoken to several brokers who are either unwilling to admit that their listing is overpriced, or were willing to compromise their better judgment in order to get the listing in the first place. They should be careful what they wish for, because they'll end up spending a lot of time in empty open houses, staring at their Blackberry.

4. People seem to have in inordinate anger towards brokers, as if we control the marketplace. We don't manipulate it, we navigate through it. We are hardly the market makers that some would attribute to us. Some of us are underhanded, some of us are just dumb, but the vitriol I read on real estate boards is not commensurate with our ability to affect change in the marketplace.

It's also kind of creepy. I can't figure out who these angry people are--(and they are ALL ANONYMOUS....those brave souls who can say anything under the guise of a nom de plume). Are they sad, lonely and unemployed, still living in their mother's basements? Did they once date a real estate broker who broke their heart? Are they the same anonymous drones who call Rush Limbaugh?

5. Brokers can advocate extremely well on your behalf. We have knowledge of co-op boards, procedural events, networking abilities. We have long memories of who wants to sell, or who wants to buy. We know which buildings have a high maintenance, or which block has an annual Halloween party. We have access to mortgage brokers, contractors, designers, architects. Maybe the way brokers make commission will evolve, but for now, we take the commission from the seller (who is often glad to give it to us because we perform a service). Don't blame the messenger because you're angry about pricing or discounts or world affairs, or the post office. We're here to help.

More on schools

I'm re-printing an article from today's NY Times on getting into the local elementary school. I think it's worth re-considering if you're giving something up to stay in a certain school district, because it might not guarantee you a spot. If that's the case, why not move to a home you love and fight for whatever school you want your kid to get into?

In other words, why pay for PS 6 or 87, when you can have a bigger apt for less money but not in the school district?

March 24, 2009

Children Face Rejection by Neighborhood Schools in Manhattan

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

When Jeanne Shapiro received two letters on Saturday from Public School 290 on the Upper East Side, where she always assumed she would send her twin daughters, her husband cracked a joke about the way thin envelopes from college admissions offices tended to bear bad news. Mrs. Shapiro just laughed; P.S. 290 was a block and a half from the family’s apartment, she figured, and every New Yorker knows that an address in a good school zone is tantamount to a guaranteed kindergarten seat.

But the letters said the 5-year-olds had been placed on a waiting list for the school, on East 82nd Street.

“We were so flabbergasted we missed our stop on our elevator,” Mrs. Shapiro said. “We didn’t even push the button because we didn’t even believe what we were reading.”

The Shapiro twins were among about three dozen children put on a waiting list at P.S. 290 in what parents and public officials in some of New York’s priciest precincts fear will become the first season in which Manhattan children will be turned away from their neighborhood schools. The combination of overcrowded classrooms in neighborhoods newly inundated with young children, a recession that is causing some families to rethink expensive private schools, and a new citywide admissions process that requires people to sign up for kindergarten earlier has spread fear of lotteries and rejections across playgrounds and online discussion groups.

“In the past there was anxiety on the part of parents who had a zoned school they considered not desirable,” said Robin Aronow, who runs a school admissions consulting firm, School Search NYC. “Now that anxiety has stretched its way to even the families who have a desirable option, about whether that option will be available.”

Andrew Jacob, a spokesman for the Department of Education, warned that the enrollment picture could change by September. Because the new process required people to sign up for their local schools earlier than in previous years, many who registered for zoned schools may choose to send their children to gifted-and-talented programs — which will not announce their placements until June — or to private schools.

“It’s far too soon to speculate about which schools will actually be capped in September,” he said. “The number of students who are interested in attending a school in the spring is often very different from the number who actually still want to attend the school in the fall.”

Mr. Jacob said families should wait until September, when schools that are oversubscribed make arrangements with the Department of Education to handle the overflow. In the past, he noted, city schools outside Manhattan have capped enrollments, though it has not happened before in Manhattan neighborhoods that are sought after for their schools. This year, 34 schools outside Manhattan have done so.

“The bottom line is schools have to accommodate all of their zoned students unless they work out a capping plan with us, and that happens in September,” he said. “Even if they get to the point in September where some schools still have more zoned students that want to attend than we have seats, we work with them to see if there is a way to accommodate more students.”

But parents and public officials say that it is not enough to hope that slots free up. On the Upper East Side, City Councilwoman Jessica S. Lappin said her office had been inundated with calls from people who received letters from P.S. 290 saying their children were not being offered one of its 125 kindergarten seats “at this time.”

“We sincerely hope that we will be able to accommodate all zoned families seeking a seat at P.S. 290 in the 2009-2010 school year,” wrote the school’s principal, Sharon Hill, without offering parents guidance on how to proceed.

Ms. Lappin faulted the mayor and the schools chancellor, not individual principals, for the situation.

“How do you send letters to families telling them that their kids are not going to their zoned school and have no plan in place for them?” she said in an interview. “That’s outrageous.

“The whole foundation of this system,” she added, “is that you’re supposed to, at a local level, be able to send your kid to a school in the neighborhood.”

Other schools may also create waiting lists. At P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side, Mr. Jacob said, 200 children zoned for the school applied for 175 seats. P.S. 59, on East 63rd Street, had 149 applications for 100 seats and P.S. 6 had 163 applicants for 150 seats. While some of the current crunch may be eased by people choosing private schools, public schools could also find themselves having to make room for private school refugees. Dr. Aronow, the consultant, said that just last week, she met with three new clients who were considering pulling their children out of private school for financial reasons.

Late last spring, some parents whose children were zoned for P.S. 234, in TriBeCa, and P.S. 89, in Battery Park City, were placed on waiting lists, although the schools ended up admitting all of them. This year, two new schools are opening in Lower Manhattan to help ease the crowding.

But the Department of Education did not rezone the neighborhoods to delineate who should attend the existing schools and who should go to the new ones, instead having P.S. 234 and P.S. 89 hold lotteries.

Faith Paris Aarons, who lives opposite P.S. 234, said she was “completely outraged” to learn that her son had not been admitted.

“If I had known this, I don’t know if I would have continued to stay here in Manhattan,” she said.

Manhattan Valley

Nobody calls it Manhattan Valley, except maybe some planning wonk, or the NY Times search engine. It does actually have some geographical boundaries, as there really does exist a valley. Let's forget that though and map out what people think of when they hear that name, and why people should be thinking about it more...

Loosely, Manhattan Valley runs from north of 96th street on the westside, until 110 street when Morningside Heights begins. (Some people think it stops at 107th and Strauss Park. I'm talking loosely here).

There are those people who think that anything North of 96th street is Harlem. Not that there's anything wrong with Harlem, but it's just ignorance (and, I think, a little racism). Manhattan Valley still feels like an old time neighborhood. It's filled with musicians, and professors, and other relics of an upper middle class that can't really afford to live here anymore.

Manhattan Valley has always been less expensive than south of 96th street. There are signs though, that the gap is closing.

One dramatic change to the neighborhood has been the Ariel development on Broadway and 99th street. Not only did they permanently alter the skyline, but they have infused the neighborhood with a clientele hungry for amenities, restaurants, and something retail other than Duane Reade. (It's a shame that Oppenheimer Meats couldn't hold on, because I bet they'd make it now...). The retail climate along Broadway from 96th until say 105th (anchored by Henry's restaurant on one side and Silver Moon Bakery on the other) is pretty dismal. But I'd bet that will change over the next couple of years. On Amsterdam there are big retail stores and luxury rentals) rising on 99th street, and on Columbus from 97th-99th, it's a virtual strip mall with all the favorites--WHOLE FOODS, Modells(Welcome to suburbia!) Michaels arts and crafts (no strip mall should be without!). I think people will embrace it.

West of Broadway for the entire length of Manhattan Valley couldn't be prettier. West End Avenue has many significant buildings, as does Riverside Drive. My favorite is the Clebourne, on WEA (but built until Broadway) and 105th. It is the Grande Dame of WEA, built for rich people in 1912, on the site of the old Strauss mansion (who perished in the Titanic in 1912). Strauss Park is named for them as well...The Clebourne was referred to as the Dakota of the North.

East of Broadway is a block by block affair. There are some interesting pockets: Manhattan Avenue Townhouses, for example, and lots of apts between Broadway and Amsterdam. But there is also a lot of public housing, tenements and run down apts that give a gloomy feel to the area. Having said that, 455 CPW is a luxury condo that seems to do pretty well. I've already posted my feelings about Park West Village, which I think has tremendous value that will only increase.

Some people will not look above the 70's, and for others, school catchment is their biggest concern (although I've posted my opinion about buying for school placement as well...). I would argue that before buying in the over crowded, over hyped 70's or 80's, you give the 90's or the 100's a look see. BTW, both Riverside Park and Central Park are splendid in this area. North Meadow is where most of the ball fields are located (as well as Riverside park from 101 to 104th street). Sal and Carmines has the best pizza outside of Staten Island. Silver Moon Bakery has the best bread in Manhattan. Absolute bagels are sublime. Smoke is a renowned jazz club. Mama Mexico is a local favorite. The hummus at Samad's (111th, but work with me here) is unparalleled.

(Neighbors, feel free to add you thoughts to what's special about the area...)

Docks

R.I.P.

Schadenfreude

It's my favorite German term ever. In the movie business, it's part of one's every day work life. It means taking pleasure from other people's misfortune. Here's what i don't understand: people on the NY Real Estate blogs bubbling with schadenfreude over the downward market.

Some of it I get: the frustrated masses, long shut out of the real estate market, trying to raise a family in NY. It's the only place I know of where being middle class, or even Upper Middle Class, gets you almost nowhere. These people are positively giddy over the prospect of finally being able to afford a home.

Almost every post I read is either about A) the poster's total hatred of real estate brokers or B) How the market is still crashing and prices will reach absurd numbers not seen since the 80's. They relish every price drop, they snicker at every closing price.

But here's the thing: this country, their friends, their neighbors, their family...don't they know someone who is suffering? It's like they are echoing the sickly cries of Rush Limbaugh. They are hoping for the NY Real Estate Market to crash.

Aren't their 401K's affected? Haven't they lost a percentage of their net worth? I don't know one person in NY who hasn't been affected by the downturn in some real way. Aren't these people getting giddy at their own expense? At some point, isn't it bad taste to relish others misfortunes?

Isn't their hostility misplaced?