Category : Residential

Brooklyn is losing ground in its bid to challenge Manhattan as the most desirable borough to live in. Despite pulling within $200 of average Manhattan rents earlier this year, Brooklyn may have reached the peak of its surge. “Brooklyn was like a skyrocket, now we are realizing that it’s leveling off,” said Luciane Serifovic, executive vice president and director of rentals at Douglas Elliman.

The traditional Spring / Fall apartment sales season is melting into the past as new technology and the city’s record tight inventory creates a year-round buying season. But while summer is cancelled on the sales calendar, brokers have learned to adapt to the 12-month cycle by keeping in touch even when they are on the go. “For better or worse” we have become a 24-hour society, said Kathy Braddock, who recently left Rutenberg Realty to launch the first New York office of the William Raveis brokerage.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has thrown his weight behind a bill to tackle New York’s abundance of zombie properties. “Passing the zombie kill bill is a no-brainer,” Schneiderman said. Zombie homes — properties that stand vacant, usually during a lengthy foreclosure process — have become a country-wide problem since the 2007 housing crisis