Category : Residential

Once upon a time, before there was a midtown theater district, Harlem’s 125th Street was Broadway. It was the center of the jazz music swing, before 52nd Street. It was the home of New York’s powerhouse baseball team, before Yankee Stadium. It was the heart of Italian New York, Puerto Rican New York and the capital of Black America. As a place that has seen several boom and bust cycles over the last 100 years, developmental change and real estate trends are nothing new to Harlem, and the latest rebirth is a throwback to the neighborhood’s first real estate renaissance in the 1920’s.

Despite a dip in Manhattan rents this month, more people are being tempted to buy, according to at least one city brokerage. Citi Habitats released its monthly rental market report for January 2013 today that shows the average price of a Manhattan apartment was $3,211 during January, $23 less than December 2012. This is the fifth consecutive month-over-month decline and points to rents plateauing at a relatively high level. Many renters are now seeing more value in the sales market, according to the brokerage’s Gary Malin.

Forget the glitz and glamor of high fashion or showbiz, residential real estate is the best job in America. According to the largest survey of U.S. workers ever conducted, despite dealing with a down market for the past five years, Realtors continue to love their jobs and the companies they work for The survey, conducted in conjunction with the 2013 Top National Workplaces rankings, found that those working in the business appreciate that they have a great deal of control over their own destiny, a strong connection to their work, and a sense of personal accomplishment every day, all of which led them to highly rank their workplaces.