From left: Neil Binder, president of Bellmarc, and Chris Raveis, managing partner of William Raveis

The planned purchase of a large stake in Bellmarc Realty by William Raveis Real Estate, which would have been one of the larger real-estate acquisitions in recent memory, is dead.

Neil Binder, Bellmarc’s president, confirmed today to The Real Deal that during negotiations in recent weeks the two sides could not bridge their differences about how a brokerage should be run.

“As we continued to progress on trying to create a framework for marriage, it appeared to both sides that we had different business models,” Binder said, without elaborating about whether the disagreement was over price or how the combined company might function on a day-to-day basis. [more]

Bellmarc CEO Neil Binder and William Raveis’ Westchester office

Bellmarc Realty is close to being acquired by Connecticut-based William Raveis Real Estate, sources tell Crain’s. As The Real Deal previously reported in a profile of the firm in the April issue, William Raveis has sought to enter the Manhattan market ever since expanding to Westchester in July 2009. The Real Deal ranked William Raveis the 10th largest firm in Westchester on the strength of its 80 agents and 98 residential listings averaging more than $1 million in value. [more]

From left: REBNY President Steven Spinola, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Warburg President Frederick Peters, Elaine Mayers of Citi Habitats and Stacey Max of Bellmarc Realty

Tuesday’s approval of an amendment to a proposed Federal Housing Finance Agency ruling dealing with flip taxes could keep lenders from abandoning the New York City residential market in the future, according to industry experts.

The amendment pared down an earlier FHFA provision, announced in fall 2010, which would have barred government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from lending in all multi-family buildings in which a flip tax is written into the contract. In its original form, the proposal could have adversely affected roughly 50 percent of the New York City residential stock, according to Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola.

The amendment was passed as part of a larger proposal that is still winding its way through the approval process. [more]

From left: images from inside the home at 180 East 93rd Street and a rendering of the building

A never-been-lived-in apartment at new condominium 180 East 93rd Street is for rent at $23,000, after being purchased by Parisian investors. The third-floor apartment had been on the market for $4.85 million, and closed just before the New Year for an undisclosed price, according to listing broker Ginger Brokaw of the Corcoran Group. The owners are French investors who purchase high-end properties in New York City, then rent them, said Brokaw, who represented the buyers in the transaction. They look for unique properties with stand-out features, she said: homes that are “really interesting — nothing normal.” Meanwhile, a uniquely designed penthouse at Greenwich Village co-op 552 LaGuardia Place just hit the market for $8.75 million. According to the listing, with Brown Harris Stevens’ Paula Del Nunzio, the apartment has four levels, five bedroom and four baths. Click here for more.

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To make it in real estate, one must possess a few key qualities: endurance, persistence and the ability to go the distance. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that some real estate’s stars will be pounding the pavement this Sunday in the ING New York City Marathon. The annual event, which tests runners’ endurance as they jog 26.2 miles across the five boroughs, will welcome several of the city’s toughest and strongest real estate experts this year. Click here to see who hopes to cross the finish line.

Gordon Golub, director of rentals at Citi Haitats

– Gordon Golub, executive vice president and director of rentals at Citi Habitats, is making his New York City marathon debut this year. Golub is running in honor of his assistant Liesel Ashby’s late grandson, Kyle, who lived with hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy and died earlier this year at the age of eight. The marathon is significant to Golub in other ways, as well. “I never thought I would run a marathon, but I made a commitment with my good friend that we would run the New York Ccity Marathon together to celebrate our 40th birthdays — a ‘bucket list’ sort of thing,” Golub said, referring to his choice to run the race. Golub has raised $4,000 for his chosen charity, Team for Kids, for whom he is running this Sunday. Luckily he can count on his Citi Habitats team cheering him on during the race. The firm has planned a “Citi Habitats cheering station” on the corner of 84th [more]

Andrew Barrocas

From the May issue: While the real estate community is inundated with statistics about sales activity and prices when it comes to the condo and co-op market, there’s one stat that’s rarely bandied about in public: commission fluctuations. In this month’s Q & A, The Real Deal talked to brokers and firm principals about how take-home pay and commissions have changed since the market went into freefall in September 2008. For more on the new types of commission splits that some firms are using and on new development versus resale commissions, we turn to our panel of experts. [more]

From the February issue: During the real estate boom, it was common and even encouraged for brokers to buy units in the new development buildings they were marketing. After all, what endorsement could be better than a six-figure down payment? But now that buyers are scarce, a number of problems with brokers purchasing units have surfaced, from unethical dilemmas with flipping to price inflation to whether brokers can be considered “bona fide” purchasers. These issues often went unnoticed when prices were roaring upward, but can threaten a condo development’s very existence in today’s litigious environment. “In the past, there was absolutely no issue because these buildings were sold out, and who cares what the broker did?” said Anne Salisbury, an attorney in the real estate litigation group at Guzov Ofsink. “Now that you’ve got empty units, it can become an issue.” For years, marketing firms urged their brokers to buy units in the new development buildings they were tasked with selling. “It’s a sort of stamp of approval for the building,” said Jennifer Lee, the director of new business development at aptsandlofts?.com, who noted that the brokerage encourages its agents to purchase property. [more]

Jeffrey Davis, the general manager of Columbus Square, in front of the saltwater pool at 808 Columbus

From the January issue: When history books describe the real estate boom of the mid-2000s, they are likely to mention over-the-top amenities. In the mid-aughts, New Yorkers went mad for buildings with movie screening rooms, roof decks and pet spas. Buyers forked over six-figure down payments, and renters signed pricey yearlong leases, often assuming amenities were included. No more. Amid the hangover of the boom, the next generation of residential buildings will come with a bevy of extra fees and surcharges that New Yorkers aren’t accustomed to paying, often incurred to cover the cost of expensive features designed in more prosperous times. Fees for amenities at rental buildings did exist in some places before, but now are being expanded to include traditionally free features, like roof decks. New condos, meanwhile, are struggling to cover budget shortfalls by implementing transfer fees, special assessments and extra charges for previously included amenities like fitness and party rooms. [more]

From left, Neil Binder, Wolf Jakubowski and Jonathan Miller

From the November issue: The beleaguered luxury real estate market in New York is beginning to show some positive signs, but there is expected to be a lot of stumbling along the path to recovery. The high-end market here has been harder hit in terms of both price drops and activity than any other sector, and there’s still a sense of nervousness among many about buying multimillion-dollar properties. However, in this month’s Q & A, The Real Deal talked to market analysts, top luxury brokers and heads of firms who said that while there is still a lot of caution, they are beginning to see a mild increase in activity in Manhattan’s most exclusive property trades. Within the last two months, some say they have noticed an increase in buyers, who for the first time in the last year are not convinced that prices will continue to go down. But sales are still way off, and one analyst disputed the notion that prices are going to head back up anytime soon, saying “inventory is still grossly overpriced for the current conditions.” Meanwhile, many of the transactions that have taken place are from all-cash buyers who are paying lower prices, or from buyers who are putting in at least half of the cash needed to finance the purchase. That means the jumbo mortgages that drive the segment are still not getting easier to obtain — a reality that does not bode well for the sector in the near future. And many of those interviewed said sellers are still not dropping their prices to the levels they need to be at to lure buyers. They said the $2.6 million to $5 million range and the $10 million to $20 million range have suffered most. For more on what’s going on, which areas of Manhattan have seen the largest drops in the luxury sector and which ones are holding stronger, we turn to our panel of experts.

(Clockwise from left) Brokers Richard Steinberg, Steve Kliegerman, Stacey Max, and Victoria Shtainer talk about real estate priorities post-election.

New construction helped define the legacy of Michael Bloomberg’s first two terms as mayor, whether it was parks, schools, apartments, or more controversial mega-projects. That came in lockstep with a wholesale reordering of what should go where in New York, as Bloomberg rezoned 20 percent of the city, which was the most in four decades. But in Bloomberg’s third term, which he won yesterday in a close election against city Comptroller William Thompson, the city’s real estate community seems focused on different issues — some more far-reaching than others.
Some brokers hope lessons have been learned, like with the Second Avenue Subway, whose famously disruptive construction has hurt sales at the Upper East Side’s Georgica condo, said Richard Steinberg, an executive managing director with Warburg Realty Partnership. [more]