Sotheby's International Realty's Meredyth Smith (top), Serena Boardman (bottom) and 730 Park Avenue

Recent sales indicate that classic pre-war co-ops are regaining their footing in the Manhattan sales market. The Wall Street Journal reported that four co-op sales worth $30 million or more have already closed or are in contract this year, compared to four total in the three previous years combined. The combination of the financial downturn and the lure of pricey new apartments in sleek glass towers had iced co-op sales, but as a recovery lingers on the horizon and new condominium construction does not, attention has returned to that sector. [more]

Co-ops are finally descending from their perch above the reality of the New York City real estate industry and are reducing restrictions on buyers into their tightly held communities. According to Habitat magazine, more co-ops are reversing previous policies and allowing LLCs and family estates to buy units in buildings in an effort to remain attractive to buyers as the price of real estate soars in the city. [more]

Kirk Henckels

The market was hot for Manhattan co-ops with prices over $5 million last year, according to a new report from Stribling & Associates, with prices and volume of sales increasing.

“Co-ops fared very well because the sellers reduced their prices,” said Kirk Henckels, executive vice president and director of Stribling Private Brokerage. “They got very real regarding bringing their prices back down from the peak of the market.” [more]

From left: 740 Park Avenue, 834 Fifth Avenue, 4 East 66th Street and 2 East 67th Street

From the June issue: Like mushrooms, glass-walled condos and fancy rentals with wine storage popped up with fury across the city in recent years, and seemed to fundamentally alter New York’s housing stock in the process.

No longer would the pinnacle of city living be the exclusive Uptown co-ops that had ruled the roost for decades, the trend seemed to suggest, but instead this new crop of buildings with impressive architecture and an A-to-Z range of luxuries. It didn’t hurt that they were a lot easier to get into.

Indeed, why would a buyer subject himself (or herself) to invasive co-op board packages and taxing interviews, the thinking went, when that buyer could get just as nice a home without having to trot out reference letters galore?

But then a funny thing happened when the recession hit: Many condos tanked in value, in part because their open-door policy was seen as exposing them to risks like job-challenged residents missing maintenance payments. Meanwhile, co-ops, whose residents are required to have deep cash reserves, generally weren’t so hard-hit. [more]

Rochdale Village

Can you imagine owning a one-bedroom co-op apartment in New York City for as little as $7,200? Or what about a three-bedroom apartment with a terrace for $15,600 with monthly fees of $1,131 to $1,438?

Yes, you heard me right.

Homeownership is considered by many to be the American dream and the co-op Rochdale Village remains one of a few Mitchell-Lama limited equity co-ops, providing exceptionally low purchase prices with low monthly carrying charges, for families with low- and middle-income earnings. [more]

From the February issue: New York City Mayor John Lindsay proposed a special district on upper Fifth Avenue 40 years ago this month to preserve the shopping character of the stretch where banks and travel and airline agencies were gobbling up pricey retail space.

To keep an active shopping environment, he proposed a special district on the city’s most expensive retail stretch from 38th Street to 59th Street, which required developers to reserve the first two floors for retail uses and provided a bonus if they added extra retail space. In addition, under the special zoning, passive retail users such as banks and travel and airline agencies could only occupy 15 percent of the building’s ground-floor space, although existing tenants could remain. Click here for more top headlines from this month in real estate history.

Despite many a co-op board’s penchant for one-on-one interviews, tech savvy Skype users may be slowly edging into the arena, according to New York Magazine. The online interview trend is slowly gaining steam among co-ops — where face time prior to a move-in was once mandatory — due in part to a growing need to work with candidates from outside the city, according to Leslie Lalehzar, a broker with Warburg Realty. “It allows for amazing flexibility, especially in a tough market like this,” Lalehzar said. But not everyone is ready to jump online. [more]

Co-op and condominium buyers have more leeway to pursue legal action against developers, according to Crain’s, following a New York Appellate Division ruling last week. The ruling, which related to a suit against JPMorgan Chase in which the plaintiff claimed the defendant committed gross negligence, superseded a law that typically allows only the attorney general to file class action suits in regard to securities. The law, known as the Martin Act, has forced tenants in the past to go through the attorney general’s office to instigate legal action against their developer, according to real estate attorney Steven Sladkus of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz. [more]

From the August issue: It’s always been a given: Don’t even try to buy a Manhattan co-op through an LLC. Have buyers in 2010 missed the memo?

“Years ago, people thought it was so out of the question to even ask,” said Michele Kleier, president of boutique residential brokerage Gumley Haft Kleier, an affiliate of residential building management firm Gumley Haft. But today, more and more buyers are seeking ownership through these kinds of entities, she said.

By most accounts, it’s still a long shot, but in isolated instances, buyers are succeeding. “The co-op board, generally, is going to want you to buy [shares] in your own name,” said Aaron Shmulewitz, an attorney at the law firm Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, who represents high-end co-ops and condos in Manhattan. “That’s starting to change now, but only to a small degree. … I wouldn’t say it’s a lot yet but certainly it’s a marked trend.”

[more]

David Kuperberg

With the annual co-op board meeting season just around the corner for many New York City residents, property managers across the five boroughs say co-op unit owners might be surprised by the outcome of these conferences, which determine how much to raise maintenance costs, according to the New York Times. Despite the financial hits that the real estate market has taken in recent years, many buildings will see their maintenance charges increase by 5 percent or more, due to continually climbing building assessments and real estate taxes. Part of the problem, according to David Kuperberg, chief executive of Cooper Square Realty, is the so-called “phasing out” of building assessments. “A lot of people don’t realize that assessments are phased in over five years,” Kuperberg said. “We’re getting increases in 2010 from valuations that were done in 2006 at the height of the market.” [NYT]

[more]