From the June issue: Stung by a wave of condominium defaults and
the collapse of the credit market for jumbo loans, some real estate
brokers are channeling their energies into a different area: affordable
housing developments with government-backed financing for first-time
buyers. For some brokers these offer a stable alternative to
market-rate condominiums and co-ops. In recent years, firms like
Halstead Property and Fillmore Real Estate have expanded their presence
in affordable housing or mixed-income projects. And, in recent months,
as the recession has made market-rate sales more difficult, competition
among brokers has intensified because more buyers are turning to
affordable units. “We are seeing people who will come to our sales
showrooms now who can’t quite afford the market-rate units,” said
Stephen Kliegerman, executive director of development marketing at
Halstead Property. “These are affordable housing [units] but they are
open to free-market [buyers] under restricted income [guidelines].” [more]

Fillmore Avenue at the intersection of Fillmore and Flatbush avenues in
Brooklyn has been renamed Bill Reinhardt Way in honor of the founder of
Fillmore Real Estate. Reinhardt passed away in 2005, and his son, John
Reinhardt, is the current Fillmore CEO. Brooklyn Council member Lew
Fidler sponsored the dedication ceremony. Brooklyn Borough President
Marty Markowitz, State Senator Marty Golden and Assembly member Alan
Maisel proclaimed May 28 Bill Reinhardt Day. [more]

From the May issue: Brokers famously sell the mantra of
location, location, location. But when it comes to their own offices,
that refrain may be changing. During the boom times, real estate
companies large and small rushed to open glittering storefront offices,
like Halstead Property’s mammoth 408 Columbus Avenue office across from
the Museum of Natural History, or the Tribeca office that Brown Harris
Stevens has on the ground floor of a 19th-century Romanesque Revival
building. The hope was to stake out their turf in prime neighborhoods
while attracting passersby. But New York’s housing slump has prompted
the rapid closing of some real estate offices, as firms seek to cut
costs, and the opening of others, as they seek to take advantage of
falling rents to gobble up new territory. And while closing an office
inevitably means ceding territory to competitors, with real estate
sales down nearly 50 percent from last year according to a quarterly
market report by Prudential Douglas Elliman, satellite offices are a
luxury many firms can no longer afford. [more]