Inside the $95M Sherry Netherland listing, whose maintenance costs $60,000 monthly

Maintenance fees in Manhattan have risen 30 percent since 2008, despite a sharp drop in home prices following the housing bust, CNBC reported. Monthly costs now come in at an average of $1.70 per square foot, and have risen at twice the rate of inflation, according to appraisal expert Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel. [more]

From left: BHS broker Kathy Sloane, the Carlyle and Core’s Emily Beare

Buyers of apartments in the Carlyle co-op hotel on East 76th Street pay $10.23 per square-foot per month in maintenance charges for services such as twice-daily housekeeping, bathrobe and sheet use, discounts on hotel services, training sessions and room service. According to the New York Times, the price, which comes out to $455,352 for Hollywood power broker Brad Grey’s 3,000-square-foot apartment, is the highest in the city.

The Trump Soho ($7.60 per foot), Trump International ($6.72), the Sherry-Netherland ($6.03), the Mark ($4.47) and the Stanhope ($4.32) are some of the other Manhattan apartment buildings with the highest common or maintenance fees, according to Miller Samuel data. [more]

As monthly charges for co-op and condominiums continue to increase, many residents are exploring a cheaper alternative called self-management, in place of a super, according to the New York Times. A small percentage of buildings in New York City, most of them with only a handful of units, operate on this system, where residents are responsible for everything from taking out the trash to balancing the books and filing required forms with the Department of Buildings. The amount of money saved through this method can be as much as $750 a month, as is the case in a self-managed 12-unit prewar co-op in Park Slope, where two-bedroom apartments have sold recently for $589,000 and $575,000. As the economy struggles to recover, industry experts have noticed a growing interest in this “do-it-yourself” route. According to Rebecca Poole, the president of Real Estate Management Group, the three-part workshop that she teaches on self-management has started to attract representatives from buildings that are larger than the typical self-managed property. [NYT]

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Co-ops in the city have raised their maintenance charges by as much as
15 percent recently as a result of rising property taxes and operating costs.
John Janangelo, president of Bellmarc Property Management, said taxes
for some of the buildings the company manages have risen by 35 percent this year. “It comes
at the worst time,” Janangelo said, adding, “You don’t want to pass through
these huge increases because people can’t afford them, but you have no
choice.” Buildings whose property values have soared in recent years
are experiencing even bigger tax increases because the assessed values
of their buildings have gone up. David Kuperberg, president of Cooper
Square Realty, said the assessments have increased based on last year’s
market, and assessments often take a while to catch up to the current
market.