When Richard McDonough starts on a career, he tends to stick with it. The 42-year-old Upper West Side resident had spent close to the last two decades of his life working as an operations manager at Bloomberg LP, managing hardware and software installations for the company. But real estate was calling. “I wanted to find something totally different,” said McDonough, a family man with two young sons who thought about making the career change for… [more]
It s not just bringing the Olympics to New York in 2012 that has Dan Doctoroff thinking big these days. With the tepid office leasing market, maybe the last thing some people are thinking about is the desirability of adding new office space. But when you re Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, that s your job. In Lower Manhattan, the far West Side, Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, as well as in… [more]
With money comes lifestyle – and no group is in a better position than the baby boomers. As the nation s wealthiest group, they are starting to think about their plans as they approach retirement. For New York real estate – predicted to outdistance even Florida in total boomer home sales – the future could be bright. Between cashing out of the stock market, taking advantage of capital gains tax exclusion, and the $10 trillion… [more]
While the rest of the economy has flagged and residential real estate has held strong, people from all over have jumped into the profession in Manhattan. In the last year alone, the number of licensed agents has jumped 15 percent, from 9,880 to 11,744. The number of licensed real estate brokers climbed 5.4 percent between January 2002 and the end of August. “We re seeing the most diversified group of people with the most diversified… [more]
With the economy in the doldrums, it s no surprise that commercial real estate firms have been receiving a lot of resumes. But with the market for office space tepid, job openings in commercial real estate appear to be relatively scarce. The development of new office, retail, industrial and multifamily buildings is at its lowest level in a decade nationally. According to the National Association of Realtors, 16.7 percent of all commercial office space across… [more]
Neil Binder says that nobody else in Manhattan residential real estate is “dumb enough” to follow what he is doing when it comes to training new brokers. He is joking, of course. Over the last 20 years, Binder has developed the most extensive training program for residential agents in Manhattan. The principal of Bellmarc says he spends more time on training than on any other portion of his job. He has also written two books… [more]
Midtown welcomed a decrease in the amount of available office space for the second straight month in August, while Downtown and Midtown South saw an increase in available space amid lackluster leasing, a report by CB Richard Ellis said. CB Richard Ellis also reported that tenants achieved an average tenant-improvement allowance of $39.02 sf and an average rent abatement of six months in Midtown leasing transactions concluded over the last three months. The data was… [more]
“The buildings are taller on this side of the Hudson,” was a favorite expression of famed horse trainer Woody Stephens. And the football stadium is grander, could be the refrain of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. And the Javits Center? State of the art, of course. And who is paying, could be the question being asked by New York City taxpayers. That depends on who one asks and maybe what day of the week…. [more]
When Dottie Herman and her investment partner, Howard Lorber, inked a deal to acquire Douglas Elliman this past spring, creating a regional powerhouse with 50 offices and 2,000 agents, the $71 million they spent was the second highest amount ever paid for a residential brokerage firm in Manhattan. While the price tag topped by Elliman’s sale six years earlier to Insignia for $75 million wasn’t exactly pocket change, the two real estate partners still have… [more]
Home buyers want more convenience from residential firms. Last year, a survey by the Real Estate Service Providers Council found that 82 percent of buyers would strongly consider using a “one-stop shop” that provides a range of in-house services, rather than running around to different companies that individually handle sales, mortgage, and title insurance. Real estate firms across the nation already have caught on to that consumer preference, with about two-thirds of larger companies offering… [more]
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