Pets, Co-Ops and a Major Acquisition: This Week’s Reporter Notes

The Agency’s Mike Fabbri was almost across the finish line on a Downtown Manhattan co-op sale.

His buyer, a woman in her 30s, had already signed a contract for the apartment and agreed to pay in cash. All that was left was the board application, a historically arduous process, but he was confident she fit the bill.

Then came deal-breaking news — his buyer was the proud owner of a cockatoo.

Fabbri scrambled to pull together documentation that might convince the board that a new winged resident wasn’t such a bad idea. He collected letters of recommendation from his buyer’s previous landlord and a friend who used to watch her bird on occasion. Her doctor wrote a note testifying to the bird’s capabilities as an emotional support animal.

The co-op board rejected her bid. Boards don’t typically give a reason for their refusal, but given her other qualifications, Fabbri suspects it was the cockatoo.

In my time as a reporter, brokers across the city have recounted similar tales, especially when selling Manhattan co-ops, where rules are stringent and even the slightest error on a board package — or a dog teetering on the edge of 50 pounds — can scrap a deal.

As prices for co-ops stagnated, and buyers turned increasingly to condos, agents say several boards have relaxed many of their policies, allowing buyers to finance more of their purchase or renovate their apartments in months that aren’t June, July or August.

Could requirements for pets, which appraiser Jonathan Miller once referred to as a “dog weighing-in ceremony,” be the next to ease? While most still have weight and breed restrictions, blanket bans on pets are likely near impossible, since the pandemic prompted many New Yorkers to adopt a furry family member.

“People are not giving up their dogs, even if they love the apartment,” said Brown Harris Stevens’ Lisa Simonsen. “Some people would probably prefer to leave behind a teenager.”

Even with restrictions still in place, brokers have found ways to skirt around the rules — and it usually involves tacking on a few numbers to the purchase price.

One of Simonsen’s buyers was approved to buy a Park Avenue co-op, despite her two 70- to 80-pound hunting dogs.

“When you get to the point that you’re getting full ask or over ask, they don’t say no so quickly.”

Unlike Fabbri, other brokers have gotten lucky with the paperwork. About eight years ago, Compass’ Vickey Barron was representing a doctor in the purchase of a co-op on lower Fifth Avenue.

During the board interview, a member asked him if anyone would be staying in his apartment, to which he replied, his girlfriend, and potentially her dog. His response sent Barron on a chase to assemble the dog’s vaccination records, adoption papers and anything else she could think of to prove the dog wouldn’t be a problem.

The board’s final request was for her buyer to bring the dog in for an interview.

The pup must have passed the test because Barron’s buyer got the apartment. But last she checked, he’d lost the girlfriend. And her dog.

Not so fast…

The time for acquisitions is now — at least that’s what Real Trends co-founder Steve Murray prophesied on a panel at the HousingWire conference almost a year ago. And the latest headlines are proving him right.

Rumors swirled on Thursday that Compass was closing in on a deal to buy Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. The speculation was all but confirmed in the afternoon when the Wall Street Journal reported that the firms were in “advanced talks,” though the story lacked any specifics about the pending sale.

HomeServices CEO Gino Blefari refuted the reporting in an email sent around to franchisees, claiming “no such sale is being contemplated.”

Tales of the alleged acquisition came just months after Compass purchased @properties and Christie’s International Real Estate, a $444 million sale that sent shockwaves across the industry. In New York City, Compass and the local BHHS affiliate were both among the top brokerages by sales volume in 2023, with Compass holding the No.2 spot with $5 billion in sell-side deals and BHHS in 18th with just under $100 million.

In the first two weeks of March, other major national brokerages have announced deals of their own. Keller Williams Realty, the largest brokerage by agent count, sold a significant stake to Stone Point Capital, the parent company of CoreLogic. Earlier this week, mortgage firm Rocket Companies paid $1.75 billion to acquire Redfin.

With two deals in the books before the end of the first quarter, signs are pointing toward more acquisitions in the year to come — even if Compass buying BHHS isn’t one of them.

NYC Deal of the Week

Actress Grace Hightower sold the Central Park West co-op she shared with her ex-husband, Robert De Niro, for $18 million in the priciest deal to close in the city this week. The couple bought the apartment at 88 Central Park West for $21 million almost two decades ago.

The home, which De Niro and Hightower renovated after a fire in 2012, has five bedrooms, views of Central Park and an eat-in kitchen.