Real Estate and Housing (Residential)

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      Homes for Sale in Manhattan and the Bronx

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      This week’s properties are in Kips Bay, Turtle Bay and on the Grand Concourse.Tyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanTyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanTyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanTyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanTyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanTyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanTyler Stuart of Real Estate Production Network and Douglas EllimanManhattan | 140 East 28th Street, No. PHAKips Bay Penthouse$1.695 millionA one-bedroom, one-bath, roughly 1,000-square-foot co-op with 10-foot ceilings, a windowed kitchen, a wood-burning fireplace, an en suite bedroom with a windowed bath, ample closets, a solarium, a 300-square-foot terrace and basement storage, in a 13-story prewar doorman building by Emery Roth and Bing & Bing with a live-in super and a roof deck. Benjamin Dixon and Matthew Mackay, 646-645-8154; elliman.comCostsMaintenance: $3,273 a monthProsThe board permits central air-conditioning and a compressor can fit on the terrace. The kitchen can be opened up. The solarium is spacious and has new shades.ConsThe maintenance fee is high. The only bathroom is in the bedroom. Washer/dryers are permitted only for buyers who combine two or more units. The bike room has a wait list.MW Studio for Brown Harris StevensMW Studio for Brown Harris StevensMW Studio for Brown Harris StevensMW Studio for Brown Harris StevensMW Studio for Brown Harris StevensManhattan | 434 East 52nd Street, No. 3ATurtle Bay Studio$650,000A roughly 500-square-foot co-op studio with a wood-burning fireplace, a windowed galley kitchen, a windowed marble bathroom, custom grasscloth wallpaper, built-in cabinets, a linen closet, through-the-wall heating and air-conditioning and a smart thermostat, on the third floor of a 13-story prewar doorman building by Emery Roth and Bing & Bing with a garden, shared laundry, a property manager, a bike room and a waiting list for storage cages. Gillian Bland and S. Jean Meisel, Brown Harris Stevens, 203-687-0433; bhsusa.comCostsMaintenance: $1,100 a monthProsA studio with a working fireplace is a find. The whole apartment was beautifully renovated last year. The maintenance fee includes electricity.ConsThe living area is small, as are the refrigerator and freezer drawers.Alex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsAlex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsAlex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsAlex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsAlex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsAlex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsAlex Staniloff Gotham InteriorsBronx | 860 Grand Concourse, No. 6FGrand Concourse Co-op$475,000A two-bedroom, two-bath, roughly 1,100-square-foot apartment with a windowed eat-in kitchen, a formal dining room, a step-down living room, an en suite primary bedroom, windowed bathrooms, window air-conditioning, built-ins and ample closets, on the sixth floor of a seven-story prewar building with a part-time doorman, a virtual intercom, a live-in super, shared laundry, a bike room, and weight and breed restrictions for dogs. Matthew Bank, Bank Neary Real Estate, 917-608-6309; bankneary.comCostsMaintenance: $1,727 a monthProsThe apartment is well maintained, nicely updated and has prewar features like bordered hardwood floors, crown moldings and French doors. Both bedrooms can accommodate king-size beds.ConsThe building is close to Yankee Stadium, which could be noisy. The primary bath is small. In-unit washer/dryers are not permitted.Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. More

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      New York Asks Realty Company to Investigate Sexual Assault Allegations

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      The state comptroller wants eXp Realty to look into allegations that female real estate agents were drugged and assaulted during company events.The New York state comptroller has asked the real estate brokerage eXp Realty to open an independent investigation into sexual harassment and assault allegations exposed in a New York Times article last month.As New York’s chief fiscal officer, the comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, is the trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. According to the most recent SEC filing, the pension fund held nearly 27,000 shares of eXp World Holdings, the publicly-held parent company of eXp Realty.In two separate lawsuits, five current and former agents at eXp Realty said that two top agents at the brokerage drugged and them assaulted them at separate eXp recruiting events. Four of them said they were subsequently sexually assaulted, and The Times investigation uncovered a pattern of eXp leadership silencing those who tried to make reports.“The New York Times report raised a huge red flag for us as an investor in that company,” Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview. “We found the allegations very concerning and as a shareholder, we are asking questions. We want a public reporting of their efforts to prevent harassment.”With $2 billion and $90,000 agents, eXp Realty is one of the world’s fastest-growing brokerages. Ariana Drehsler for The New York TimesHe sent a letter to the eXp chief executive, Glenn Sanford, requesting that the company establish an independent committee to look not only into the allegations, but into gaps in policies that may have set the stage for assaults to occur. Mr. DiNapoli wrote that he was concerned about the “legal and reputational risks” presented by the allegations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Real Estate Giant China Evergrande Will Be Liquidated

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      After multiple delays and even a few faint glimmers of hope, a Hong Kong court has sounded the death knell for what was once China’s biggest real estate firm.Months after China Evergrande ran out of cash and defaulted in 2021, investors around the world scooped up the property developer’s discounted I.O.U.’s, betting that the Chinese government would eventually step in to bail it out.On Monday it became clear just how misguided that bet was. After two years in limbo, Evergrande was ordered by a court in Hong Kong to liquidate, a move that will set off a race by lawyers to find and grab anything belonging to Evergrande that can be sold.The order is also likely to send shock waves through financial markets that are already skittish about China’s economy.Evergrande is a real estate developer with more than $300 billion in debt, sitting in the middle of the world’s biggest housing crisis. There isn’t much left in its sprawling empire that is worth much. And even those assets may be off limits because property in China has become intertwined with politics.Evergrande, as well as other developers, overbuilt and over promised, taking money for apartments that had not been built and leaving hundreds of thousands of home buyers waiting on their apartments. Now that dozens of these companies have defaulted, the government is frantically trying to force them to finish the apartments, putting everyone in a difficult position because contractors and builders have not been paid for years.What happens next in the unwinding of Evergrande will test the belief long held by foreign investors that China will treat them fairly. The outcome could help spur or further tamp down the flow of money into Chinese markets when global confidence in China is already shaken.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      More Tenants Can Now Add Rent Payments to Their Credit Score

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      Policymakers view the reporting of an on-time pattern as a way to reduce disparities in homeownership.About a third of American households rent, yet in most cases their credit score doesn’t reflect their on-time payments.That’s beginning to change. Renters can increasingly choose to have their timely monthly payments reported to the credit bureaus, with the goal of improving their credit profile to qualify for loans.A bevy of third-party services now offer consumers the option of having their on-time rent payments reported to one or more credit bureaus. The bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — can add rent payments to loan data to enhance the credit reports and credit scores that lenders use to evaluate potential borrowers.The services typically report only on-time payments, but consumer experts recommend checking the details first. The reporting of late payments, such as when tenants withhold rent to protest their living conditions, may be a drawback to enrolling, consumer experts say.Zillow, the real estate website, became the latest entrant in the rent-reporting market this month. Some options, like Zillow’s, are available to renters whose landlords or property managers use the company’s rental management system to process payments. Others, like the service offered by Self Financial, are available directly to renters.As it stands, few landlords routinely report rent payments to credit bureaus. Traditionally, only lenders have reported to the bureaus, and rent isn’t considered a loan. Fewer than 5 percent of the roughly 80 million adults who live in rental housing had rental data in their credit files, and it was mostly negative data from missed payments, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group focused on advancing upward mobility and equity. (Negative rent information can end up in credit files if a landlord reports delinquent accounts or sends them to a collection agency.)But in recent years, policymakers have been exploring whether consumers can benefit from having on-time rent payments included in credit scores, just as payments for mortgages, car loans and credit cards are. Reporting on-time rent payments is viewed as a way to reduce disparities in homeownership.Fannie Mae, the quasi-governmental home finance giant, began a pilot program in 2022 using three financial technology companies that report on-time payments from thousands of renters in multifamily buildings to the credit bureaus. Fannie Mae reported in November that its data “shows a trajectory toward better financial health for many renters.” Well over half the participants increased their credit scores. Those who already had a credit score, and saw an improvement, had an average increase of about 40 points. (Scores range from 300 to 850.) The pilot has been extended to the end of this year.TransUnion has been able to include rent payments in its credit reports since 2016 and has seen increasing interest from property managers, said Maitri Johnson, vice president of tenant and employment screening at the credit bureau. The company’s data show that rent reporting is particularly helpful to consumers who were “unscorable,” meaning they had no or little credit history, Ms. Johnson said.Ariel Nelson, a staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, said consumers should be cautious. Reporting on-time payments can make sense, she said, for people who are able to consistently pay on time and may be renting temporarily while saving to buy a home.But there can be risks, particularly for lower income tenants who may struggle to pay on time, she added. If a tenant opts into reporting and pays on time for several months but then hits a rough patch and falls behind, the late payment isn’t reported. But lenders might interpret the absence of rental information on the credit report for a month or two as a negative, Ms. Nelson said.(Fannie Mae said that separate from the pilot, lenders could use its automated underwriting system to supplement their credit evaluations of first-time home buyers by including rent data, and that missing rent payments weren’t counted against the borrower.)The general industry approach so far is to give renters a choice about whether to have their payments regularly reported, and to report only on-time payments.As the practice becomes more widespread, landlords could eventually require reporting of rent to credit bureaus, Ms. Johnson said. The requirement would probably be disclosed during the negotiation of the lease agreement.The reporting of negative information could affect tenants who might want to withhold rent as a way to force landlords to maintain or repair buildings, Ms. Nelson said. If landlords report the withheld payments, tenants may feel pressured to pay to avoid harming their credit. A recent news report suggested that has happened in New York City.Zillow’s service deems payments on time if they are received within 30 days of the due date, said Amy Wipfler, senior product manager for social impact at the company. Payments made after that aren’t reported. The new service is available to “tens of thousands” of renters, she said.Currently, Zillow’s service reports just to Experian. If a participant applies for a loan with a lender that uses one of the other credit bureaus, the positive rent payments won’t have an impact. Zillow aims to add the other credit bureaus, Ms. Wipfler said. (Other services, like Esusu and Self Financial, report to all three.)Here are some questions and answers about using rent payments to help credit scores:Are all credit scoring systems able to factor in rent payments?No. Only the latest, but not yet widespread, versions of credit scoring systems from FICO, the data analytics company, can incorporate rent data, said Ethan Dornhelm, the company’s vice president for scores and predictive analytics. The FICO 8 version, an older but widely used model, cannot factor in rents, he said. All versions of VantageScore, a scoring model owned by the major credit bureaus, are able to factor in rent payments, a spokeswoman, Sarah Cain, said in an email.Is there a charge for rent reporting services?That varies. Some services are free for both landlords and tenants, while others may charge one-time or monthly fees. (Some are free for new rental payments but charge for reporting prior rental history.) It may not be worthwhile for consumers who already have top-tier credit scores to have their rent reported, since they would probably see incremental benefits from an even higher score, Ms. Johnson at TransUnion said.What are other ways to build credit?Options for building credit if you have a scant credit file or marred credit include opening a “secured” credit card. You typically make a deposit and get a line of credit up to that amount, and your payment history is reported to the credit bureaus. Some community banks and credit unions offer “credit builder” loans. The money you borrow is held in a bank account while you make payments, which are reported to credit bureaus. Once you have paid the loan amount, you get access to the funds. More

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      New Home Sales Continue to Grow

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      As owners remain reluctant to put their properties on the market, developers are rushing to build new homes to meet demand.When Joel Adler decided it was time to downsize from his six-bedroom house in Parkland, Fla., where he had lived for more than 20 years, he was disappointed with the lack options.“There weren’t a lot of homes to look at,” said Mr. Adler, a 76-year-old retired teacher, who had been searching for a year and a half.Eventually, he turned to Valencia Sound, a gated community in Boynton Beach, Fla., that opened in 2019, joining the growing ranks of home buyers who opted for a newly built house instead of an existing one, a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy market.The housing market has been mired for much of the past year, bogged down by high prices, soaring mortgage rates and a dearth of inventory, pushing many would-be buyers to the sidelines.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Homes for Sale in Manhattan and Queens

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      This week’s properties are in Lincoln Square, the financial district and Astoria.Carli Biryla PhotographyCarli Biryla PhotographyCarli Biryla PhotographyCarli Biryla PhotographyCarli Biryla PhotographyCarli Biryla PhotographyManhattan | 315 West 70th Street, No. 4ELincoln Square Co-op$675,000A one-bedroom, one-bath, roughly 750-square-foot apartment with a galley kitchen, an open living/dining area, a walk-in closet and through-the-wall heating and air-conditioning, on the fourth floor of an 18-story doorman building from 1963 with a live-in resident manager, shared laundry, a private parking garage and a bike room. Michael Biryla and Kyle Ramdeen, 914-299-5377, The Agency New York; theagencyre.comCostsMaintenance: $1,617 a monthProsThe apartment is well-maintained and has good closets. Tucked in the back of the building, it’s quiet and has townhouse views through large windows. The maintenance includes all utilities.ConsThere is no private or shared outdoor space, and there is a long waiting list for parking spots in the garage.Evan JosephEvan JosephEvan JosephEvan JosephEvan JosephEvan JosephManhattan | 77 Greenwich Street, No. 20DFinancial District Condo$2.195 millionA two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath, 1,371-square-foot apartment with an open floor plan, a kitchen with a vented range and marble countertops, a primary suite with a walk-in closet, a second bedroom with an en suite bath, radiant-heat marble bathroom floors, 11-foot ceilings, a washer/dryer and central air-conditioning, on the 20th floor of a 42-story pet-friendly doorman building completed in 2021 with a concierge, residents manager, a bike room, two floors of amenities, a double-height gym, a roof deck, a dog run and a children’s playroom. Emily Beare and Shaun Osher, 212-726-0786, Core; corenyc.comCostsCommon charges: $1,579 a monthTaxes: $3,210 a monthProsThere are beautiful city and river views through floor-to-ceiling wraparound windows. The primary bathroom is windowed. The building has eco-friendly features and each unit has its own ventilation, heating and cooling systems.ConsThe taxes are high. Basement storage cages cost $30,000 to $55,000.Tina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupTina Gallo for The Corcoran GroupQueens | 69-04 Ditmars BoulevardAstoria Townhouse$2.495 millionA three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath, 2,900-square-foot semidetached brick house with a living area that opens to the backyard, a wet bar and a full bath on the first level; a 16-foot porcelain island in the kitchen, a full bath and two terraces on the second level; an en suite primary bedroom with a walk-in closet, two more bedrooms, a full bath and a washer/dryer on the third level; plus mini-split heating and air-conditioning, smart-home systems, an electric car charger, an attached garage, an in-ground pool, an outdoor kitchen and a roof deck. Ivan Mijalkovic and Mario Lituma, 347-653-8010, Corcoran Group; corcoran.comCostsTaxes: $14,700 a yearProsThere are ample entertaining spaces and floor-to-ceiling windows. There’s radiant heat throughout, including in the garage, along with electric window shades and a built-in speaker system. The pool can be heated and cooled.ConsThe stone flooring and other modern finishes may not suit everyone’s tastes. The house is close to the Grand Central Parkway, which could be noisy.Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. More

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      Homes for Sale in New York and New Jersey.

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      This week’s properties are a three-bedroom in Port Washington, N.Y., and a four-bedroom in Belle Mead, N.J.Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyDaniel Gale Sotheby’s International RealtyNassau | 21 Revere Road, Port Washington, N.Y.Split-Level House$949,000A three-bedroom, two-bath house built in 1951 with hardwood floors, a living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a formal dining room with sliders to the landscaped backyard, an eat-in kitchen, a laundry room in a partially finished basement, and an attached one-car garage, on 0.14 acres. Beth Catrone, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, 516-647-1729; danielgale.comCostsTaxes: $12,939 a yearProsThe house was recently painted, and its old windows have been replaced. There is a koi pond in the backyard.ConsThe kitchen and bathrooms need updates. There is no central air-conditioning. The primary bedroom closet is missing a door.SOMERSET | 49 MILLSTONE RIVER ROAD, BELLE MEAD, N.J.Midcentury Modern House$1.695 millionA four-bedroom, four-bath house built in 1964 and expanded to 7,227 square feet in 2002, with an updated kitchen, an open living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a large second-story office area with a kitchen, a greenhouse at the center of the home with an indoor pool and hot tub, an attached three-car garage, and numerous patios, balconies and a roof deck facing out to the 2.35-acre property. Lukasz Kukwa, eXp Realty, 908-680-0902, makingnjhome.comCostsTaxes: $13,375 a yearProsThe greenhouse area has a retractable roof, a patio for sitting among tropical plants, and sliding doors to both the interior and the exterior of the house. Artistic outdoor structures and sculptures dot the grassy sloping yard.ConsThe house is in a flood plain, with a cement wall surrounding the exterior to hold back waters that occasionally encroach.Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. More

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      Should Historic Buildings Give Way to New Housing?

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      More from our inbox:Moving the Needle on TrumpRussian vs. RussianI’m Off Social MediaA duplex in Canarsie, still standing, where Mr. Appelbaum’s grandparents lived for three decades.To the Editor:Re “Preservation Has Become the Enemy of Evolution,” by Binyamin Appelbaum (Opinion, Jan. 7):We must destroy New York in order to save it? And discard our history and heritage for expediency’s sake?New York City needs more, not less, historical memory. What we do not need is a return to the housing policies of Robert Moses.Mr. Appelbaum writes that much of Brooklyn Heights has been fossilized. Would he say that Paris has been “fossilized” because its city leaders preserve its buildings? There’s no other place like Brooklyn Heights in the United States. But there are countless other cities around the globe with soulless, interchangeable skyscrapers. We mustn’t sacrifice what makes New York unique and beautiful simply for new buildings and for uncreative solutions to pressing housing problems.We have lots of unused commercial and industrial buildings in the city that can be converted to housing. We have millions of square feet of office space that will never be used again, despite the desires of wealthy developers. The solution isn’t to destroy the homes that are already built and have been preserved.How the Russian Government Silences Wartime DissentA law making it illegal to discredit Russia’s army has ensnared thousands of Russians for even mild acts or statements against the war.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More