Important "Client News" Update

Last minute addition...especially relevant to my Park Slope Friends...

David Cornue, who was a creative force behind "Smoking Bloomberg" a musical comedy which was really terrific, has flexed his creative muscles in a different direction and produced an Independent film which will be screened in Park Slope, Brooklyn next week. I'll let you hear it from him:

Hello Everyone:
If you’re free in the evening on Tuesday (6/3) or Friday (6/6), then come join us at the Brooklyn International Film Festival to watch the world premiere of an independent feature film I produced called THE LOCAL — written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Eberle.
WHEN: Tuesday, June 3, 8PM Friday, June 6, 10PM
WHERE: Brooklyn Lyceum Theater 227 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215
DIRECTIONS:Take the R train to “Union Street” station in Brooklyn.Exit the station at Union St and 4th Ave.The theater is right there on 4th Ave between Union St. and President St.
MORE INFOhttp://www.wbff.org/films/detail.asp?fid=802http://www.insurgentpictures.com/thelocal
We'll then be going for drinks at Union Hall (702 Union Street @ 5th Ave.) with the talented cast and crew after the screening on Tuesday. I appreciate your support of this stirring film about a man’s violent path to redemption, and I promise it’s worth the trip to Brooklyn!
Thanks in advance,

David

There's no excuse for us Park Slopers not attending. Let's support great NY talent! I'll see you there!!! Bob

Home Inspections

One of the first things to be considered, when purchasing a property is a Home Inspection, often referred to as an Engineers Inspection.
Effective December 31, 2005, New York State required Home Inspectors to be licensed in NY State. More information on this is available at www.dos.state.ny.us/LCNS/homeinspector.htm
This was a long-overdue step in improving and standardizing the quality of Home Inspectors in NY upon whom the typical purchaser relies heavily.
While its axiomatic that a purchaser of a one, two or three family home will do a Home Inspection, it becomes less clear with the purchase of a Coop or Condo. It is my understanding that less than 10% of apartment purchasers opt for an Inspection.
At a time when fuel, taxes, insurance and other increasing costs place upward pressure on coop maintenance and condo common charges, it becomes more important for a purchaser, in an effort to estimate future increases, to try to have an idea about the physical status of the building in which the coop or condo is located.
Major repairs will impact on the reserve (if there is one) and directly or indirectly on the monthly carrying costs for the unit owner.
While it is true that most well managed larger buildings have substantial reserve funds from which funds can be utilized to pay for repairs and improvements, it is still in the purchasers interest to know what to expect.
Clearly, the smaller the building, the less owners there are to share expenses with and, more often than not, the smaller the reserve fund.
Therefore, I advise my clients, especially on smaller buildings to use the services of a licensed Home Inspector. Even on larger buildings, I do not discourage the inspections if there is time.
What must be kept in mind is the time pressures involved in these deals. It may be considered a luxury to spend a week or so arranging for the inspection. It is very possible that a deal might be lost while waiting for the inspection, so if one is to be considered, it should be prioritized. As soon as an offer has been accepted, the inspection must be arranged.
Since anyone who knows me also knows I have strong opinions regarding Inspectors, my Inspector of choice (clear choice) is Richard Perri of Professional Home Inspections Co. He can be reached at 718-828-9116

CLIENT NEWS:

This week's news is about my client, Cat Greenleaf, one of the rising stars at NBC, particularly TODAY IN NEW YORK where she is a features reporter gaining more and more air time with each passing week.
Tonight, Cat is the emcee for a fundraiser for The Children Of Bellevue and Toast to the Children. I predict great things for Cat, as others recognise her talents. Someday we'll all be able to look back to this blog entry and say "we knew her when"...

Mansion Tax Surprise

A few weeks ago, I was honored to be asked to "guest write" on Norman Calvo's blog (Universal Mortgage, Inc), which I eagerly agreed to do. I wrote about what I believe to be an important issue for some purchasers who are fortunate enough to be buying near the million dollar range, particularly in "sponsor sales".
I feel it was, perhaps, important enough to be posted on my own blog as well.
As most informed buyers have learned in their research into condominiums (as well as the less common new coops), one of the major closing costs to anticipate is the "mansion tax". On any purchase of a condo, coop, or house where the purchase price is $1,000,000.00 or more, the buyer has to pay a tax of 1% of the purchase price. This, of course, is in addition to all the other closing costs associated with the purchase.
As those same informed purchasers have learned, in a strong real estate market (which still includes most of the NY City Real Estate market) there are some typical “seller’s costs” that can pass on to buyers by contractual
agreement. Specifically, these are the New York City and New York state transfer taxes that amount to 1.425% and $4.00 per thousand of the purchase price.
As a Real Estate attorney, I’ve come across many cases where purchasers were excited that they "dodged" mansion tax because they negotiated a price just under $1,000,000. However, here’s how it got interesting! Once transfer taxes are computed, the forms require the inclusion of the buyer-paid transfer taxes in the consideration. What this means is that taxes will now be calculated on the combined sum of the purchase price and the transfer taxes. In other words, the buyer is taxed on the tax. No big deal, right? Wrong! Now, when you add the transfer taxes to the old purchase price (which was only just short of $1,000,000.00), the “new” consideration is now well over 1,000,000.00 and subject to mansion tax!
Therefore, an aggressive purchaser, who is reluctantly expecting to pay NY City and State transfer taxes, and also wants to avoid paying mansion tax, must negotiate a price to at least $19,000 below the $1,000,000.000 “magic number”.

Client News:
In the past few weeks, I've mentioned clients who sing and dance. This week, a different type of artist shall be highlighted: Alyssa Ettinger, a very talented young artist whose media of choice is ceramics (or pottery to us).
Alyssa and other artists in her studio foundation are having an open studio weekend on May 31st and June 1st, at the NARS Foundation (New York Artists in Residency), 253 36th St (3rd Floor) Brooklyn, NY
To view the true talent Alyssa possesses, please feel free to visit her beautiful website: http://www.alyssaettinger.com/

It's convenient, so we should all attend.

Last minute addition:

FRED BENDHEIM, another of my talented clients, an accomplished artist working, primarily in abstract oils and watercolors is part of an event taking place near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
You are invited to his studio (and many others) to come and see what art is being made in the South of the Navy Yard area in Brooklyn, this weekend Saturday and Sunday May 17th & 18th, from 12-6PM. This is a link to the studio stroll map: www.sonyaonline.org/images/Stroll_web.pdf
Directions to his studio at 20 Grand Ave. #410: G train to Classon Ave., walk north 5 blocks to Flushing Ave, turn left,go 2 blocks to Grand Ave. Bike riding is a good option too.
It should be fun.
-- Fred Bendheim 20 Grand Ave. #410Brooklyn, NY 11205 tel: 718-753-1659 www.fredbendheim.com

PCDS the $500 surprise!

New York State has always been a "buyer beware" State also known as Caveat Emptor, which basically requires a potential buyer to do his or her "due diligence" before purchasing property. Of course there are exceptions like fraud on the part of the seller, but generally a buyer cannot complain after a closing about physical conditions existing in the premises.
Then, in 2002, specifically March 1, 2002, along came the Property Condition Disclosure Act, which, in a nutshell, requires sellers of one to four family houses in NY (specifically excluding coops & condominiums and with some other minor exceptions) to provide potential purchasers of those included properties, a 48 item questionnaire detailing various aspects of the property. While the legislation may have been well intentioned, I believe, it has, for all intents and purposes, failed.
The law provides, that if the sellers of properties mentioned above, fail to provide the questionnaire, also known as the PCDS (Property Condition Disclosure Statement) the buyer shall receive, at closing, a credit from the seller of $500.
So, how has this played out in real life?
No seller wants to risk making 48 individual representations relating to the property, knowing that if, intentionally or not, a misstatement is made, they may be open to litigation for up to six years. It is possible additionally, that even if the statement were accurate, but something went wrong with the property after the closing, the buyer would still be able to allege a misrepresentation in the PCDS and sue the seller.
So, in the six years or so that the Property Condition Disclosure Act has been the law, how many PCDS's have I seen? None! Not one! In each and every 1-4 family house that I have been involved in, either as a buyer's attorney or as a seller's attorney, no PCDS is provided and the buyer has received his $500 credit at the closing.

Perhaps, the ultimate result has been that the sellers' have been forced, via the PCDA, to pay for the buyers' homeowners inspection, also known as an engineer's report, the need for which, I shall discuss in an upcoming post.


CLIENT NEWS:

In a recent post I opined about Sarah Blaze and her recital, which I was thrilled to attend and which provided an amazing range of emotions. At some points during the recital, one could hear a pin drop; at others the audience was erupting in cheers and applause. I will eagerly look forward to seeing her again in larger, Broadway type venues, where she shall shine! Lookout world, here comes Sarah Blaze!

My next, proud Papa moment has to do with dance, a skill foreign to me and both of my left feet. Not so, my client, Amy Young, a shining star in the Paul Taylor Dance Company. A Juilliard Graduate, no less!

Next week, Amy will be guest-starring with TAKE Dance Company in a three night series of performances which are detailed below.

That's Amy, being held high, below.

We can all stand a little extra culture, can't we?
Please join me.

"daring athletic quality and visceral impact"

TAKE Dance Company comes to Miller Theatre with two world premieres and several revivals.
WHEN:Thursday, May 15, 8pmFriday, May 16, 8pmSaturday, May 17, 8pm
WHERE:Miller Theatre2960 Broadway (at 116th St.)212.854.7799http://www.millertheatre.com/
TICKET INFORMATION:General Tickets: $25Student Tickets: $15
RESERVATIONS:Call Smarttix at 212.868.4444http://www.smarttix.com/
Dancers: Kristen Arnold, Elise Drew, Jill Echo, Kate Hirstein, Kile Hotchkiss, Andy LeBeau, Sharon Park, Nana Tsuda, Takehiro Ueyama Guest Artists: James Samson, Amy Young (Paul Taylor Dance Company)John Eirich (Taylor 2)Choreography: Takehiro Ueyama, Asun Noales (Huella) Guest Composer:Damian Eckstein (Looking for Water)Lighting Design:Jason JeunnetteCostume Design: Sabado Lam, Cheryl McCarron, Camille Branton
Photo by: Philip Echo

email: elise@takedanceny.com voice: 203-494-3209 web: http://www.takedanceny.com/

Do you really need a Mortgage Broker?

I'm quickly learning that this blog can be useful to answer so many "FAQs" in advance . Now, if only I could get my clients to read this before the questions were asked.



Last week I discussed selling on one's own as opposed to using a Real Estate broker. Similarly, questions arise regarding applying to a bank for a mortgage directly as opposed to using the services of a well known and well recommended registered Mortgage Broker.



While it is true that often the Mortgage Broker will place the loan with a high profile lender such as Citibank, Chase, Washington Mutual Wells Fargo or HSBC which lenders maintain offices capable of taking direct mortgage applications, there are tremendous benefits in approaching those same lenders through the Mortgage Broker.



First of all, the Mortgage Broker, unlike an employee of a Bank has an array of products and a further array of lenders so that the borrower and the specifics of the loan can be matched to the appropriate lender and mortgage product. The variety of choices can be staggering and a good Mortgage Broker can make the best match for a particular situation. Some of the common variables involve the differences between coops & condos, new or resales, 80% 85% or even 90% financing, credit score issues, co-signers, owner-occupancy issues etc.

Bank employees, even the best of them do not seem to be as "motivated" as Mortgage Brokers. Simply put, it is financially beneficial to the Mortgage Broker to satisfy the client who, it would be expected, could refer new clients down the road.

Having said all that, perhaps the most compelling reason to use a mortgage broker can be best explained by an experience...actually two.
Twice, in the last six weeks, I received the "dreaded" phone call the day before a closing that "unfortunately" the bank will not be able to close the loan tomorrow. Tomorrow!!! Clients are ready to close, moving trucks are loaded, everyone is ready....except the bank, with no acceptable reason, will not be able to close the mortgage.

Thankfully, both of these loans involved a Registered Mortgage Broker, Norman Calvo of Universal Mortgage

The moment I was informed of the problem, I notified Norman Calvo. In each instance, he stopped what he was doing and dedicated the entire balance of his day to "arm-twisting" at the banks (one was Chase, the other Citi) until the files were re-cleared and re-scheduled for closing as originally planned. Yes, they both closed!

Interestingly, the second of the loan problems was a relatively small mortgage but the effort expended by Norman would make one guess it involved a million dollar loan.

I will always believe that both of these closings would have been adjourned at great inconvenience were it not for the efforts of Norman.