Brick Underground

Greetings loyal fans of my Brick Underground oeuvre. After a long nap I am back with my lucky 13th article for this wonderful outlet that lets me publish my True Confessions of grappling with real estate issues in New York City. This one is about How I Flunked Downsizing. One comes to a certain point in life when Less is More and More is Too Much. Seeking to divest myself of stuff, I first consulted the experts: #MarieKondo #SwedishDeathCleaning and signed up for a quarterly subscription to #SimplicityMagazine. And indeed, there are important lessons to be learned from these experts Yet after a couple of years of moving papers around in boxes and trying to divest myself of sentimental but unused things, I decided to rip off the Band -Aid and just move to a smaller place. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work out so great. Read all about it and let me know what you think my next move (figuratively speaking) should be. A bonfire perhaps? Or maybe I should embrace the philosophy that the author of my final anecdote tells me is his guiding principle: “I fully intend on becoming a burden to my kids in my elder years!” With lots of thanks to Jennifer White Karp Sarah Lowengard Ira Sager and everyone who supported me through my many moves. https://lnkd.in/gYeSJq9h

Market-rate tenants gained landmark protections against rent increases and evictions this year after New York State passed the Good Cause eviction law. But there’s one catch: to enforce their new rights, tenants need to head to housing court. Now, six months after the law went into effect in April, defense attorneys are using Good Cause eviction to argue their cases. Good Cause eviction?does a few things:?If your apartment is covered by its protections, your landlord needs to justify evicting you, and they can’t stick you with an “unreasonable” rent increase of above 8.82 percent this year. If they do try to evict you without a “good cause” (such as breaking your lease), or raise your rent above that threshold, you have a right to fight those actions in court. For tenants, Good Cause is a powerful?negotiating tool.?But when a landlord won’t negotiate, tenants have to make the weighty decision of whether or not to enforce their rights in housing court. That means hiring an attorney, or trying to?secure free representation,?and going through what can be a very?stressful legal process.? To find out more about the legal process and read more about similar cases, check out our latest article: https://lnkd.in/eya8prCm #GoodCauseEviction #TenantRights #NYCHousing

Bad landlords could have their buildings seized and rehabbed under revived NYC program. The New York City Council could revive a controversial program that allows the city to take properties away from landlords who fail to pay their taxes or make necessary repairs. The council debated City Council member?Pierina Ana Sanchez’s?bill to replace the Third Party Transfer (TPT) program on Monday, which in the past let the city foreclose on distressed properties in an effort to hold owners accountable for letting their buildings deteriorate. But the original program was heavily criticized for taking properties from small?owners of color. Under the bill, the city would still be able to foreclose on a distressed building and?transfer it to a third-party?company to manage it and make repairs. And the city would also be required to provide residents with more notice before placing a building into TPT, along with other reforms to the “disastrous,” past program, Sanchez said. (Gothamist?first reported?news of the bill.) “We cannot leave New Yorkers to suffer living conditions dangerous to their health and safety,” Sanchez said at the Monday meeting. “We can focus on rescuing properties in the worst conditions while protecting and uplifting and even expanding home ownership and intergenerational wealth-building opportunities.” Want to learn more about how this program impacts renters and neighborhoods? Dive into the details here: https://lnkd.in/eryf8HXi #NYCHousing #TenantRights #AffordableHousing?

Buyers face a gamut of fraught decisions and with the increase in severe weather events, weighing a property’s climate change risk is one of them. More than 80 percent of buyers consider climate risk, primarily flooding, when looking for a new place, as per a?2023 Zillow report. To help buyers make more informed decisions, major real estate sites?have added climate risk information to sales listings. The data is provided by?First Street,?a climate risk modeling company.' Zillow is the newest listings site to add climate risk information; the other sites added First Street climate risk data in recent years. Buyers searching the Zillow app can see information on five types of extreme weather-related risks—flood, wildfire, wind, heat and air quality—as part of every sales listing. Zillow listings also provide insurance recommendations and historical insights, showing if or when a property has experienced past climate events, such as flooding or wildfires. "Climate risks are now a critical factor in home-buying decisions," said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow, in a press release. "As concerns about flooding, extreme temperatures and wildfires grow—and what that might mean for future insurance costs—this tool also helps agents inform their clients in discussing climate risk, insurance and long-term affordability." Climate risk information will be available on the Zillow app for Apple devices and on the Zillow website by the end of the year, with Android availability expected early next year. Want to understand what the climate risk data tells you about a listing and what buyers can do with this information? Check out our article: https://lnkd.in/eFkt3ugs #NYCRealEstate #ClimateChange #PropertyInvestment

How to find a hidden camera planted by your landlord, Airbnb host, or another creep. Renting a new apartment? It may be scary to contemplate, but there are many places for someone to plant a hidden camera and secretly record your every move for their own sick pleasure. There’s also been a rash of spy cam incidents at Airbnb rentals worldwide. That's despite Airbnb and VRBO policies prohibiting vacation homeowners from installing indoor security cameras to monitor guests. A 2024 report by smart home technology company Vivent shows that one in 12 owners confess to still using them, and one in 20 renters discovered a hidden camera during their stay. Yikes. “Hidden cameras are an epidemic in New York City, and people don’t even realize how bad it is,” says Jimmie Mesis, founder and director of USA Bug Sweeps, which specializes in finding hidden cameras in NYC apartments and conducts more than 350 sweeps yearly. He previously told Brick that he was busier than ever during the height of the pandemic—even when NYC was locked down. But in 2024, “people are still spying on each other," he says. "The number of requests for sweeps continues to increase, as is the number of hidden cameras we are finding." Typical cases involve a young, single woman renting an apartment, but any type of housing is susceptible. The places where you can hide a bug are seemingly endless—such as vents, ceiling fans, and fire detectors. “No one is free from being watched,” he says. For tips on how to detect a spy cam and what to do if you find one, read our article. Link in comments. #ApartmentSecurity #TenantRights #NYCLawAndPrivacy

Have you ever considered withholding rent payments to encourage your landlord to complete needed fixes? Or are you a landlord and want to understand how a tenant might approach this legally? Brick Underground sat down with our sponsor, Altagracia Pierre-Outerbridge, Esq. MBA, founder of NYC Tenants’ Rights Attorney Altagracia (Outerbridge) to explore the process. There are some serious implications if it is not handled properly. #nyc #renters #landlords #rent #sponsored

Nothing is quite as synonymous with life in New York City as its pigeons. These urban birds have been the subject of documentaries, poems, and even one 16-foot-tall monument in Chelsea. But for owners and renters, pigeons can become a nuisance when they take up residence on city windows, AC units, and balconies. In addition to depositing feathers and grime, pigeons can carry bird-borne illnesses and bird mites, said Gil Bloom, president of Standard Pest Management. It’s best to stop them from relaxing or nesting at your apartment immediately, he added. “If you’re starting to have a bird issue, try and address it as soon as possible because it will only get worse—and more complex—if you allow them to start nesting, laying eggs, and breeding,” Bloom said. “Birds are great, you just don’t want them on your window sill or terraces.” Dealing with a pigeon that keeps hanging out on the window sill of your NYC apartment? Read our latest article to learn tips on how to banish these feathered fiends yourself. #NYCApartmentLiving #UrbanSolutions #PestControlTips

City of Maybe: Does Mayor Adams’s indictment imperil his ambitious housing plan? Mayor Eric Adams’s growing legal troubles caught up to him just hours after his ambitious housing proposal cleared a key vote by the City Planning Commission. The mayor was indicted on federal criminal charges on Wednesday evening. Despite a long list of departures from City Hall amid a widening federal probe, the move still felt shocking: Adams is the first sitting NYC mayor to be criminally charged. He faces five charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations including over $100,000 in luxury travel perks in exchange for political favors to help Turkey, according to the indictment that was unsealed Thursday. On Friday morning, he turned himself in and pleaded not guilty in a Lower Manhattan courthouse. He said he had no plans to resign. Only hours before his indictment, the Adams administration scored a win when City of Yes, the mayor’s major rezoning proposal to develop 100,000 new dwellings citywide, passed the City Planning Commission by a vote of 10 to 3. City of Yes calls for building more housing in every NYC neighborhood, and would eliminate parking requirements, create a density bonus for builders of affordable housing, legalize accessory dwelling units, encourage development near transit and above storefronts, make it easier for faith-based organizations to build housing on their campuses, and for offices to be converted to residential use. The proposal focuses on constructing 100,000 new residences across the city, prioritizing affordability. The plan includes reducing parking requirements, offering incentives for affordable housing developers, and promoting construction near public transportation hubs. This initiative, City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, represents a significant stride in combating the housing shortage in New York City. Next up will be convincing the 26 City Council members to approve the plan. But critics say the mayor is now ‘politically weak’ and has ‘little influence over the Council’. Read the article on Brick Underground to learn more about how Mayor Adams’s indictment could affect the City of Yes housing proposal. #AffordableLiving #UrbanDevelopment #CityofYes

For some New Yorkers heading outside the city to buy a place of their own, the suburban dream is a condo with a shared roof deck, not a house and a yard. That’s because the fantasy of owning a house in the suburbs around New York City doesn’t always line up with reality. Check out Jennifer White Karp's latest article for more details on why buyers are preferring condos over houses.

?? Big news for NYC buyers and sellers! The Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark interest rate by half a percent last Wednesday. The cut, the Fed’s first in four years, was welcome news for would-be buyers and sellers in New York City. The Fed opted to slash rates by 0.50 percent—a larger cut than the quarter point cut some economists expected—and indicated it would?further lower rates?into 2026, depending on how the “economy evolves,” said Federal Reserve Chair?Jerome Powell?on Wednesday. Mortgage rates, which already dropped in anticipation of the Fed’s announcement,?may decline further?in the future given the larger-than-expected rate cut. The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage sunk to?6.15 percent?last week—its lowest level in two years. The move could spur more apartment buying and selling in NYC, said Jonathan Miller, CRE?, Member of RAC, president and CEO of appraisal firm?Miller Samuel. “Consumers have been waiting for this for two and a half years,” Miller said. “I think it’ll bring more people in sooner.” But unleashing that pent-up demand will ultimately raise prices, he added. Whether you're buying or selling, this rate cut could have a significant impact on your borrowing power and the overall market dynamics. Read more about its potential impacts here. #InterestRates #MortgageRates #RealEstateNews https://lnkd.in/eVVqHS4x