Papers report that Jennifer Aniston has finally closed on her property purchase!
After visiting many buildings, from the Financial District to Chelsea, the famous actress fell in love with 229 W 12th Street, in the West Village.
She bought two apartments: a penthouse, for $4.95 million (roughly 16% below the asking price), and a one bedroom on the lower floor, for $2.1 million.
The celebrities are coming back to invest in top tier New York real estate, after the gloomy crisis years.

The market is beginning to show a certain degree of competition amongst buyers for apartments that are priced correctly and are scarce; in some instances we are witnessing bidding wars during the negotiation process, which result in a higher-than-asking closing price. This was a rarity in the recent years.

maximizing the opportunities
As we all know, maintenance expenses can be high in Manhattan, especially in luxury co-ops. Therefore some co-op and condo boards are experimenting with new ways to generate some extra cash for the building in order to lower maintenance costs.
For example, The Real Deal magazine reports that a co-op on Spring Street and 6th Avenue decided to use the empty space on the side of the building wall, now that the adjacent building was torn down, to place advertisement banners. This resulted in $40,000 a year of additional income for the building!
Another example to create more value from hidden opportunities can be selling a common space to a buyer who is combining two units and thus needing to include part of a corridor to merge them.
Cellars and staircases can also be sold in an effort to merge units.
A building came up with the idea of segmenting the rooftop in private cabanas that were then sold to individual owners for a profit.
As usual and in accordance to the old New York City tradition: everything is for sale here.

A new luxury residential rental building is coming to the area of West Chelsea at 500 West 23rd Street.
The project called TEN23 and headed by the billionaire Sam Zell through his real estate fund Equity Residential, will include 111 apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space.
This is one of the few developments of this proportion that were erected from the ground up in the last two years in Manhattan.
The building is slated to open in the fall. Prices will start at $3,000 for a studio and at $5,800 for a two bedroom.
A combination of 3 large roof terraces is one of the most attractive amenities in the building. Young professionals that populate this area of town will surely love to gather on top their residence to enjoy some company and party with a wonderful view of the Big Apple.

Harlem
The interest in this area of Manhattan undergoing a positive evolution stays high.
Especially in the western section of Harlem, many first rate new condos have been built over the last five years. This could have been interpreted as an oversupply few months ago, but given the activity in the first part of the year, it seems that the additional offerings could have a positive impact on the demand as well.
In fact, potential buyers aware of the great investments put forward by a number of developers in the area are more inclined to settle here. They see the change affecting many blocks, right before their eyes. One residential development of note is 88 Morningside, on the corner of Morningside Avenue and 122nd Street. According to recent reports, out of 29 new residential developments in Harlem listing new units in the second, third and fourth quarters of  2010 and the first quarter of 2011, 88 Morningside beat the competition by selling a total of 32 units during that time period.

Further, the company Marketing Directors reports that there were 66 condos closings in Harlem in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 102 in the first quarter of 2011.
The decisive factors are: the price in combination with a high quality product in an area that is geographically near to all the best Manhattan has to offer. If we realize that the discount on a similar kind new-condo unit that is located, for example, in Chelsea can easily reach 50%, it will be logical to understand that many are happy to buy more square footage at better prices…few steps away from Central Park.

This is it for today, my Dear Friends.
I am always available to answer your questions and provide you with more information on your next real estate investment in the Big Apple.
I will be glad to get back to you.

Warm Regards,
Riccardo Ravasini