Featuring real estate articles and information to help real estate buyers and sellers. The Nest features writings from Georges Benoliel and other real estate professionals. Georges is the Co-Founder of NestApple and has been working as an active real estate investor for over a decade.
Nicole Fishman Benoliel co-founded NestApple in 2017. She's a lawyer admitted to the New York bar - her law degree is from La Escuela Libre de Derecho in Costa Rica, with further study at IE Business School in Madrid and an LLM from Fordham in New York. She does not act in a legal capacity at NestApple; every client is referred to an attorney who handles real estate deals full time.
A boutique building in NYC usually means fewer than about 40 units, often a converted townhouse or a small prewar. You get more character, a quieter board, and less bureaucracy. You also pay a much larger share of every roof,… Read More
To lower your ratio of debt to income, pay down the debts with the biggest monthly payments first, usually credit cards and car loans, and don’t take on new debt before applying. Raising your down payment or shopping a lower… Read More
The down payment for an apartment in NYC averages about 20% of the price. A co-op usually requires a minimum of 20% to 25% down, with some buildings wanting 30% to 50%, plus one to two years of reserves after… Read More
A one-time showing agreement is a short contract a for-sale-by-owner seller signs so a buyer’s agent will show the home. If that agent’s client buys the property, the seller owes the agent a commission, usually 2% to 3%, roughly half… Read More
An alcove studio is a studio with a recess off the main room, big enough for a bed and open to the rest of the space. Roughly 1 in 5 studios for sale has one. It’s priced between a studio… Read More
A legal bedroom in a New York City apartment built after April 1929 needs 80 square feet of floor area, no dimension under 8 feet, an 8 foot ceiling, and a window of at least 12 square feet facing a… Read More
A junior 4 is a one bedroom apartment with a fourth room: bedroom, kitchen, living room, plus an alcove or small dining space. There’s no legal definition of the term. Whether that fourth room counts as a second bedroom is… Read More
A co signer for a house shares full responsibility for the mortgage. In New York, a co-signer on a co-op is usually added to the stock certificate and lease as a co-owner. A guarantor only backs the payments, often needing… Read More
The mortgage recording tax NYC buyers see has a 2.05% statutory total below a $500,000 mortgage and 2.175% at or above $500,000 for a qualifying one-to-three-family home or individual condo. The lender generally pays 0.25%, leaving common borrower arithmetic of… Read More
Title insurance in New York State isn’t automatically required for every co-op purchase. Co-op buyers acquire shares and a proprietary lease, not a deed. TIRSA lists 2 cooperative forms, one for owners and one for lenders. Lien and UCC searches… Read More
Downsizing to a smaller home in NYC can free up cash, cut your monthly costs, and get you onto one floor. The tax side helps: you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale, or $500,000 if married… Read More
We witnessed the massive construction around Hudson Yards in Manhattan for those on the west side. If you haven’t ventured above 23rd Street or meditated in India for two years, Hudson Yards in NYC will become the most significant real… Read More
Seller closing costs NYC owners face usually include New York State and city transfer taxes, the seller’s attorney, mortgage payoff work, building charges and negotiated brokerage compensation. For an individual residential unit, NYC transfer tax is 1% at $500,000 or… Read More
Simply put, a mortgage contingency clause in NYC real estate ensures the following: Say a buyer wants to buy a home and applies for a loan from a bank. If the buyer fails to obtain a firm commitment for a… Read More
Buying a new development in NYC differs from a resale in four ways: closing costs are about 2% higher because the buyer usually absorbs the transfer taxes; the sponsor’s offering plan sets the terms; financing often goes through a preferred… Read More
