New York City

In New York City, if you purchase a home, you purchase a little bit of the city. Everything is at your fingertips; social and cultural activities from all over the world are found here. It is densely packed with a multicultural population that vibrates with high energy and has something to amuse and stimulate you 24?hours a day.

The city is comprised of five boroughs: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Within the boroughs, the city is further divided into different neighborhoods that are as intimate and distinctive as any small town in the United States. There is a mixture of contemporary architecture and modern technology with Revolutionary Era buildings and 19th century monuments. The skyscrapers made of steal and glass seem to defy gravity, but you can also find in New York many houses made of brick with beautiful decorations.

The legendary Central Park is one of the most recognized icons of the city. People come here from all walks of life and corners of the world to experience New York. Owning a residence in certain buildings on or adjacent to the Park is a worldwide symbol of a seriously lavish lifestyle. It is a way of life reserved for the privileged few who insist on the best of the best.   

The preeminent area in Manhattan is the Upper East Side in the Sixties and Seventies on or near Fifth and Park Avenues. Dotted with mansions and prewars it offers world class shopping, major museums, elite schools, pricey restaurants and views of the park. Life here is about as good as it gets. Young families and upwardly mobile professionals however, can find more affordable housing a few blocks away from this posh Gold Coast.

Across Central Park is the Upper West Side also family-friendly yet still the domain of actors, artists and writers. The housing scene is diverse. Prices range from the high end to the "reasonable" ($1.5 million). New lofts and condo projects and charming townhouses are very much in high demand and sell at a steady pace.

SoHo has become an area for well heeled singles, fashionable couples and empty nesters looking for a downtown vibe. Almost all of it has been developed and entry level prices hover around a million dollars. Most of the Madison Avenue boutiques have opened satellites in SoHo bringing weekend crowds to the scene.

New York City has a very competitive housing market and the real estate prices are some of the highest in the world. Small is big in the Big Apple. The key to navigating this complex market is to have unique and strategic relationships with real estate owners, developers, and management companies. 

New York is a city comprised mainly of cooperatives and condominium apartments with a smaller selection of private homes, called townhouses or brownstones.

Cooperatives (co-ops, Manhattan´s primary housing style) are owned by an apartment corporation. An apartment corporation owns the legal title to the building.  Individual tenants (shareholders) of co-op apartments do not actually "own" their apartments. They actually own "shares" in the corporation, which entitles them to a long-term "proprietary lease." The corporation pays the building's mortgage, real estate taxes, employee salaries, and other expenses for the upkeep of the building. The tenant-owner, in turn, pays a portion of these expenses as determined by the number of shares the tenant owns in the corporation. Share amounts are dictated by apartment size and floor level.