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March 8, 2016

Priciest & Cheapest NYC Neighborhoods for Townhouses

Owning a townhouse in New York City may be the real estate dream for many city livers, but how realistic is that ambition? It all depends on the location you’re after. If you’re one of those who can afford to combine multiple homes into one megamansion, the entirety of the five boroughs is up for grabs; but for the majority of New Yorkers, that’s not likely the case.

But for those who are still chasing that townhouse dream, the numbers were ran on prices during the month of February in more than a dozen Brooklyn and Manhattan neighborhoods, and compiled them into graph which ranks NYC neighborhoods from highest cost per square foot to lowest.

The priciest neighborhoods in each borough are hardly surprising: Greenwich Village comes out on top in Manhattan, with townhouse prices as high as $2,662 per square foot; Brooklyn Heights, of course, takes the no. 1 spot in Kings County (and is fifth on the list overall), with prices reaching $1,516 per square foot. The other top areas are the ones you’d expect: the West Village, the Upper East and West Sides, Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill, and so on.

As for the least expensive, Manhattan’s Hamilton Heights neighborhood offers the best deal for buyers, with homes averaging around $592 per square foot. At $387 per square foot, Brooklyn’s East New York is the cheapest of the neighborhoods that are accounted for, with Mott Haven in the Bronx coming in second to last. Sunset Park and Bed-Stuy are neighborhoods that are currently “on the rise” with average sale prices lower than $600.00 per square foot.

February 10, 2016

Upper East Side Co-op Asks $780,000, New Kitchen Included

Prewar co-op kitchens are not the stuff of today’s real estate fantasies: they’re notoriously tiny and closed off. Ripping them out is the number-one way to transform a dated space and that’s exactly what the buyers of this one-bedroom Upper East Side apartment did. After they closed for $550,000 in 2011, the buyers began a renovation that brought the apartment a sleek new kitchen that opens it up to the living area. The bathroom also got an aesthetic update, with a glass shower enclosure. Four years later the apartment is back on the market asking $780,000.

January 5, 2016

Keyless Entry System via Smartphone

Forgetting your keys at home or getting locked out of your apartment will soon be a mundane problem of the past – well, at least if you live in a luxury building. A new keyless entry system is being introduced into a handful of residential buildings across the city, and its success could make riffling through a pesky set of keys totally obsolete, the New York Times reports. Buildings are staring to experiment with apps like Latch and KISI that allow you to control the lock on your door through a smartphone.

While several office buildings and private homes have already experimented with similar mechanisms, real estate developers have been hesitant to install the technology due to the cost and the security factor, but services like Latch offer several comprehensive features that override some of those concerns.

For instance, there won’t be a need for spare keys anymore. The app will produce a unique code that residents can then share with people to access the apartment – baby sitters, delivery persons, and guests who then input it into an electronic key pad located on the lock. And for the purpose of safety, the owner of the home can revoke access whenever they chose as well.

This touch pad also comes enabled with a camera and thus acts as a keyhole, and what’s more – if you lose or forget your phone somewhere you always have the option of inputting a code into the touch pad or using a physical key.

And the features don’t end there – the same device can also be used as a key for various other amenities in the particular building – gym, pool, storage, etc.

Latch was created by Swedish designer Thomas Meyerhoffer. KISI has already been used by several offices and is now moving into residential territory.

December 2, 2015

6,000+ New Apartments set for Brooklyn in 2016

Around almost every corner in Brooklyn, a new development is rising to bring more apartments to the city’s most populous borough. So it should come as no surprise that Brooklyn is leading not only New York City, but the rest of the country in the construction of new apartments.

According to Forbes, Brooklyn is expected to gain 6,073 apartments in 2016, which is a nearly unfathomable gain on the 979 apartments that hit the market in the borough this year. And 2017 is already off to a running start, too: 2,001 new apartments are already anticipated. Here’s another mind-boggling number to top all of that off: as of October, the borough’s average rent, minus concessions, was a whopping $3,823.00.

All these new apartments are needed, since existing apartments were 97.4% occupied in October and the demand keeps growing. October’s average effective rent in Brooklyn was 4.8% higher than the October 2014 average. Rental revenue impact was 5.4% more than the year before.

Brooklyn’s apartment surge is just the largest part of a New York-area apartment boom in which 24,575 new units have been identified to come to market next year. The metropolitan division, which includes Jersey City and White Plains in addition to the city, is expected to receive the most new apartments in 2016, surpassing Houston and Dallas, which have traded the top spot since 2013. The New York City area as a whole is expecting nearly 25,000 new apartments in 2016.

November 11, 2015

To Buy & Renovate..

The time has come and you are ready to buy a home. Could be your first home or it could be your third, but each time is still a challenge. Buying a home involves finding the perfect space and layout that best suits you. To find a move-in ready home that perfectly suits your needs and standards is very hard to come by and in the miracle that you do find this, you will sure pay for it!

This prompts many people to factor the option of buying and renovating into their decision-making when searching for homes on the market. Buying and renovating opens many doors and can fulfill so many wants and desires that buying a move-in ready cannot fulfill.

The buying and renovating option; however, does come with it’s list of commands. For one, you will need a well-experienced real estate broker to find those homes on the market that fall within your budget with taking a renovation into account. Along with a broker, you will need a designer. The designer will be able to see passed what exists and will be able to determine if the skeleton of the home has potential for what you are looking for in your new home.

Once you have purchased your new home, you will now begin your renovation process. Your next team will consist of your designer and an architect. Plans will be drawn up. Now, all your wants and custom ideas are on paper and you begin to have this wonderful vision on what your life will be like in your new home.

The last and final link on your buying and renovating chain is hiring a team who will not only meet your expectations but exceed them. This team is your General Contractor. Our team at Capital Craftsmen have performed renovations in some of the most high-end buildings in Manhattan and have also built custom homes from the ground up in the Hamptons and Montauk. We are the team that will turn your designer’s renderings and architect’s 2-dimensional drawings into your new reality.

Enjoy a first-hand look at the Before & After pictures below of one of our most prestigious renovations to date at 1105 Park Avenue.