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The FSBO Diaries (Week 17-18): Competition

I often search Streeteasy for comparable apartments on the Upper West Side to keep tabs on the market. A couple of weeks ago, I found a "one bedroom" in my building that had been on the market for a day.

My first thought was "Oh, no."

But after taking a closer look, I felt that another unit for sale in the building might not be a bad thing.

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Dear Ms. Demeanor: My loud kid is bothering the neighbors

Dear Ms. Demeanor:

My three-year-old hasn't quite left the terrible two's behind. To know her is to love her, but not to know her is to hear her screaming when leaving for school, eating dinner, getting a bath, going to bed...

My neighbors are starting to make snide comments. What should I say the next time someone makes a nasty remark?

Signed,

Quiet Mom of Loud Child

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How to spy on your dog walker

In a dog-eat-dog city, sometimes it’s your dog walker who is eating—straight out of your fridge….or medicine cabinet, relieving you of your prescription medicines a few milligrams at a time.

“The prescription drug experience is very, very common,” says Elena Gretch, who started her upscale Manhattan pet-services business, It's a Dog's Life, in an attempt to cure “every bad experience” she had with walkers she had hired for her own dog.

Ask around at a dog run and you will hear stories of walkers caught in the shower, watching tv on the sofa, throwing parties and sampling the alcohol.

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What happens when a board member is a seller?

Q. Does a board member have to resign when he puts his co-op unit on the market for sale? I don't recall anything in our building documents saying they have to, but should they, ethically, to avoid a potential conflict of interest?

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Word of the Week: Todzilla

tod zill a - n. Small but noisy child who lives upstairs or next door.

Rachel slept with earplugs Monday through Wednesday and every other weekend, the days when the todzilla upstairs came to stay with its father.

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My Big Fat Board Interview: What maintenance increase?

I’m a mortgage banker, so I work all day helping people buy apartments in the city, and I’ve heard the horror stories about board interviews.

Like the guy who was informed that he was going to be assessed $10,000 for a lawsuit the building had lost against a shareholder. He got in a dispute about it at the interview because he didn’t think he should pay. He didn’t get the apartment.

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The Perfect Condo

When we asked him how to avoid being bamboozled by a rendering, new development marketer Stephen Kliegerman seemed to pull no punches.

So it occurred to us that having consulted on around 150 condo projects as Halstead Property's executive director of development, Kliegerman knows where the design skeletons are buried and can see past the distractions of Carrera marble and bamboo floors to what really matters.

Here's his take on The Perfect Condo. (Spoiler alert: Rainhead showerheads and low-riding electrical outlets need not apply.)

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Fresh Start Fridays: The Virtual Doorman is In

  • Convertible two-bedroom two-bath 1,186-square-foot loft on West 55th Street between Ninth & Tenth Avenues features 12' ceilings, central a/c, washer-dryer, gourmet kitchen and is located in a condop building with a Virtual Doorman.  $799,000, $2,495/mo maintenance. [Corcoran]
  • Three-bedroom, two-bath 1,333-square-foot new condo at 110 Warren Street in Brooklyn features Bosch washer/dryer, shared roof deck, garage, live-in super and a virtual lobby attendant that accepts deliveries. $905,000, $885/mo cc, $54/mo r.e. taxes. [Halstead]
  • Two-bedroom, two-bath new condo in a converted pencil factory in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has a washer/dryer, soaking tub, on-site parking, roof deck, storage and a virtual doorman. $566,000, $518/mo cc. [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
  • Two-bedroom, two-bath Lower East Side condo features balcony, teak floors, the usual upscale appliances, soaking tub, key-locked elevator and a Virtual Doorman system and package room.  $1.4 million, $862/mo cc, $135/mo r.e. taxes. [Corcoran]

Not everyone believes an onsite doorman is worth his or her weight in carrying costs--particularly in smaller buildings, where there are fewer residents to ante up.

Far less expensive are virtual doorman and package systems. They can't hail a cab or walk your dog. But they do a good job of manning the entry via camera, and they can also make sure your deliveries find their way into a secured package room.  

And you don't have to tip at the holidays.  

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