Emily Myers

When you buy a condo or co-op in NYC, it's important to do everything you can to find out how the building is run. After all, it’s is a big investment—so what are the secrets to a well-run building? What are the typical flashpoints between residents and how are they best resolved? These are some of the questions addressed in this week's podcast with real estate attorney Steve Wagner, partner at the Manhattan law firm Wagner, Berkow & Brandt (and a Brick Underground sponsor).

Toxic chemicals would need to be dredged from Coney Island Creek—potentially harming marine life—in order to accommodate a planned dock for a high-speed ferry to Manhattan.

Steve Wagner, partner at the Manhattan law firm Wagner, Berkow & Brandt, describes the process to change the existing zoning of a building in NYC, which requires public hearings before the local community board and review by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. It can take many months.

The broker fee has been reinstated. A New York judge granted a temporary restraining order effectively suspending the guidance issued by the Department of State, which had interpreted a section in last year’s new rent laws to mean it was illegal for renters to be asked to pay a fee to a landlord’s broker unless it was $20 for a background or credit check. 

This two bedroom, 250 West 88th St., #806, on the Upper West Side, last changed hands in 1997 and is offered at $999,000. That's well below the current median asking price of $1,795,000 for similar-sized apartments in the neighborhood. The discount might because there are upgrades needed in the kitchen and bathrooms as well as an assessment on the building for the next 10 months.

Tenants who find a NYC apartment by themselves—without an agent representing them during their search—can't be required to pay a broker fee, according to new guidance from the Department of State, clarifying a vaguely worded provision of New York’s landmark rent reform laws passed last June. This legal interpretation has predictably been met with resistance by the NYC real estate industry and means if you work directly with a landlord’s agent, you can’t be charged a broker fee (typically, one month’s rent or 15 percent of the year’s total rent).