36 Bleecker Street was built in 1885 to house the Schumacher and Ettlinger printing business, but it's currently being remodeled to house new luxury residences — and the art world is scooping them up.

Famed art collector Alberto Mugrabi, who owns one of the world's largest collections of Andy Warhol's art, is in contract to buy two triplex units (one full floor) in the Schumacher for $20.695 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. He will reportedly combine the units and display his Warhol collection on a windowless south wall.

Real estate developer and renowned art collector Aby Rosen is also in contract to buy an $8.5 million condo in the building, according to the WSJ. 

The building even has an art curator, Cristina Grajales, a SoHo gallerist who has commissioned works by artists like Jose Parla and Christophe Come to be permanently on display in the building. The courtyard is being designed by famed landscape architect Ken Smith.

The Schumacher will not be finished until December 2014, but half of its 20 units are already in contract. 

The Schumacher, also known as 36 Bleecker, was once a large printing house that helped turn NoHo into a major printing district during the 19th century. Architect Morris Adjmi will turn it into a luxury residence.

A doorman will be on-call 24 hours a day, and there will also be a part-time porter; fully-equipped, 750-square-foot fitness center; and a custom-built, pirate-themed children's playroom.

Ken Smith, the landscape architect best known for having designed the rooftop gardens at the MoMA, is behind this design for The Schumacher's courtyard.

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are selling their Franklin, Tennessee estate for a hefty $20 million.

Located nearly 30 miles outside of Nashville, the property is a haven of natural beauty and solitude. The 750+ acres are home to rolling pastures, fields, ponds, and spring-fed creeks. There are also four different residences. 

According to Zillow, the superstar duo originally bought the two distinct chunks of land that make up the property in November of 2001 for $13.8 million.

Welcome to Beechwood Hall, currently owned by country superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

The property is made up of two adjoining farms that are now part of the same piece of land. Before they were united, one property belonged to country music legend Hank Williams.

Source: The Realestalker

The main home, originally built in 1856, is a 6,856-square-foot antebellum beauty overlooking most of the property.

It’s been about a year and a half since units at One57 went on sale, and it seems that every few months Gary Barnett, the developer of the 1,004-foot-high tower, touts a new milestone for signed contracts.

The most recent figure, which Barnett let slip in June, pegs the development at 70 percent sold. Still, with no public listings and closings still months down the road, there had been no cold, hard evidence of actual sales, until now.

At least 15 of the tower’s 94 apartments are in contract, according to a state filing, though many of them are not the deals trumpeted in press accounts, such as the Bill Ackman-led investor group that purchased the so-called Winter Garden penthouse for more than $90 million, or the Chinese parents who snapped up a unit for their toddler to use as a university student.

The information comes from a document Barnett’s Extell Development quietly filed with the New York Attorney General’s office in March for what is known as an effectiveness amendment, which in this case lists the buyers (some of them limited liability companies) of 15 of the units. The filing is required as evidence that at least 15 percent of the sales at 157 West 57th Street are bona fide as part of the process to approve a condominium or cooperative offering plan, known as declaring it effective.

In May, the AG’s Real Estate Finance Bureau, which reviews such plans, declared Barnett’s condo plan effective.

Barnett’s tower is in a race to swipe buyers and media attention from rival 432 Park Avenue, the condo tower being built by CIM Group and Macklowe Properties. Extell won the race to break ground first and to have the plan declared effective, though 432 Park will surpass One57’s height by close to 400 feet.

Among the buyers Barnett has wooed are a surprising number of apparel executives. For example, Richard Kringstein, co-owner of outerwear manufacturer Herman Kay, made a deposit to buy unit 48A, a three-bedroom with 3,228 square feet, for $17.5 million on Feb. 17, 2012.

David Beyda, CEO of Town and County Linen, and Victor Azrak, who sold his clothing licensing firm American Marketing Enterprises to Li & Fung in 2007 for a reported $128 million, also purchased at One57. Beyda made a deal for the two-bedroom 40F for $9.6 million on Jan. 13, 2012, while Azrak inked his deal later that month to pay $6.9 million for the two-bedroom 44B.

Azrak did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Extell declined to comment, other than to restate that 70 percent of the units had been sold. Beyda declined to comment.

Click on chart to see the complete PDF of buyers and pricing at One57

When filing an effectiveness amendment, a developer can choose to list any contracts that add up to 15 percent of the sales, regardless of when the deals were signed, real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey said. That may explain why Extell chose not to name the buyer for the 90th-floor penthouse, whose identity is still a mystery, or Quebec billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s reported purchase of unit 85 or his Hong Kong business partner Silas Chou’s deal for unit 82.

Still, Extell did include two full-floor penthouses on the list, although the buyers used LLCs for the purchases, masking their identities. In December 2011, the month the development hit the market, One57 86 LLC put down a meager 5 percent deposit to hold unit 86, with a purchase price of $46.5 million; and Tower 83 LLC put more than $10 million down in October 2012 to purchase unit 83 for $52.58 million.

In addition, One57’s offering prices for units on the same floor differ sharply — some by more than 50 percent, according to a review of five versions of Schedule A pricing documents filed with the AG’s office over the past 22 months. That is a stark contrast with 432 Park, where most prices per square foot on a single floor varied by less than 2 percent.

For example, on the 42nd floor, the 1,037-square-foot C line unit is priced at $3,171 per foot, while the neighboring 3,228-square-foot A line unit is priced at $5,499 per foot, more than 42 percent higher.

And on the 46th floor, unit 46A is selling for $19.5 million, or $6,041 per square foot. But a buyer can snap up the much smaller unit next door, 46B, for just $4,380 per foot, or 28 percent lower.

On the higher floors, with just two units, the price differential is between 11 percent and 12 percent. The more expensive units in the A line face the park without an obstruction, while the B line (the foot of the L on the L-shaped upper floors) will always have the A line units in the view. For example, unit 66A has a price of about $7,562 per foot, while 66B has a price of $6,797 per foot.

In contrast, on the 39th floor of 432 Park, which has three units, the 4,082-square-foot 39A has a price of $4,557 per foot, while the 1,422-square-foot 39D has a price of $4,641 per foot, a differential of just 1.9 percent. On the 50th floor of 432 Park, which has two units per floor, there is just a 1.7 percent price per foot differential.

“Twelve percent is a huge floor-level adjustment assuming all views are the same, so part of that has to be view as well,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, speaking generally and not about a specific building. “One to 2 percent is the typical spread we see for floor level, all other amenities being equal including view.”

More from The Real Deal:

1. Richard Gere lists Hamptons estate for $65M 
2. In Hudson Square, developers are snapping up sites following a major rezoning 
3. MTA to sell Soho parking lot for $26M to Madison Capital 

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The New York Post is reporting that Stefano Gabbana (of Dolce & Gabbana fame) is a new potential buyer for the penthouse on top of Manhattan's Mark Hotel.

He was seen taking a tour of the $60 million pad in the midst of Dolce & Gabbana's legal trouble in Italy: The fashion duo were recently sentenced to 20 months in jail and a fine of €343 million ($455 million) after being accused of tax evasion.

They are currently appealing the ruling, but if it stands the famous fashion powerhouse could be forced to close, Domenico Dolce told Forbes.

The $60 million, 9,800-square-foot penthouse, which has been on the market since March, is one of 10 co-ops inside the 150-room hotel. It has six bedrooms, several galleries, a skylit conservatory, and a wraparound terrace that adds another 2,400 square feet of space.

Plus, there are some perks to living in a hotel. Residents can order room service from The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges on the first floor, and a Frédéric Fekkai salon and gym operated by Punch are right downstairs, too.

The 16-story hotel, located on 77th St. and Madison Ave., was originally built in 1927.

The interior of the hotel and 10 co-ops were designed by award-winning French designer Jacques Grange.

The Mark is a popular hangout for celebrities, and residents are sure to catch sight of a few A-listers. Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake have partied at the hotel.

When you buy a computer from Best Buy, you’ll be asked if you want to cover it with an extended warranty. Some people go ahead and pay the extra money, but not everyone thinks these warranties are a good idea. Consumer Reports almost always says they aren’t worth the money.

You might be surprised to learn that, sort of like the computer from Best Buy, you may have the option of buying a warranty for your home. Depending on your situation, a home warranty could definitely be worth the investment.

What is a home warranty?

For a fee of between $300 and $500 a year, depending on where you live, a home warranty covers the costs of repairing or replacing most any malfunctioning system in your home.

Let’s say your dishwasher starts leaking, your clothes dryer burns out, or your water heater won’t heat water anymore. If you had a home warranty, you wouldn’t have to call around to get estimates for repairs. You wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket to get it fixed, either.

Instead, you would just call up your home warranty provider. The warranty company would call the appropriate repair company it has an arrangement with. The repair company then would call you and set up an appointment. The company would send someone to your house to fix the problem, if possible, or replace the malfunctioning appliance with a brand new one. Your home warranty would cover the costs, though you’d probably be responsible for a co-pay of about $50 per incident.

Who should buy a home warranty?

Home warranties are particularly great for first-time Gen X /Y and Millennial home buyers who’ve been renters until now. They’re used to calling the landlord whenever there’s a problem, and a home warranty company takes over that role. These homeowners are working long hours and might not have the time or the energy to call around to find a plumber or an electrician to get quotes or bids, let alone wait around for the noon to 4 p.m. window for the repairman to show up. Sometimes, it takes just one costly and unexpected system repair — and the drama associated with it — to realize the savings of a one-year home warranty.

But home warranties aren’t limited to Gen X, Gen Y or other first-time home buyers.  A homeowner can buy one at any time. Are you buying or do you own a 15- to 20-year-old home (or older)? Does the home have aging appliances and systems? A home warranty might be well worth your money. Many appliances and systems start to break down after 15 or 20 years, and you don’t want them all falling apart on you around the same time. Your real estate agent can give you referrals, and you can read reviews of home warranty companies on the Home Warranty Reviews site.

Home warranties are also great for investors or “accidental landlords,” folks who end up renting their homes out because they have to move and want to hold out until the market picks back up. If you’re not an experienced real estate investor and don’t have a network of repair folks, it might be easier to pay for the home warranty. The last thing you want is a tenant without hot water calling you day in and day out. If you have a home warranty, you can cut right to the chase, keep happy tenants and minimize stress.

If you shop for a home warranty, be sure to ask each company exactly what’s covered. If something isn’t covered (such as the plumbing system), ask if you can add on coverage, and if so, at what cost.

Related:

• 5 Renovations That Could Hurt Resale
• How to Avoid Home Buyer’s Remorse
• How to Buy and Sell a Home at the Same Time

Brendon DeSimone is a Realtor and one of the nation’s leading real estate experts.  He has collaborated on multiple real estate books and his expert advice is regularly sought out by print, online and television media outlets including FOX News, CNBC, Good Morning America and Forbes. An avid investor himself, Brendon owns real estate around the US and abroad and is licensed to sell in California and New York. You can find Brendon on Facebook or follow him on Twitter or Google Plus.

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If you’re like many people, you think that renter’s, co-op and condo insurance is mainly for theft and fires.  

But according to New York City apartment insurance broker Jeff Schneider of Gotham Brokerage, vertical dwellers are far more vulnerable to other types of mishaps including bathroom overflows, dog bites, and leaks from PTAC a/c units.

“Burglaries and fires happen,” says Schneider, who helps customers file around 500 claims a year, “but they are relatively rare in comparison.”

Here are the top three claims, including the average amount of each claim (or, if you don't have the insurance, the amount you’ll pay out of your own pocket):

1.  Sink, tub, and toilet overflows

Average claim size: $5,000-$20,000

“This is far and away the primary type of claim we see,” says Schneider. “Kids leave things in toilets or sinks that clogs them up or people just forget the water is running.”

One recurring scenario involves buildings that stop the water temporarily to do maintenance work on pipes.  

Forgetting the water is off,  "residents turn on a faucet, then turn it in the wrong direction to turn it off and go out all day,” says Schneider. “That happens pretty often. And if you leave the house at 9 a.m. and let steaming water run all day, it can warp floors, ruin artwork and more or less melt your bathroom walls.”

Overflows can damage the apartment below as well, and depending on where the water hits—an unused closet versus a custom painted wall hung with expensive artwork—claims frequently range from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars, says Schneider.

2.  Dog bites

Average claim size:  $10,000

If your dog bites and injures someone, and you are sued, apartment insurance will typically cover it. (Note: Some insurers will not cover you if you own certain supposedly aggressive-breed dogs.)  

The risk that your dog will bite goes up in the close confines of vertical living like, say, an elevator.

“We see a number of claims involving children bitten while petting someone else’s dog in an elevator,” says Schneider.

The amount of a claim “might be a few hundred dollars for medical expenses like stitches or injections,” says Schneider--or much more.

“Wherever somebody is bitten, they always turn out to be a model for that part of their body—a hand model, a leg model, etc.,” he says, half-kidding.  “A child who receives a facial scar, even if it’s not disfiguring, could be awarded several hundred thousand dollars.”

3.  Leaky PTAC units

Average claim: $5,000, with a range between $2,500 and $150,000.

PTAC units (which stands for Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner) are heating and cooling units mounted radiator-style beneath windows.  

“In the summer, when the a/c is turned on, these units use cool water and generate water flows from condensation. The water is supposed to be drained away but the drains often clog with dust or mold,” says Schneider. “Instead of being transported away, water will overflow for quite awhile before being noticed. Floors will start to buckle and water can be absorbed into your wall, ruining paint, wallpaper, and plaster--and water can run into the apartments beneath.”

If you’re a renter, the cost of repairing the floor usually falls on your landlord.  If you own, you may be able to replace a part of the floor. Sometimes, in order to match it, the entire floor may need to come up, which could cost $5,000-$50,000, says Schneider.

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Former NFL defensive end Michael Strahan has sold his Bel Air mansion for $3 million profit only one year after purchasing the property, according to Trulia.com.

Currently the cohost with Kelly Ripa of "Live! With Kelly and Michael," Strahan bought the property last year at $7.9 million. Without a single renovation, he has sold the property in an off-market move for $11 million.

According to reports the home is "outdated" and the new owner plans to tear the house down and build from square one. The housing market is storming back to life in Los Angeles, with asking prices up 19 percent year-over-year.

The property has five bedrooms and 6.5 baths on an acre of land. The unknown buyer will tear down the house that was originally built in 1926. It has Mediterranean influences throughout, glass walls, a theater and bar, a home includes a gym, sauna, and swimming pool.

Check out the images:

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A recent study by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) concluded that by preserving 27.7% of buildings in Manhattan, “the city is landmarking away its economic future.” 

REBNY is challenging the Landmarks Preservation Commission, arguing it has too much power when it comes to planning decisions, and that by making business so difficult for developers it is stifling the growth of the city.

Yet not three days before releasing this study, president of REBNY Steve Spinola said in an interview with WNYC that “if you ask my members, they will tell you [the twelve years of Mayor Bloomberg's tenure] has been a great period of time for them.” The conclusion of WNYC is that the past decade has actually been a period of increased growth for developers, rather than a period of stagnation.

It would be easy to echo the opinion of Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, who believes the actions of REBNY come down to greed, even comparing its members to Gordon Gekko, the anti-hero of the film Wall Street. But is greed really what's behind this attack on the Landmarks Preservation Commission?

Architecture historian Francis Morrone provides a more balanced view, saying that the growth that was enabled by Mayor Bloomberg’s policies was part of an attempt to keep pace with other global cities. But he believes this attempt has a serious flaw: instead of improving the city, this investment is pushing up prices and forcing all but the richest citizens to leave New York altogether:

“The city is going to survive. The City is going to thrive,” he cautions, however, that “Not all the people in the city are going to thrive, or even continue living here.”

This approach begs the question “what is a city for?”

Edward Glaeser’s book Triumph of the City places people at the centre of a city’s purpose. Cities provide opportunity and prosperity to the people who inhabit them, which isn’t available in rural areas. Glaeser believes that by bringing together people of diverse backgrounds with different ideas, and placing them at close proximity in dense living conditions, cities afford chance encounters and cross-seeding of new ideas, and therefore create the innovation which drives economic prosperity.

When we look at the new global cities – most notably in China and India – we see that their explosive growth over the past decade has been fuelled by an unprecedented urban migration. Furthermore, the expansion of these cities has entailed an attitude to preservation which would probably horrify most New Yorkers.

In a city such as Shanghai, the population has yet to peak, increasing by an astounding 40% between 2000 and 2010. The population now stands at over 23 million. As a city which still has its best years ahead of it, the existing buildings are willingly sacrificed, with the understanding that their replacements will be more representative of their aspirations for the future – for lack of a more precise word, the new buildings are assumed to be ‘better’.

Because New York has already been through this process, during the industrial revolution and the earlier part of the 20th century, the numbers involved are lower: the population of New York peaked just short of 8 million in 1950 – a figure which it only returned to and finally surpassed around the turn of the millennium, now reaching about 8.3 million. As a result, the majority of its significant buildings, which form part of its cultural history, date from before the 1950s, and many of these are the jewels in the crown of the landmarks commission.

Very simply, Shanghai is at a different stage in its life cycle, and when it does finally stop expanding it could conceivably be four or five times the size of New York. For the city of New York to put such an emphasis on competing with Shanghai economically at this point would be pure vanity.

This sentiment is echoed by Michael Kimmelman in a recent article about the proposal to re-zone East Midtown: “New York can surely never win a skyscraper race with Shanghai or Singapore. Its future, including the future of Midtown real estate values, depends on strengthening and expanding what already makes the city a global magnet and model. This means mass transit, pedestrian-friendly streets, social diversity, neighborhoods that don’t shut down after 5 p.m., parks and landmarks like Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler Building.”

For New York, whose growth is to some extent restricted by a geography, infrastructure and culture which would never support 20 million or more people, a much better plan would be to stop competing and to thrive on its own terms. How could it go about doing this?

To return to the current argument between developers and preservationists, in simple economic terms, real estate developers are on the supply side of building. In a city such as New York, which is currently suffering a housing shortage, development would be expected to decrease costs as the supply of living space increases.

Preservation, on the other hand, limits new supply and also creates a ‘cultural commodity’ of preserved buildings, both of which would increase the cost of living. How is it, then, that Francis Morrone cites new development as part of the problem, rather than the solution to rising costs?

Quite simply, the members of REBNY are building the wrong type of development: where developers do get the opportunity to build without restriction, they are too often building luxury apartments that are only an option for the super-rich. This may be good for their short-term profit margins, but it is bad for the long-term vitality of the city, as those who are not astoundingly wealthy are forced to leave – and the city becomes less diverse and less productive as a result.

The Real Estate Board is right in arguing that preservation of buildings can cause stagnation and inflation, but it forgets that preservation adds value to the surrounding neighborhood and the city as a whole. What developers need to do is make this cultural commodity available to all by building a greater variety of new buildings, particularly when it comes to apartments. This will diminish their returns in the short run, but will generate gradual yet sustainable growth in New York, in turn ensuring a more sustainable revenue stream for the members of the Real Estate Board of New York themselves – and they still have 72.3% of Manhattan to do that in.

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New York City residents looking to buy in Brooklyn may have a tough time finding deals on townhouses thanks to an influx of foreign investors, according to Brooklyn real estate website Brownstoner.

These investors reportedly come with a lot of cash on hand, and are snapping up buildings across the borough, beating out families who require financing to afford the properties.

The investors often aren't looking to live in their purchased properties, but eventually rent them out and turn a profit, Brownstoner writes.

Of six real estate agents who Brownstoner talked to, four said they had spoken with investor groups looking to buy houses, including groups from Europe and Israel. They tend to purchase in more affordable neighborhoods like Bed Stuy, Crown Heights and Bushwick, and only occasionally head into Fort Greene or Carroll Gardens.

Investors have much lower expectations when buying homes, purchasing places with stop-work orders or foreclosures that other buyers wouldn't touch, according to Brownstoner. But the problem for families arises when investors purchase regular single or multi-family homes.

The normal home buyer doesn't stand a chance against a low, all cash offer from an investor backed by a larger firm.

According to a report by Douglas Elliman real estate, listings of condos, co-ops, and one to three family homes in Brooklyn were down 18.5% in the second quarter, leaving just 4,704 units up for grabs.

As the number of available spaces dropped, so did the number of sales, resulting in higher prices. The report stated home prices in the borough are at a 10-year high, increasing 14.7% year-over-year, with inventory at a seven-year low.

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A crazy, six-story loft in TriBeCa that was originally listed for $45 million and later had its price increased to $49.5 million has finally sold, according to The New York Observer.

There's no word on the buyer or final sale price on the apartment at 144 Duane Street, which had been on the market since 2011.

The loft made waves last year when The New York Post reported it had piqued the interest of a wealthy Facebook insider following the company's IPO.

The 30,000 square-foot loft has eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, an elevator, a private gym, and half basketball court. The home is six stories, two underground.

Outside there's a private terrace.

The exterior of the 1862 limestone mansion

The loft apartment has 12- to 17-foot ceilings and exposed brick throughout

The den doubles as a library

If you can't afford your rent in New York City, join the club. 

According to a study by the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, when home prices fell by 20% between 2007 and 2011, rent prices jumped by 8.6% to an average of $1,191.

That's not exactly news. Everyone expected the rental market to get inundated as ex-homeowners flocked to downsize and young people put off homeownership during the recession.

But what also happened, most unfortunately, was that the average income of New Yorkers dropped 6.8%.

Since two-thirds of New Yorkers rent their homes, this is no small statistic.

In 2011, almost one-third of New York residents were severely rent burdened, meaning they spent more than 50% of their income on rent, according to the study. 

Still, we are a resilient bunch. New York actually saw population growth throughout the recession, and the city still has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the U.S.

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After two years of on-and-off again looking at 60+ apartments, two attorneys, three brokers, and two co-op board applications, what did I learn? Here are a few takeaways I am happy to share...

1. I wish I had gone to a “first time buyer” seminar so I could manage my expectations, understand the lending opportunities available, and really get a handle on whether I wanted a coop or a condo. (Even if you don’t want to drill down to the fine detail, it’s good to understand the lingo.)
2. Understand what you can live with and what you can’t. For me, living in a neighborhood with real street life turned out to be priority number one. I also learned that I was willing to sacrifice a little bit of space for a lot more light.
3. If you're looking to buy on your own, it really, really helps to have a friend come with you. They will see the defects you don’t and they will point out the possibilities you don’t see. I still marvel that my friend, Chris, showed up for nearly every appointment. And helped me move, too.
4. Find examples of what you like in your price range and find a broker who understands that. If a broker shows you more than three places that are not to your liking, either have a come-to-Jesus meeting or get a new broker. 
5. My advice on open houses: Unless you enjoy blood sports, I recommend trying to see things by appointment-only when possible. It was too stressful seeing the same people on the circuit, putting a face on the “competition” and being herded through the Sunday afternoon cycle. The minute I saw someone pull out a tape measure at an open house, I felt like I wanted to make an offer. 
6. DO NOT, under any circumstances, use a friend, relative or a friend of a friend as your broker or attorney. It makes it hard to be “tough” with them when they’re not meeting expectations. It also allows them to feel like you can be on the back burner because as a friend or relative, “you’ll understand” when they’re too busy to respond. 
7. Get a handle on what those extras really cost. I started out with $300K as the top of my range. In short time, for “only” $25K more, I could have an extra window or built-in closets. For $35K more, a renovated kitchen. By sticking to my price range and being willing to consider modest renovations, losing a closet or window, trading in a rooftop view for a street view, I ended up spending $240K for my apartment. And, when I add in another $30K for renovations, I’ll be right in the middle of my range and with an apartment pretty much to my specifications.
8. Do not succumb to pressures to make offers beyond what you’re comfortable with—either financially or time-wise. Henri-Enrique lost me as a customer when he called at 10:30 on a Sunday night demanding I make an offer or lose the Washington Heights apartment (coincidentally, I ended up a block away!).
9. Call the listing broker on defects you see during showings. That huge water stain or crack in the ceiling did not happen overnight. If you see issues like that, if the building looks shabby and the maintenance is high, get the reasons why. If the broker can’t (or won’t) find the answer, move on, because something’s probably shady.
10. Understand all the deadlines and mark them on a calendar. No one was more shocked than me to have to prepare a co-op application overnight because my broker and attorney “forgot” to remind me…. After all, they both said, the date was in my contract. Yep.
11. Have a real understanding of the commitment involved. For me, that meant knowing that I could not only afford my mortgage and current maintenance, but also having enough money left over after closing for insurance, repairs and renovations. Once you kiss your landlord goodbye, you’re on your own.
12. The smallest, most friendly building might not be the one for you. As much as I loved the idea of getting to know all of my neighbors, I knew that major capital improvements to a small co-op meant few people to shoulder and share the costs of any improvements and special assessments. In the end, I opted for a larger, less charming building that had already done the major projects and that had 120 shareholders to shoulder future costs. 
13. As soon as you are in serious looking mode, get the financial pre-commitment letter and if you are considering a co-op, start building your package. I did this by organizing folders for financial documents (more complicated for me as a freelancer with boatloads of documentation) and alerting potential references—even drafting letters for them.
14. There’s lots of advice out there for succeeding in the coop board interview--stay upbeat, appear animated, be yourself, etc. I never worried about it because as a journalist, I was used to getting along with New Yorkers from all walks of life. And, even after 60+ apartments, I was still optimistic about finding my home. And, that showed. 

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MANHATTAN —Summer tends to be a bustling time for the rental market, but things are a little different this year. Many Manhattanites seem to be staying put, real estate experts said.

The number of new rentals in Manhattan dropped 7.7 percent to 4,605, according to a report released Thursday by Douglas Elliman, which found the average rental price rose 1.7 percent to $3,822 a month.

It was the third straight month where the number of new rentals declined from the year before, suggesting more tenants are renewing their leases, said Jonathan Miller, a real estate appraiser who wrote the Elliman report.  

It may be easier for landlords to keep their current tenants so they don't have to risk an empty apartment to renovate, and it may make more sense for tenants to pony up for increases rather than spend even more on moving expenses, he said.

The situation doesn't help the vacancy rate, which fell from 2.23 percent last year to 1.94 percent, according to the Elliman report.

"It's creating somewhat of a log jam," Miller said.

Brooklyn — where the average rent rose 8.2 percent to $3,035 a month — isn't faring much better, where the last two months saw the number of new rentals rise roughly 3 percent, down from double-digit rises in the previous few months, Miller said.

"With rents still near record highs, current city residents have little incentive to move," said Citi Habitats' President Gary Malin, whose firm's report found that the vacancy rate was up slightly to 1.28 percent, up from 1.20 last year.

"While still relatively low, this uptick in vacancy during the peak summer season is a sign that renters have reached their pain threshold," Malin said.

Jess Beck, a television producer who lives in Downtown Brooklyn near the Manhattan Bridge entrance, had been angling to leave the sleek high-rise she's lived in for two years for something cheaper in an area with more of a "neighborhood feel."

But her search is on hold, for now.

"The hassle of moving felt overwhelming at a time when both my husband and I were overwhelmed with work," she said. "Not to mention, the management company who owns our building didn't increase the rent for our new lease."

She'll revisit a possible move next year, she said.

Mark Menendez, Douglas Elliman's director of rentals, said prospective renters "now more than ever" were coming into the office to begin their searches, then opting to keep their own apartments at the last minute.

"They get the renewal letter from the landlord and say, 'You must be crazy.' And then they realize they can't get a better value," Menendez said.

Some Manhattanites who need to move, however, are looking further afield for new apartments.

"Compromise is the word of the day," he said.

Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Greenpoint and Williamsburg have seen steady interest for a while, but Menendez said he has been getting more inquiries for Queens neighborhoods like Long Island City and beyond.

"We're seeing Rego Park, Flushing and places that we usually don't get requests for," he said. "Bayside is pretty hot."

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You would think a $1 million would buy you a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood of New York City.

Maybe last year, but not anymore.

New York City is experiencing a shortage of nonluxury apartments, or units priced under $3 million, according to Businessweek. These nonluxury spaces have previously accounted for 90% of housing inventory in the city, but have plummeted by more than one-third in the last three quarters.

In contrast, the inventory of luxury apartments (the top 10% of the market) fell only 3.9%.

“For the bulk of the market, the 90 percent, it’s probably the most challenging period for a buyer in the 25-plus years that I’ve been observing the market,” Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a residential real estate appraiser, told Businessweek.

Nonluxury apartments are mostly sought after by first-time buyers. And in this market they may have to throw their tight budgets out the window.

The average price of a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment is $1.35 million, and adding another bedroom brings that price up to $2.63 million.

That is a 7.8% price increase from last year .

And just think what that could buy you in the rest of America. The national average for a single family home is $214,200.

Prices are being driven up as a result of a shrinking inventory and developers focusing on ultra-luxury buildings. And current owners are holding on to their properties, waiting for the market to full recover.

But, if you're in the market for a luxury space you're in luck. Prices of luxury apartments are down 8.9% to $5.25 million year over year.

Seems like a few extra million is the only difference between the lap of luxury and a standard two-bedroom.

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U.S. housing markets are hot again after a slump. But mega-mansion prices have been on an upward trajectory for awhile.

"Over the course of the last few years, we have seen a definite shift higher in pricing at the very top of the market," said Rick Goodman, publisher of Ultimate Homes.

"Billionaires — from the U.S., China, Russia and elsewhere — are buying real estate in this country, and those with trophy properties to sell are feeling more bullish about asking prices than ever before."

It's no surprise, then, that a property just hit the market with the highest asking price in U.S. history: Copper Beech Farm in Greenwich, Conn. was listed for a whopping $190 million.

We looked at listings on Christie's International Real Estate, Sotheby's International Realty, Coldwell Banker, Trulia, Zillow, and other real estate sites to find the most expensive home for sale right now in every state. Properties listed as farm or ranchland were excluded.

#51 NORTH DAKOTA: A $3.2 million 6-bedroom, 8.5-bathroom home in Fargo with an indoor pool and movie theater.

See more of this home >

#50 SOUTH DAKOTA: A $3.4, million 7-bedroom home in Rapid City with a guest cabin and attached pool house.

See more of this home >

#49 IOWA: A $3.5 million, 3-bedroom, 3-full bathroom home in Springville with granite and marble flooring and a 3-story pool pavilion.

See more of this home >

Imagine living a hair's breadth away from all the most romantic, historic sights of Rome. Now imagine doing it in 75 square feet.

Architect and designer Marco Pierazzi saw the potential in an abandoned, one-room alleyway house just steps from Roman landmarks like the Pantheon and Saint Peter's Square. He bought it, fixed it up, and lived there with his wife until their child was born.

While it's not commercially available, Pierazzi now rents what he calls the "smallest house in Italy" to friends and acquaintances, making it a convenient place to stay on a Roman holiday.

The tiny house sits in an alley around the corner from Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's Square, right in the middle of Rome.

The house had been abandoned for many years before Pierazzi discovered the place on sale and bought it in 2010.

Formerly property of the Abbey of St. Peter in Chains, it looked like an HGTV nightmare. Mold and rot invaded the wooden beams. Plaster fell in chunks from the walls. It was in shambles.

In a surprising twist, the Park Laurel — a condominium development that hasn’t been the new kid on the block since 2000 — had the priciest condo sales of any Manhattan luxury building for the year ending June 30, according to a debut report from real estate database CityRealty, released exclusively to The Real Deal.

The new report, which will be released bimonthly, tracks closed sales and listings based on the website’s existing CityRealty 100 Index, which is comprised of the top 100 luxury condo buildings in Manhattan, ranked by a variety of criteria selected by the firm’s executives. (The CityRealty 100 does not include co-ops.)

“Where everything else is looking at a market average, the CityRealty 100 gives you a picture of what’s happening at the premiere level of condos in the city,” said Pete Culliney, CityRealty’s director of research and analytics.

Some 147 condos at CityRealty 100 buildings were sold during the two-month period beginning May 1 and ending June 30. The average price per square foot of these sales averaged $1,901, a decrease of 0.7 percent year-over-year, the report shows.

With an average price per square foot of $5,508, the Park Laurel at 15 West 63rd Street had the most expensive sale prices for the 12 months ending June 30, but that did not stop the famed 15 Central Park West from stealing the thunder in several other categories that CityRealty tracked.

The Robert A.M. Stern-designed development was the most expensive building in the city during the year-long period, clocking in at $5,203 per square foot for completed sales. That was an 11.6 percent increase in price each year since the building hit the market, the report shows.

The Time Warner Center at 25 Columbus Circle and the Millennium Tower at 101 West 67th Street were distant runners-up as the second and third most expensive buildings in Manhattan, averaging $4,454 and $4,208 per square foot, respectively, for completed sales in the past year.

“The Park Laurel took a big jump over the last year,” Culliney said. “I’m sure we’ll see the Park Laurel tamper down in the next few months, but there’s been a good run of trades there.”

Among those deals was Goldman Sachs executive J. Michael Evans’ sale of his Park Laurel apartment for $23.75 million in January and Hollywood producer Riza Azia’s $33.5 million purchase in the building in December, The Real Deal previously reported.

Overall, the most expensive individual Manhattan condo sale in the two-month period of May and June was Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth Ross Johnson’s penthouse at Trump International Tower, which sold for $21.85 million.

On a price per square foot basis, the most expensive unit to sell in May and June was also at 15 Central Park West. Unit 7K in the building sold for just $5.2 million but $5,073 per square foot.

Since 2003, the average sale price per square feet for properties in the CityRealty 100 has increased 6.2 percent, the report shows.

More from The Real Deal:

1. Corcoran, Nest Seekers, Rapid brokers run afoul of state law
2. Beyond Holiday Inn: Upscale hotel projects flood Brooklyn 
3. Brauser Group sells Greenwich Village condo site for record $1,000 PSF 

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You’ve gone to the open house. You’ve had a private showing. You’ve read the disclosures. You’ve decided this is the house for you, and you’re ready to make an offer.

Before you take that step, though, you should fully check out the neighborhood. After all, this is where you’re going to live for years.

Is there something you don’t know about that could negatively affect the resale value later? Is there a neighbor who comes roaring home late at night on a muffler-free motorcycle? Is the next-door neighbor operating a day care for pre-schoolers?

Given the high stakes of homeownership, it pays to do your homework before making an offer. For example, a potential buyer was ready to sign on the dotted line for a home in San Francisco, a city famous for its microclimates. The buyer had only been to the home during the day, when it was sunny and warm. On his real estate agent’s advice, the buyer returned at night — to find the house blanketed by cold, windy fog. He continued his home search elsewhere, relieved he hadn’t unknowingly bought into the city’s “fog and wind belt.”

Here are five ways to investigate a neighborhood before you buy.

1. Talk to the neighbors

Without being intrusive, look for an opportunity to chat with your potential neighbors. What’s their opinion of the block and the neighborhood? Do they know of any problem neighbors? Are they aware of any recent car or home break-ins? Is anyone planning a big remodel that could impact other homes or their values? Do they know of someone on the block who might be getting ready to sell? An even more desirable home could be coming on the market.

2. Visit day and night, weekday and weekend

As the San Francisco example shows, don’t just visit the house during the day. Check it out at night to get a sense of what’s going on in the neighborhood after hours. Is it noisy or calm? Visit on the weekend and early morning, too. The more times of day you go, the more chances you’ll have to get the feel for the neighborhood.

3. Check out the local newspaper and the neighborhood blog

Some neighborhoods still have their own newspapers. If there’s one published for the neighborhood you’re considering, check it out for local stories. Pay particular attention to the “police blotter,” which typically lists crimes reported in the area. Also, some neighborhoods have blogs where locals ask for tips and advice, or post issues or concerns affecting the neighborhood. A Google search should help you find out whether there’s a blog for the neighborhood you’re considering.

4. Get an app

Some smartphone apps, such as CrimeReports for iPhone, provide information about crime based on your location or address. Among the problems you may see displayed on a map are noise nuisances, sex offenders and vehicle break-ins. The CrimeReports app gives you some specifics, such as when and where each incident occurred.

Zillow’s real estate apps allow you to see estimates of properties on the block. They also allow you to search recent sales or see rentals, a good indication of whether your neighbors are renters or homeowners.

5. Google the street address

If you Google the home’s street address, you might be amazed at what you find. You might, for instance, discover a nearby home-based business with employees (which could reduce street parking spaces). Using Google’s Street View, where photos can be months if not years old, you might discover that the ground-floor bedroom window once had bars on it.

Be a sleuth before the sale

The Internet is an amazing resource of information. Too often, though, potential home buyers don’t fully use it to find out everything they can before entering into a contract on a home. As soon as you’ve identified a home you want to buy, get online and do your homework. You might be pleasantly — or unpleasantly — surprised by what you learn.

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What makes a small town "great"?

According to CNNMoney, which just released a list of the 50 best small towns in America, great small towns are thriving economically, and have good schools and a strong sense of community.

Based on those and other factors, including average income and home price, weather, crime rates, and commute times, the publication named Sharon, Massachusetts the best small town in America.

The publication looked at places with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 to compile its list.

We're taking a closer look at the top 10. See CNNMoney's complete list of America's best small towns here.

#10 West Goshen Township, PA

Population: 22,241

2012 Median home price: $321,500

West Goshen has four main parks, and is home to the headquarters of QVC. It's not far from sprawling King of Prussia Mall, and is within commuting distance of Philadelphia.

Source: CNNMoney

#9 Apex, NC

Population: 40,205

2012 Median home price: $225,000

A suburb of Raleigh, Apex is near NC's Research Triangle Park, the largest research park in the world with more than 170 companies. The town has 400 acres of parks and hosts an annual jazz festival.

Source: CNNMoney

#8 Papillion, NE

Population: 19,837

2012 Median home price: $141,000

Papillion, outside of Omaha, is  home to massive Halleck Park, a recreation area with trails, pools, tennis courts, and more. In addition to great public schools, Nebraska Christian College is located in the city.

Source: CNNMoney

A Texas city that made headlines last month when a contractor that it hiredmistakenly demolished the wrong house says that the same thing happened recently, though for a slightly different reason. The city of Fort Worth got some unwelcome notoriety in July when a wrecking crew looking to knock down an abandoned and derelict home bulldozed a home nearby that was merely vacant, even as a neighbor warned them that they were at the wrong address.

That incident sidetracked a couple's plan for turning the lakeside house into a place to spend their retirement. But in looking into that error and how to prevent another home from being demolished by mistake, reports KVTV in Fort Worth, the city discovered that it wasn't the first time: Just the day before the lakeside home was razed, the same wrecking crew under the authority of the same code-enforcement officer had taken down a fire-damaged building -- as they should have -- but went on to level an undamaged residence at the same address. That vacant dwelling (a remnant of which is shown above) was supposed to remain.

A member of the family that owns that property told another Fort Worth TV station that clothing that was stored there along with a number of other precious possessions and momentos of deceased relatives, such as pictures, were lost in that demolition. "My mom's stuff, her clothes, her shoes, her boots -- everything," Juanita Anchonda told KDFW. "Her pictures, my grandma's pictures." Anchonda went on to tell the TV station that until now the family had not raised objections because they did not think that they had any recourse. "If they did it, they had the authority to do it. So what can you do?"

The work order on the fire-damaged home didn't include anything about knocking down a second structure, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said, and a code officer's report about that mistake was, in the words of city spokesman Bill Begley, "not communicated up the chain." The newspaper also reported that the city already is in court as part of a lawsuit over a commercial property that it knocked down in 2011, allegedly mistaking it for a property next door.

Begley said that in the case of Anchonda's property, the wrecking crew went too far, reported KVTV, but the house that it razed the next day was "inappropriately" marked for demolition by a city employee. The spokesman also told the media that Fort Worth has stopped such demolitions until it can determine the source of the problem and that the city will "do what is right" toward the property owners. The city code supervisor involved reportedly is on administrative leave in the meantime.

This kind of error is hardly limited to Fort Worth, though. As AOL Real Estate previously reported, a dozen homes sold at auction were mistakenly razed in late 2012. In that case, The Detroit News said, the city pointed the finger at the state -- which leveled them as part of a program to end blight near schools. However, the state said that the 12 homes were so unfit to occupy that they should never have been sold in the first place.

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