Does anybody have a real-scale subway map?
Here’s a great map hack
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I’m black. Will I have trouble getting past a co-op board?
Even in 2006, you can still hear shocking stories of racism that violates both human dignity and fair housing laws. But the real truth is that if you’re a minority, the discrimination kicks in long BEFORE you get to the co-op board.
In a report issued by the National Fair Housing Alliance , the Alliance argued that blacks were shown fewer properties than whites: an average of five properties per black tester, versus eight per white tester.
So that’s where the discrimination starts: in what you don’t see.
Now I don’t necessarily want to be besieged by black clients each wanting to be shown eight properties — any good real estate agent that you’re communicating with honestly ought to be able to score you the perfect home in five. One reason I went withGil Neary as my sponsoring broker is that he sold me my first home after showing my only two places and my second after showing me four.
But you should, as a buyer of whatever race or color, be being shown properties you like.
and I’m always happy to show them to you.
email me: ali@dgneary{DOT}com
Posted 5 years, 8 months ago at 9:42 am. Add a comment
I’m buying for the first time. How badly am I going to get socked on closing costs?
Some poor soul wrote on the craigslist forum today that he was buying a $250,000 house, and he feared getting socked for $25K in closing costs. I wrote back below, which is an adaptation of something I had sent Time Out for their apartment issue:
That’s a little nuts. Your closing will probably be closer to $10K than to $25K, but your attorney should be telling you that. I’m a real estate agent, and while I feel some transactions can be done without an agent, you would be foolish to do a transaction without an attorney.
I was just quoted in the Time Out housing issue, so apologies for the cut-and-paste, but here’s what I sent them:
BUYER CLOSING COSTS
Your attorney: $1,000 - $1,500
The bank’s attorney: $500 or so
Maintenance (if you close on the 1st of the month you’ll have to write a check for one month’s maintenance at closing){obviously, this does not apply for a house}
Points you pay on your loan (a point is one percent of your loan amount: If you buy a $300,000 apartment with a mortgage of $240,000, a “point” is $2,400. You can pay points to obtain your loan (which are called origination points) or points to make the interest rate on your loan cheaper (which are called discount points) or both.)
Title search: $300.
You’ll pay those at the closing table. Also, you might have paid an application fee of around $300 to your mortgage lender, which you’ve probably already put on your credit card, and an appraisal fee of around $300 to the bank’s appraiser, which you’ve probably already paid by check. {For a house, this means you’ve probably already paid a home inspection around $500}
You’ve probably paid an application fee, if it’s a co-op, which could cost you $500 or more, and you handed that check in with your co-op package. {ignore this too} And you’ve probably already written a move-in check to your building, which can run you $1,000; that’s to make sure you don’t damage the lobby. You should get that check back eventually.
So assuming maintenance is $700, and you pay two points, your costs will add up to around $10,000. And of course you’ll have to pay your movers (or buy your friends pizza). Hope that helps. Don’t freak out.
alison rogers dg neary realty http://www.dgneary.com
Posted 5 years, 8 months ago at 6:56 pm. Add a comment
What can I afford?
Lenders used to work off the rule of “28/38″ — you could put 28% of your gross income into housing payments, as long as you didn’t put more than 38% of your total income into debt payments (think house+car+credit cards).It’s gotten a little Wild West-y in the past few years, and honestly, Citibank has been willing to let me spend half my income on mortgage payments.
For comfort though, I’d recommend 35%.
For those of you who like to crunch your own numbers, here’s a worksheet from an independent government site.
Hey! I crunched the numbers and that still sucks
Posted 5 years, 10 months ago at 4:33 pm. Add a comment
I’m a teacher, married to a cop. How do we get a deal on subsidized housing in Harlem?
New York City is committed to providing subsidized housing for the middle class: the problem is that there’s a lot more demand than there are units.So whenever a lottery is held, there are hundreds of applicants for each spot.
However, residents of the neighborhood take priority over non-residents; according to the Times, 30 percent of the units in new Harlem buildings are set aside for residents of community board 10. (Housing commissioner Donovan once told me there are neighborhood set-asides, too; the nyc.gov site says it’s 50 percent of new units.)
So the first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the lottery system.
The second thing you should do is move to Harlem; once you establish residency, your lottery chances go up.