LEGAL/FINANCIAL

In a city where hospitals are getting transformed into pricey condos and townhouses, it's little surprise that assisted living facilities are up for grabs, too. Location, location, location, right? Just ask the seniors — well, the remaining handful of seniors left — at Prospect Park Residence. Most of the 130 residents left after "being forced out so the building can be converted into luxury condos," reports DNAinfo. But according to the publication, the seven remaining residents, who include a Holocaust survivor and a centenarian, "sued after [the building's owner] abruptly announced that he was closing [the facility], leaving residents just 90 days to find new homes." Sometimes the little guy wins, though. Judge Wayne Saitta "sided with the seven remaining seniors at Prospect Park Residence and threw out a motion to dismiss their case against the facility and owner Haysha Deitsch." According to DNAinfo, Deitch wasn't the only one to request the seniors' case be dismissed. In an announcement praising the judge's ruling, City Councilman Brad Lander said that "the Cuomo administration's New York State Department of Health [also requested] to dismiss the case." For Deitsch, there is $76.5 million on the line — the amount of money for which he hopes to sell the building to developers. For the residents, it's their homes and livelihood. DNAinfo adds: "Saitta repeatedly ordered Deitsch to maintain services at the facility, but residents say those orders were ignored. Recently Saitta had to order Deitsch to keep the air-conditioning on in the building on hot days." New York, New York. What a wonderful town. 

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I spent an afternoon with RAND rappellers John Monroe, senior architect/construction phase director, and Sara Tsiropinas, project associate, watching them hang from ropes to inspect a building at the corner of Tenth Avenue and West 23rd Street. Here's what happened. 

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Buying into a co-op in New York City can be daunting. Among all the various hoops through which you have to jump is the mortgage. Of course, getting approved on your first mortgage when you make peanuts and have your eye on a pricey piece of real estate can leave anyone feeling disheartened. For determined dreamers ready to take on the challenge, however, there is a way. But it's a tricky one, according to The New York Times: pooling your resources with friends so you can taking out a mortgage as a group. Tricky yes. Even dangerous, said one financial expert to the paper. But not impossible, says Brickunderground: "That doesn't mean it can't be done, just that you need to go in with eyes wide open — and a whole lot of clearly spelled out paperwork." There's a lot that goes on the line if you decide to tackle the challenge of getting a group mortgage — and we're not just talking your friendship. If one person in your group flakes, the rest of you will be left on the hook for a lot of money that you weren't ready to pay. But if you're still willing to risk it, Brickunderground reminds you that "any mortgage lender will consider the lowest credit score in the group as the baseline for your application (a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, etc.), and that if one buyer ultimately stops paying, everyone's credit will suffer, not just the delinquent payee. To that end, know that you're legally considered responsible for payments on the entire home —not just your portion." As for the clearly spelled out paperwork, Brickunderground says you "spell out ahead of time — and in writing — details like who has access to outdoor space, how the cost of things like bills and repairs will be divvied up, and what will happen if one person decides to jump ship." Meanwhile, the Times recommends "structuring your ownership as 'tenants in common' — as opposed to the more common 'joint tenancy' setup used by married couples — meaning that in the event of a co-owner's death, their share in the property will pass to their estate, as opposed to automatically passing back to the surviving owner (or owners)." It may seem unnecessary, especially if you're going in with friends you've known a long time and trust, but following those tips can prevent a lot of misunderstandings and unpleasant surprises, especially once it's too late and you're all stuck, erm, living in the same place.

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That's not a Jenga tower, folks. That is a rendering of what will be one of the tallest residential towers in the city, standing at a vertigo-inducing 900 feet, 90 stories. Bauhouse Group, the developer, does not seem interested in making sure the new colossus fits in to old-school Manhattan neighborhood Sutton Place. And longtime residents feel duped. According to the New York Daily News, the neighborhood's "longtime residents… thought they were getting a new luxury apartment next door that would be 13 stories tall — 30 at most." So, in December 2014, the luxury developer met with residents of 434 East 58th Street to discuss the matter of air rights. The Daily News reports that "according to minutes of the Dec. 22 meeting, a shareholder asked Bauhouse executive Christopher Jones for details, including whether it would be 'a 100-story building.' Jones replied that he was 'unsure of exact height' and that 'air rights would be a factor,' but the tower 'will not be 100 stories, as of now expected to be 13 stories.'" The co-op's shareholders voted to sell its air rights to the developer for $11 million, figuring that "30 stories wasn't completely out of character" for the holdover neighborhood that's been home to Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Marilyn Monroe. But "on April 7, Bauhouse put out a full-color brochure of a 90-story 'ultraluxury' skyscraper," leaving the shareholders feeling mislead. Now it looks like it's a game of he said/she said, with a spokesperson for Bauhouse claiming the minutes aren't accurate and the shareholder who took them insisting they are, indeed, correct. Talk about getting a harsh lesson in the cutthroat world of New York City real estate: Luxury tower style. 

Rendering of 426-432 East 58th Street/Bauhouse Group 

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One of the most important amenities a co-op or condo could have is a swimming pool. Nothing beats being able to cool off in one when the humidity feels like it's at 1,000 percent — which is why it's important for boards to make sure it's maintained properly. Unfortunately for residents of one co-op in Port Chester, Westchester, days before the pool was supposed to open for summer, they got a letter from the managing agent letting them know it would remain closed for the season. The problem, they tell Ronda Kaysen in this week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times, is that "the board had recently learned about an open permit that would require major modifications to the pool to bring it up to code. [The] co-op's lender does not allow for any open permits on the property." It's really crappy timing, and something the board should have caught sooner. But now that it's happened, shareholders want to know what recourse they have, if any — especially after one shareholder argued that "she should not have to pay her full maintenance" while the pool was out of commission and management responded by saying "it would report her to a collection agency if she did not pay the full amount." What a mess. Kaysen sympathizes with the shareholders but offers some sage advice: "Nothing puts a damper on Fourth of July festivities like a shuttered swimming pool. So I can only imagine how frustrated you and your neighbors must be at the managing agent and the co-op board, which should have seen this coming. But before you tear up your maintenance check, take a deep breath." James W. Glatthaar, a Westchester real estate lawyer, points out that withholding maintenance is misguided and doesn't help solve the problem. Why? Because the co-op needs that money to make the necessary repairs. The sooner the pool is brought up to code, the better, and that requires everyone's cooperation, even if everyone is really disappointed. Glatthaar adds that "most proprietary leases prohibit shareholders from deducting claims against the building from their maintenance. A delinquent shareholder could be declared in default, leading to late fees, legal fees and interest charges and possibly revocation of the proprietary lease." What to do instead? Kaysen recommends that instead of resorting to counterintuitive tactics, the shareholders should "consider a leadership shake-up. Read through the bylaws, which likely include a provision allowing shareholders to remove directors. In this case, shareholders might have a good reason to oust the current roster, especially if neglecting to close out old permits led to the pool closure." It's the smartest — and cheapest — solution. 

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You already know co-op and condo prices hit record highs in the second quarter, but if you're wondering which is Manhattan's priciest borough, then wonder no longer. It's the Upper East Side. Okay, so that's no real surprise. When hasn't it been an expensive area? But DNAinfo reports that it's worth more than all of The Bronx. All of it. The whole thing. It's worth more than all of Staten Island, too. According to the article, "the neighborhood's residential property values — totaling about $96 billion — not only beat every other neighborhood in the city and the two outer boroughs in home prices, it's worth more than North and South Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska, according to real estate data enthusiast and entrepreneur Max Galka, who runs a real estate data business called Revaluate." Well, way to go luxury high-rises. Galka based his calculations on sale prices from 2014, property value estimates from the Lincoln Institute and information from the latest U.S. census, according to DNAinfo. 

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A READER ASKS: I recently moved into my very first co-op apartment. Things were going pretty well, until the people in the unit before me said they had a leak in their bathroom. Ever since, the board has needed to gain access to my apartment to check that I'm not spilling water, that my toilet is running properly, that my bathtub is caulked and my faucets are all okay. I understand it's vital to fix a leak, but I'm not very comfortable with strangers being in my apartment when I'm not home. Am I being unreasonable if I ask for some advanced notice so I can make arrangements? 

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If an app can let you find your soulmate, then why shouldn't it help you find your dream home? That's the question Staten Island Tech grad Michael Lisovestky, 22; Jason Marman, 18; and Dean Soukeras, 43 asked themselves when they came up with the idea for HomeSwipe. Like dating app Tinder, HomeSwipe lets users swipe left to skip a listing and swipe right to add to favorites. The trio discussed how the app works with DNAinfo late last week: "The homes are posted by city realtors. But developers use an algorithm and vet agents to cut down on bogus listings. Soukeras, a former broker, meets with agencies before allowing them to use the feature to find clients." Soukeras told DNAinfo that "about 50 brokerages and 400 agents use the app to show off their listings. They are highlighting about 20,000 listings." There are listings for every borough in the city, and recently expanded to Chicago. Not bad considering that last October they were just raising capital to get the project off the ground. "Since it launched, the app has gotten more than 62,000 total downloads," reports DNAinfo. But the trio are not done improving an already pretty ingenious tool. Right now, when you swipe right to favorite a listing, it's up to you to contact the realtor to view the apartment, "but the developers are working on a way to communicate directly inside the app. The developers are also working on a way for the app to learn user preferences based on the apartments you skip or favorite so that they can tailor listings better." Nice. HomeSwipe is available for iOS and Android.

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It looks summer has been good for New York City real estate. According to the New York Daily News, Manhattan enjoyed a record second quarter. "The average sales price for an apartment was the highest ever recorded since tracking began in 1989," reports the Daily News, citing a new report by brokerage Douglas Elliman. An apartment in the city averaged $1.8 million, up 11.4 percent from the same period last year and 8% from this year's first quarter. Condo prices hit a record high, soaring 20 percent thanks, in part, to stalled inventory growth and a rise in the number of new luxury towers hitting the market in places like — surprise, surprise — Billionaires' Row. Co-op prices increased 5.8 percent, but despite not posting double digits as condos did, they also hit a record high.

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The Fourth of July is upon us, and that means many New Yorkers — depending on where they live — will be heading to the rooftops to catch the fireworks displays. Unlike most other community events held in a co-op building's common areas, however, a get-together on a rooftop does pose some risks. The good news is that co-op boards planning to host fireworks viewing parties can take steps to protect themselves and their buildings. 

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