Despite being in the commercial real estate business and not the residential market there is a surprising amount of emotion involved in my day to day. Many of the clients our team has represented in 2024 have been selling long-held family heirlooms disguised as rent stabilized apartment buildings. My goal is to clarify the underwriting norms for rent-regulated buildings in 2024, easing emotions and setting realistic expectations from the onset. How We Got Here New York is different than the rest of the country. Vacant buildings can often be more…

My team and I often get asked: who are the buyers and sellers, and are deals actually getting done? Transactions are happening but there are more obstacles than ever before. Our team has taken on a record amount of new inventory and the pace seems to be increasing each month. The motivation behind new inventory is driven by maturing or rollover debt, sellers not seeing a path to profitability, inability to complete or pay for compliance mandates, and general management fatigue. Rent stabilized buildings aren’t selling themselves. The broker, as…

People decide to sell real estate to solve a problem, capitalize on an opportunity, or realize a profit.  Management fatigue is also motivating people to transact. Our team receives countless requests for opinions of value and often the client says, “I can’t sell at that price.” What I’ve noticed is that the people who are contemplating selling are looking for a mathematical reason why it makes sense. The math doesn’t look great, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sell. We continue to sell rent stabilized buildings at negative leverage on…