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Showing posts from 2014

Say Hello to High Line at the Rail Yards, the Park's Final Leg

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The third and final stretch of the High Line will  open to the public  tomorrow, marking the end of a  15-year development saga , and availing to pedestrians a seamless 22-block stretch  between Gansevoort and 34th streets. Known as High Line at the Rail Yards , the park's final portion stretches from 30th Street and Tenth Avenue, cuts west, and curves north to 34th Street near the West Side Highway. Just one portion of the  1.45-mile-long park , the Tenth Avenue spur, is inaccessible and will remain closed until construction of  10 Hudson Yards  is complete in 2015. 10 Hudson Yards is the first tower to rise at the eponymous development. The 52-story Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed building straddles the portion of High Line at the Rail Yards known as the Tenth Avenue spur, where there will be  "an extraordinary, sheltered, and vegetated interior room"  (spoiler: it looks like a terrarium out of  Honey, I Shrunk the Kids ). The spur will open with the tower in 2015

Did You Sell Your Home After Making Improvements?

Keeping track of the cost of capital improvements to your home can really pay off on your tax return when it comes time to sell. It’s no secret that finishing your basement will increase your home’s value. What you may not know is the money you spend on this type of so-called capital improvement could also help lower your tax bill when you sell your house. Tax rules let you add capital improvement expenses to the cost basis of your home. Why is that a big deal? Because a higher cost basis lowers the total profit—capital gain, in IRS-speak—you’re required to pay taxes on. The tax break doesn’t come into play for everyone. Most home owners are exempted from paying taxes on the first $250,000 of profit for single filers ($500,000 for joint filers). If you move frequently, maybe it’s not worth the effort to track capital improvement expenses. But if you plan to live in your house a long time or make lots of upgrades, saving receipts is a smart move. What counts as a capital impr

How Do I Figure Capital Gains Tax on Real Estate?

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In real estate, capital gains are the difference between the purchase price of your real estate and the price you sell it for. Capital gains tax is what you pay on that difference, after adjusting for a variety of exemptions, deductions and tax breaks. The tax on capital gains income is calculated separately from the tax on your regular income and often at a different rate. In addition to federal capital gains taxes, most states, including New York (Fed and State combined is 31.5%), tax the gains too. 1 ) Take the purchase price of your property and add the cost of any improvements, "Realty Times" advises. If you bought a rental home for $300,000, for instance, that would be the basis for calculating your gains. If you later spent $30,000 on capital improvements -- a new roof and a kitchen remodel, for instance -- then your basis goes up to $330,000. This applies only to substantial improvements that add to the home's value, not to repairs. Fixing a leaky shower isn

Consider Both Sides In Land-Lease Deals

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Question:  I'm currently in the process of buying an apartment in a co-op building that has what's known as a land lease. The lease won't expire until 2058, but I know that my mortgage company needed to know when it expired because they would not give me a loan unless there were at least 10 years left on the lease. What exactly is a land lease, how common is it, and what are the possible detriments to buying an apartment in a building that has a land lease? Emily, New York, N.Y. Emily:  A land-lease property is one in which the land beneath the building is owned by someone else. While such an arrangement can make buying a property a little more complicated and can in some cases reduce the unit's resale value, it's usually not a big problem, and it certainly isn't a reason to dismiss the transaction out of hand. Although land-lease properties are relatively uncommon, they do pop up in some big cities, especially New York. Typically, they occur when a real-e

Priciest 551 West 21st Street pad comes with 61-foot pool

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Priciest 551 West 21st Street pad comes with 61-foot pool Renderings of 551 West 21st Street Gold-framed windows, storm-resistant design rounds out plush penthouse The top penthouse at 551 West 21st Street comes with a rooftop pool and a $50 million price tag. The Norman Foster-designed unit, which also boasts 4,000 square feet of outdoor space, is framed  with gold windows, the New York Observer reported. Other high-end accoutrements in the 19-story  building’s penthouse units, which start at $35 million, include double-sided wood-burning fireplaces,  kitchens with Gaggenau barbecue and Teppanyaki grills, cooling and heating drawers, 12-foot  ceilings, oak herringbone floors and free-standing bath tubs. Developer Scott Resnick also decked out the building with a storm-resistant redesign following  Hurricane Sandy. The property’s other 41 units are priced between $5.75 million and $17.5 million, the Observer  reported Apartment Features Features

Market Report Manhattan First Quarter of 2014

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A Super Strong 1st Quarter: Manhattan Residential Real Estate Soars Again!

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A Super Strong First Quarter: Manhattan Residential Real Estate Soars Again! Manhattan condo and co-op prices are finally seeing the impact of chronically low residential inventory, and a shift toward luxury in new development. The average sales price for a Manhattan apartment jumped by a shocking 30.9 percent year over year, according to a quarterly report compiled by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The average price per square foot increased by 23.6 percent year over year, to $1,363 in the first quarter of the year. Rising prices can be attributed to the ongoing Manhattan inventory crisis, which has seen fewer than 5,000 apartments on the market at any given time over five consecutive quarters. Also contributing is a general upward pressure on new development pricing as the result of an overheated market for land. Competition between developers trying to secure new Manhattan sites has sent land prices above $800 per square foot in some instances, meaning