Monday, October 1, 2007
Buying a luxury condo: the Vertical Living interview
The Robb Report is publishing a new magazine, that has its premiere issue on newsstands, called Vertical Living. It covers super-luxury, high rise, developments in global destinations like London, Mexico, Singapore, Australia, and of course, New York City. Contributing editor Kim Fredricks interviewed me about buying into a new development. That interview follows here in its entirety and has some good advice in it; as does the very nicely crafted piece she wrote for the first issue called Small Promises (tear sheet pdf 320 kb) in which I'm quoted. Buying new construction is a place where even the most savvy buyers will benefit from their brokers' depth and breadth of knowledge. I'm pleased indeed to have been asked to comment on a subject that I've written about before. In fact, I learned a couple of weeks ago that my post about closing costs in new developments, is being excerpted and included in the next edition of New York Real Estate for Salespersons
the Robb Report Vertical Living interview
Vertical Living: Buyers are lured by the benefits of getting a good deal on pricing when buying pre-construction, but what are some red-flags that the buyer should look for before placing a down payment?
Comitini: I don't think that buyers in our market in Manhattan think they are getting a break on price. They are willing to pay well for a premium product. Sometimes with a year or two lead time to delivery, the market accelerates past the contract price and seems a bit better. New construction is generally higher priced than are re-sales, on a price per square foot basis, with higher out of pocket closing costs. Have your broker identify a couple of previous projects of the developer so you can understand if they have performed as expected.
Q. I'm about to buy my first apartment in New York, but how can I tell if a seller's asking price is too high?
This is an update of 
