Market Intel

Notes from the desk

Short reads on the buildings, neighborhoods, and numbers that matter. No SEO sludge.

Buyer Math2026-08-07

What a tax abatement actually does to your monthly bill

It is not a discount you keep. It is a schedule attached to the building, and it steps up on a date that is already set.

5 minRead →
Neighborhood Signals2026-07-31

Property taxes under Mamdani: what a buyer should actually watch

A 9.5 percent across the board increase is on the table as a last resort, and a reform plan would change how condos are valued in the first place.

5 minRead →
Buyer Math2026-07-24

City value versus what you paid

Your tax bill is not built from your purchase price. Understanding the four steps between them explains most of the confusion.

5 minRead →
Building Watch2026-07-17

Land lease buildings: a low price with a clock on it

The building owns the apartments. Someone else owns the dirt. That one fact drives the price, the monthlies, and the exit.

5 minRead →
Buyer Math2026-07-10

The closing costs nobody warns you about on a sponsor unit

Buying new construction from a developer moves costs onto you that a resale never would. Almost all of it is contract language.

5 minRead →
Building Watch2026-07-03

How to read an offering plan in twenty minutes

It is six hundred pages and you do not need most of them. Six sections tell you whether the building is a good buy.

6 minRead →
Buyer Math2026-06-26

Common charges: what actually makes them rise

The monthly number in the brochure is a starting point, not a fixed cost. Four things move it, and three of them are predictable.

4 minRead →
Building Watch2026-06-19

Sponsor concessions: what is actually on the table

The list price moves less than everything around it. Knowing which levers a developer will pull is most of the negotiation.

4 minRead →
Neighborhood Signals2026-06-12

The new development pipeline is thinning, and the reason is structural

Fewer condo starts is not a sentiment story. It traces back to how the current incentive program is written.

4 minRead →
Buyer Math2026-06-05

Rent versus buy in New York: the one number that decides it

It is not the mortgage payment. It is how long you stay, and everything else is a rounding error against it.

5 minRead →
Seller Strategy2026-05-29

Selling when a new building launches four blocks away

A sponsor sellout is a competitor with a marketing budget, a model unit, and no emotional attachment. Here is how to sell into it.

4 minRead →
Seller Strategy2026-05-22

Keep and rent, or sell now

Two paths, one decision. The tax rules on the way out often matter more than the rent you would collect.

5 minRead →
Building Watch2026-05-15

Condo or co op for a first New York purchase

Price per square foot says co op. The approval process, the resale pool, and the financing rules often say otherwise.

5 minRead →
Buyer Math2026-05-08

Financing new development: what your lender does differently

Approving you is the easy part. The lender also has to approve the building, and that is where deals slip.

4 minRead →