Will Kwan, a co-op board member who testified Tuesday in opposition to a invoice requiring boards to inform rejected consumers why they had been denied, mentioned he can “depend on one hand the variety of purposes we’ve got rejected” throughout his 28 years on the board.
So, if the invoice passes, solely about as soon as each seven years would his board have to clarify a rejection to a would-be purchaser. Not a compelling argument in opposition to it, Mr. Kwan!
However I don’t need to decide on a long-serving, unpaid board member. I’m one myself. Happily, Metropolis Council member Eric Dinowitz voiced an much more illogical argument for me to focus on.
“Wouldn’t or not it’s extra prudent to only get extra information, get higher information earlier than we invariably improve the danger for particular person board members and improve the prices for shareholders?” he mentioned, in response to Sheridan Wall’s article.
Did you decide up on Dinowitz’s hypocrisy? It’s refined at first however turns into clearer for those who learn his quote two or 3 times.
Dinowitz calls for information whereas saying one thing wholly unsupported by information. To cite Dinowitz, earlier than making claims, wouldn’t or not it’s prudent for him to only get extra and higher information displaying the invoice would “invariably” improve the danger and prices for shareholders?
All he has to do is take a look at what occurred in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties after they handed comparable laws. Spoiler alert: Nothing. There was no improve in lawsuits filed by rejected consumers.
“There’s nothing about writing a letter that will increase your prices,” Craig Gurian, government director of the Anti-Discrimination Middle, advised me. “And the concept that there’s a military of attorneys on the market ready to feast off non-compliant disclosures is patently absurd.”
As readers of The Actual Deal know, I usually criticize Council payments that might create compliance complications however little or no profit. And I’ve not hesitated to name out Council member Pierina Sanchez or Public Advocate Jumaane Williams once I assume they’re flawed.
However, like most actual property brokers, I imagine they’re proper that individuals making use of to purchase right into a co-op deserve a well timed reply from the board and to know why they’re rejected. Fears of litigation haven’t been borne out the place such legal guidelines had been applied.
It’s fairly attainable that bidders who’re saved in limbo or rejected with out clarification are extra prone to sue. Give them solutions and so they have a tendency to maneuver on with their home looking.
What we’re fascinated by: Christine Quinn’s nonprofit WIN (previously Ladies In Want) got here up with a Chutes and Ladders-style board game to cleverly reveal the pitfalls households face whereas navigating town’s long, complicated process to get inexpensive housing. Ought to the Actual Property Board of New York provide you with a landlord’s model for any specific program? Ship ideas to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A factor we’ve realized: With Steve Buscemi’s sale of his Park Slope townhouse, there is likely to be no film stars left in Park Slope apart from John Turturro. The neighborhood beforehand misplaced Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, and doubtless some others that I’m forgetting. Kelly McGillis (Tom Cruise’s love curiosity within the authentic “High Gun”) is lengthy gone from the brownstone on Garfield Place she had within the Nineteen Eighties.
Elsewhere…
In a current “what we’re fascinated by” merchandise, I requested if actual property corporations are prone to the identical form of corruption that led to the conviction of 70 NYCHA workers for taking kickbacks from contractors they employed.
One business veteran replied: “There’s NO query that landlords, property managers, and — I might toss in — contractors and architectural corporations are susceptible to their workers’ dishonesty.”
It appears to me that at any time when one individual is spending one other individual’s cash, kickbacks can be a temptation.
Closing time
Residential: The highest residential deal recorded Thursday was $7.8 million for a 7,414-square-foot condominium unit at 87 Leonard Road in Tribeca. Emily Beare, Lexi Alper and Beth Doud Tomashoff with CORE had the listing.
Industrial: The highest business deal recorded was $5.5 million for a former Household Greenback retailer at 224-11 Linden Boulevard in Cambria Heights.
New to the Market: The very best worth for a residential property hitting the market was $16.75 million for a co-op unit at The Dakota, 1 West 72nd Road on the Higher West Facet. Daniela Kunen with Douglas Elliman has the listing.
Breaking Floor: The most important new constructing allow filed was for a proposed 15,230-square-foot, 18-unit venture at 715 East 224th Road in Wakefield. Mohammad Badaly filed the allow.
— Matthew Elo
