You've been nice, so treat yourself to that new penthouse loft you so well deserve this holiday season, or if your budget is a little tighter, get a book about decorating one. Either way, start your search here. As we take a break for Thanksgiving, and start thinking about holiday gifts, I hope that you'll visit the bookshop. You can choose from a massive selection and great prices, on titles about real estate, investing, New York City, architecture, home design and every other category you can think of; plus use our search page to find any item available on Amazon.com. I'm sponsoring the development and hosting of this page for Corcoran Cares, created by Corcoran Group agents to give back to the communities we live in and serve. Its powered by Amazon so you'll have secure transactions, prompt delivery, and even a familiar experience when shopping for all of your holiday gifts. Click the image below to visit the live bookshop, or choose the link from above the comitini.com logo at anytime.

The throbbing pulse of Manhattan is what's so attractive about this city, but something that many of us would rather not have follow us into our homes. What can be done about that street noise? A pretty common question that I get from customers who find an apartment they love, but on a very busy street. Many have turned to solutions like cityproof windows which can quite effectively soundproof an apartment. I was asked that question just today and remembered this video clip from Open House New York, so here it is for that customer, and the rest of sometimes noisy Manhattan too.

Here are the first glimpses of the alleged thieves from an open house last week. These are captured from security cameras in the lobby and elevator. Doug Heddings at True Gotham, who was involved in the incident, provided the images. They are captured from security cameras in the lobby and elevator. Doug further reveals, "Note the brunette fixing her wig in the elevator. My agent who caught them in the act is almost certain that the brunette is a man in drag".

With thousands of open houses citywide being held each month, this is a rare occurrence. I posted some open house workplace safety guidelines yesterday. With thousands of visitors seeing this on comitini.com and in similar places throughout the blogsphere, we'll hopefully deter future incidents, help identify and maybe even catch them. Feel free to repost the animated version above or the stills if you have a site. Check out the original story at TrueGotham.

updated 11.15.2007

There's a report about an open house theft posted by Doug at True Gotham that took place last Sunday. I'd heard recently of a similar occurrence a couple of weeks ago, where some expensive designer handbags were taken too. Perhaps the work of the same people. We should note that there are hundreds of open houses that are held each week without incident, and its one of the most effective ways to expose a home to buyers. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend doing them for a moment, with a few common sense precautions added. I think of this as a relatively safe profession, but the NAR does have an entire section of their site on safety, and provide this handout about protecting seller's against crime. I've taken a few of my thoughts + theirs, and urbanized them for New York City. Anyone have more ideas to share?

some common sense precautions

• Put the valuables away in a locked closet, file drawer, or off site.
• Agents should work an open house at a larger property with an assistant(s).
• Multi-story properties should have an assistant on each floor during an open house.
• Consider allowing only one or two people in the apartment at a time. One agent could be stationed in the lobby allowing people up.
• Beware of teams who may enter and split up; a chatty one distracting an agent, while the other(s) quietly pilfer.
• Visitors and agents should not leave their own bags or personal electronics out, or unattended.
• Are you are carrying a fully charged cell phone?
• Have a distress code word worked out to call 911 if necessary, that person may be on or off site as long as they know your location.
• Make sure that all rooms are clear of people before leaving.

updated 11.17.2007

We again welcome Barbara Corcoran with a Q&A on how to best utilize the equity in a home, from her column 'Ask Barbara' in the New York Daily News.

Q. I plan on purchasing a home and starting a business within the next year. If I take out a loan for $80,000 to start my business, can I still get a loan toward purchasing my house or should I use my house as collateral to get a business loan?

A. Wrap a business loan into your house mortgage. Your payments will be lower, and you’ll have more time to repay. Besides, the rates are cheaper. When most people start a new business, we expect it to take off a lot faster than it actually does.

By giving yourself the cushion of lower payments and more time to repay, you'll be thankful that you never signed up for a short-term business loan with high rates.

continued+

Today marks the first anniversary of my blogging adventure. I'd like to take a moment to thank our subscribers and frequent readers for their interest and support. It has been a lot of work, but the feed back from the public and my professional colleagues has made it really worthwhile. Web traffic analytics show that I'm being read in 103 countries globally and visitors click through and read an average of over 2 stories on each visit. I'm encouraged by that broad based, quality readership. Comitini.com soft launched on November 3rd, 2006 with this post. There were at the time just a few others written in the queue to test the process while the home page was out of public view. I formally announced the site in January of 2007, after I'd had a chance to write more content, and get blogging time worked into my routine. After a year, I feel like I'm just catching my stride now. It has been a busy one with my overall practice growing, including my largest exclusive to date.

"Seems Mr. Comitini's got himself one of these here blogs—hey, it's one of the better designed broker blogs we've yet come across. His disembodied head? Nice touch."

continued+

The Chelsea Hotel is chock full of prominent dead people...Sid Vicious' wandering spirit is said to hang out around the elevator.

Down the Hudson, south of Sleepy Hollow, New York City has its own haunts and legends of restless spirits reports a recent New York Post article that cites a list of the top haunted sites in town. The list was compiled by FindingDulcinea, a new, hand edited, Web guide site, which says that "You can scarcely walk a block in Manhattan without encountering a haunted landmark". Really?

Among the places it selected is The Chelsea Hotel. The Post's Fermino writes "Prefer your phantoms more famous? The Chelsea Hotel is chock full of prominent dead people...Dylan Thomas, Eugene O'Neill, and Thomas Wolfe supposedly have all been spotted at the West 23rd Street landmark— and Sid Vicious' (pictured) wandering spirit is said to hang out around the elevator." The Algonquin, The Dakota, Washington Square Park, The Bridge Cafe, Mark Twain's residence, Old St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Morris-Jumel mansion all made the list too. I learned a few haunting facts here, such as that public hangings took place in Washington Square Park back in the 1800's. There are snippets of gore mixed with a bit of NYC history, in a fun diversion today, as we wait for news of the Fed's adjustment (or not) of interest rates and see whether the markets get spooked too. I'm off early today to trick or treat with my little one. Enjoy!

related links:
Haunted New York: Creepy City Sites »
Vicious spirits »
Spirits at the Bar »

Sometimes a working broker is faced with challenges that seem beyond reasonable explanation. Perhaps it was the full moon, or it was feeling bolstered by the dark side prognostications of New York Magazine and other media outlets recently— but Death showed up looking for the Manhattan real estate market at our open house last Sunday. He's shown in our loft here looking svelte, but left my downtown exclusive at 80 John Street feeling disappointed, especially after noting our excellent foot traffic. Colleague Dario Mannarino, who was hosting it said, "He walked into the loft expecting the buyers to run away, but no one got spooked…I'm not sure that he could have afforded the apartment anyway. I saw him later near the subway trying to sell newspapers." Apparently, the widespread rumors in the press about Death showing up here are highly exaggerated. Although they persist, we just haven't seen bottom of the coffin about to fall out. Happy Halloween!

updated 11.6.2007

download fact sheet (pdf 170 kb) I'm representing one of the first re-sales at the newly converted, full service, South Star condominium, at 80 John Street. It's an open plan loft that has a nice sized roof terrace where the building sets back on the 12th floor. It features high ceilings, and a brand new kitchen with Bosch & Sub Zero appliances. The South Star is near two of the best food markets downtown, and a short walk to the new Tiffany and Hermes stores— it's positioned centrally for transportation and appreciation, as the financial district transforms into the most exciting new neighborhood in the city. Get more details on the listing page. I'm hosting an open house on Sunday 10/28 from 1 pm to 3 pm, if you'd like to drop by; or of course, you can call for an appointment.

Now available for download is the 3rd quarter 2007 Corcoran Report (1mb pdf) on the Manhattan residential marketplace, which shows solid performance as the average sale price in the borough increased by 14%, with a record setting median price increase of 5% to $1,414,00 (that's the price most commonly paid for a Manhattan apartment). It is said that all real estate markets are local. Our particular conditions, and strong demand, continue to cause Manhattan to perform in sharp contrast to the rest of the nation. Co-ops still comprise the vast majority of the city's housing inventory for sale. We have benefited from the extra financial scrutiny imposed by co-op boards. It seems to have insulated us so far from the fallout of the sub-prime mortgage implosion that has set back the credit and housing markets elsewhere. Corcoran data showed that available housing inventory for sale has dropped by at least 16% over the past 12 months; Jonathan Miller of appraisal firm Miller Samuel put the decrease in available listings at 31.7%. Unlike many markets which have become overbuilt, the scarcity of land available for development, a growing population, and demand as a global destination city would have caused a severe housing supply crisis here, if the pace of new construction had slowed recently. If you have questions about how your home might be priced in today's market, or any other questions about the Q3 report, please contact me.

Updated October 20, 2007