Weekly News (March 6, 2019)

Palisades Park Police chief might face to resigning

• City council had a closed meeting for discussing about police chief Mark Jackson
• They discussed his incompetence and responsibility for many undesirable cases in police force for last 2 years since he was appointed by former mayor for the police chief
• He is blamed for many charges: 1) unprofessional procedure of hiring school safety guards/hiring the brother of current council member who had criminal records/no finger print process/only 5 gun licenses acquired out of 9 guards. 2) On going discrimination suit 3) 2 policemen arrested for drug handling and theft
• The town is considering to hire police consultant company to run police department for management of hiring, HR, Promotions, facilities, equipment and weapons

Englewood Cliffs Apartment Project might be blocked

• Mayor Mario Kranjac will hire attorney sue the developer Normandy to stop the apartment project at the former Unilever site
• He claims that the site is commercial zone and the city council with Democrats majority changed without proper procedure and they by-passed the Mayor while deciding the matter
• The development plan says it will have about 600 units with 20% low income housing and new High school will be built, which will school budget of $35M per year
• This will cause the tax will be almost double and Real Estate value go down
• Former Unilever site is about 20 ac at 800 Sylvan ave.

“AvalonBay” Communities is being built at former Nabi Museum in Teaneck, NJ

• The apartment complex is at 1775 Windsor rd. Teaneck with total of 248 units
• 25 low income unit will be available ( 5 x 1 br units, 15 x 2 br units, 5 x 3 br units)
• Low income unit qualification is that income should under $21,805.  Rent will be $328.00 – $839.00
• More info: avaloncommunities.com/about-us/new-apartment-search

Manhattan, NY Super Luxury condo sales is active in Febraury

• 12th floor unit at 70 Vestry st. sold at $39.30M (4,331 sf / $16,000 Maintenance fee/M)
• 35th floor unit at 220 Central park South(58th and 59th st) sold at $33.50M (4,184 sf/ $18,000 Maintenance fee/M) and also 39th floor unit sold at $22.8M (3,114 sf)
• 59th floor penthouse unit at 520 Park Ave sold at $30.1M(4,322 sf/ 3br,3.5bath)
• 95th floor penthouse unit at 432 Park Ave sold at $30.7M (3,952 sf)

Apartment building with 36 units sold at $15.5M in Manhattan

• 331 Keap St (between South 4th and 5th streets)
• 15 unit rent-stabilized and 21 unit market rate
• Sold at 5 times rent roll (GIM) which is 4.6% cap rate
• Buyer is Soonbin Kim by 1031 exchange (sold 45-47 W. 8th st in West village)

NY politicians and business owners are asking Amazon to re-consider it’s HQ2 plan for LIC

• 40 politician s and businessmen wrote a public letter to Amazon on NY times
• They said that New Yorkers do not want to loose 25,000 jobs/11,000 union construction jobs/ $28B tax income, and majority of New Yorkers want to this project
• Mayor de Blasio promised he will get the approval from the State congress
• 40 people include NY State University canceller, Teacher union president, Morgan Stanley chair/CEO, etc
• So far, Amazon did not show any response

New York this year becomes buyer market?

• Higher inventory and lower price in New York
• Median price in NY is $438,300 while US median price is $225,300
• DOM in NY is 132 which is longest in big 35 cities
• According to Elliman, median price in Manhattan is decreased by 5.8% and sales decreased by 3.3%
• NE Queens median price decreased by 0.2% while this area was leading real estate booming. Sales decreased by 22.8%
• It can be good buyer’s market with lower interest rates

13th Real Estate Expo will be held on 4th of May 2019

• The expo is sponsored by Korean American Real Estate association (President: Dong Hyung Lee)
• The theme of the event is “Knowing real estate is your power”
• The topics of seminars will be  1) condo/co-op purchasing procedure  2) first time buyer program for a specific area  3) things to know for young generation and senor buyers
• Ask Preparation Committee (Micky Yoo) 917 459 3244 / 917 622 6303 for any questions or support

Real Estate market is coming to spring

• January housing Index is 103.4 increased by 4.6% which was caused by mortgage IR dropped to 4.35% from 5% in Nov 2018, according to NAR
• January index increasing shows positive sign to this year’s RE market
• Also mortgage application increased by 5.3% from last week
• It seems buyers started responding for lower mortgage IR, according to MBA chief economist
• Generally conventional and FHA loans are increased and especially VA loan is increased by 14%

NY Korean Association has new president

• Charles Yoon has been elected as 36th
• His term is 5/1/2019 – 4/30/2021
• Columbia graduate (1989)/ 31st Vice-president/ 35th Chair of Board

January house price went up by 4.4%

• House price increased by 4.4% in January from last year.(6.6% Up in April/ 4.7% Up in Dec)
• Lowest increase for 6 year 6 months since August 2012
• According to Core-Logic, Increasing slop is lowered, but house price seems to up this year
• New home sales increased by 3.7%, to annually adjusted rate of 621,000, because of low mortgage IR while all of 2018 rose by 1.8%

Tech News : Tesla moves to all its sale on line, which will reduce retail foot print Nationwide (currently NJ has 5 retail stores) – any car can returned within 7 days or less than 1,000 miles.