Townhouses get condo amenities

33 Charlton Street

Aberdeen Properties is adding amenities usually found in condos, like concierges and climate-controlled package rooms, to townhouses around the city. The properties include 52 West 76th Street, on the market at $15.9 million; 24 West 11th Street, listed at $14.95 million; 33 Charlton Street, listed at $10.95 million; and two separate units at 41 West 74th Street, on the market for $7.65 million and $7.5 million. The renovated townhouses are ready for move-in, and Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Dolly Lenz, Leonard Steinberg and Raphael De Niro have the exclusive listings.

Home Sales Better Than Expected in December

WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes posted an unexpected increase last month, closing out the worst year for the real estate market in more than a decade.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of existing homes rose 6.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.74 million in December, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.45 million in November.

The results were better than expected. December’s sales had been forecasted to fall to a pace of 4.4 million units, according to Thomson Reuters.

Buyers were taking advantage of dramatically lower prices, especially in distressed markets like California, Florida and Nevada, where foreclosures have swamped the market.

The nationwide median sales price plunged to $175,400, down 15.3 percent from $207,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since May 2003 and the biggest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968.

“The economy just simply cannot recover as long as home prices continue to decline,” said Lawrence Yun, the trade group’s chief economist, who called on lawmakers to include tax credits for home buyers in the economic recovery package being considered by Congress.

For all of 2008, there were 4.9 million existing home sales, down more than 13 percent from a year earlier, and the lowest total since 1997.

And another encouraging sign — the number of unsold homes on the market in last month fell nearly 12 percent to 3.7 million. At the current sales pace, it would take 9.3 months to sell all the properties, down from 11.2 months in November.

In another economic report, a private research group says its monthly forecast of economic activity rose unexpectedly in December, mostly because the flood of federal bailouts increased the money supply.

The Conference Board’s monthly forecast of economic activity increased 0.3 percent in December. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a 0.3 percent decline.

The group’s index of leading economic indicators had fallen 0.4 percent in November and a revised 1.0 percent in October.

The index is designed to forecast economic activity in the next three to six months based on 10 economic components, including stock prices, building permits, average weekly manufacturing hours and initial claims for unemployment benefits.

With most components falling steeply, the Conference Board said unemployment could rise to 9 percent from 7.2 percent as the country remains in an intense recession through spring.

The Conference Board’s leading economic index is about 5.0 percent lower than its most recent peak in July 2007. In the last six months, a separate Conference Board index has seen its largest decline since 1980.

J Condo offers free rent

J Condominium

The J Condominium at 100 Jay Street, between York and Front streets, is offering one month of free rent to anyone who signs up for a $2,400 per month studio, according to a listing on Craigslist.com. The listing for the Dumbo building also offers no broker’s fee and no application fee. The Corcoran Group is the sales and marketing agent for the 267-unit building.

Renewal commissions grow in tenant’s market

Sierra Realty’s Peter Braus

Office building owners struggling to retain their tenants in the weak economy are more likely to pay a full broker’s commission on a renewal lease compared to a year ago, landlords said.

Peter Braus, executive vice president and principal at property owner and manager Sierra Realty, said tenant brokers have more leverage in the commercial leasing market today as vacancy rates rise and new tenants are hard to find.

A tenant’s broker is “going to be holding a lot of cards with the landlord,” he said. “The landlord is at a disadvantage. If he doesn’t agree to pay a full commission, he is looking at the possibility of the broker taking the tenant elsewhere purely to receive a full commission.”

In a more traditional leasing environments, landlords rarely paid full commissions on renewal leases, brokers and landlords said. Full commissions of about 5 percent for the first year, scaling down over the lease terms, were generally paid only on new leases. In general, landlords either paid half a commission or no commission for a renewal lease, although some landlords always pay full commissions on renewal leases.

But as availability rates have soared, from 7.9 percent in December 2007 to 11.3 percent in December 2008, according to CB Richard Ellis, tenant brokers have more leverage to threaten to take a tenant to another building.

One Manhattan landlord, who asked not to be identified, said his company paid a full commission on a renewal lease signed in December for a space in a 200,000-square-foot building a block from Penn Station.

The landlord, who would normally pay a half-commission on a renewal, paid a full commission out of “fear the tenant would be moved to another building,” the landlord said.

Abraham Hidary, president of property owner Hidrock Real Estate, said he would be more open to paying a tenant-broker fee on a renewal.

“A year ago I would have thought twice. For myself, certainly a year ago we might not have. We feel in this market it makes sense to work with the tenant’s broker,” he said.

But some property owners don’t think commission changes are in response to current economic conditions.

David Berley, chairman of the board and managing partner at property manager Walter & Samuels, said over the past several years more tenant brokers were seeking commissions, but he did not believe that growth was related to the recent economic decline. He said he pays tenant brokers only on a case-by-case basis.

“It is not what I am used to, but if it is an important tenant and I want to keep him, I am happy” to pay the commission, he said.

Plaza, penthouse buyer reach agreement

Andrei Vavilov, the Russian financier, has settled his dispute with the Plaza over two penthouse units he purchased.

Those Plaza fans who closely track the comings and goings of luminaries who stay and live at the renovated hotel and condo should take note. The building has reached a resolution with one of its disgruntled penthouse buyers.

The buyer, Andrei Vavilov, a Russian financier and a former Russian deputy finance minister, reached a settlement with the building’s developer, El-Ad Properties, about his purchase of two penthouse units for $53.5 million.

His lawyer, Y. David Scharf, did not provide more details about the resolution — which was reached on Tuesday — but stressed that it was favorable. Records tracked by StreetEasy.com show that no buyers closed on these units.

“We are very pleased with the outcome,” Mr. Scharf said.

Last September, Mr. Vavilov drew some notice when he sued El-Ad over fraud and breach of contract claims.

According to court records, the two penthouses he had bought and planned to combine did not offer the ceiling heights and views he expected when he bought the units site unseen. In fact, he was so disappointed that the lawsuit compares the penthouses to “glorified attic space.”

But El-Ad fired back with a countersuit claiming the buyer had made “defamatory and untrue” statements about the developer and called the lawsuit a “sham,” court records show.

In fact, court records say that Mr. Vavilov did not complain about the units until his wife — the Russian actress Maryana Tsaregradskaya — saw them.

On June 26, 2008, the records say, Mr. Vavilov had walked through the apartments with two El-Ad employees and made no complaints about the units. When he took Ms. Tsaregradskaya through the apartments, she said “they were simply not large enough for her tastes.” She told El-Ad employees she wanted to have “the biggest apartment at the Plaza” and asked whether she could purchase another penthouse that was under contract. Through the summer, the couple called several times to see about buying more penthouse units.

El-Ad declined to offer more details about the settlement terms. But Lloyd Kaplan, a spokesman representing El-Ad, called the resolution amicable and “on terms acceptable to both parties.” He added, “We believe it is a positive resolution and we are very pleased with the terms.”