Jeffrey Ditri

Brand New Rental Listings Weekly! Studios, One Bedrooms, Two Bedrooms, and Three Bedrooms. Below Market Priced Apartments. Upper East Side, Gramercy, Murray Hill, Midtown East/West, and Union Square.

Contact JAD Realty Group for current availabilities or to schedule an appointment - 610.781.8417

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Brand New Rental Listings Weekly! Studios, One Bedrooms, Two Bedrooms, and Three Bedrooms. Below Market Priced Apartments. Upper East Side, Gramercy, Murray Hill, Midtown East/West, and Union Square.

Contact JAD Realty Group for current availabilities or to schedule an appointment - 610.781.8417

How much does it cost to live in one of the city's poshest 'hoods?

Not as much as it used to. If you're seeking a rental near many of the city's wealthiest denizens, you'll find an assortment of deals on the Upper East Side.

"Last year, if you were looking for a studio [on the Upper East Side], you couldn't find anything for below $1,500," says Dan Marrello, a managing director for Citi Habitats.

But things are different now.

"It's really unheard of that we're seeing studios at $1,000 to $1,400 -- but we are," says Adjina Dekidjiev, rental director for Manhattan Apartments. "I've got 39 [listings for] studios under $1,400 on the Upper East Side."

Of course, mansion-lined blocks aside, the Upper East Side has always been a little cheaper for renting than much of the rest of the city.

"The Upper East Side is a very established neighborhood, with every amenity you could want or need," says Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats. "What you're missing is the transportation factor."

That's especially true of rentals along First and Second Avenues, several long avenue-blocks away from the Lexington Avenue 4/5/6 trains. And, as other Manhattan neighborhoods have adjusted downward, so has the Upper East Side.

According to Citi Habitats' just-released May market report, the average studio on the Upper East Side rented for $1,619 -- almost $150 cheaper than the citywide average of $1,765 and more than $300 cheaper than last year's Upper East Side average. One-bedrooms rented for $2,190 -- more than $250 per month cheaper than the city average of $2,426. And a two-bedroom went for $3,029, compared to the city average of $3,444. (Three-bedrooms, however, were $719 pricier than the rest of the city, averaging $5,376.) Moreover, the vacancy rate is at 2.27 percent -- the highest in the city.

Upper East Side deals should come with the normal warning labels: The cheapest apartments are usually far east and are located in walk-up buildings that don't have particularly great amenities. Or, they're north of the 96th Street subway stop, just before the Upper East Side officially becomes East Harlem.

While most of these deals aren't on Lexington Avenue, they're not all on York Avenue, either. "I've got a studio on 89th Street between Second and Third for $1,050," says Marrello.

And big buildings aren't immune to the pressures of the market. "We have a building on York Avenue, and in that complex studios are in the $1,300 to $1,325 range," says Wayne Hattingh, a manager with SW Management, which handles several large rental buildings in the neighborhood.

Marrello is representing a building called the Hub on 101st Street, between First and Second avenues, that is paying brokers' fees and offering two months free rent. The building is new, has top-grade appliances, a doorman and landscaped roof deck. One-bedrooms are starting at $2,145 per month -- something extremely modest by luxury doorman standards.

And the Hub is hardly the only rental complex to offer such incentives -- there are eight Upper East Side buildings owned by major landlord Glenwood that are offering a month of free rent.

"Landlords are always trying to keep rent rolls high," says Marrello, "Now they're starting to advertise lower prices."

Now just might be the time for the posh seekers to pounce.

Rental-heavy brokerage The Real Estate Group New York has released the May edition of its Manhattan Rental Market Report (available to download here), and while rents stayed largely flat over last month, the year-to-year declines can be seen in the tables above. TREGNY also cites increased demand over the past month as a sign that the typically hot Manhattan spring/summer rental season will have life this year. Graduates should check out non-doorman buildings on the Upper East Side, where rents are at a 13-month low.

While the report doesn't factor in landlord incentives that drive rents down even lower, the May '07 to May '09 head-to-head neighborhood comparisons that TREGNY includes will still open some eyes to the state of the rental market. Neighborhoods such as Murray Hill, Midtown East and the East Village have seen some approx. 20% drops in certain categories over the past two years. Getting back to the here and now, below is a neighborhood snapshot of May rents (click on the graphics to make 'em bigger):

Former Corcoran sales director suing for commissions from Five Franklin, the Avery and Linden78

A former sales director for Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group says she has been stiffed for more than a quarter million dollars in residential brokerage commissions for sales in high-profile developments including Five Franklin, the Avery and Linden78, a court filing says.

Broker Nancy Reese accuses Corcoran Sunshine and other Corcoran entities of withholding at least $200,000 in commissions on closed sales and says the developer of Linden78 owes her $70,000 in commissions on canceled contracts, the court papers say.

The lawsuit was filed at a time when experts believe more contracts will be canceled as the condominium market continues to deteriorate. But real estate lawyers said most contracts between brokerages and developers include clauses that state that commissions are not due until the title is passed to the buyer, so brokers are generally not paid when a contract is canceled, attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who was not involved in the case, said.

Reese, who left Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group at the end of April after working at the firm for about four years, accused the company of not paying her a total of $200,000 at Five Franklin Place, the Avery at 100 Riverside Boulevard, the Orion at 350 West 42nd Street and three other locations after the sales closed.

Reese also alleges in her lawsuit brought in New York State Supreme Court May 18 that the sponsor of the struggling development Linden78, at 230 West 78th Street, owes her $70,000 in commission fees even though the sponsor offered rescission rights to all buyers in mid-April.

The developer of the project is Urban Residential, but the lawsuit does not name that company, but instead the entities listed on the condo offering plan, including Amsterdam 78 and Metropolitan Housing Partners, with the state Attorney General's office, Reese's attorney, Debra Guzov, said.

Urban Residential did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Corcoran Sunshine declined to comment.

With the declining economy, the number of rescinded contracts has increased, impacting projects such as Linden78 and the Jasper at 114 East 32nd Street. But experts said they do not expect to see a flood of brokers suing their firms as Reese did.

Guzov, a partner with the law firm Guzov Ofsink, said that Reese was owed the commission after she presented ready, willing and able buyers, despite a rescinded contract.

"As we set forth in the complaint the commission has been earned and it comports with the language in the contract for earning the commissions," she said.

The board that oversees rents for New York City’s one million rent-stabilized apartments proposed a range of rent increases on Tuesday, disappointing tenants and their supporters, who say the recession warrants a rent freeze.

In a preliminary vote, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board proposed increases of 2 percent to 4.5 percent for one-year leases and 4 percent to 7.5 percent for two-year leases. Last year, the board approved its highest set of rent increases since 1989 — 4.5 percent on one-year leases and 8.5 percent on two-year leases. The board will hold two public hearings, on June 15 and June 17; it is to take a final vote at a meeting June 23.

Landlords have argued that the board’s rent increases in recent years have been outpaced by the rising operating costs of rent-stabilized units. Tenants and some elected officials, meanwhile, have called on the nine-member board to freeze rents for rent-stabilized units, citing rising unemployment, falling median household incomes and growing numbers of tenants in housing court facing eviction for nonpayment of rent.

“This would be an appropriate year to do that,” Wasim Lone, a tenant organizer with the nonprofit group Good Old Lower East Side, said of the rent freeze. “This is the worst recession we’ve seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.”

A report released last month by the board’s staff found that operating costs for rent-stabilized buildings increased 4 percent from April 2008 to last month; the increase was 7.8 percent in the corresponding period in 2007-8. The report also found that the 4 percent increase was offset by decreases in fuel oil and insurance costs.

The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, said in an interview that she would urge the board to impose a rent freeze, in part because of the impact of the recession on tenants as well as the report showing that operating costs had not risen significantly. “We can create some relief for tenants without creating an unfair burden for landlords,” Ms. Quinn said. “We believe even with a rent freeze, landlords would continue to make a profit. They would just make a smaller profit.”

Since the board was established in 1969, it has never approved a rent decrease or a rent freeze.

Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents thousands of owners of rent-stabilized apartments, said he was disappointed by the preliminary range of increases approved on Tuesday, adding that small property owners had been hard-hit by the economy and had struggled to pay property taxes, water and sewer bills and fuel costs. He said the group was opposed to any rent freeze.

“Ten percent of my membership may not survive by this time next year,” Mr. Strasburg said, referring to small property owners. “We discovered in early fall that they were still paying off their winter fuel bills.”

The final vote last year was a rowdy affair, marked by shouting matches between landlords and tenants, many of whom had sneaked in plastic whistles and blew them at ear-ringing volume during the proceedings. In contrast, the meeting on Tuesday at the Great Hall at Cooper Union in the East Village was sparsely attended. The audience numbered about 100, most of them tenants or tenant organizers.

The meeting gave rise to divergent views on who was suffering the most during tight economic times — tenants or landlords. Steven J. Schleider, a member of the Rent Guidelines Board who represents owners, said that 1 in 10 properties was distressed because rents did not cover expenses. Adriene L. Holder, a board member representing tenants, said the severity of the recession, including rising unemployment, called for the board to adopt no rent increase.

“People cannot shoulder these types of increases being proposed,” Ms. Holder said.

Last year, the board approved a controversial supplemental rent increase for tenants who had lived in their units for six years or more, and a range of similar increases were approved on Tuesday. Owners of buildings with those tenants have the option of charging them the approved increases, or a $20 to $45 monthly increase for one-year leases or $40 to $75 for two-year leases, whichever is greater.

Two legal aid groups, the Legal Aid Society and Legal Services NYC, sued the board over the supplemental increase last year; the case is pending.

On Tuesday, to the howls of the tenants in the audience, the board voted 6-to-3 to approve the range of proposed increases and the range of supplemental increases.

Much of the discussion between board members leading up to the vote centered on last year’s deliberations. Tenants and their supporters last year said that the supplemental increase should not have been voted on, because it was not part of the tentative range of increases the board had previously approved. The board’s chairman, Marvin Markus, said at the time that the board had authorized supplemental increases in previous years and that the board’s actions were within the law.