WHERE TO GO FOR HARD-TO-FIND HOME PRODUCTS

Check out this site! Called Secret Sources and from the magazine we all love, This Old House,
you can find all kinds of great and hard to find stuff for your home. Jump here.

421A TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Many folks think the 421A tax abatement in NYC on new construction should be eliminated altogether or fiddled with so to speak. Their argument is that the developers and the rich are the beneficiaries. I can only speak about Manhattan which is a completely different market than the other boroughs but if the 421A is eliminated many first time buyers will not be able to purchase in Manhattan. Today they can face a monthly real estate tax bill of around $2,000 a month for a two bedroom home. With a ten year real estate tax abatement they can start out paying $200 and end up in the tenth year paying $2,000 when their income has increased and they can manage a larger tax bill. That saved cash gives them that needed difference that can be applied to their mortgage creating the ability for them to buy now, rather than continuing to rent or moving out of Manhattan altogether. Get rid of these abatements and for sure they won't be purchasing around here. The penthouse buyer who can afford a lot more gets a gift with the abatements but then we get a mix of people and perhaps taxes and the rich should be addressed in a tax forum other than real estate.

Check out what Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Quinn, and Assemblyman Vito Lopez are saying.

PROPERTY FOR SALE - YOUR NYC REAL ESTATE DOLLAR

Property No. One:
255 Hudson 5C - Manhattan
Asking $1.3 million - one bedroom - one bathroom - approximately 917 square feet:





Property No. Two:
43 Palentown Road upstate New York in the beautiful Catskill Mountains
asking $1.3 - four bedrooms - three and a half bathrooms - approximately 3600 square feet located on 12.9 acres of gorgeous land at the foot of the Mombaccus Mountains - four outbuildings including a huge double height barn and a spring-fed pond.

Go to www.palentownroad.com for the full scoop!