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IF they had a theme song, the new co-op renovation guidelines from the New York City Bar Association might be set to the rock anthem ''We're Not Gonna Take It.'' [...]

WHEN it comes to homes and spouses, one bad experience can alter a person's choices forever. And in New York City, where there are untold challenges to vertical living, a […]

AS many co-op and condo owners can attest, ownership has its drawbacks. These include the intermittent misery of dealing with a board and the waking nightmare of serving on one. […]

THE elegant two-bedroom co-op in an Upper East Side prewar building had drifted on the market for nine months by the time the first-time buyers laid eyes on it this […]

HOW can home buyers determine whether a bedbug infestation in a building is cause for serious concern? Real estate lawyers and pest management experts have some guidelines: The first thing […]

IF you buy an apartment in a building with bedbugs, you will want to make sure your new home is bug-free by the time your first moving box crosses the […]

Keeping Your House Cool Open windows at night and shut them during the day, closing curtains or blinds to block the sun. Open windows on opposite sides of the house […]

TO many Americans, abstaining from air-conditioning is a masochistic folly akin to refusing Novocain or renouncing the dishwasher. Yet as this particular summer finally heats up, even citizens who believe […]

AS most New York City homeowners hunker bearishly inside their largest depreciating asset, one unfortunate contingent has no choice but to wade into the storm-tossed market. For these accidental sellers, […]

MANY rental scams are easy to spot -- unless you are drawn in by what appears to be the deal of a lifetime. 'If something looks too good to be […]

IN New York City, the rental market can seem a lot like the black market. Renters are accustomed to feeling hustled, fleeced, and generally at the mercy of predatory forces […]

THESE days, anxious New York City developers are marketing as fast as they can, churning out flash-animated Web sites, glossy brochures, and smooth (if hollow-eyed) agents hawking sales incentives alongside […]

ONE reason that buyers are avoiding new construction these days is the challenge of securing a mortgage when the building is less than 70 percent sold. But buyers in almost […]

AS unsold properties proliferate and encounters with the scalpel fail to move them, some New York City sellers are being undermined by an often nameless enemy. Even as they rearrange […]

WHILE the swelling inventory of apartments decreases the risk of being singled out online, the consequences may be more severe if your place is the subject of an uncomplimentary critique. […]

IN the past few years, New York City's frenzied love affair with real estate fueled a veritable geyser of cocktail party/water cooler/diaper circuit chatter. In these circles, who bought what […]

DROWNING in listings they cannot sell, most New York City real estate agents still aren't ready to kiss their potential commissions goodbye and welcome the auctioneer to town. Unless, of […]

MOST parents who move for the schools have young children. That's because New York City's elementary schools are far more location-dependent than its upper schools, which draw from wide swaths […]

FOR some young families who bought during the housing boom, having it all meant an affordable brood-sized apartment in possession of a good public school zone. But other parents in […]

WITH sales prices of Manhattan apartments having tumbled by perhaps a quarter in just the past few months, pinpointing the bottom has become a top priority for anyone eager to […]

FOR better and worse, the mentality that helped propel the city's real estate prices into lunar altitudes is gone. Not only are there fewer buyers today, but they are also […]

As housing prices around the country began to tumble about three years ago, the New York market kept rising, and only in the last year did it begin to show […]

GALVANIZED by a rash of arrears, the St. Tropez -- a 34-year-old 301-unit condominium on East 64th Street and First Avenue -- scrambled into battle station mode last year. 'We've […]

DURING the recent boom, buyers who coveted condos for their sex appeal could also make the case that condos were a smarter choice than co-ops. In theory, you didn't have […]

WHILE cats and dogs pose certain health issues for humans, most are well known and well mitigated by veterinarians and doctors -- unlike the risks posed by certain other pets. […]

IN a city awash in creature comforts for those who can still afford them, a few remain unattainable at any price. Some New Yorkers who yearn for the comfort of […]

FEW things make me as restless as seeing too far ahead, which is probably why flattened suburban and exurban landscapes tend to sharpen my longing for the vertical metropolis of […]

UNDER a new city building code taking effect next year, elevators will undergo far more stringent inspections than in the past. Now is a good time for buildings with older […]

AS New York City continues to evolve from the city of eight million stories to the city of eight million strollers, the demand for 'family friendly' housing has never been […]

IN the current belt-tightening climate, co-op and condominium owners may understandably feel reluctant to open their hearts and pocketbooks to ambitious building-improvement projects that would rely on special assessments. The […]

IT'S daunting enough to compete against one's neighbors, but the most formidable adversary is often the sponsor of a new building. Apartment owners who want to sell before the developer […]

IN real estate, more is almost always better when it comes to such things as light, square feet, closets and bathrooms. But to buyers (and, by extension, to sellers), the […]

APARTMENT dwellers in New York City have long endured the trauma of jackhammers, Manolo Blahniks, recycling trucks, sirens, canines and air-conditioning systems. But, perhaps because the population of children in […]

APARTMENT-HUNTING parents are often more worried about incoming than outgoing sound, brokers say, but those interested in minimizing future conflict can keep some strategies in mind. Because a majority of […]

IN real estate lingo, there is a delicately worded phrase used by brokers to describe a renovation tailored too closely to its owner's taste: The place is too, ahem, specific. […]

THERE'S no doubt about it: Peeling kitchen cabinets do little to set off that come-hither Wolf range. Unfortunately, wood-veneered cabinetry (versus the pricier solid-wood variety) can start to look chintzy […]

BOTOX. The iPod. Arugula. Each in its own way ushered in an era of heightened expectations -- for brow lines, personal music players and salad courses, respectively. Then there is […]

THERE are many sentences that a potential buyer can utter to unnerve a broker: 'I have three Doberman pinschers.' 'My uncle is a divorce lawyer, and he will represent us.' […]

AS higher maintenance and common charges become the norm these days, higher-than-average monthly fees have lost some of their tendency to curdle the blood of buyers. But pricing these apartments […]

NEW YORK CITY apartment owners can hardly be blamed for feeling nostalgic, and a little depressed, as they receive their increases in condominium common charges and co-op maintenance fees this […]

IN New York City real estate, death is the ultimate leveler, evicting the residents of 16-room duplexes as well as those in fifth-floor walk-ups. It doesn't matter whom you know. […]

EVEN when heirs and executors move in harmony, estate sales can lumber along at an achingly slow pace. It can take at least several months for wills to be probated […]

TO space-starved, yard-craving, neighbor-cranky apartment dwellers, a single-family town house of their own can seem like the cure for what ails them, if only they could afford it. An entry-level […]

LIKE most worthwhile relationships, the one that New York City residents forge with their homes is riddled with compromise. Few dwellings satisfy every hankering for space, light, location, affordability and […]

IT wasn't supposed to happen this way. Just a year ago, as real estate brokers fretted through an ominously quiet third quarter, many Manhattanites waited for the housing market to […]

FROM the stacks of allergy medicine at Duane Reade to the students 'doing homework' at the Sheep Meadow in Central Park, it's clear that spring has overtaken New York. Which […]

FOR many people, moving is a deeply taxing combination of high anxiety, brute labor and loose ends. Perhaps that's why moving on doesn't always mean completely moving out. Brokers say […]

New Yorkers consider themselves among the savviest and nerviest consumers in the world. But when it comes to buying real estate, what they forgot to ask is startling. Absorbed by […]

BY now it is no longer news that people are jiggling the planet's thermostat. One response is to go green: New Yorkers who were terrified into action by Al Gore's […]