The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Vancouver home prices fell 4.5 percent over the last year

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 01:00 PM PST

The numbers don’t lie — the city of Vancouver is in the midst of a massive correction in its residential market. The composite home price for Metro Vancouver fell 4.5 percent in January on a year-over-year basis to $780,000, the most significant yearly fall since May of 2013. That price is 8 percent below the market’s peak in June, according to numbers compiled by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and a report by […]

Rat trap: Amid FBI investigation, L.A. City Hall is literally infested with rodents

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 12:00 PM PST

With a FBI investigation consuming Los Angeles City Hall, reports of a different kind of “rat” might be expected. But instead, there is unrelated trouble caused by a real rodent invasion. The building has been overrun with rats, and crews may need to remove all the carpet due to fear of typhus, the Los Angeles Times reported. With mounting complaints of vermin chewing through decorations, nesting in potted plants, droppings and flea bites, officials are […]

Lawmakers react to report that Amazon may pull the plug on LIC campus

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 11:30 AM PST

In response to Friday’s explosive report that Amazon was reassessing its plan to build a campus in Long Island City, lawmakers are speaking out. New York State Sen. Mike Gianaris, who represents Queens and opposes the deal, characterized the report as extortion on Amazon’s part: “If they want to threaten that they won’t come here without it, that’s their decision. But we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be extorted,” he told the Wall Street Journal. New […]

Vegan venue: No animals were harmed in the furnishing of this penthouse

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 11:00 AM PST

For wealthy vegans who prefer animal-free food and furnishings, a new luxury penthouse for sale in London may be the ideal habitat. The vegan penthouse in West London has an asking price of £4.95 million ($6.5 million) that includes the cost of furnishings with vegan alternatives to such materials as suede and leather. Ethical designer Itala Santos also furnished the penthouse with pillows, bedding and upholstery made without silk, wool, mohair or feather down. “There […]

Retail style alert: Tyra Banks to open model-themed amusement park in LA mall

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 10:00 AM PST

In “Life Size” and its recently released sequel, “Life Size 2,” supermodel Tyra Banks plays the role of “Eve,” a doll who lives in a make-believe place called Sunnyvale where dolls and models run amok. With her latest endeavor, a brick-and-mortar project dubbed “Modelland,” it’s almost as if Banks is looking to recreate that fantasy land. The “America’s Next Top Model” creator plans to open a 21,000-square-foot interactive amusement park — named after her 2010 […]

Report: Trump demanded $20M in 2006 to put his name on a Moscow tower

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 09:08 AM PST

Donald Trump demanded $20 million in 2006 to put his name on a high-rise development in Moscow, according to Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian-Russian who wanted to develop the tower. Fuks, who made a fortune as a real estate developer, banker and oil trader, discussed Trump’s efforts to launch the development of a Moscow tower bearing his name in an interview with Bloomberg News. Trump made his first attempt at a Moscow development in 1987, when […]

Hammer time: Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake joins homebuilder’s board

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 08:00 AM PST

Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, has entered the residential real estate business in his home state. Once considered a possible candidate for U.S. president, Flake joined the board of directors of Taylor Morrison, a home building company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. He served one term in the U.S. Senate, from 2013 to 2019, and decided in 2017 not to run for re-election in 2018. Flake also has said he will not […]

Billionaires’ party conversation? Critiquing the Dems’ tax plans

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 07:00 AM PST

Billionaires attending a party at an art museum in West Palm Beach criticized proposals by Democrats to increase the federal taxes of the wealthiest Americans. For example, Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed a 77 percent tax rate on the value of estates that exceeds $1 billion, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proposed a top tax rate of 70 percent on income of $10 million or more. “They’re going to eat themselves alive,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur […]

Kindness rewarded: Ellen DeGeneres honors Chicago realtor who housed homeless during polar vortex

Posted: 10 Feb 2019 06:00 AM PST

By now, Candice Payne’s kind act during Chicago’s polar vortex is fairly well known. Payne, managing broker at 5th Group Realty & Management — and her husband — helped provide hotel rooms to dozens of homeless people in the South Loop during last week’s subzero temperatures. But at a Wednesday appearance on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” the real estate agent and her husband got a surprise gift of their own. DeGeneres handed them a $50,000 […]