New York RealEstateRama

February 22, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith and Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri today announced the use of Quick Response (QR) codes on all Department of Buildings permits, providing New Yorkers with instant access to information related to buildings and construction sites throughout New York City. Similar to how a barcode provides information through a scanner, QR codes provide smartphone users with immediate access to data by scanning the displayed code with their device.

NEW YORK, NY - February 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- City Comptroller John C. Liu stated the following in response to inquiries about his reaction to Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee today that regulators are finalizing sanctions against banks that violate foreclosure laws and regulations

New York, NY - February 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Apartment building workers have rejected a contract proposal from the Bronx Realty Advisory Board (BRAB), a real estate industry association representing Bronx building owners, saying management’s demands to cut healthcare and retirement are unacceptable.

Washington, D.C. - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the first piece of legislation she is introducing in the 112th Congress is a bill to provide property tax relief for more than 1 million New York homeowners. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation would enable all New Yorkers that pay property taxes to deduct the full amount of money they pay from their federal income taxes. Currently, only homeowners that itemize their federal taxes can deduct the cost of property taxes. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation would make property taxes fully deductable for individuals who do not itemize their federal taxes, providing additional tax relief for up to 30 million Americans, including approximately 1.1 million New Yorkers. The Homeowner Tax Fairness Act would save New York homeowners approximately $1 billion.

New York, NY - February 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, joined by a Staten Island family struggling with high property taxes and the financial difficulties of raising a child with special needs, today announced that the first piece of legislation she is introducing in the 112th Congress is a bill to provide property tax relief for 1.1 million New York homeowners, including nearly 300,000 in New York City. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation would enable all New Yorkers that pay property taxes to deduct the full amount of money they pay from their federal income taxes. Currently, only homeowners that itemize their federal taxes can deduct the cost of property taxes

Albany, NY - February 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns will be appointed to serve as Commissioner and C.E.O. of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). Under the consolidation of New York state housing programs the Commissioner also serves as chief executive of the State’s major housing and community renewal agencies, including the Housing Finance Agency and State of New York Mortgage Agency.

February 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today unveiled the development plan for Hunter’s Point South, the largest new affordable housing complex to be built in New York City since the 1970s. A development team, consisting of Phipps Houses, Related Companies and Monadnock Construction, has been selected through a competitive process to build the residential portion of the first phase of the Queens waterfront complex, which includes two mixed-use buildings comprising more than 900 housing units and roughly 20,000 square feet of new retail space

February 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that DAVID RAMNAUTH, the former president of the Queens mortgage brokerage GuyAmerican Funding Corp. ("GuyAmerican"), was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for his role in a massive mortgage fraud scheme in which over $23 million in fraudulent loans were processed in connection with over 44 properties in the New York metropolitan area. RAMNAUTH pled guilty to his role in the mortgage fraud scheme in August 2010

New York, NY - February 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The New York State Senate today passed three mandate relief bills that would give local governments more authority and flexibility and help save taxpayer dollars. “As the Senate works to enact a property tax cap, it’s important that we also pass mandate relief measures to give municipalities the ability to allocate resources on community priorities, rather than to address state mandates that may not be needed,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said. “The bills we passed today are simple, common sense legislation to save money.

MILFORD, CT - February 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- TMS Funding, the wholesale residential lending channel of Total Mortgage Services, LLC, announced today the hiring of John O’Brien as Wholesale Account Executive. Mr. O’Brien, an experienced mortgage professional with many years of successful sales leadership in start-up and territory expansion, has been hired to develop new business relationships and educate, train and support high quality mortgage brokers in their respective markets. In his new role, Mr. O’Brien will be focused on building broker relationships and servicing brokers throughout the New York marketplace.

New York, NY - February 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Negotiations for a new, multi-year contract began today between the Bronx Realty Advisory Board (BRAB), a real estate industry association representing most Bronx building owners, independent building owners and managers outside of the BRAB and 32BJ SEIU, the largest private sector union in New York. The contracts, which expire Tuesday, March 15th, cover more than 3,000 building superintendents, janitors, handypersons, porters, firepersons, doormen, elevator operators and garbage handlers working at more than 1,000 apartment buildings throughout the Bronx

New York, NY - February 7, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mesa West Capital has provided the new owners of 5 Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan with $47 million in first mortgage financing secured by the 25-story, 333,000 square-foot office building, according to Mesa West Principal Raphael Fishbach who originated the financing

New Yor, NY - February 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Good morning, and thank you to our witnesses for appearing today at this hearing of the Congressional Oversight Panel on commercial real estate lending. The Panel first explored issues around commercial real estate at our field hearings in New York City in 2009 and Atlanta in January of last year

Washington, DC - February 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congressman Eliot Engel announced a victory for co-op owners when the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reversed itself on a plan to ban private transfer fees on real estate sales, an action which would have penalized co-op owners

NEW YORK, N.Y. - February 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage rates showed little movement this week, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate inching higher to 5.02 percent according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.40 discount and origination points

New York, NY - February 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The New York State Senate today passed property tax relief legislation (S.2706) that would place a cap on the growth of school property taxes at two percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less. If enacted, New York would become the 44th state to cap local property taxes. In addition, the Senate approved two measures related to providing mandate relief to school districts and local governments.

New York, NY - January 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway, Sustainability Director David Bragdon and Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley today proposed new rules to reduce emissions from the approximately 10,000 boilers in New York City that burn grades Numbers 4 and 6 oil, the dirtiest heating oil types available in New York.

BUFFALO, NY - January 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Steven Carlson, 52, of Jamestown, New York, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, to evading the payment of taxes and mortgage fraud. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, or both

New York, NY - January 21, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- “Throughout his career, both in City government and in the nonprofit sector, Rafael has embodied the best of what public service can be. During his five years at the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, he put his unique brand of innovation and pragmatism to work in advancing our mission to strengthen our neighborhoods and create a more affordable and sustainable city for all New Yorkers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 20, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control Program (OHHLHC) has awarded $1,749,639 to the County of Westchester to conduct education and outreach activities to create an awareness of lead hazard control and lead poisoning prevention.

New Yorker, NY - January 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- As New Yorkers are being blasted with freezing temperatures and record snowfall, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing funds provided by Congress to help Long Island seniors and low income families deal with heating bills this winter. As part of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program’s (LIHEAP) block grants, New York State is set to receive a total of $473 million. In 2010, 25,297 households in Nassau and 60,527 households in Suffolk received the benefit, and similar numbers of households are expected to receive the benefit this year. Due to the recession and the recent bitter cold spell and winter weather that has gripped New York, Schumer today said that releasing these resources is essential for Long Island families and seniors who struggle to heat their homes.

New York, NY - January 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Rafael E. Cestero today launched the Proactive Preservation Initiative, a new, aggressive approach to identify and address deteriorating physical conditions in multifamily buildings throughout the City before they reach a state that endangers the health and safety of residents and threatens the quality of the surrounding neighborhood.

New York, NY - January 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- "The first of two bills before me today is Introductory Number 436-A, sponsored by Council Members Mendez, James, Brewer, Chin, Dromm, Lander, Mark-Viverito, Seabrook, Vann, Williams, Jackson, Rodriguez, Nelson, Arroyo, Rose, Lappin, Gennaro, Recchia, Fidler, Barron, Gardonick, Gonzalez, Greenfield, Koppell, Reyna, and Sanders. Introductory Number 436-A makes changes to the Alternative Enforcement Program.

New York, NY - January 12, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that CHEDDI GOBERDHAN, a real estate attorney, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN in Manhattan federal court to a seven-count Indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and six counts of bank fraud, in connection with a scheme that defrauded banks out of more than $23 million in home mortgage loans. GOBERDHAN made hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits from the scheme, in which he worked closely with corrupt loan officers of GuyAmerican Funding, a mortgage brokerage firm in Queens, New York. GOBERDAN is the ninth defendant convicted of participating in this mortgage fraud scheme

ALBANY, NY - January 11, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) has been awarded nearly $120,000 in housing counseling grants that will assist the agency to help individuals and families not only find housing, but will also offer them greater opportunities to keep their homes through counseling and training and to avoid loan modification scammers that are targeting millions of vulnerable populations.

New York, NY - January 6, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Savanna and Monday Properties announced today the closing of a $58 million loan for 386 Park Avenue South. The new partners of the 20-story, Art Deco office building additionally announced that Chase Bank has signed an 11-year lease renewal of its 12,000-square-foot retail space.

NEW YORK, NY - January 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Jones Lang LaSalle announced that vacancy rates fell in all property classes in the Midtown and Midtown South office submarkets during 2010. At the same time, Lower Manhattan posted a slight increase in vacancy rates in all property classes

New York, NY - December 30, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Richard S. Hartunian, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Rene Febles, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in New York, John F. Pikus, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Lt. John D. Durling of the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit announced that Michael Cassadei was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in Albany to twenty-seven (27) months in prison, to be followed by three years’ supervised release, for his role as organizer of a local mortgage fraud scheme.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today released Why Is the Market Share of Adjustable-Rate Mortgages So Low?—the latest article in its series Current Issues in Economics and Finance.

New York, NY - December 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) today announced a major milestone for seniors and individuals with disabilities across the country, as two pieces of legislation he sponsored passed Congress and were sent to the President for his signature. One of the bills, S. 118, is designed to streamline the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program, which funds affordable housing for low-income seniors and protects their right to “age in place” through the provision of supportive, community-based services