Park Slope Reader

Lindsay Owen

Real Estate: Finding The One

By Filed Under: The Stoop Tagged With: , ,

Here’s a question for you: 

You’re finally ready to get started on your home search, your broker has lined up a load of viewings for you and on that very first Sunday of open houses you find THE ONE. 

Do you pull the trigger?

End your (very short) home search and make an offer? Or are you convinced that you can’t possibly have found a home on day one, that going for this property is bound to mean you’re missing out on the home that’s really for you and that you would be CRAZY to let up your search now? If you’ve found this place so quickly, it stands to reason that an even better property is out there, just waiting for you to find it. Right?

Well, not necessarily. If you’re leaning more toward continuing your search despite loving the place you’ve found, you may be suffering from a case of real estate FOMO, which could actually sabotage your chances of landing a home that’s as close to perfect as you’re likely to see.

Making a decision on a home isn’t easy and doesn’t come without a liberal case of butterflies in your stomach, but fear of missing out on something better can really lead to missing out in general.  

So how can this be avoided? Three words: Trust. Your. Gut.  

Here are 3 ways you can gut check your potential purchase to either dispel any FOMO you might have or feel confident enough to move on and continue your search.

1. Pretend You Already Live There.

My clients often give me an “are you serious?” look when I suggest this, but it’s a really good decision-making exercise when you’re trying to make up your mind.  

All you have to do is stop ‘viewing’ the property and start pretending to live in it. For instance, start in the master bedroom with the door closed, open the door, walk along the hallway or down the stairs to the living room or kitchen, imagining it’s morning, you’ve just woken up and you’re going to the kitchen to make coffee. Or maybe try sitting on the sofa in the living room and gazing out of the window or at the fireplace imagining yourself relaxing on a cozy Sunday evening as it snows outside.  

Are you feeling anything yet?  

How about sitting at the dining table, and imagining holding a dinner party for your friends or serving Thanksgiving dinner to your family?  

How about now? Are you feeling content? Excited? Emotional? Happy? Can you see yourself making a life here? Your gut will tell you. You just have to listen.

2. Stop Pausing For Perfection.

“But it’s not perfect!”, I hear you cry! We’d still have to replace that floor. Paint that wall. 

Change that vanity or move that shower stall!

Ah… so you’re looking for perfect. Ok, good luck with that.

Here’s the newsflash: it’s never going to be perfect. No property is when you’re searching for a home. 80% perfect is good. 85% is better. 90% is pretty much a property unicorn and 100% just doesn’t exist, so looking for it will be a total time suck and might ultimately drive you crazy!

But here’s the good news. That extra 10-20% is the good stuff. It’s the perfection gap that you get to fill to make the place your own. To put your personal stamp on it and make it as damn near perfect for you as you can get it.  Plus, everyone likes a bit of a home project when they move into a new place – how do you think the likes of IKEA, Home Depot and Lowes stay in business? Whether it’s putting in that new bathroom you’ve already designed on a Pinterest board or refinishing a neglected hardwood floor to its former glory, this is the stuff that makes a home your own and begins your story within it.

3. Listen To Your Real Estate Agent.

If you’re working with a real estate agent worth their salt, they’ll be checking their own gut too and if they’re noticing any red flags that you may not have, now’s the time for them to point them out to you.

Although it’s no fun being a party pooper, I’ve been the voice of reason to many an excited client, pointing out potential problems with a roof, windows that need replacing, dated mechanicals, or dodgy building financials. That’s my job. To make sure my client is walking into a transaction with their eyes wide open and a complete understanding of what they might be letting themselves in for.  

Your agent will also be able to advise you on the area (if it’s new to you), the sales price (if it’s over or underpriced), and how this property stacks up against comparable ones they’re aware of that you may not be. Plus, if they know there’s better on the market, or, through their broker network is aware of a better listing coming up, they can caution you to wait and see. And remember, they’re there to help you sense check what you’re thinking, to answer questions, help you see the big picture and work out whether the home you’re considering really is as great as you think it just might be.

So! Don’t count a property out just because you’ve seen it early on in your search, particularly as while mortgage rates remain so low, anything that is speaking to you is likely speaking to others and may be snapped up if you take too much of a pause. 

And take it from me, it really is possible to find that dream home right at the start of your search. I’ve done it myself. 

Twice.

When Home Is Everything

By Filed Under: The Stoop Tagged With: ,

Real estate in the time of COVID. I am somewhat reluctant to write this article.

Back in January, when I submitted my last column to the magazine’s editor, COVID had not quite taken hold of our country.  In anticipation of the spring market, I wrote about staging – how it can help you to sell your home, top tips, hacks, and sure-fire ways to up the anti and maximize your bottom line.

And then, by the time the magazine was published, we were in lockdown, and staging, never mind real estate in general, was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind, even mine.  We were all just taking one day at a time.  Terrified.  Holding on to those we held dear and counting the days. Seeing the article in print felt inappropriate. Trivial.

So, you may understand that writing anything about the real estate market during a pandemic, where we really don’t know what’s around the corner can seem a little…risky.    But for you, I’ll take the risk.  I know that many of you are teetering on making big decisions about your own living situations – maybe you’re thinking of buying outside of the city or you’re committed to NYC but desperate for more space to accommodate your new normal.  So, while what I write in this column today might seem inappropriate, trivial, ill-conceived, or just plain wrong months from now (because I, like all of you, do not have a crystal ball), my hope is that now, right now, this might be helpful.  

Because home is everything.  Especially now.  So! Real estate in the time of COVID.  As an agent in the community, there is not a day that passes where someone doesn’t ask me about the market, so I’m going to do my best to answer the three questions I’m being asked most often right now.
I hope this helps.

Q: Is now a good time to buy or should I wait and see what happens with the market?  

A:  Now is a GREAT time to buy.

Manhattan is officially a buyer’s market, and it looks like Brooklyn is beginning to follow suit although right now Brooklyn is still definitely seeing more activity than Manhattan, and we’re seeing most of that movement under the $2M price point.  With rising, inventory buyers have more choice and therefore more leverage, and mortgage rates are spectacularly low. At the time of writing this, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate just dropped to a historic low of 2.86%, according to data released by Freddie Mac, which has tracked rates since 1971.

While this means more spending power for buyers (which is good news for everybody), I wouldn’t take mortgage rates for granted.  While inflation remains low, so will the rate, but inflation will eventually rise. Indeed, the Fed recently announced a major policy shift geared towards lifting inflation – and with rising inflation come rising mortgage rates.  Simple as that.  With the Fed also unlikely to raise the Federal Funds Rate for years, savings accounts will continue to offer pretty much nothing in terms of interest, and we’re all aware of the rollercoaster the stock market is on right now. Owning real estate, therefore, is a great hedge against rising inflation and remains one of the best-forced savings accounts out there (and the only one you get to live in) particularly as home prices will likely climb hand in hand with inflation.

While deals are out there – all the buyers I represent right now who entered contract recently had offers accepted for under ask or after a price reduction – we’re also seeing highest and best and multiple bid situations for well-presented and/or strategically priced properties.  However, it’s a nuanced market, depending on price point, location, and property condition and the traditional selling seasons are not as defined this year.  
I’d advise against trying to time the bottom of the market.  It’s possible that we may already be there and honestly, nobody ever knowingly buys at the bottom and price reductions can often reinvigorate buyer interest and even spark bidding wars.  I’d focus instead on finding a property that works for you now and for years to come and get the best deal, you can while conditions are optimal.  Think about what’s important to you and your family.  The security of living in a home that makes you feel safe and comfortable and gives you space and flexibility you need during these challenging times is priceless.

Q: Is now a good time to sell or should I wait?

A: Well, that depends….

If the last five months have taught us anything it’s that the new normal is much more home-based, and buyers are more aware than ever of the inadequacies of their homes.  Buyers who are out there looking to make a purchase are incentivized to take advantage of interest rates and ready to make a deal.  However, while the high buyer demand we saw in January and February of this year has been deferred rather than particularly diminished, I wouldn’t take it for granted.  

I’ve been asked a lot whether it makes sense to wait until spring to list, but honestly, that’s an impossible question to answer. Nobody knows what the future holds and with the upcoming election and ongoing pandemic, the market could go up OR down early next year.  That’s why it’s important to identify your goal – whether that’s to make the most profit possible, or to secure a new home that works better for you and your family.

For instance, if you’ve only owned your place in Park Slope for 3 or 4 years, unless you bought at under market value or you’ve made some significant upgrades I wouldn’t expect to walk away with a huge profit.  Prices in Park Slope have not risen as exponentially as they did between 2014 and 2016 in the last few years and have flattened out considerably in comparison, so once you factor in closing costs (these will be higher for townhouse and condo owners than for those selling coops) you might not be looking at a big chunk of change after all’s said and done.  So, if your main priority is getting a good return on your investment, but you’ve not owned your home for long and don’t have to sell, you may choose to wait it out for a couple of years before taking your home to market and look at refinancing for a lower rate in the meantime.

If, however, you’re in the same situation but selling because it’s a means to an end – maybe you’re looking to relocate out of the city and your sale would enable you to do that, then my best advice is to focus on what the sale allows you to achieve rather than on how much profit you make.  For instance, if you’re moving out of town to a cheaper neighborhood you may be looking at a significantly lower mortgage for a significantly bigger property, so a smaller profit than you’d hoped can be negated over time in the money you save in mortgage payments.  And of course, it gets you to where you want to be.  A home that works for you and your family.

If you’re trading up you may actually stand to make money rather than lose it.  When you’re selling in a down market, remember you’re also buying in a down market.  Let’s do the math. Say your $1M home sells for 10% below ask, but that $1.5M home you’re buying also sells for 10% below then you’ve actually come out with $50K in hand.  Look at it the other way: if you sell for 10% above $1M at $1.1M but buy at 10% above $1.5M at $1.65M, you’ve gained $100K in your sale but had to shell out an extra $165K in your purchase. Of course, the aim is to sell for more and buy for less, but this isn’t realistic unless you’re selling something great and buying something, um, not so great, or which requires time and money to renovate.  And by the way, before you start worrying that you should expect a 10% price drop, don’t worry, I’ve used that rate for illustrative purposes only!

Lastly, as I’ve already touched on earlier in this article, inventory has been on a steep increase since quarantine came to an end, so competition amongst sellers is on the rise too.  That means it’s more important than ever to price right if you do decide to sell now, or you may run the risk of having your home stagnate on the market.  Make sure to have your broker run an extensive market analysis and take into consideration both recent sales prices as well as prices for current comparable homes when deciding on your listing price.  If you fail to price correctly or realistically, you may find you don’t receive any offers, or even worse, not have any showings. 

Q: I want to rent a new place – how can I get a good deal?

A: It’s a renter’s market!  Use that leverage!

With apartment inventory in New York City at highs not seen for over a decade, rental prices have trended downwards in some neighborhoods and landlords have been forced to offer concessions in order to secure tenants.  Manhattan’s rental market has taken the worst hit with August vacancy rates soaring to 5.1% for the first time in 14 years, an increase from just 1.9% in August of 2019, according to appraisal firm, Miller Samuel.  The Brooklyn market is proving to be more resilient with narrower price concessions, although Miller Samuel still reports inventory at an 11-year high.

As I write this, there are currently 598 apartments available for rent in Park Slope.  Of those 201 are being offered either without a broker fee or with free rent (or if you’re lucky, both).  

If there was ever a time to negotiate a good deal, therefore, it’s now.  Rather than waiting to see where prices might bottom out, I’d recommend proposing terms that work for you, whether that might be a lower rent, or even a period of free rent.  The length of the lease may also be up for negotiation – anecdotally I’ve been asked by a lot of tenants for shorter leases as uncertainty about job stability is putting people off making long term commitments.

If you happen upon an apartment you like, but there’s a broker fee (it’s currently still legal for tenants to pay broker fees in New York), ask the listing broker if the landlord would consider paying all or part of it.  If you’re looking for a longer lease, now may also be the time to request that.  Put it this way, if I was a landlord right now, I’d be delighted to secure a tenant for 2 years rather than risking another period of vacancy after a year of leasing.

Ultimately, while inventory remains high, there are just so many choices that you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by negotiating.
So!  I hope that answers some of your questions.  Bear in mind that New York City and even Park Slope itself are a collection of ‘micro-neighborhoods’ which can vary significantly in terms of desirability and pricing, so while the information I’ve shared here answers some of the most burning questions, the only way to get accurate advice and data specific to your own unique situation is to reach out to an agent to talk through your options.  An agent worth their salt, will give it to you straight and not encourage you to buy or sell if it’s not in your best interests financially.

If you’d like to discuss anything in this article further or have other questions about the market or your own goals, feel free to reach out to me at Lindsay.owen@compass.com and I’m happy to provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision for you and your family.

Until next time!
Lindsay xo

The Stoop: 10 Tips For Staging Your Home For Sale

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While Spring is peak selling season in New York City, getting top dollar for your home is no walk in the park, no matter how many buyers have come out from the cold to pound the streets to open houses.  With the real estate market still favoring buyers, sellers need to make sure that their properties stand out amongst the competition or risk standing to leave money on the table.  The good news is though, that with mortgage rates still ridiculously low, buyers have more spending power and anecdotally, since the first of the year, we’re starting to see them use that power for the right properties.  And by right, I mean damn near perfect, because this market just ain’t tolerating much imperfection.

So what are buyers looking for?  Well, it’s pretty simple: they want to fall in love.  It should be love at first sight when they see photos of your property online and you really want them getting the warm and fuzzies when they first walk through your door. First impressions are EVERYTHING and if you miss your opportunity to make an impact, your home isn’t going to make it to the hotlist and buyers aren’t going to be making you offers.

This is why staging has become such an essential part of a sales strategy, particularly in this market, but frankly, in any market. When you’re looking for an agent to sell your home, be sure to talk to someone with a successful track history with staging and make staging part of the conversation from the get-go.

How much staging your home requires comes down to this simple question:

‘Does your home project a lifestyle that buyers are willing to pay your asking price or more for?’

Occasionally the answer is a resounding, ‘yes,’ in which case we’re good to go and just need to add the special sauce of great architectural photography and some strategic marketing.  However, if the answer is ‘no’ or even ‘maybe’ then we need to get to work.  With most of the homes I see, the staging I need to do varies between a minor tweaking to a complete overhaul, but it’s rare that any home is camera-ready.  

Here’s my guide to what you need to think about when staging your home.  The trick to getting this right is to put yourself in a potential buyer’s shoes and be honest with yourself about what you need to do. And, if you need any more impetus to get to work, take a look at other similar homes on the market, as when you see how good the competition is looking that will be the only kick up the ass you need to get going on your home’s facelift.  

So – staging 101.  Let’s do it…

1. Detach And Don’t Take It Personally

This first step is a psychological one.  You have to detach.  You’ve decided to sell, so stop thinking of your property as your beloved home and start thinking of it as an asset you want to sell for top dollar.  Your agent, if you’re working with one, should advise you on what kind of aesthetic will appeal to the highest number of buyers looking for a home like yours.  Don’t take it personally if your personal style isn’t the right fit and some of your furniture and accessories don’t make the cut and need to head to storage.  Embrace the process, swallow your pride and trust the professional you’ve hired.

2. Declutter and Depersonalize

Less is always more and the clutter just has to go. Buyers want to see space when they step into your apartment, not piles of magazines, kid’s toys overtaking the living room and closets busting at the seams.  Clear surfaces of clutter, reorganize your closets so buyers see they’ll have plenty of storage space and get rid of anything you don’t want to take with you when you move (you’ll only end up paying more in moving fees if you don’t).  

Depersonalizing is also essential.  Buyers want to imagine themselves, not you, in the home. So take down personal photos, put away that kid’s artwork you have stuck to the fridge and streamline your space.  If doing this seems overwhelming, there are services that specialize in decluttering and organizing like Done & Done Home who regularly save the sanity of Park Slope homeowners. 

3. Repairs

You know what needs fixing, so get it done. Spackle cracks in the walls, re-caulk or grout the tub, shower or sinks, replace cracked or broken tile, update that ancient water tank and replace that malfunctioning fridge freezer.  You might want to even consider a ‘pre-inspection inspection’, particularly if you’re selling a townhouse or condo.  You’ll then be able to highlight any problems and rectify them before they become red flags when your future buyers have their own inspection.

4. Repaint

Unless your walls are spotless, you really need to paint.  Don’t put that job on your buyers, because that isn’t going to bode well; particularly when you’re competing for their attention with other homes that are freshly painted or apartments in brand new developments that are finished to perfection. Neutral is key.  White, or off-white is preferable as it gives your buyer a fresh blank slate that looks good with any color scheme.  Take a trip to Tarzian on 7th Ave who stock the full range of Benjamin Moore colors – Decorator’s White, Chantilly Lace and Cloud White all work well.  Remember, white walls give an airy, spacious and clean feel.  Ask your broker for recommendations for painters – they’re likely to have a range of reasonably priced vendors they’ve hired before who’s work they can vouch for.

5. Floors

Old wall-to-wall carpet? Nope. Beaten up hardwood floors? Not ideal.  Stained linoleum in the kitchen? Just. No! Spending some money on smartening up your floors is a great return on your investment.  In fact, by not doing it, you stand to lose more in your sales price than you’d have to spend to get the job done. Refinishing and repairing your hardwood floors is a game-changer if they’re in poor condition- and yes, I know it’s a hassle and much easier if your property is already vacant- but do what you can. Go for a matt, natural finish – no high gloss, please! And the carpet?  If you’re not able to replace it with hardwood floors or refinish those beneath it, professional deep cleaning can do wonders and take out years of dirt and any unpleasant odors.

6. Let There Be Light!

Replace any dated light fixtures with something more contemporary. West Elm has a great selection of reasonably priced options and often has sales.  Go for incandescent bulbs for a warm feel. Cleaning windows inside and out is a must, and when showing and photographing make sure to pull curtains and blinds out of the way to let in sunlight and highlight a great view if you have one.

7. Set The Scene

Here’s where the magic happens and where you really have to just let go and go with the process. Make sure to remove any dark or heavy items of furniture and replace them with more contemporary and neutral-colored options.  Use accessories like pillows, throws, lamps, ornaments, and artfully arranged books to add pops of color.  In bedrooms, opt for white, clean (and crease-free) bedding and replace tired and lumpy duvets and mismatched pillows.  Add a couple of accent pillows and a throw, for color and texture. In the master, matching bedside tables and lamps add a sense of balance and offer more styling opportunities.  Make sure to designate space in your living area.  Rugs are everything.  One to earmark living space, one for the master bedroom. If you have an open plan living and dining area, even if you don’t currently have a dining table, make sure to illustrate that there’s room for one by adding one to the space. A living room should have a coffee table, at least one accent chair, and a large and contemporary statement piece of art does wonders. 

For inspiration hit up Pinterest or view other listings online.  And remember, this doesn’t have to be expensive.  You’d be amazed what great furniture, bedding and accessories you can find at places like Target, Walmart and World Market.  My team recently staged an apartment with some amazing pieces from Target that cost very little. 

8. Bring The Outside In

Fresh flowers are lovely, but they don’t last. As someone who’s notorious for killing houseplants, I’m delighted that there are so many artificial and inexpensive options available now.  Greenery always looks good, so make sure to add a couple of flower arrangements and some eye-catching plants (fake fiddle leaf fig trees – IKEA has great ones – are SO much easier to care for than the real thing and don’t have any less impact).

9. Deep Clean

Clean, clean, clean!  There is no excuse for a dirty bath, a filthy oven or plethora of dust bunnies when you’re showing your home. If you hate cleaning, bite the bullet and pay for a deep clean.  And don’t underestimate the effect scent has on your buyers.  Burning a beautifully scented candle – I love the ‘Brooklyn Escapist Candle’ by Brooklyn Candle Studio –  before showings will make your buyers feel more ‘Ah!’ than ‘Ew!’ when they enter your space.

10. Don’t Forget Curb Appeal

Tidy your front garden, add some potted plants to your stoop, cut back any unruly shrubs and weed and mulch beds.  If you’re in an apartment building, make sure the front door of your home is freshly painted and use an odor neutralizer like Febreeze in the hallway.  

So! There are my 10 top tips.  But before I wind things up, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.  Money.  I get it, this stuff doesn’t come for free and there’s a cost involved.  BUT!  Doing the work could make the difference between selling for a premium and not selling at all, so scrimping on what needs to be done is only going to hurt your bottom line. But take comfort: it needn’t all be on your dime.  Some agents, myself included, stage homes themselves with their own stash of staging furniture and accessories. For bigger jobs, or for those short of liquid cash, Compass offers a program, Compass Concierge, that covers all the costs of preparing your home – you just pay them back at closing. 

Ultimately, there’s no way of avoiding the fact that to really give the competition a run for their money, you might have to spend some of yours, but ultimately your bank balance will thank you for it.

Lindsay Owen is a licensed real estate salesperson working with buyers and sellers of coops, condos and townhouses in Brooklyn and Manhattan. She can be reached at lindsay.owen@compass.com.

The Stoop: Priced Out Of Park Slope?

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5 Ways To Find A Home That Works For You And Your Budget.

You love living in Park Slope.  What’s not to love?  There’s a reason people flock to the Slope – the park (obvs), the schools, the architecture, to name but a few – so it’s not surprising that property prices have consistently risen over time and rocketed over the past couple of decades.  So, what’s a Park Sloper to do when they want to put down some roots and buy a place in their neighborhood only to find that while they’ve been able to afford to rent there, buying isn’t so easy?  Finding yourself priced out of the neighborhood you love is a hard pill to swallow, and let’s not forget, this isn’t just a buyer’s problem, but something also faced by renters, particularly when they’re wanting to upsize, needing more space for a growing family or just outgrowing that studio that seemed perfectly big enough back in the day but feels like living in a matchbox now that they’ve accumulated the stuff of life. 

Well, while I can’t spot you the extra cash you need to find your Park Slope paradise – sorry, I would if I could – there are alternatives I can share for those who are willing to think outside of the box and move out of walking distance to the Food Coop.  Or maybe Park Slope is somewhere you can stay, just not in the way you’d originally envisaged.

Here are 5 tips for finding an affordable home that ticks your boxes without ticking off your bank manager.

1.     Be Willing To Extend Your Commute.

While a longer commute might not be your idea of a fun time, it’s a sure-fire way of increasing your chances of finding a property that you can afford.  Spending more time on the train (or whichever method of transport you prefer) might feel like a headache right now, but speaking from experience, it really only takes a good book or podcast (is anyone else loving Crime Junkie as much as I am?) to while away the extra time, and having recently moved out of Park Slope myself, the additional 20 minutes I’ve added to my ride into my office has all been worth it for me to come home every night to my dream home, a 4-bedroom 2-story house with finished basement in a gorgeous part of my new neighborhood.  Plus, my house (along with its large garden and deck), cost me around the same as a 2 bedroom co-op in Park Slope and my mortgage, insurance and taxes come to within $3 of what I was paying in rent for my 3-bed apartment by Prospect Park.  I kid you not.  For me, it’s been a no brainer.  I’ve really found my happy place (plus I still get to come to work in Park Slope every day, so I’m still getting my fix of Slope life).  And, thanks to that extra train time, and always getting a seat from my station, I’m really getting through a TON of books.

For those of you willing to put a few extra miles between you and the office, you might want to check out one of Street Easy’s top 10 places for first-time buyers to buy in Brooklyn – Bay Ridge (my new neighborhood, replete with very affordable and beautiful townhouses and lovely co-op buildings overlooking the water), Midwood (GORGEOUS Ditmas park style wood frame houses which are much more affordable) or maybe East Flatbush (the area around Brooklyn College has some beautiful properties). Sunset Park, Kensington, Ditmas Park, and Ocean parkway are also great –  Sunset Park, in particular, has some very affordable co-ops surrounding the park as well as much cheaper Brownstones and rentals.  Plus, a number of these neighborhoods, unlike Park Slope, are showing signs of appreciating in value and are far from topping out.  Bay Ridge homes for example, went up an average of 3.8% last year according to Zillow, and are forecast to increase by another 4.1% this coming year.  During the same time period, median home prices in Park Slope dropped by 8% and are forecast another drop of 3.5% in the next 12 months. 

2.     Try Before You Buy.

Try to put aside any pre-conceived ideas you may have about more affordable neighborhoods.  Time was back in the 90s, that it was almost unheard of to ride out of Manhattan to Brooklyn – ‘Brooklyn?  Where’s THAT?’.  There’s a reason the pioneers back then who were willing to take a shot on an ungentrified Brooklyn neighborhood like Park Slope (I’m sure you’ve all heard the stories – drug dealers and prostitution on 5th avenue, Prospect Park too dangerous to step foot in), have made a ton of money on their properties.  They took a calculated risk, did without trendy bars and restaurants on their doorsteps for a few years, held on to their homes despite the ups and downs of the property market over the last two or three decades, and… it worked out.  

So, if you find yourself saying ‘oh, I could NEVER live in (insert whichever neighborhood here)’, while at the same time not having spent any time in said neighborhood, I challenge you to go and hang out there for a little while.  Plan yourself a Sunday tour, stop in at some open houses, go and get brunch at a local eatery, stroll the streets, check out the parks, talk to locals – ask them what it’s like living there.  I promise you, you may surprise yourself.  My husband had never even been to Bay Ridge before (I’m not actually sure he’d even heard of it) when we went to see a townhouse we were interested in there.  He arrived at the showing before me and texted me, saying simply ‘Oh. My. God.  Amazing’.  My 20+ year Manhattanite fell in love with both the neighborhood and the property on the spot.

And here’s the really smart part.  If you’re pleasantly surprised at how much you like a more affordable (but maybe further out) neighborhood, remember, nothing is set in stone.  Even if your ultimate aim is to buy, you can always put that on hold for a year by renting instead.  Call it a trial run.  This is a particularly smart move if you need to sell your place to be able to buy your next home, as while purchases contingent on selling first are more and more common in the current buyer’s market, not having to sell first, and therefore having more flexibility on when you can move, gives you more leverage as a buyer.  Putting the proceeds of your sale in a high interest brokerage account or CD for a year while you rent something in the neighborhood you’re considering buying in, will not only result in your future down payment earning you a little (or a lot) of extra dough in interest to put towards your move, but you may be able to save even more money by renting a place in a cheaper neighborhood.  By the same token, renters willing to take a risk on cheaper new digs, stand to save money which they too can put toward a down payment should they choose to buy. And, if the experiment ends with you deciding against making a purchase, so be it.  At the very least you’ve saved some extra money and are better positioned to make a purchase now you can be more flexible.

3. Be Flexible, And Look For A Home With Flexibility.

I recently helped some clients secure a very affordable 2 bedroom co-op which had been easily converted, due to the dual aspect windows of one of the large bedrooms, into a 3 bedroom apartment, while still being priced as a 2 bedroom.  Putting a new wall up and fitting a door, costs WAY less (likely less than $10,000) than buying a place with an extra bedroom and is a simple job, which most co-ops or condos will approve without any problem. 

You might also want to look at a lower duplex with a recreation room.  These are not too hard to find, and give you the option, again, of using the rec room as an extra bedroom.  Again, as the lower level is not ‘legally’ a bedroom, you’ll find these apartments are a cheaper option as below-grade space has a lower price per square foot.  Plus, you’ll often find that the price tag includes some outdoor space too.

If you’re looking for an apartment rather than a townhouse, and are looking to save money a co-op apartment has significantly lower closing costs and losing some amenities like a doorman or elevator will lower the sticker price too.  Being flexible about your wish list is also a wise move.  I recently found some clients of mine what they now refer to as their dream home.  It didn’t deliver on one of their main requirements though: a parking spot.  When I first met with them, they were insistent that they would not consider a property without parking, but ultimately?  They fell in love with a home without parking, saved money (have you SEEN how much a parking spot costs these days??) and found a way to make it work.  If parking’s important to you too, maybe think about renting a spot nearby if you find a home that ticks everything else on your list.  No storage in your building?  Try a company like Make Space, who are really reasonably priced, will pick up what you want to store and give you one hour’s free delivery per month to pick up or deliver items from your home as your requirements for what you have or want in storage change.  At the end of the day, the more flexible you can be, the more homes you’ll find that could work for you with prices that work for you too.

Another option is to buy a property with income producing possibilities.  A two-family home with a double duplex or duplex plus floor through apartment gives you the option for renting a unit out and while a bank will not necessarily approve you for a mortgage based on the rent you ‘could receive’ (you have to factor in vacancy periods or the possibility of a tenant defaulting on their rent, for instance), a bank may be willing to lend you more which certainly gives you more options.  This can be particularly helpful if you’re looking to buy a cheaper fixer upper as you have the option to move into one of the units while renovating the other, removing the need for remaining in your current home while the renovation takes place and avoiding having to pay two mortgages at once.  That’s just no fun.

4. Don’t Wait For The Market To Bottom Out.

There’s no denying it, the market has been softer this year, with minimal rises in property prices, and in some neighborhoods, median prices seeing decreases of a few percentage points.  Buyers definitely have the upper hand right now, and money is cheap to borrow with interest rates hitting lows not seen for a long time.  So why are they not buying?

Well, some sellers have not quite got the memo about the change in the market and are resolutely continuing to ambitiously overprice their properties, leading to their homes stagnating on the market (and ultimately seeing big price reductions).  This, in some ways, supports the argument that the market may continue to fall, although in reality, properties that are presented well (the current market has zero-tolerance for imperfection) and priced correctly rather than aspirationally, are continuing to sell quickly and often at above asking price.  Yet still, buyers are slow to react and slow to offer.  

What I’m hearing from buyers is that their trepidation on pulling the trigger is being exacerbated by the idea that the market will continue to fall, that recession may be looming (although the idea of a 2008 redo with a housing market crash is repeatedly rejected by many economists and business leaders ) and that therefore,  rather than putting their best foot forward and making an offer, they’re watching the market, trying to anticipate how much lower prices may fall and hoping to avoid paying too much for a property that might be worth less next year.

But here’s the thing.  Let’s say there is a recession.  Well, although this may impact housing prices (and nobody has a crystal ball as to how much), banks are also likely to be less generous with their lending criteria and it may become more difficult to get a loan.  The other thing that buyers aren’t realizing is that there isn’t really a reason to wait.  If you’re worried a property you’re interested in might lose value the longer this market continues, here’s what you do: MAKE A LOWER OFFER.  It’s not rocket science.  And here’s the good news. If a property has been on the market for a while, it’s much more likely that you’ll be able to negotiate a sales price under the asking price, or maybe you’ll be able to have the seller contribute towards or pay transfer taxes or closing costs.  If you don’t ask you won’t know.  But what I will tell you, is that without making an offer, you risk missing out on that home you’re watching, as you’re either going to be pipped to the post by someone who’s not so risk-averse (and has that lower offer accepted), or a timely price reduction by the seller might lead to a bidding war. 

5. Work With A Buyer’s Broker.

First: they’re FREE (their commission is paid by the seller). Second, it’s their job to know the market (including neighborhood and building pricing variations), to anticipate price reductions and therefore identify properties where lower offers might be more acceptable to sellers, to structure and negotiate offers in creative ways to save you as much money as possible and to utilize their contacts within the brokerage community to find homes that might not even be on the market, or which you may not have considered.  

And that’s not all…  Once you do have an accepted offer, they’re there to guide you through due diligence and beyond to closing, making recommendations for attorneys, inspectors, contractors and more.  Find something during an inspection that needs fixing?  Your buyer’s broker can get you estimates for work and renegotiate the sales price, or a closing credit to pay for it. It’s really a no brainer considering their services have already been paid for and they really take the stress out of the whole process.  You’ll especially thank me for this advice if you buy a co-op and realize what an enormous undertaking putting together a board package is (it’s part of your broker’s job to do it, and you’ll be VERY happy about that!).

Ultimately, as I’m sure it’s clear by now if your budget is stretched to find the kind of property you want, or where you want it, something. Has. To give.  But the good news is that in my experience, compromising on something that at first feels essential is often not as painful as you’d expect.  I’ve seen so many of my clients end up in properties they would never have thought they’d consider, in areas they’d never spent any time in prior to beginning their search and you know what?  They’re all really, truly happy. 

And by staying open to possibilities, you might be too.

The Stoop: Call the Broker!

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You know how nerve-wracking it can be to have a baby? Well buying or selling a home can be just as scary.  Putting your signature to a listing agreement or submitting that offer is not unlike seeing that positive pregnancy test. Things get real. Real fast.

Suddenly all those dreams you’ve had over the years about owning a home or starting a family collide with reality. The journey to parenthood or homeownership is not without serious decisions to make or emotional ups and downs, and can sometimes feel pretty exhausting.  

As a former UK based midwife, I’m often asked why I went into real estate. It’s way too long a story to tell here, but what I do always say is that they’re both helping professions and that they actually have more in common than you’d think (although working as an agent is a little less messy!)

Here’s an example. As a midwife, I would always tell my clients to try and relax and enjoy the process. I’d suggest they write their birth plan as specifically as they could so we could go through it and then advise them to ceremoniously burn it. Why? Because nobody can predict what will happen during labor any more than you can predict what will happen during your journey towards buying or selling. All you CAN do is make sure you have a truly wise and supportive advocate in your midwife or doctor, and that that person will do as much as they can to help you achieve your ideal birth.   

As a real estate agent, I do much the same thing when advising my clients. I’ll often ask “If you could wave a magic wand and have this sale or purchase go exactly how you want it to, what would that look like?” Making that happen then becomes my top priority, but sometimes, as illustrated by that burned birth plan I have to prepare my clients for some little bumps in the road.    

So – to prove that being a broker really IS kinda like being a midwife, here are a few examples of the advice I’ve given to those on their way to home ownership or parenthood…

TRYING TO GET PREGNANT VS TRYING TO FIND A HOME

The Midwife’s Advice

Getting pregnant can take time, and that’s totally normal. Try not to get despondent. Failing to see that blue line on the pregnancy test month after month is super frustrating but try to relax and stop thinking about it as much as you can (easier said than done, I know). Enjoy your baby free time by doing things that you may have to put on hold as parents to very young children – a romantic vacation with just the two of you springs to mind. Try for a year (using ovulation predictor sticks might help as can quitting smoking) and then change your approach – it might be time to talk to a fertility doctor.

The Broker’s Advice

Be comfortable with the possibility of looking for a while. It takes 9 months to grow a small human and it may take just as long to find and close on your perfect home. A good buyer’s broker won’t tire of you or your search and will stick by your side. And remember, it’s not you. It’s so much more likely to be a lack of inventory or a competitive market. Believe that your place is out there – my clients have often found their dream home just as they’ve decided to give up their search.

Everyone needs a little love from their midwife or broker. We all need to have our fears understood and appreciated, and when we choose someone to guide us through our journey we’re all looking for a little TLC and encouragement.

MORNING SICKNESS VS ACCEPTED OFFER

The Midwife’s Advice

Morning sickness SUCKS, there are no two ways of saying it.  If you often feel worse first thing in the morning, it may be because your blood sugar is low so it’s a good idea to keep a snack by your bed and eat it before you get up. Ginger biscuits (sorry, cookies!) are perfect for this as ginger is a natural anti-emetic which can really help and the sugar in the cookies will give your blood sugar a lift.

The Broker’s Advice

Once that offer is accepted, however excited you might be it can literally be nauseating as you go through due diligence in your race to sign a contract and secure your deal. Here’s when a great buyer’s broker, inspector and in particular a great real estate attorney come in. It’s their job to guide you through everything, protect your interests and help you make informed decisions. Hopefully, with a great team working on your behalf, you’ll be able to keep your nausea at bay!

YOUR DUE DATE VS YOUR CLOSING DATE

The Midwife’s Advice

A baby will usually come when it’s good and ready so don’t stress if you’re overdue. Remember 37 – 42 weeks is full term (not 37 – 40), you can’t schedule a natural birth and only around 5% of women actually deliver on their due date. Talk to your doctor or midwife about the risk factors for you to go over 40 weeks, but in my experience, healthy, fit and well women with low-risk pregnancies are just fine to wait it out past 41 weeks. Both my babies were over 41 weeks, they were NOT small at 9.5lbs each and they were just fine…

The Broker’s Advice

Understand that closing dates are often scheduled just a week or two before the closing so it’s really hard to plan for them or predict exactly when they’ll be. It’s just part of the process. When submitting your offer, work with your broker to negotiate an ‘on or about date’ for closing, (which gives you 30 days leeway past that date if necessary) and work out a backup plan if you can’t close EXACTLY when you want to.  

That might mean as a seller asking for the option of a post-closing leaseback in your contract (where you can rent the home back from your buyers for a short period until you’re ready to move to your new place), or as a buyer that might mean thinking about extending your lease month-to-month, paying for a few extra weeks rent, or finding temporary accommodation and storing your furniture briefly to bridge the gap between the end of your lease and your move to your new home.  

It’s a royal pain, I know, but a good broker will help with all of this – just another reason to have someone you trust and who will advocate for you and guide you.

LOVE & DISCIPLINE

When I think about the convergence of my two careers, and how midwifery has influenced the way I work as a real estate agent, it comes down to two words: love and discipline.

Everyone needs a little love from their midwife or broker. We all need to have our fears understood and appreciated and when we choose someone to guide us through our journey we’re all looking for a little TLC and encouragement.  

I think that’s why I’ve formed such good relationships with my clients. Because I get that. Because, as a midwife and a broker, I’ve been honored to be with families at some of the most important yet vulnerable moments in their lives.  I know how essential it is to be a calming, supportive and reassuring companion and how taking the best care of my clients is incredibly meaningful, not just financially but emotionally.

And the discipline? Well, giving birth or selling a home isn’t easy. But in the most part, it’s a process that just takes some self-belief and discipline. I have to be super disciplined in doing the best job I can, but so do you.

Whether I’m guiding and encouraging you as you push that baby out or telling you what you’ll need to do to prep your home to sell, if you can trust me and be open to doing what I need you to do – from changing to a new position to push to painting your home prior to photography – if you can really be disciplined despite your doubts and trepidation, then it can be a lot easier than you think.

And on the other side of it all?    

Oh wow, that really is the sweet stuff and it makes EVERYTHING worth it.

Lindsay Owen is a real estate agent with Compass based in the Park Slope office and can be contacted at lindsay.owen@compass.com.

The Stoop: Real Estate Musing From a Park Slope Agent

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Hello Park Slope Readers!  My name’s Lindsay Owen and I’m ridiculously delighted to introduce myself as your brand new columnist on all things real estate!

A long-time Park Slope resident, I moved here from the UK (yep, I’m a bone fide Brit) and made my home here with my young children some 10 years or so ago. I’m also a former midwife having spent a number of years delivering babies at St Thomas’s Hospital across the river from the houses of parliament in London.  Why I changed careers is a LONG story and only one I’m willing to tell over a cup of tea (we Brits literally survive on tea, obvs) but it turns out that it was the best thing ever. I LOVE my job – I get to meet the coolest people, see the most amazing properties and use all those helping skills I honed as a midwife to give my clients just the right dose of TLC at what might be one of the most stressful times of their lives (buying or selling a home can be intense!).  When people ask why I went from being a midwife to being a real estate agent I always say that the jobs are actually not that different.  Lots of cross over skills – being able to establish trust (trust is SO important, whether I’m delivering your baby or negotiating your deal), providing support, caring for people when they’re transitioning and vulnerable.  They’re both what I call ‘helping professions’, one of them just involves a few more bodily fluids!  Bet you can’t guess which…

After living here for a good while now, you may have seen my face around the hood – on the register in the Park Slope Food Coop (I never can do that last make up), picking my kids up from the Children’s School, or running the loop in Prospect Park (alright, that may have been a while ago, I’ve got to get back into that).  So!  If you see me around, say hello, or come see me at my office on second street just off 7th ave, the former Two Boots (man, that was the PLACE to go with young kids back in the day).  I’m always here to help, no question is stupid, no inquiry too small,  think of me as your real estate resource, because honestly, this stuff can get COMPLICATED and I wish I had had someone to explain it all to me when I first moved to the US (it’s SO different back home in England).

Anyway, you can imagine my delight to be given the opportunity to share my musings with you. Starting in this issue I’m looking forward to bringing you what I hope you’ll find really useful advice on the property market and tips on how to navigate the process of buying or selling all sprinkled with a liberal dose of humor (real estate doesn’t have to be boring, y’all!).

So here we go… enjoy!

How a Strategic Summer Can Help You Get Ahead of The Fall Property Market

Summer!  What took you so long?  Is it me or did you take forever to get here this year?  Well, better late than never I suppose, but now you’re here you’ve brought with you a property market, that compared to the supercharged energy of the spring selling season, can only be described as …subdued.

You see it’s not only the increase in sun cream sales and our sudden need to take advantage of the free a/c in Barnes & Noble (the one on 7th Ave is heaven when it’s boiling outside fyi) that heralds summer’s arrival but also the fact that parking spaces, at least in Park Slope are SO much easier to come by.  Why?  Simple.  Once the concrete jungle heats up and and school is out for the summer any Park Slopian with a smidge of common sense will do their damndest to get out of the city.

So, with less buyers pounding the streets to open houses  (and quite frankly who does want to pound the streets when it’s 90 degrees and super humid at 9am?), things. Slow.  Down.  And it’s not just this summer.  Every year we see the same thing. Summer is to the property market as I am to the hundred yard dash.

But!  Before you write off the summer market and put your plans to buy or sell a Park Slope pad on hold, hear me out on how with a little strategic planning,  summer can actually present opportunities you may not have even considered.

If you’re selling your place, summer presents the perfect time to prepare for the coming fall market, which traditionally sees an upswing in sales activity, around the second week of September.

While it’s always been the case that when listing your home for sale it should look as good as possible, it’s never been more true than in the current market. Having fresh cookies baking during your open house to evoke that perfect homey feel for buyers just ‘aint cutting it anymore, people.  Buyers are looking for one thing: perfection, and while there’s no such thing as a 100% perfect property in Park Slope or frankly anywhere in New York City, to sell your home these days you need to get as damn near to perfection as possible.

While Summer might not present the ideal time to buy or sell, using your summer smarts could put your home head and shoulders above the competition.

Summer presents an ideal opportunity to do that as if you start early enough, you’ll have plenty of time to do it right.  Getting your home ready for its close up generally involves decluttering and cleaning, possibly painting and repairs and even staging and landscaping.  When you’ve lived somewhere for a long time it’s easy to lose perspective on what your much-loved home might look like to buyers, so listen to your agent and have a frank conversation about what needs to be done. And don’t take it personally if they give you a laundry list of things you need to do to make you property show ready!  Seriously, you should see my apartment….

The great thing about doing all your prep in summer is that you can schedule most of the cosmetic work required while you’re on vacay (your broker can hold keys for you to give access and act as an informal project manager) or make the most of those summer Fridays to declutter – yeah, not so much fun as a day at the beach, granted, but you’ll be amazed how good a big clear out can feel, and it’ll save you money in moving costs when you finally do move.

It’s also important to remember to maximize your curb appeal and with so many great plants and flowers in bloom (Tarzian always has a great selection) it’s the perfect time to straighten up that front yard and add some color with potted plants to that stoop. If you’re going to be away a lot over the summer and can’t water plants regularly, there are some fabulous fake plants on the market now (try IKEA after a cool down at the Red Hook Pool), which may be a better option for you in case we’re so generously gifted one of those delightful NY heat waves…

One thing I’d also recommend if you think there might be some more major issues that need attending to, is getting a ‘pre-inspection’ inspection.  The majority of buyers will want an inspector to check out your home prior to signing a contract, and may want to negotiate a credit or a lower sales price if they find something that could be costly for them to repair.  If you’re selling an older building, there may well be things that need attention, and getting ahead of the game by having an inspection yourself and identifying an areas of concern gives you plenty of time to rectify them, reducing the chance for any ‘red flags’  and potentially spending less money on your fixes that you might have to credit your buyer at closing.

While you’re obviously going to want to discuss pricing your home with your agent too, I’d advise you not to be too rigid just yet.  It’s more important to reassess the market just before you list as you may find that plenty of similar homes that entered contract in the spring will close over the summer providing you with more ‘comps’ or comparable which will help you and your broker make a more informed decision about your own price point.

As summer gets into full swing however, if you’ve already had your home on the market for a while without having an accepted offer, unless you don’t HAVE to sell as soon as possible,  it’s time to talk to you agent and consider taking you home off the market until September.  With buyers and their agents easily able to see how long a property has been listed for, accruing more and more days on the market over summer without a bite just causes the listing to get stale and more importantly raise a red flag that effectively announces to the world ‘hey! I’ve been on the market for forEVAH and nobody wants to buy me!.’, which translates as – this property is either overpriced, has something wrong with it or both. Cue lowball offers from buyers and inevitable price reductions on your part in order to sell.

Taking your property off the market for a while stops the clock, gives you a well deserved breather from all the showing and open houses and allows for a relaunch a few months down the line. And if you avoided doing the kind of prep I’ve discussed earlier and are now thinking it’s something that in retrospect could have attracted more buyers, now’s the time to do it and if it really does make a huge difference, consider having new photos taken ready for you fabulous fall return.

Ok sellers, so you know what to do, right?

So, what does summer mean for buyers? 

Well just because it’s a softer market there are always going to be owners that HAVE to sell and if you’re willing to take yourself on a sweltering Sunday tour of open houses, you may well find yourself a bargain, especially with less competition (more parking spaces, remember?) and sellers who may be willing to take less if their listing has gone stale as we discussed previously.

Before you do anything, however, make sure you’re pre-approved for a mortgage (if you’re financing). Talk to a couple of banks and work out what you can really afford vs what you think you can afford and a monthly payment you can live with.  So many people aren’t aware of addition costs to buy a home: closing cost, post-closing liquidity requirements, home insurance.  You HAVE to factor all that stuff in and it’s really important to get to grips with that upfront.

If you don’t find the home of your dreams over the summer don’t let it get you down.

I also recommend, if you’re a couple, sitting down and working out what your individual deal breakers are – the things you can’t live without in a home and get on board with each other in what you’re both looking for.  Seriously, doing this upfront can avoid lots of unnecessary spats down the line.

If you don’t find the home of your dreams over the summer don’t let it get you down, it’s still a great time to get ahead of the fall market where more inventory will appear and you may be more likely to find a place you love.  

Ask your broker and friends for recommendations for an attorney and if you’re looking for a co-op, where you’re going to have to put together a board package as part of the purchase process, now’s the time to start getting your financial documents together – you likely to need to show, at a bare minimum,  at least 6 months (sometimes a year or more) of bank and brokerage statements, the last couple of years tax returns and personal and professional references for each purchaser (yep, it can be a headache).  These things can take a lot of time to get together so it’s time to start digging them out so you’re ready to go should you have an offer accepted, and don’t worry too much, your brokers job is to guide you through the process and put the package together for you.

So!  While summer might not present the ideal time to buy or sell, using your summer smarts could put your home head and shoulders above the competition or find you first out of the gate and super prepared when it comes to finding a property, once the fall market hits. Plus – YAY PARKING SPACES!!!!

In the meantime, it’s wonderful to meet you. Have a fantastic summer, and I’ll see you in the fall!

Picture This: Our Conversation with Rooftop Films Creative Director Dan Nuxoll

By Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

You’re sitting on a rooftop in downtown Manhattan with around 200 other people. It’s an early evening in June and a warm summer breeze is blowing as the sun starts to set. The sky around you transforms from blue to every color of pink you can imagine framing your 360 degree view of the city in unspeakable beauty. The excitement is palpable as the audience waits for the evening’s entertainment to commence– in this case, a very fine (and very funny) documentary about the musician José Gonzáles.

As the sun makes its final farewell and day turns into night, Jose himself makes an appearance and treats you and your movie going companions to a live acoustic performance of his ethereal, hypnotic songs. You feel like you’re one of the lucky ones. That you’re in the know. That while it’s business as usual on the streets far below you, while people pass the building you sit atop, oblivious to this secretive spectacle above them , you’re one of the privileged few.

That was my first experience of a Rooftop Films screening, which I attended back in 2012. This gem of a film festival, now in its 20th year, has grown bigger and better with every summer season.

Dan Nixon, Creative Director of Rooftop Films

At the center of Rooftop Film’s vision is its artistic director, Dan Nuxoll. A film director, producer, composer, and Brooklyn local, Dan is responsible for curating each year’s cinematic program from the over 3,000 submissions the festival now receives annually. Currently co-directing a new documentary feature film, Dan was recently included in Brooklyn Magazine’s list of The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture.

So, for everything you never knew you wanted to know about Rooftop Films, here’s Dan Nuxoll himself, who took some time out to answer my questions about Rooftop Film’s origins, where it’s headed next, and what you can expect from this year’s festival.

 

Hey Dan. Now, for those unfamiliar with RTF, can you encapsulate the festival and its vibe in a few sentences?

Sure! Rooftop is a not-for-profit film organization founded in 1997. We do a lot of different things in the independent film world, including giving out grants and renting and donating equipment to other organizations to help them put on their own screenings, but the thing we are best known for is the Rooftop Films Summer Series. The Summer Series is in many ways a summer-long film festival: We screen more than 35 new, independent, and foreign feature films from all over the world, as well as more than 100 new short films. All of our summer events take place in scenic outdoor locations (often, though not always, on rooftops), and we always include special enhancements to our events, including live music performances before all of our screenings, Q and A’s with filmmakers after the screenings, and after parties following most of our ticketed events.

The origins of RTF, much like those of the Moth, are the stuff of legend; the festival almost seems to have begun by happy accident. Can you describe how RTF came to be?

Yeah, it is true that we definitely did not originally intend to build an entire film organization that would still be around 20 years later. The very first screening was pretty much organized as a one-man-operation by Mark Elijah Rosenberg. He and I went to Vassar together and it was his idea to show movies on rooftops. Back then he mostly just wanted to show some new short films by himself and some filmmakers he admired, but being just 21 years old and fresh out of college, there wasn’t any money to rent a theater. He did, however, have access to a small rooftop above his apartment building in the East Village, so he lugged a 16mm projector up to the roof and hooked it up to his brother’s punk band’s PA system and invited anyone he could to come drink some beers and watch some movies.

The evening turned out great and the next year he wanted to do it again, but his landlord definitely wasn’t going to let him use that roof again. But along with some friends from high school, I had renovated a gigantic 10,000 square foot warehouse space in the as-yet ungentrified neighborhood of Bushwick in what would eventually come to be known as the McKibbin St. Lofts. We had a huge indoor space and an even bigger rooftop, so we built a screen on the roof and started doing shows there. That’s where we were based for the next five years until I moved out of that building.

We kept expanding our activities, going from one to four to eight to sixteen screenings a year, and at that point it had become too much work to remain a hobby. We incorporated as a non-profit, moved our offices into the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, and continued to expand. So, it wasn’t by any means an overnight success, but we certainly have become a much more substantial organization than we had originally intended to be.

At what point over the last 20 years of the program did you realize that the festival had become something important for NY moviegoers?

Hmm. I am not sure that there was any single moment in time. But there were certainly some moments along the way. Eventually our shows started to become very, very large, and that certainly made an impression on us. I remember in 2008 we presented the premiere of this fantastic documentary about the LES photographer Clayton Patterson and more than 1,100 people showed up, including Ed Koch (despite the fact that he was not favorably portrayed in the film). That certainly made an impression.

And there were many other highlights: screening Trouble the Water in Harlem Meer, giving a grant to help get Beasts of the Southern Wild made, and just generally seeing so many of the young NYC filmmakers that we had championed succeed, people like Lena Dunham, Benh Zeitlin, and Casey Neistat. With each new talent taking the step to the next level we are reminded that organizations like our own play an important role in the creative life of the city.

What do you think attracts movie fans to the festival?

Well, it’s a number of things. I think, perhaps most importantly, we prioritize the films and the audience experience and don’t get distracted by the other elements that some other festivals are distracted by. We are always focused on creating events that are fun, interesting, engaging, interactive, and unique, and we try to create as many incentives as possible for audience members to come out to our shows. Of course we work very, very hard on our film programming—we watch more than 3,500 films every year and we only show 3% of them, so the films we are presenting are definitely very thoroughly vetted. But, in addition to that, we have a fantastic music programmer who finds great emerging artists to perform before the films. We have free drinks after most of our screenings. And the venues are beautiful, interesting places that would be fun places to hang out at even if nothing was going on. I think our film curation is excellent, but often people show up not knowing much about what they are going to see that night, and that’s great. We want to draw people in to discover something new and unexpected.

Can you describe the process of selecting movies for the program? What’s your main priority when putting together the schedule for each season?

Rooftop has a pretty big team of people who watch the films. We receive thousands of blind submissions each year and also attend festivals like Sundance, IDFA, SXSW, and Toronto to track down others. We also request a lot of films from filmmakers and producers that we have heard good things about. We have a screening committee of about thirty paid people and have three full-time employees who also work on programming (including myself). We sift through all those movies and choose the films we think will work best for us.

The first most important criteria are that the films are new, independent, or foreign, and that we think they are great. We are particularly interested in films that are innovative and come from a fresh perspective. Luckily, we have a young and adventurous audience that is excited when we take chances, so we don’t have many creative restrictions on our programming. Our audience is willing to come out for even experimental films by unknown filmmakers because they trust us—which makes our jobs a lot easier.

But the one thing that differentiates us quite a bit from other festivals is that we are more event-based, so we do take things into account that other festivals might not. For instance, if there is a film that could involve an exciting performance component, then we are more likely to show that film than a film that doesn’t. For this reason we show more music-based films than your average festival, and those events are usually pretty special—we’ve shown documentaries accompanied by performances by rapper Danny Brown, singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez, and many, many others. We also take into account venue; if there is a movie that works particularly well at one of our venues, then we are more likely to lock that film in. And sometimes we take our show on the road to create something special, like when we showed Beasts of the Southern Wild in the bayou in Louisiana.

Brookfield Place – Credit Darial Sneed

You’ve expanded the number of screening locations over the years. What’s precipitated that and how do you chose new venues?

We do about 45-60 big screenings a year at this point, starting in May and wrapping up in September—usually about 3 or 4 screenings a week. We expanded to that number mostly because that was the number that seemed to work. Setting up a large outdoor screening takes a LOT of work and preparation, so we don’t want to put together a full screening unless we really think that the event will be special. The last several years we have felt that if we did fewer screenings than that we would be rejecting a lot of films that we very much love, but, if we did many more screenings than that, we felt that the quality of the films and the quality of our presentation suffered a bit. So 45-50 shows seems like the right number.

RTF now offers grants to moviemakers to fund the making of independent movies. When did offering grants become an important goal for the RTF?

In our early years we wanted to do whatever we could to support the filmmakers who had been kind enough to screen with us, but back then we really had no money whatsoever. So we decided to raise our ticket price by 1 dollar (from $5 to $6!) and we were going to put all those extra $1 bills into a fund to give out grants to short filmmakers whose work we had shown to help them a little bit down the line. Over time that fund expanded as we grew as an organization and we also started to bring in sponsors who were excited to support the filmmakers as well. We get cash sponsorships for our fund from various supporters like GarboNYC, and we also are able to award some really generous service grants like lighting equipment form Eastern Effects (who are right in the neighborhood), camera packages from Technological Cinevideo Services, visual effects from Edgeworx, and publicity grants from Brigade Marketing.

Our rationale for giving out grants was that we could get more support and do more good by putting resources towards 10 or 15 grants than if we split it up between everyone, and we think that has worked out pretty well.

Which RTF funded movies are you most proud of?

There are a lot! This year our grantees had a great deal of success, so we are feeling pretty lucky. Kitty Green’s film Casting JonBenet premiered at Sundance and just recently made a sensation when it premiered on Netflix. Joshua Z Weinstein’s Menashe turned out even better than we had hoped and A24 will be distributing it in theaters this summer. Ana Lily Amirpour’s film The Bad Batch blew up at Toronto and will be released by Neon this summer as well. Rachel Israel’s Keep the Change just won best fiction film and best new director at Tribeca. So those all came out pretty well. But there have been many other fantastic films over the years, including some I mentioned earlier as well as Martha Marcy May Marlene, Obvious Child, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and too many others to list here.

Can you describe the average RTF movie goer?

Well, we move around to about 15 different venues all across the city, so the average attendee varies a bit from one location to the next. But generally speaking our attendees tend to be on the young side, relative to other film organizations. The majority are in the 15-40 age range, and most are pretty culturally savvy—not necessarily cinephiles, per se, but certainly people who are interested and invested in film, culture, music and the arts in general. They are also an adventurous bunch, and many people come out to shows just to see different corners of the city.

What are you most excited about for this year’s festival?

I am really quite thrilled with our program this year. Frankly, we have been able to get just about all the movies that I most loved this year. But some of my favorites coming up are Dave McCary’s hilarious comedy Brigsby Bear, Ana Lily Amirpour’s aforementioned The Bad Batch, Jeff Unay’s beautiful documentary The Cage Figher, Josh Weinstein’s Menashe, Amman Abassi’s heartbreaking Dayveon, and a bunch of great documentaries, especially Liberation Day, The Challenge, the Sundance-winning Dina, and my very favorite doc of the year, The Work. But come on out to everything. I promise you there are no duds this year.

Where next for RTF? How do you hope the festival will continue to grow and evolve?

Well, the three things we would most like to do are:

1. Establish a permanent or semi-permanent home at one venue with a Rooftop. We will always move around to different locations, but none of our current locations are really completely our own, so it would be great to get a long-term commitment from a place with a great roof.

2 Expand our programming in less well-off NYC communities. We already do screenings in communities that are less culturally well-served, but we would love to get the funding to do more screenings in such neighborhoods. I would love it if we could help local young people to build their own local screening series.

3 Expand our screenings in other cities. We have done dozens of screenings outside New York, but we have never set up a full series in another town. I think that there are a lot of cities that would really benefit from what we do, so hopefully we are able to get a few more series up and running soon.

Are there any established directors you’d like to include in the festival?

Well, not really. Our focus has always been and always will be on discovering new talent, so the filmmakers I want to bring to the Summer Series probably haven’t completed their first feature film yet. It’s fun when we are able to present work by more established directors that I admire, but it will always be much more exciting to us to present work by filmmakers that no one has heard of yet. It’s our job to make sure that people hear about them in the future. I hope that never changes.