Product Description

A must-read for anyone thinking of buying or selling an apartment in New York City, The Ultimate Guide is clear, concise and packed with authoritative industry-insider information. The product of Bellmarc Principal Neil Binder's 26+ years of experience in New York residential real estate, the guide walks buyers, sellers and real estate brokers through the entire sales process. The third edition is newly updated for 2005! BUS054000

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #543345 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 249 pages

Review
"This is the best real estate book I've ever read. I'm recommending it as a "must" to all my students." -- Esther Mueller, Real Estate School of New York founder., Feb. 2001

This readable, informative handbook is a crash course in the essentials of buying or selling in New York. -- New York Living Magazine , March 2001

About the Author
NEIL BINDER

A native of New York City, Neil Binder is a 1976 Honors graduate of Syracuse University and holds a Master of Business Administration degree specializing in the field of Finance from New York University. In 1979 he co-founded the Bellmarc Companies and has continued in the capacity of Principal and Co-owner since that time. Bellmarc is known in the industry for its extensive training program, which was developed by Mr. Binder. Currently, the company is one of New York City’s largest residential brokerage firms with seven offices and over 250 full time sales associates. He is licensed in the State of New York as a real estate broker, mortgage broker, insurance broker and certified public accountant. Mr. Binder lives in Manhattan and is married with two daughters. He is currently working on his second book entitled “The Art of Selling: A Scientific Approach.”

Customer Reviews

Good primer on the high-level process
The pros:
- This book describes the high-level buying process for condos and co-ops.
- Gives good overview of closing costs.

The cons:
- I later found almost all of the information I used in this book on-line.
- Advice is mostly high-level and generic. This info is still useful, however, if you're completely new (as I was) to the New York market.
- No advice on how to find recent comparable condo/co-op sale info in New York.
- Little to no advice on the negotiating process.
- The chapter on how to decide if it's better to rent or buy is completely stacked in favor of buying. For example, the author fails to mention the 6% broker's fee you're going to incur when you sell your place (unless you choose to sell it on your own). He also fails to compare buying a house (which he correctly notes is a highly leveraged investment) to the returns of similarly risky and leveraged investments in other assets (e.g. stock portfolios bought on margin). He also fails to mention how much money you're likely to have to spend updating and upgrading your home to be able to sell it for a price you're happy with.
- Much less advice regarding selling than buying (silver lining: knowing some of the advice the author gives to sellers - e.g. how to sell a dark apartment - can be useful to buyers as well)

The Book I Always Recommend To Friends
This book is short and to the point. If you learn and understand what's in here, you'll know more than 90% of the real estate brokers out there!

Walks you through the basics of the process, each step of the way.