A dilemma that I am sure many people would want~

In 1996, when I was single, I bought my first apartment on the UWS.

My girlfriend (Now my wife) moved in with me in 2000 and the neighbors in the apartment below us, both passed away within 6 months of each other. We realized that we had the opportunity of a lifetime to purchase the two bedroom unit and combine both apartments.

The project was not cheap, but we know have a lovely duplex on the Upper West Side.

As I look back now, we were lucky. There is no way right now that we could afford to buy the same sized unit, with what we earn per year.

If we were to sell our apartment and move downtown, to a new development or a comparable apartment, we would easily get 30% less space for the same price of our Upper West Side apartment.

So what would we do if we needed more room or wanted to liquidate our investment (Our Home) without downsizing or opting for a rental?

One choice would be to move to Westchester……the market there has not caught up with Manhattan prices, so it would be a win win for us. Sell in today’s market in NYC, where inventory is at its lowest level in years and move to a town in Westchester with great schools and be able to get a lot of square feet at a lower per square foot price.

I would like to invite you to a great event this Wednesday at the JCC on the Upper West Side, starting at 6:30pm:

There will be several real estate agents speaking about moving to “The Burbs” full time or

second home ownership in Westchester or The Hamptons, including myself.

 There will be top agents from many of the towns in Westchester where New Yorkers tend to consider buying a home.

Just a few of the towns featured will be Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Armonk, Bedford, Rye, Larchmont.  They will offer helpful information about their communities like commute times, average home prices, real estate taxes, schools and lots more.  I am finding that many New Yorkers are also buying in the Hamptons as full or part-time residences.

A top broker from the Hamptons will also be there offering information on their different communities as well.

Please email me to register: pzweben@elliman.com

173-175 Riverside Drive, 5E - Upper West Side

Brand new gigantic 1 bedroom apartment, facing Riverside Park~ $1,199,000

SERENE DIRECT PARK VIEWS! This one-of-a-kind home is a luxuriously large One-Bedroom, One-Bath apartment with direct Western views of Riverside Park and peeks of the River. This home is ideal for the sophisticated buyer searching for a peaceful retreat from city life, without leaving Manhattan. Each room boasts grand proportions and the open floor plan allows for many possibilities. The kitchen and bath are in good original condition and are ready for you to make them your own. 173-175 Riverside Drive is a much sought-after, white glove Cooperative with 24-Hour doorman, excellent live-in Super, Private Storage, complimentary Bike Storage, gym, and play room. 5E is located at the 90th Street entrance across from the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial and Hippo Park, and moments away from public transportation and all amenities of the vibrant Upper West Side. Pets are welcome!

http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/173-175-riverside-drive-unit-5e-manhattan-lbditap

When people I do business with communicate with me and are polite, it makes me want to work with them so much more than people who are rude.

The rude ones? Well it is tough for me to deal with them.

Now that email and texts have turned into the most popular form of communication and our lives are joined at the hip, most of us feel overwhelmed by the amount of emails we get every day+ texts+ social media messages; it could make anyone lose it from time to time.

I get about 200 emails a day and it is a bit overwhelming.

Many of the emails I get start like this, with no greeting whatsoever-

Is this available?

Can you show?

Do you have offers?

Email me……..

Maybe I am just a sensitive guy, but it takes about 3 extra seconds to be polite in an email…..like this.

Hi Paul,

Hope all is well.

Can I show 175 Riverside drive #5E tomorrow at 10:30 am?

Customers name- Santa Claus

My cell 917.653.5749

Have a great day!

Tony Soprano

So here are some nice additions for you to add to your communications:

Please….

Hi…..

Thank you…..

How are you?

I hope you are well…..

I appreciate your help…..

The moral of the story is……..life is too short to be rude…..

Being polite is a nice thing!

ABBEY CONDOMINIUM, 205 East 16th Street, 6B - Gramercy - Union Square

Investment Only-

Tenant in Place-

$1,750,000

Come home to this truly special Gramercy residence in the Abbey Condominium, a boutique, luxury building converted from part of St. George's Church originally built in the 19th Century. This striking one-of-a-kind duplex home is a luxuriously spacious 1+ Bedroom home with 2 Full Baths and a spectacular private roof terrace with quintessential city views, including the Empire State Building. A perfect combination of modern comforts & design paired with elegant original ecclesiastical details creates a beautiful and comfortable home that is anything but cookie-cutter. The large eat-in-kitchen is open to the south-facing living room and boasts professional stainless steel appliances including a 6-burner Viking Range, 64 Bottle wine fridge, excellent storage, and marble counters. Your friends will love coming over for your summer dinner parties out on your large private terrace with romantic city views. Central A/C, Washer/Dryer, skylights, 2 large updated baths, a bonus lofted area ideal for a home-office, nursery, or quiet reading area on the second floor make this apartment a special and rarely available gem you won't want to miss!

 http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/abbey-condominium-205-east-16-street-unit-6b-manhattan-cibloev

173-175 Tenants Corp., 173-175 Riverside Drive, 10K - Upper West Side

$1,350,000

Our first open house is this Sunday, December 2^nd from

12pm-1:30pm

If you cannot make it on Sunday, please email me for a private appointment:

pzweben@elliman.com

Create your dream home in this sunny and spacious Edwardian Five apartment with open southern and eastern city views. A gracious entry foyer leads to the grandly proportioned living room and formal dining room that could easily be converted into a large second bedroom. Charming prewar details abound including hardwood floors, original moldings, elegant French doors and high ceilings. This apartment is in estate condition but has been lovingly refreshed with elegant new lighting fixtures, a crisp paint job and the windowed kitchen has been cleared out and made into a blank slate ready for its new owners to build a customized chef's kitchen with the possibility of a dining area in the former staff room. The spacious layout allows for a variety of 2-Bedroom options and the 1 1/2 baths could be converted to 2 full baths. Don't miss this special opportunity to own a home with beautiful light, open views, and plenty of charm in one of the most coveted white glove cooperatives on Riverside Drive. 173-175 Riverside drive is a full service neo-Gothic building built in 1925 and features a 24-hour doorman, live-in Super, Exercise room, Playroom, Bike Room, Private Storage, and Central Laundry.

http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/173-175-riverside-drive-unit-10k-manhattan-medvlmt

CHARMING AND AFFORDABLE 2 BEDROOM 2 BATH PARK BLOCK HOME!

Don't miss out on this special 3rd floor townhouse apartment with plenty of charm and potential to be a truly stunning home. Just 2 flights up in this prewar home, you'll find cozy original details including lofty 10'6" ceilings, exposed brick, beamed living room ceiling, and a working wood-burning fireplace! In the perfect melding of "old and new," this sunny apartment also features the modern comforts we also desire, such as open kitchen with stainless steel appliances, including Frigidaire refrigerator and dishwasher, thru-the-wall A/C, recessed lighting, and your own full-sized stacked Washer and Dryer. 36 West 96th Street is a friendly townhouse cooperative built in approximately 1910 and boasts a peaceful common roof deck and is ideally located half a block from Central Park, public transportation and moments away from top retail stores at Columbus Square including Whole Foods, Sephora, Crumbs Bakery and many others.

Please email me for a private showing: pzweben@elliman.com

http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/36-west-96-street-unit-6-manhattan-uqkqxyk

160 Riverside drive #4C- Classic 6

$1,695,000

Move right into this gracious Classic 6 home in Excellent Condition with bright, south-facing treetop views onto quiet West 88th Street. This elegant home boasts the best of both worlds showcasing charming prewar details with beautiful hardwood floors, high ceilings, original moldings and French doors along with all modern comforts including your own Washer/Dryer. The spacious and renovated kitchen features granite counters, stainless steel appliances, including Viking Range and Bosch Dishwasher, excellent storage and has been opened up into the former staff quarters to create a large eat-in-kitchen with charming breakfast area. Adjacent to the kitchen is the Formal Dining Room, offering buyers a flexible layout that could be transformed into a comfortable 3 Bedroom home. Both king-sized bedrooms are sunny and serene and both Full Baths are nicely updated with neutral white porcelain tiles and granite vanities. 160 Riverside Drive is a Coveted Full-Service Cooperative built in c.1929 and offers residents white glove service including 24-Hour doorman, Private Storage Bins, Bike Storage and Live-In Super all located on idyllic Riverside Drive, 1 Block from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, moments away from Hippo Park, public transportation and all area amenities. Pets are welcome!

Please email me to schedule: pzweben@elliman.com

44 West 65th Street, 1FR - Lincoln Square

BROWNSTONE LIVING AT ITS BEST! Don't miss out on this incredible deal for the savvy buyer looking for room to spread out with 2 full floors of a brownstone, meticulously renovated with your own private, decked, south-facing garden on a coveted park block. Move right in and enjoy the beautiful open garden level consisting of living room, beautiful renovated kitchen with granite counters, subway tile backsplash, and refurbished charming antique range, 2 Woodburning Fireplaces, and spacious Dining Room which leads to the peaceful garden. The sub-level floor is a flexible space that gives you many opportunities. Each floor has a tastefully renovated full bath. This special and unique home is truly too good to pass up.

FIRST OPEN HO-- -- USE THIS SUNDAY, 10/21 FROM 11:30AM-1PM

http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/44-west-65-street-unit-1fr-manhattan-eggztfq

If you cannot make the open house, please email me for a private appointment-

pzweben@elliman.com

As always, we will be serving Veuve Champagne~

You get what you pay for!

Anyone looking for an apartment right now (Fall 2012) in New York City knows that the market is tight, inventory is low and you need to have your agent monitor every search engine in order to dig up that needle in a haystack.

I am working with many buyers right now (and sellers) and every morning, I check multiple search engines to see if anything new and delicious has come on or are about to come on.

Because of my strong relationships with many of professional agents in the city, many times I get a whisper that they are getting something new and we will be the 1^st ones to see the apartment.

Last week I nearly struck gold. I found a combination 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment on the upper west side for under a million dollars. My buyer was drooling, but there had to be a catch.

Well there certainly was which leads me to the first sentence of my blog post, “You get what you pay for.”

The seller hired a discount broker to sell his apartment and it was clear for the following reasons:

• The apartment was in complete disarray and it was clear that the “Discount Broker” did not bring in his or her stager to get the apartment ready to show at its highest level. (by doing this, the seller is leaving money on the table)
• The owner was in the house during the appointment in sweat pants and a sweatshirt, watching the Jets game…..who does that?
• The show sheets looked like they had been printed on tissue paper.
• The agent didn’t really look like he wanted to be there, but he was also enjoying the jets game.

The bottom line is that if you need cosmetic surgery, do you fly to Central America for a deep discount, later to realize you nose is now part of your chest? When you need major dental work done, do you find the dentist that charges you $50 for the whole procedure???? NO, you don’t.

 Don’t be that seller!!!

You hire professionals to sell one of your most valuable assets  and I know that quality agents make a lot of money…..But remember, you get what you pay for.

Email me if you need our help…

pzweben@elliman.com