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HOW DOES MAMDANI WANT TO CLOSE THE BUDGET DEFICIT? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
By raising taxes. There is a looming $5.4 billion budget deficit, and Mamdani is proposing a 2% income tax increase on New Yorkers earning over $1 million per year to balance the budget. It is being positioned as the fairest and most targeted m...
IS REAL ESTATE ROMANTIC? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
It certainly can be with the right elements and attributes (not too dissimilar from people). Valentine’s Day tends to revolve around couples, flowers, chocolates, prix fixe menus, and the scramble for a last-minute reservation. Like many, I a...
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO RENOVATE THIS APARTMENT? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
This is one of the more common questions I receive from clients who are considering properties that need work. It is an extremely broad question and difficult to answer in a general manner. Are you looking to do what I refer to as a “surgical...
HOW IS AI AFFECTING RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE?| MJF Weekly Newsletter
If you had asked me even two years ago whether artificial intelligence would meaningfully change how we run our business, my reaction would have been skeptical. Out of the gate, I can be quite cynical when it comes to new technologies and how t...
DO BUYERS REALLY NEED THEIR OWN REAL ESTATE AGENT? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
It’s a fair question and one I hear more often than you might think especially given the fact that approximately 95% of transactions in New York involve two brokers, one for each party. However, between the abundance of online information, bu...
DID COMPASS JUST BECOME THE LARGEST LUXURY REAL ESTATE HOLDING COMPANY? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
Yes indeed! Compass just completed its acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate on January 9, many months earlier than expected. The $1.6B all-stock merger resulted in the largest residential brokerage in the U.S. by agent count and transaction volu...
HOW IS THE NEW YORK REAL ESTATE MARKET? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
Things are looking good! There was a great deal of lamenting in the New York real estate industry that a Mamdani win would spur an exodus of wealthy New Yorkers, but this has not materialized. Sales volume really picked up speed after the elect...
WHAT IS MORE BELIEVABLE, PESSIMISM OR OPTIMISM? | MJF Weekly Newsletter
Pessimism! Especially if you ask Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money, which I just finished reading over the holidays. This is not a traditional personal finance book. There are no spreadsheets, no formulas promising outsized retur...