7 House-Hunting Tips From NY's Top Real Estate Trio
By NATASHA SINGH
When it comes to selling New York City’s most exclusive properties, Michele Kleier and her daughters Sabrina and Samantha, have taken high-end to the next level.
The mother-daughter realtor trio star on the HGTV reality show “Selling New York” and have a slew of celebrity clients — Amy Poehler, Billy Joel, Barbara Streisand, John Travolta and Al Pacino to name a few.
It took years for mom Michele Kleier to climb the real estate ladder and become a major player in the high-end market, a journey that informed the new book, “ Hot Property.” The novel follows three leading ladies of Manhattan real estate and gives readers a glimpse inside one of the most glamorous, but also most competitive and most expensive real estate markets in the world.
“Good Morning America’s” Bianna Golodryga spent the day with Kleiers as they showed some of New York City’s hottest properties, ranging from $4 to $24 million. (Yes, $24 million).
From a jaw-dropping apartment with surreal views in the famed Time Warner building, where celebs like Robin Williams, Jay Z, and Kelly Ripa all boast homes, to the cool Soho Mews building downtown, where Justin Timberlake has taken over the penthouse, the apartments they sell are ones you can only dream of owning.
The penthouse apartment in the landmark Clock Tower Building in Brooklyn, N.Y., is on sale for $23.5 million.
But these real estate titans went back to the basics, sharing some of their house hunting tips for everyday buyers to make sure you get the most bang for your buck. Check out the Kleiers’ top seven tips below.
1. “Location, location, location” is a real estate cliché for a reason. It matters. Do you like the neighborhood? Does it have the amenities you want? Good schools? A convenient commute to work? Even the best apartment in a not-so-great neighborhood may not make you happy.
2. Not all square footage is created equal. Layouts can differ tremendously from apartment to apartment. Don’t pass by an apartment listing based on square footage alone. There may be a lot of square footage wasted, sometimes in long hallways (unless you are like one of our clients in our book, “Hot Property” and love hallways).
3. Look down the line. Don’t just think about what you need now; think about what you’ll need a few years from now. An extra bedroom or office is ideal to accommodate visitors as well as any new additions to the family.
4. Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s easy to get seduced by the bells and whistles of an apartment, but the most important things to consider are an apartment’s bones. You can rip up a carpet or redo a kitchen, but you can’t add more windows for a better view. Make sure you start with a good skeleton.
5. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. You may get lucky and fall in love on the first date, or you may have to look at a large number of apartments to find the right one. Carve out plenty of time for it and know that you may have to accommodate particular day and time restrictions on when apartments can be viewed.
6. Trust your instincts. There’s nothing worse than trying to cram your foot into a shoe that just doesn’t fit right. The same thing goes for apartments. Don’t doubt yourself; you’ll know when it’s not the right fit. Move on to the next.
7. Be realistic. Of course, you want to find the apartment of your dreams. But be sure to keep an open mind. In a tough real estate market, almost perfect and still-in-your-budget is still a big success. Compromise sometimes turns out to be perfection.
