Mirador's Eydie Saleh Featured in amNewYork on Virtual Reality Real Estate Tours

PC: Justin Sullivan

House hunters can now tour units through virtual reality. Many brokerages are allowing clients to use 3D video tours to view properties. This technology is ideal for showing units to international buyers or for showing unfinished properties. Clients can take virtual reality tours through online presentations, smartphone apps, or by wearing headgear for a full 360-degree view.

Mirador's Licensed Real Estate's Salesperson, Eydie Saleh, is featured in amNewYork commenting on the how economical the technology is. "It saves an enormous amount of money - like hundreds of thousands," she says. She encourages developers to view the virtual reality tours as a primary marketing tool instead of just a bonus tactic in real estate.

Read more of Eydie's insight on this new technology here. 

Mirador's Racquel Popovic Featured in Nationally Syndicated Real Estate Column on Gen Xers in the Market

While millennials have often been the ones making headlines, Gen Xers (born between mid-1960s to early 1980s) have recently made some real estate news of their own. According to a National Association of Realtors study, Gen X increased their purchase activity by 28 percent in the year ending in June 2016. 

Mirador licensed real estate salesperson Racquel Popovic understands the drivers for this increase. "Consider what life stage many Gen X individuals are in right now,” she said. “Many are thinking about retirement and moving in or out of big cities, and their children are now the ones requiring larger homes for expanding families. Many in this generation trust property over other investments and prefer the stability of the real estate market rather than gamble with stocks or other uncertain assets.”

Read full article here.

Mirador New Hires Alexis Bogen and Angela Buglisi featured in Real Estate Weekly

Mirador's new hires Alexis Bogen for Leasing Manager of Lower Manhattan and Angela Buglisi for Luxury Market Manager were featured in Real Estate Weekly. Alexis, has 16 years of real estate experience as both an agent and a broker/manager. Angela has over 14 years of real estate experience and will be working to increase Mirador's presence in luxury sales.

New Hires for Mirador Featured in Mann Report

New hires for Mirador, including Christine DeFrancesco, Rafal Zbrzezny and Kireolos Zakhary, were featured in the June/July issue of the Mann Report. With 15 years of experience in real estate, Christine will be joining us at a leasing manager. Rafal and Kireolos have joined us as leasing agents, with nine and 14 years experience respectively. Read the full article here.

Mirador’s Jessica Milton Featured in DNAInfo on Mass Transit Issues Affecting Real Estate

With the L train shutdown on the horizon, brokers are finding it more difficult to rent apartments in the Brooklyn area. Mirador Real Estate broker Jessica Milton says “A lot of people have been concerned and reluctant to move off of the L train,” To make up for this, landlords have to compensate by giving a free month’s rent or accepting renters with credit issues.

Residents are also looking at alternatives to NYC, In Jessica’s experience. “I have a few artist friends who are giving up and moving out of the city and can’t handle it anymore. They’re going upstate. A lot of people are looking at Kingston because they have artist-subsidized lofts up there,” she says.

Read the full article here.

Mirador Featured in Real Estate Weekly for Hiring New Leasing Manager

Mirador is excited to welcome Christine Henriquez to the team as the Leasing Manager for Midtown East. With over 15 years of management experience in real estate, she will oversee agents and on-site operations at the New York Tower on 39th street.

Mirador also welcomed two new agents, Rafal Zbrzezny and Kireolos Zakhary who have been in the industry for over 10 years. Read more about our new team members here.

Buying in a Building with a Pool: Mirador’s Kireolos Zakhary Gives Expert Advice in Brick Underground

A common dilemma facing house hunters in New York City is whether or not to buy in a building with a pool, and how much this amenity will add to costs. Mirador Real Estate’s Kireolos Zakhary tells Brick Underground that the pool itself does not add dramatic increases to overall prices. “The pool is just one of the many amenities. The value of the unit is determined with everything else – not only the pool,” Zakhary explains.

However, since buildings with pools usually offer a bundle of other luxurious amenities, the prices of units with pools tend to be naturally higher than those that do not. Buildings with pools are also more common in expensive areas such as “neighborhoods with higher concentrations of new developments or condo conversions,” Zakhary notes, like Tribeca, Chelsea, and the Upper West Side.

 For more advice and to view listings for units with pools, read the full article here.

Common Questions Not to Ask Your Broker, Mirador’s Jessica Milton Featured in Brick Underground

Brick Underground recently polled prominent brokers to find out “the most outlandish requests new NYC renters make.” Those new to the city often have unrealistic expectations of the real estate market, the agents say, such as hopes of fitting a king-size bed into a tiny apartment, or getting a pad with a private outdoor space.

One of the featured brokers is Mirador Real Estate’s Jessica Milton. She says the most common unrealistic question she hears from renters is whether they can use their roommate’s guarantor as their own. “Leases cannot be guaranteed in part,” she tells Brick Underground. “If you all don’t make 40 times the rent combined, then you all need a guarantor(s) who earn 80 times.”

Jessica also notes, “This year, a lot of first-time apartment shoppers seem to be looking to move in and then think they can just sublet for the summer and move back in come September. While this is possible, it’s not practical and most landlords will not allow this.”

Read the full article here.

Immigration Uncertainties Impact Real Estate, Mirador Real Estate’s Paul Magyar Comments in DNAinfo

Foreign investors have been a significant part of New York City’s real estate market in recent years, but Donald Trump’s immigration policies are beginning to change that. DNAinfo reports that international buyers are becoming hesitant to purchase property because they’re uncertain they, or their family members, can attain the necessary visas to enter and live in the United States.

In the article, real estate expert Jonathan Miller estimates that foreign buyers “make up between 15 percent of the market, as a baseline — and as high as 85 percent of the buyers in certain new developments around ‘Billionaire’s Row’ in Midtown,” numbers that could fall as the Trump administration attempts to lower immigration. In addition to the controversial travel ban, the administration has sought to limit H-1B visas, which are intended for highly skilled foreign workers.

The story is illustrated with a number of anecdotes, one from Mirador Real Estate’s Paul Magyar, who explains that a New York University student from China recently had to back out of a deal for a three-bedroom in the East Village due to visa issues. Read the article here.

Mirador Featured in DNAinfo about New York Becoming Dog Friend

Apartment hunting in New York can be difficult for dog owners. Many buildings have restrictions on the number and kind of dogs they’ll allow residents to have, and the facilities are rarely accommodating for pooches. Small elevators and bathrooms often mean renters can’t keep large dogs, or more than one, in their homes.

There’s good news for dog lovers, many  buildings across the city are specifically targeting pet owners by lessening restrictions, lowering fees, and offering more space and facilities. As DNAinfo reports, “With the current rental glut, especially in the high-end of the market where prices are slipping and concessions are rising, dog-friendly policies are the latest incentive to lure tenants, experts say.”

One of the experts featured in the article is Mirador Real Estate’s Managing Partner, Karla Saladino. Karla tells DNAinfo, “It used to be maybe one dog was allowed in, and ‘We’re going to weigh it, interview it and analyze it.’ Even a year ago, it was very hard to find something if you had a 40-pound dog or a Lab retriever. It was like, ‘What three buildings can we visit?’ Now it’s 10 buildings.”

The website also spoke with Anna Sankova, an agent for Mirador Real Estate, who relates an anecdote about finding a home in New York for a couple from Boston and their two mini Australian Labradoodles. “We found them an apartment within one weekend while they were visiting,” Anna says. “More landlords, especially in condos, were willing to take two dogs, which was surprising to me. It was not the case before.”

Read the entire article – and see a picture of those adorable Labradoodles – here.

Mirador Featured in CityBizList for Hiring New Leasing Manager and Agents

Mirador Real Estate is excited to announce the recent hiring of Christine DeFrancesco Henriquez as the new Leasing Manager for Midtown East. Christine will oversee the Midtown and Upper East Side territory, she comes to Mirador with 15 years of real estate experience.

Additionally, the firm is pleased to announce two new agent hires, Rafal Zbrzezny, an agent with nine years of real estate experience, and Kireolos ‘Kiro’ Zakhary, who, following 14 years of experience in hospitality, joins Mirador from Platinum Properties. Read more about Mirador’s new team members here.

Mirador’s Paul Magyar Featured in Brick Underground on Renting Vs. Buying

Owning a home has long been part of achieving the American Dream. But in New York City, the practical reality is that renting a condo or apartment can often be a better deal than buying real estate. Brick Underground recently examined this issue in the article “In defense of renters: Why buying property isn’t always the right decision.” The publication turned to Mirador Real Estate’s Paul Magyar to explain why people who want to invest in New York properties might not see the returns they expect.

With real estate prices booming across the entire city, Paul tells Brick Underground that investors are unlikely to see the value of their property significantly increase. “That idea of a diamond in the rough doesn’t exist in Manhattan anymore,” Paul says. “Theoretically, it’s still there in the outer boroughs, and in places like Jersey City, but they’re fewer and farther between.” Just to recoup closing costs will take at least five years. And if you overlook the surrounding air rights and a new building eventually blocks your view, the value of your property may actually go down. Read the entire article here.

New York’s Mirador Real Estate Forges Strategic Alliance with New Jersey’s ERA Justin Realty Co.

Mirador Real Estate is proud to announce our new strategic alliance with ERA Justin Realty Co., a residential brokerage that operates across the entire Northern New Jersey area. This partnership will allow us to expand our reach into the New Jersey markets, while we in turn will work with ERA Justin Realty Co. to enable their expansion into New York. Our firms will share resources, marketing strategies, and outreach to better serve clients who have a foot in both states and help them find the best real estate opportunities wherever they need.

Jennifer Darby Metzger, owner of ERA Justin Realty Co, said, “It is unusual to find a partnership with a similar vision and set of values, but that is how we felt with Mirador Real Estate, and we are happy to be aligning ourselves with them to provide additional resources for our crossover clients.”

Mirador Real Estate’s managing partner, Karla Saladino, agreed, saying, “I’m approached often about forming alliances, but often they wouldn’t be an appropriate fit for our team. When I met Jennifer, I knew this alliance was exactly the right match I had been looking for in New Jersey.”

Read more about the strategic alliance at Citybizlist.

Mirador Real Estate Launches Development Marketing Division with Project in Connecticut

Mirador Real Estate has long offered a wide range of marketing services for our clients. To bring these services together under one roof, we recently launched our brand-new Development Marketing Division, which will increase awareness of major developments among their target audiences through national advertising platforms, digital marketing campaigns, and numerous other endeavors. The Division is already hard at work for its first major partner: the Highgrove, a luxury rental development in Stamford, CT.

In its most recent issue, industry magazine Mann Report Residential highlighted our partnership with the Highgrove. The article quotes Kevin Saunders, the Highgrove’s Business Manager, as saying that the goal of the partnership is to enable the property to have “a more global presence and reach an even larger client base.” The article also quotes Mirador Real Estate’s Managing Partner, Karla Saladino:

“We are asked to apply our unique marketing initiatives–we have over 150 of them–to projects all over the world, but Highgrove was the first one that compelled us to prelaunch our marketing division ahead of the originally planned Q2, 2017 schedule to service it,” says Karla Saladino, managing partner. “While we are only about 50 percent done with the implementations I feel the building deserves, we are excited to share this unique project, which is unlike anything we get to see in New York City for the price point.”

The article can be read on page 34 of the magazine’s digital edition.

Mirador’s Neeta Mulgaokar Featured in Brick Underground on Buying a Home with a Tenant in Place

Brick Underground’s Buy Curious column recently turned to Neeta Mulgaokar, an Associate Broker for Mirador Real Estate, for her expertise on buying property. The column weighed the pros and cons of the question, “Should you buy a home with a tenant in place?” As Neeta explains, the answer depends on a number of factors regarding the apartment, the tenant, and the purchaser. Here, she explains the potential advantages of saying “Yes”:

“If the property is an investment, a tenant in place could be fantastic,” says Mulgaokar. That obviously depends on “what terms the tenant has agreed to and whether the tenant has a history of being a quality tenant,” she says, explaining that “quality is objective and depends upon whether the tenant has historically paid rent on time, followed the building’s rules, and/or maintains the condition of the apartment.”

Furthermore, Mulgaokar says that “an investor should analyze whether these criteria are being met in addition to whether the tenant is paying market rent. If the rent is under market but the quality of the renter is high, the investor should make a cost-benefit judgement call as to what is most important in the long run.”

For more advice on purchasing homes with existing tenants, read the rest of the article here.

Mirador’s Dr. Lynn Saladino Featured in Brick Underground on How to Thrive When Making an Unplanned Move in NYC

When most people move apartments they imagine something bigger and better, unfortunately that’s not always the case. Sometimes apartment moves are a result of a split with a partner, career demotion, or some other less-than-ideal reason, that represents a personal setback.

Mirador Real Estate’s Health and Wellness Consultant Dr. Lynn Saladino spoke to the Brick Underground about ways to transition to a new not-so-perfect place. She said, “a lot of times it feels like this new place will represent the lifestyle you’ll have for the rest of your life, but it’s important to remember this is a for a year or two,” says Saladino, “Put a time limit on how long it’s going to be, and realize you can revisit it next year.” To read all of Lynn’s tips, check out the full article here.

Mirador’s Dr. Lynn Saladino Featured in Brick Underground on Splitting Expenses When Moving in with a Partner Who Owns Their Own Apartment

Moving in with a partner is often an exciting time, however, when moving in with someone that owns their own apartment, the question often asked is whether or not the partner should pay towards the mortgage like they would pay for rent. While this may seem like a good idea in the beginning, if the relationship goes south, the person moving out may feel like they are entitled to some of part of the equity invested in the apartment. Many couples are looking at alternative ways to make the living expenses equal without having to pay into the other person’s mortgage. 

Mirador Real Estate’s Health and Wellness Consultant Dr. Lynn Saladino spoke to the Brick Underground, and gave her professional advice for couples looking to move in together. “….The key is finding a balance that makes sense for both of your budgets, and feels fair to everyone involved,” says, Saladino.  “Don’t assume anything…it’s really important to lay this stuff out clearly in the beginning so that it feels fair. If it bothers you in the beginning it will bother you every month when you’re paying bills.” To read more about what to discuss when moving in with a partner, and hear more from Dr. Saladino, check out the full article here.

Mirador’s Neeta Mulgaokar Featured in Observer on How Ride Share Apps are Changing Real Estate in NYC

Being on a subway line was once the top priority for those searching for housing in NYC, however, as rideshare apps are becoming more popular, many resident’s apartment preferences are shifting. People are giving up the convenience of being near public transportation in exchange for larger, less expensive apartments thanks to the convenience and low-cost of using ride sharing apps like Uber, Lyft, and more.  

The Observer spoke to Mirador Real Estate Agent, Neeta Mulgaokar, about the new ways New Yorkers are moving around the city, “Ride apps are tying historically far-flung New York neighborhood more tightly to the city’s core and leading some customers to give them a harder look,” she says. “They’ve changed what the word ‘central’ means.” To read more about what Neeta has to say, check out the full article here.

Mirador’s Jeffrey Hannon Featured in Brick Underground on Fireplaces in NYC

The idea of cozying up next to a crackling fire conjures up the feeling of warm, happy memories; but in the city that never sleeps a fireplace quickly loses its romantic appeal when tenants are faced with maintenance costs and the actual task of finding a fireplace, something that is becoming harder to find after a 2014 measure was passed banning all new construction of woodburning fireplaces.

In order to find out more on woodburning fireplaces, and where to look for them, The Brick Underground spoke to Mirador Real Estate agent Jeffrey Hannon. In the article he discusses the best places to find woodburning fireplaces, the appeal for tenants to have a fireplace in the City, and how landlords and coops approach existing fireplaces. To read more about what Jeffrey has to say, check out the full article here.

Mirador Development Marketing Announces Partnership with Highgrove

The newest division of Mirador Real Estate, Mirador Development Marketing, is excited to announce its partnership with luxury rental development, Highgrove. A project located in Stamford, Connecticut. Mirador’s marketing plan will give the property more exposure through digital marketing, social media targeting, and other advertising platforms. 

Karla Saladino, Mirador Managing Partner, says, “We are asked to apply our unique marketing initiatives (we have over 150 of them) to projects all over the world, but Highgrove was the first that compelled us to pre-launch our marketing division ahead of the originally planned Q2, 2017 schedule to service it.” To learn more about the partnership and Highgrove, check out the full article here.