FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com JANUARY 15, 2015 • REAL ESTATE • The Queens Courier 35 HOT LISTINGS 106-20 70th Ave., #4B Forest Hills — $434,000 This studio condo apartment in the The Milana in Forest Hills has one bathroom and a balcony. It features ▶ real estate a hook-up for a washer and dryer, central AC and has hardwood floors throughout. The brokers are Aroza Sanjana and Benjamin Koptiev of Warren Lewis Sotheby’s International Realty. 122-11 6th Ave., College Point — $568,000 This townhouse comes with five bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms on two floors. It features a large living room, a renovated kitchen, a finished basement, a yard and an outdoor patio. The broker is Laura Copersino of Douglas Elliman. 519 Borden Ave. #9J, Hunters Point — $1,275,000 This condo unit has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,083 square feet of space in The Murano in Hunters Point. It features a 145-square-foot terrace with views of Manhattan and the Queensboro Bridge. The apartment comes with a parking space and other building amenities, including a gym, community rooms, storage, central AC and a bike room. Pets are allowed in The Murano. The brokers are Brittany Fox and Doron Zwickel of CORE. Photo courtesy of Michael Chambers 175-02 Grand Central Parkway Service South, Jamaica Estates — $985,000 There’s so much land available on this property that it’s legally possible to almost double the size of the sixbedroom house that currently sits on it. The large colonial home, built nearly a century ago, features about 3,000 square feet of living space, and sits on a lot of 11,500 square feet at 175-02 Grand Central Parkway Service South. Jamaica Estates is known for having large-scale detached houses unique from many other neighborhoods in the borough, but it’s hard to find another property with as much land as this one even in this neighborhood. The residence is a single-family detached home, but it was built to accommodate two families — hence there are two fireplaces, and also a kitchen on the first floor and gas lines hooked up to the second floor for a smaller-sized kitchen. The floors are original hardwood throughout, but there’s no creaking, even on wooden staircases. The garage, which is attached to the basement, can hold two cars, and the extended driveway can fit a few more. And because the house sits on a hill, it has a huge, partially finished basement at ground level. But besides all its amenities, the best-kept secret in this home is the attic, which is like having another full floor with nearly 12-foot-high ceilings, lots of space and 10 windows. Contact broker Michael Chambers of Douglas Elliman Real Estate at 646-281-0356. Astoria parking lot sells for $17M BY LIAM LA GUERRE [email protected]/@LiamLaGuerre An Astoria parking lot with potential for development has been sold for $17.35 million, according to property records filed with the city on Jan. 13. The buyer, Astoria 31st Street Developers LLC, bought the property, which is located at 31-53 31st St., from a group of owners under the name 1st Carico LLC. The property is zoned for commercial use, but has the potential to be developed to 88,400 square feet. The land traded for nearly $200 per buildable square foot, which is a premium price in Astoria. No plans have been filed with the Buildings Department yet to use the land. The adjacent building at 31-35 31st St. was expanded from a one-floor building into a sevenfloor, 81-unit mixed-used commercial and condo building a few years ago. BEWARE OF ADS IN THE ‘BY OWNER’ SECTION BY MINAS STYPONIAS As a real estate agent I, just like many prospective renters, scour the Internet on a daily basis looking for ads in the “by owner” section with the hopes of securing a listing to increase my inventory and hopefully build a relationship with the landlord of the property. However, I find that the majority of the ads that I click on have been fraudulently created by another real estate agent in order to entice prospective renters into calling their number. Often times these ads are being placed without the owner’s consent. And the ads are often for an apartment that has long since been rented and is unavailable to be seen anyway. Other agents have taken a listing from an owner they have found on a website and then gone back and flagged that owner’s listing so that they can have their ad show up in the “by owner” section instead of the one created by the actual owners. This is an act I like to call “ice fishing.” The agent fishes the listing by appropriate means but then ices the owner out of the competition by having their ad removed by filing a false complaint with that website. Unsuspecting renters who call these ads are often greeted with a cursory hello and then almost immediately hit with the words, “There is a fee associated with this listing, okay?” No. Not okay! This is not only illegal but also completely unethical in the world of real estate rentals. While this practice most certainly does increase the number of views a real estate agent might obtain for their listings, it also helps to bolster the negative stereotypes that honest real estate agents like me have had to fight against throughout their careers, such as the stereotype that real estate agents are unethical, short sighted and indifferent to their individual customers. A person perusing the “by owner” listing is most likely not interested in paying a fee to begin with. Why waste their time and your own by conducting this type of chicanery? It’s a desperate and somewhat telling ploy to the type of real estate professional you are possibly going to be dealing with so you should pay attention to that first impression when you come across this type of advertising sleight of hand. Shell games aren’t just for street vendors any more. Make sure you are informed and educated when seeking your next rental apartment or listing one for rent. Minas Styponias is a licensed real estate broker for BuySell Real Estate in Astoria, where he was born and raised. He has had a career as a luxury rental property manager in New Jersey and Manhattan. Styponias speaks English, and is conversational in Greek and Spanish. Photo courtesy of Minas Styponias 23-80 33rd St., Apt. 2
QC01152015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above