1) With more and more home shoppers speaking up online about specific apartments and buildings, the Times wonders if negative online comments and reviews affect a property's sales effort. Nobody knows for sure, and the broker strategy is also a bit hazy: "Sometimes, of course, the critics love everything except the price, a perennial sore point. But usually they find something to skewer, and opinions diverge sharply as to whether it’s better to speak up or shut up when an apartment develops a bad rap online." Also in this story, the truth about the infamous West Village photo switcheroo is revealed. ['Snark Attack']
2) After rallying on StreetEasy, some disgruntled buyers at the new Robert A.M. Stern-designed Brompton on the Upper East Side are taking their demands for lower purchase prices to court. This week, a lawsuit filed on behalf of 17 buyers will ask for concessions from the developer, Related, citing falling market values and problems getting financing. One hurdle standing in their way: 60 Brompton buyers have already closed at full contract price. [Big Deal/'Brouhaha at the Brompton']
3) The rent party lives on! But what started with Depression-era Harlemites hitting up their friends and neighbors for cash to pay the bills has now spread to struggling hipsters offering cheap vodka and loud punk to help bring in the bacon. ['The Honor of Your Cash Is Requested']
4) A young married couple (an architect and a physical therapist, if you're wondering) sets out for a Manhattan starter home with a $500,000+ budget and a desire to live on the West Side. With their money not going far, they briefly consider Brooklyn, before opting for a $475,000 apartment in a building near East End Avenue, which is nice because "the city doesn’t hit you in the face when you walk out the door.” Dream of the West Side, settle for the East side; isn't that always the way? [The Hunt/'The 10 Percent Hurdle']
5) Tiny Fillmore Place, which connects Driggs and Roebling Avenues in Williamsburg, is on the verge of being named a Historic District. It was also the childhood home of Henry Miller, who wrote of the block: "The ideal street for a boy, a lover, a maniac, a drunkard, a crook, a lecher, a thug, an astronomer, a musician, a poet, a tailor, a shoemaker, a politician." Williamsburg still has most of those things, no? [The City/Urban Studies]
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