Expert perspective on buying in New York and New Jersey from closing costs and mansion tax to new developments, co-ops, condos, townhouses, and the Buyer Advantage commission share.
Browse buyer strategy, closing-cost guidance, property-type education, and market guides.
Start with the guides buyers most often need before touring, negotiating, or signing.
What changes when you buy new construction in New York: the offering plan, the closing costs a sponsor shifts onto the buyer, the 421-a and 485-x abatement picture, and what a sponsor will actually concede.
August 12, 2026
NYC extended the pied-à-terre tax exemption deadline to September 18, 2026. What the extension changes, why condo and co-op units are caught at $1 million rather than $5 million, and the appeal route that quietly closes the DOF door.
August 3, 2026
June 2026 data shows four different luxury markets inside NYC. Compare price per square foot, inventory, contracts and market time for resale condos, sponsor condos, co-ops and townhouses.
July 17, 2026Recent buyer guidance and practical notes from the market.
REBNY is paying for a suit to strike down New York's pied-à-terre tax, Steve Wynn and Wilbur Ross filed another, and a Staten Island judge voided 17,000 notices. None of it stops the surcharge today. What buyers should budget for, and why condos are caught at $1 million of City value, not $5 million.
Read Featured Insight→The two-bedroom asks $2,295,000. It last traded in 2016 at $1,340,000, it carries a 2% flip tax the buyer pays, and it is one of ten apartments in the brownstone, not the whole house. Genuine townhouses on these blocks start near $3.6 million.
NYC mortgage recording tax is 1.80% or 1.925% of your loan for a condo or house, and nothing for a co-op. The statutory total is higher because your lender pays part of it. Rates from Form MT-15, who pays each component, and how to pay less.
Get private guidance before you search, negotiate, or sign and understand whether the Buyer Advantage may apply to your purchase.
