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How to Store your Bike in a Small Apartment

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Culinary Excellence Outside of Manhattan

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Making a New Home

Moving into a new apartment can be equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. For people taking this leap for the very first time, it is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks that populate even a cursory to-do list. It takes time to accomplish everything that comes with moving into a new place, but the quicker and more completely you can embrace the challenge, the sooner you will find yourself feeling right at home.

Check It Out

Diligently inspect the apartment space while it is still empty. Before bringing in all of your belongings, use the emptiness as an opportunity to closely analyze every room. It is a great chance to take stock of the exact nature of the property. The last thing you want is to be ultimately held responsible for the condition of some part of your new apartment that was, in truth, already that way when you moved in. Check every detail, including the walls, floors, lighting, electrical, and plumbing to be sure everything works properly. Similarly, test out the security features like locks or alarm systems. Extend your investigation to the windows and fire escapes. Be sure to document every single aspect of the apartment that seems off or potentially problematic. A common best practice is to take pictures and store them somewhere you can be sure to have access to them later. This allows you to accurately compare and contrast the state of the apartment before and after your time as a tenant.

Moving Day

Setting up your utilities should come next. You need to ensure that the new apartment is ready when the day for the big move arrives. Some landlords include electricity, gas, and water within the cost of rent, while others only include a few utilities, and some include none. In addition to preparing the utilities, also make time to deeply clean the apartment before you move in your belongings. The landlord should have made sure that the space is properly cleaned and painted, but it is always advisable to give the apartment a cleaning yourself. It will help acquaint you with your new home and allow you to better inspect for any problems. Once the space is sufficiently cleaned, you can then unpack your belongings into the appropriate rooms. Arrange your rooms in the order of importance. Many people begin with setting up the basics for the bathroom, followed by the kitchen, bedroom, and then shared living spaces. Although it may take some time to complete each room, be sure to unpack all your things so you can better see what you already own and what you may still need. Upon moving in, do not forget to change your official information to have things like mail and bills forwarded to the new address!

Settling In

This is often the most fun part of the moving-in process! During the long process of unpacking items and finding the proper places for them in a room, make a list of the items you find that you still need. Carefully consider more than just the aesthetics, however! Plan carefully to decorate within the budget you know you can afford. Common items a new household will need that are not always packed and brought over the previous place of residence include:

bathroom products, including toilet paper, soaps, towels, a bath mat, shower curtains, and a plunger

office and lighting supplies, including pens, paper, lamps, batteries, and light bulbs

simple food items, including spices, vinegars, and oils

kitchen utensils, including dishes, glassware, silverware, cookware, garbage cans, dishwashing products, and appliances like a blender or toaster

Look over your list and order the items by degree of importance. Be sure to measure the space available in each room so you only purchase what here is space to include. Sticking to this list will make it much more manageable to stay within your budget. To get the most bang for your buck, you can also try shopping at sales and second hand stores. Do plan to spend a bit more on furniture that sees daily use. Add to your collection of furniture as time goes on and you can afford more. A similar process applies to putting up all decorations. Making the apartment cozy should be a soothing process. There is no need to stress yourself out and insist on completing everything at once. Set a timeline that feels comfortable (perhaps a room or two per week, for example) and take it from there. Putting the finishing touches on your home should be a positive experience.

Once all that is said and done, you should be in a great place. Enjoy your new home.

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Tech Company Seeks to Transform Commercial Real Estate – Samy Mahfar

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The 25 US law schools that offer the best financial aid

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New York City Aims to Cut Waste 90 Percent by 2030

The Big Apple is going to polish its act when it comes to waste. The nation's biggest city, in a far-reaching effort to limit its impact on the environment, is set to mark Earth Day by announcing the ambitious goal of reducing its waste output by 90 percent by 2030.

The Zero Waste plan, which includes an overhaul of the city's recycling program, incentives to reduce waste and tacit support for the City Council's plan to dramatically reduce the use of plastic shopping bags, will be announced by Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday. Its goal is sweeping: New York would be the largest city in the Western Hemisphere to adopt the plan, which aims to reduce the amount of its waste by more than 3 million tons from its 2005 level of about 3.6 million tons.

"The average New Yorker throws out nearly 15 pounds of waste a week, adding up to millions upon millions of tons a year," de Blasio said in a statement to The Associated Press. "To be a truly sustainable city, we need to tackle this challenge head on."

For decades, the city's trash has been exported by rail or barge and sent to facilities in South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or upstate New York. The new plan would eliminate almost all of the garbage exports, which currently cost more than $350 million a year.

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TD Bank expanded its U.S. real estate lending by 9.5 percent in 2014, issuing $6.3 billion in new loans, in a further sign that major banks have regained their groove following the financial crisis. But while the Canadian lender is bullish on New York City as a whole, its head of U.S. real estate lending expressed caution over the luxury condominium market. “That is not a market that we feel is deep,” Gregg Gerken, Senior Vice President at TD Bank Group and Head of U.S. Commercial Real Estate Lending, told The Real Deal. “It’s foreign capital that’s driving it and it’s a lot of reliance on foreign buyers as well.” Gerken’s comments come at a time when major North American lenders have largely retreated from financing the city’s tallest uber-luxury condo towers, leaving the field to foreign lenders such as the Children’s Investment Fund and the Bank of China. The last major luxury tower in Manhattan that TD Bank financed was Extell Development’s One57. The Canadian bank was part of a syndicated $700 million construction loan led by Bank of America that closed in 2011. Roy Chin, TD’s regional director for commercial real estate in New York, said that the bank chose to join in on that deal because Extell offered “alternative exit scenarios” if condo sales didn’t go as planned – such as conversion to rentals. While TD is cautious on condos, it has been an active lender for multifamily projects and new construction in the Big Apple. The bank issued $2.75 billion in new loans for New York projects in 2014 alone (see chart above), almost half of its total U.S. deal volume. Its second biggest market, New England, was well behind at $1.18 billion. TD’s recent commitments include a $50.6 million construction loan for the Naftali Group’s condo development at 261 West 25th Street and a $95 million refinancing loan for the Rabsky Group’s Leonard Pointe rental building at 395 Leonard Street in Williamsburg. - See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/06/19/td-ramps-up-nyc-real-estate-lending-but-stays-cool-on-condos/#sthash.n6k8tXio.dpuf

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NYC Tech and Real Estate with Samy Mahfar

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Samy Mahfar Shares The Beauty of New York City

Samy Mahfar and the Beauty of NYC from Samy Mahfar on Vimeo.

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Samy Mahfar and Lower East Side Galleries

Samy Mahfar and Galleries in the Lower East Side from Samy Mahfar

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Tenement Tragedy in the Village

New York City’s East Village neighborhood suffered from a fatal explosion at the end of the March which injured dozens of people and destroyed a number of cherished buildings that have been a part of the architectural heart of the area for generations. Officials concluded that the explosion, which happened on March 26, occurred at 121 Second Avenue and damaged three neighboring buildings. The five story tenement where the explosion originated was home to a Sushi Park restaurant on the ground floor. Approximately 25 people were hurt and two were killed in the blast, spreading fire, and a subsequent building collapse. The five-story building at 119 Second Avenue, which was built in 1886, was critically damaged and is now slated for demolition.

The Owners Smelled Gas

The owners of the the Japanese restaurant on the first floor reported the smell of gas to the landlord and Consolidated Edison inspectors visited the site at little more than an hour before the explosion occurred. Authorities now believe a gas pipe beneath 121 Second Avenue may have been inappropriately accessed. The District Attorney is assessing if criminal negligence or reckless conduct is to blame.

121 Second Avenue was a five-story brick edifice constructed in the 1880s. Although the architect is no longer on record, the building’s first owner is listed as G. Kearney. Since that time, it may have housed everything from the Mayor’s residence to a Russian speakeasy during the Great Depression.

Historical Significance

The entire area is steeped in history and still evokes strong emotional responses from native New Yorkers. Filmmakers continue to use it in productions, even in the modern era. Joel and Ethan Coen filmed Inside Llewyn Davis right around the corner just two years ago. The Godfather Part II was even filmed nearby.

A very large number of the buildings in this area of Manhattan date back to the middle of the 1800s, when rich New Yorkers sold their properties to move uptown. These buildings were then repurposed into tenement housing for the rapidly growing immigrant communities flocking to the city.

The early influx of European immigrants in that era included Germans and a large number of Jews from Eastern Europe. By the middle of the 1900s, the area had become a flourishing hub of artistic creation for a young, bohemian population. The historic district here is one of 114 in the city and runs between East 7th Street and East 2nd Street, and from 1st Avenue to the Bowery.

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Samy Mahfar, the proprietor of SMA Equities, owns and manages several residential properties in the Lower East Side. Mr. Mahfar’s specialty is rehabilitating and renovating turn-of-the-century tenement buildings and reinvigorating to match the pace of modern New York City.

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Samy Mahfar, the proprietor of SMA Equities, owns and manages several residential properties in the Lower East Side. Mr. Mahfar’s specialty is rehabilitating and renovating turn-of-the-century tenement buildings and reinvigorating to match the pace of modern New York City.

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Samy Mahfar owns a portfolio of NYC properties, including in the historic Lower East Side. Samy fully appreciates the beauty and excitement of living in one of…

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Samy Mahfar lists some of the oldest businesses still servicing the Lower East Side community.

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Samy Mahfar shares some of his favorite pictures of the great city of New York.

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Samy Mahfar and Art on the Lower East Side

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