Real Estate Assignment

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Real Estate Assignment
The Covid-19 pandemic has upset New Yorkers' overall lives: the government, in collaboration with the ministry of health, has requested city residents to remain indoors, restaurants and bars, and all recreational places have been ordered to close down except for delivery and takeaway orders. Additionally, public and private schools in the city have also been shut. This is only but the beginning of the many stringent measures that the government has implemented to help fight against this pandemic's spread. Another critical industry in New York City that the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted is real estate. This paper seeks to explore the positive and negative impact of Covid-19 on the lease, tenant, and sale of real estate in Manhattan, New York. The report will be built around an article on Curbed New York by Spivack and Ricciulli.
Although the pandemic has significantly changed the trajectory and the industry’s norm, the sellers, brokers, agents, and buyers have found reprieve by resorting to working remotely by redirecting their in-person operations to the digital space. Compass issued specific guidelines to its agents and brokers on virtual open houses via YouTube, Facebook Live, and Instagram. Secondly, Elegran launched a new program that enabled them to conduct lease signings, applications, and payment of the leased and sold property virtually while providing online reality tours. On the other hand, Nooklyn and Ideal Properties Group dealers online in real estate also launched showing platforms that enable them to interact with their online clients through their official web page and social media platforms.
Therefore, although the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed operations in the real estate industry, it has substantially facilitated the digitization of this industry's processes. Shifting to purely virtual marketing enables dealers in this industry to reach a relatively larger market than otherwise. Additionally, turning to the digital world helps companies in the real estate industry reduce their operational costs. These companies are no longer expected to fuel their cars, cater for lunch for their usual teams in the field, and pay for regular maintenance of their vehicles. Moreover, they can maximize their convincing prowess by using high-definition cameras to capture their property's best photograms, which may be used per se for marketing. This is unlike the in-person approach, where the buyer would have to visit and inspect the property in person. Further, the digital world saves both the seller, broker, agents, and potential customers time and money spent when they were to use the in-person approach. Virtual approaches are devoid of having to meander through traffic jams and postponing one’s duties to go and look for a property to buy or lease.
According to Wei Min Tan (p.3), the New York real estate and residential property market in Manhattan has not been stable since the wake of 2017. This sector's weakness is oblivious of the strength in the economy both in New York City and the United States and the lowest unemployment rates. In the first quarter of 2020, it seemed like the residential property market was starting a recovery process from the increase in sales volume (Riker Danzig, p.9). However, the onset of a pandemic hit the country’s economy at unprecedented levels affecting the property market and subsequent property acquisition. The property market in Manhattan stalled since March 2020, involving ownership and partnership.
Air rights, also called Transferable Development Rights (TDRs), is a legal framework that allows property owners to sell or transfer unused property development rights to adjacent slots (Colman, p. 5). The subsequent owner of the TDRs can then develop greater desired density and surpass their “as-of-right” floor allowances. Nonetheless, they must adhere to the underlying setback and requirement rights. A maximum density restriction limits every slot in Manhattan. This also regulates extra development rights by land and real estate property owners, especially for public improvements (Riker Danzig, p.6). In Manhattan, and New York City operates under the controls of the New York City Zoning Resolution of 1916 that was or...