Moving may seem like a tedious and difficult process, but if you do some planning your move can go smoothly and without stress.  Below is a timeline that will let you know what to expect when working with a moving company.

2 Months Before Your Move:

1. Decide what type of moving service you need, research average moving costs for that type of service, and plan your budget to make sure you can afford it.  Do you want the moving company to pack everything for you and transport it for you?  How many miles are you moving?  How many rooms are in your house?  Do you want to pack the items yourself and then have the moving company transport them? 
2. Take an inventory of your belongings, contact several moving companies for price quotes covering the type of moving service that you desire, and select a moving company to work with. 
3. Create a folder to store everything related to your move—including invoices, lists, contact information, etc.  Keeping your moving invoices in this folder will make it easy for you to file for a moving tax deduction later on if you decide to do so.

6 Weeks Before Your Move:

1. Make a floor plan of your new house (make sure that you have room dimensions of your new house if possible).  Measure your furniture and plan how you will place it in the new house, drawing in where large pieces of furniture will go in each room; you may want to use graph paper so your drawing is to scale.  You will give this to your moving company later.

5 Weeks Before Your Move:

1. If necessary, you may need to arrange for extra storage at your new location.  Contact storage companies in your new area to find out how their storage process works and what it will cost to store your items.  If you decide you need storage and want your movers to deliver things there on moving day, be sure to contact your moving company and let them know; there will most likely be an extra charge for this.

1 Month Before Your Move:

1. If you are packing yourself, order packing supplies and start packing your belongings into boxes.  Be sure to check which items moving companies are not allowed to move (most moving companies should be able to provide you with this information).  These items include hazardous materials.  If you have items that the company is not able to move, you will either have to properly dispose of them, or find your own means of transporting them safely.
2. Begin by packing a suitcase for each member of the family with one to two weeks of clothing and essential supplies that each person uses every.  Then pack some boxes of larger essentials that you use every day (such as plates and cooking utensils) and label these boxes clearly; you will unpack these first at your new location.
3. If you have not already chosen a company to work with, be sure to do this now.  Set a moving date with the company and review the terms of your agreement with them.

2 Weeks Before Your Move:

1. Make sure that your moving company has your new address and the floor plan you designed so that they know where to place large pieces of furniture at your new home.  You may want to confirm the details of your move with the moving company again, making them aware of any changes to your inventory or move plan (for instance, if you need to add an additional stop to pick up/deliver furniture from/to a storage facility).

1 Week Before Your Move:

1. Double-check that the terms of payment set out in your moving agreement have been met or that you have the money to meet them on the specified due date.  You may need to make an initial deposit and then pay the rest of the balance to the moving foreman on the day of your move.

1-2 Days Before Your Move:

1. Make sure that you set aside your suitcases and your “Essentials”/”Unwrap First” boxes in an easy-to-access place in case you need to use items from them (such as medications) up until the morning of the move.
2. Be sure to keep all essential documents and forms of payment with you, such as your moving agreement, your passport, your credit cards, your cash, your rental agreement (if you are renting your new home), your maps, your cell phones, etc.
3. Take out enough cash to tip your movers (generally you can give the tip money to the foreman and he will distribute it evenly to his movers) and/or to pay the rest of your balance when the movers get to the new location (if this is set out in your moving agreement).

On Moving Day:

1. Follow your movers as they walk around and inspect your belongings and double-check your inventory.
2. Keep any moving invoices in a safe place and later add them to your moving folder.
3. Walk through all of the rooms and outdoor areas (including the garage, if applicable) and double-check that nothing is left behind.

*Credit to Laurel Byrnes @ StreetEasy.com

New York commands some of the highest prices in the world for its real estate, but is a relative bargain compared to other alpha cities when it comes to upfront costs, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A new report seen by the Journal compares the cost of buying and selling a $15.26 million property in four top cities – New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Wealthy international buyers have pushed prices for luxury properties up in all four cities, but the cost of purchasing and the amount paid in taxes varies widely.

In Hong Kong, for example, an overseas buyer will pay nearly 25 percent of the $15.26 million purchase price, about $3.75 million, in fees and taxes. Meanwhile in New York, a buyer would pay only $217,890 in fees and taxes for a similarly-priced apartment, the report – created by real estate brokerage Savills, Deutsche Bank and London-based developer Candy & Candy – shows.

Buyers in New York, however, would take a much bigger tax hit than their Hong Kong counterparts during the years they occupied the home and when it came time to sell, the report shows.

In London, upfront stamp duties and fees for a luxury property total 7.1 percent of the total purchase price, or about $1.09 million on a $15.26 million apartment. Singapore takes it up a notch, with overseas buyers paying a steep 18 percent — or about $2.75 million – in purchase fees.

Nick Candy, CEO of Candy & Candy and the developer of the ultra-luxe One Hyde Park, told the Journal that he was concerned that if fees were to rise any further in London, “it will put off international purchasers” and drive them to cities like New York. “The government has done everything it can here to make it difficult for overseas buying,” Candy, who has been on the hunt for his own Manhattan nest, said.

The exorbitant property taxes and selling costs in New York somewhat level things out, Candy added. The cost of selling a $15.26 million property in New York is $1.13 million, more than 12 times what it would be in London. [WSJ]  –Hiten Samtani

*All credit to WSJ and Real Deal Magazine

All credit to motionkicker@youtube

At yesterday’s State of the City speech, City Council Speaker and presumptive mayoral frontrunner Christine Quinn laid out her plans for the city and the city’s middle class. But at the same time, her office released a report on the “Middle Class Squeeze” and if you wanted to be depressed about the status of the not-super-rich in the Big Apple, well, there are lots of charts! We collected a few of the most important ones.

But first, let’s define the “middle class.” For the Council’s purpose they went with households with incomes between 100 percent and 300 percent of the area median income. Here in New York that means income between $66,400 and $199,200. Lower Middle Class would be $53,120 to $66,400 and Low Income would be anything below $53,120.

The good news? Turns out that between 1989 and 2012 the city’s middle class population has actually grown by 129,000 adults. Great! Except actually the percentage of the class in the working age population has been dropping and, oh yeah, since 2001 the median middle class income in the city has actually been dropping:

Meanwhile, as the median income is dropping, turns out the middle class was especially hurt by the recession. While historically the middle class unemployment rate is quite low it has risen dramatically since the 2008 recession kicked in (and this even taking into account those who simply stopped looking for work):

Want further proof of that? Just look at this chart showing change in employment numbers for “typically” middle class jobs in the past decade!

Oh, and while all that was happening? Members of the middle class have just been getting smarter and smarter (and deeper in debt). The percentage of the middle class in NYC with a college or higher education is currently closing in on 50 percent:

Still not nervous about the viability of your plan to live long term in the City That Never Sleeps without sleeping with a sugar daddy? Take a nice long look at how New York City’s housing costs as a percentage of total income compares to other parts of the country

Or just look at this index comparing individual borough’s housing costs to cities around the country:

Source: Gothamist

Tired of the misleading MTA maps? (They tend to get most people lost rather then get them where they want to be)

I am one of them.

Andrew Lynch has created an official full scale diagram for every IRT and BMT line in NYC!

Andrew Lynch

What is this?

While studying industrial design at college in Boston 10 years ago I discovered an interest in subway maps. The subway map is usually not really a map but rather a diagram as it is not a literal representation of the subway. Each subway map from cities all around the globe all distort the city and distort the subway lines for the purpose of visual clarity. This is great for someone running to catch a train and not knowing where to get off. But wanting to know where the lines actually went? It was much harder to find a map showing this.

This series of posters tries to flip the original rational for clean design on its head. Instead of creating a map showing the routes of each line abstracted to fit into a small map each poster shows just one train line by itself, stripped away from its context, with a description and statistics provided. Why do it this way? I wanted to show the viewer something they see everyday but in a completely new, almost unrecognizable way; the way it actually looks.

Each poster has a minimalist design with a strong, bold color background and white (or black) text. Each poster uses the color of the line it represents for immediate recognition. Use the 4/5/6 trains? Dark Green. 7 line? Purple. I present the subway line in a way that most people have never seen before and needed a quick way for the viewer to recognize the line, or at the very least build a context.

I created these posters one night after being inspired by studying other subway designs I found online.  The geographic shapes I had from an older project so most of the design was complete.  I like to think this is the perfect mix of my love for maps and my love for clean minimalist design.  I have one of the posters framed on my wall and it is such a beautiful addition to my apartment that I had to share it with others. The truth is I’m not doing this for the money; I’m doing it for the love.  I’ve always made the maps that I wanted to see, that others never made, and this is the first that I’m proud enough to share with the world.

Why I like the Kickstarter model is not only do you get an 18”x24” copy of the poster but you will be helping me research which ones are going to be more popular than others.  You aren’t just donating to a cause; you’re buying a great piece of art.  The goal here is to amass an inventory to start selling online and in the Transit Museum.  Additionally I hope to start selling these through art and frame shops.  A touristy town like NYC has a market built in.

Thank you so much for your support.  I’m looking forward to getting these beauties out into the world!

When backing this project make sure you specify which posters you want!

At the end of the campaign when the goal is reached I’ll email every backer at which point you tell me which poster(s) you want.

Production delays are something that can’t be predicted. I am ordering in bulk so there will be plenty of each to go around. I’ll be shipping each poster batch out myself and will email each backer once their poster is shipped.

Andrew Lynch

646.530.3006

For Andrews full site Click below

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vanshnookenraggen/nyc-subway-infographic-posters

Step 1: Click the facebook page link blow

Step 2: Click “Like”

Step 3: Receive updates to my blog via facebook

Step 4: ENJOY

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manhattan-Rentals-by-Kyle-Calderon/199939806685433?ref=hl

What will $700 get you in Manhattan?……

90 square feet.

By choosing a studio that measures just 12 feet by 7 feet, Felice Cohen can afford to live in Manhattan’s Upper West Side where apartments rent for an average of $3,600 per month. She pays just over $700 for her 90-square-foot microstudio.

Granted, she had a bit of a panic attack the first night when she woke up in the loft bed with the ceiling 23 inches from her face. But she’s grown accustomed to the small space and now when she goes back to her childhood home she misses its coziness.

“I think a lot of people have a lot of space that they’re not using. I grew up in a place where my bedroom was 17 feet by 17 feet with two walk-in closets that combined where almost the size of this apartment that when I go home now I go in the closet just to feel like I’m back in New York.”

In this video, Felice shows us her tiny kitchen (toaster oven, hot pot and mini fridge), the toilet where she bumps her knee and her now-cozy lofted bed.

Source: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/simple-life-manhattan-a-90-square-foot-microstudio/

Updated : 12/22/12

One of the most important parts of a successful transaction is customer satisfaction. A happy client’s review is just as important as the deal’s commission, if not more…

I believe that every broker you work with should have a strong history of making their clients happy. Finding an apartment with an inexperienced broker will make your life very difficult. An experienced broker can educate you on neighborhoods, price negotiations, availabilities, viewing access and the owner/management’s application process.

If you are already working with a broker do your due-diligence by asking these questions. If they cannot answer them easily, perhaps it is time to move forward with someone more experienced!

To view more click link below

http://www.nakedapartments.com/me/KyleCalderon/reviews