Teri Karush Rogers

When looking to hire a real estate broker, sellers almost inevitably encounter The High-Baller--a broker who recommends a listing price that is either "ambitious" or flat-out unrealistic.  Once the broker gets the listing (and usually a six-month exclusive contract with you), it's price-cut city...often over a prolonged period of time that involves many open houses, progressive stages of grief, and deteriorating broker-client relations.

Amidst the hurricane news frenzy this weekend, you may have missed a New York Times story suggesting that bike storage has surpassed the Fresh Direct refrigerator as the more desired amenity among NYC vertical dwellers. 

Poor Battery Park City.  As if land leases and close proximity to a known terrorist target weren't hard enough on property values, the city's mandatory evacuation order this weekend outed BPC to the ENTIRE WORLD as one of the worst places in Manhattan to live in the event of a hurricane.

At the very least, a short-term-memory-span-worth of cooled interest among buyers (and possibly renters) seems unavoidable.

1. Someone in your building has a battery-operated radio, so no need to hit every Duane Reade, Radio Shack, and Best Buy between 96th and Chinatown to find the one that didn't get snapped up.
2. Small apartment means less windows to break. 
3. You can have really loud sex and blame the noise on the screaming wind.
4. No basement to flood--or if it does, it's the super's problem.
5. You might actually eat the food in your fridge/pantry instead of going out or ordering in.
6. Outfitted with a soccer ball and a wee-wee pad, the hallway can stand in for the p

Q. How does one protect their windows from a hurricane here in NYC? No super, no landlord available on call. I'm worried that my windows are going to get blown in! I'm not in an evac zone, but still...Also, who do I contact about the roofs of buildings next to me? There is so much loose crap that I just fear will get blown into my face!