Teri Karush Rogers

Renovating can be hazardous to your marriage, reports the NYT this morning in a story featuring a new psych quiz for couples about to take the plunge into remodeling.  By delving into issues like which room you can least bear to share with your spouse, the $19.95 consumer version of "True Home" promises to 'create the home that matches the life you want to live,' aka a place you both like.  Which apparently these

When you’re selling your apartment, your desire to market it to as many buyers as possible can collide with your broker’s desire to pocket the whole commission instead of splitting it with a buyer’s broker (aka “co-broking.”) Broker-blogger-industry-whistleblower Malcolm Carter provides an example and outlines the tactics of co-broking-averse brokers, w

Yesterday's NY Times spotlight on the illegal practice of privatizing a public parking space in front of an apartment building sparked a chorus of sympathetic outrage from irate drivers, but not a peep from the maligned doormen doubling as parking bouncers.  We checked in with BrickUnderground's anonymous doorman, who portrays doormen as reluctant enforcers rat

For the last month, we’ve been asking this question in the green survey box on the right side of our homepage: Would you fire your housekeeper or babysitter if you learned he or she had bed bugs at home?  The 36 votes so far aren’t exactly a Nielsen-sized sample.  Yet they've accrued in a strikingly consistent pattern, with fewer than a quarter of respondents vowing they wouldn't swing the ax, more than half saying they would, and about a quarter saying they might. (Vote now to see the exact stats.)

Here's a cunning strategy for renters and buyers looking for a quiet shoebox to call their own: "When renting, we found buildings that don't allow temporary walls were well-suited to weed out the just-out-of-college crowd and most families," a StreetEasy commenter counsels someone seeking a building of antisocial workaholics.

Q: Is it necessary to install central a/c in a high-end renovation? How much does it cost, and what’s the premium on resale?

A. Most buyers expect central air in high-end renovation unless it’s technically impossible to install, according to our experts.

“Window units are decidedly down market,” says real estate broker Gordon Roberts. “In general, luxury climate means comfort which is state-of-the-art, efficient and felt, but not seen or heard.”