Yo was chatting to Gail Lissner, Appraisal Research Counselor’s guru of all things high-rise, and she made a good point about the glamorous array of amenities being offered by developers.
“Look at what the amenities are,” she says, “and look at whether they are related to real estate or people marketing.” By that she means, is it a real amenity, a real attribute, (like a fitness room with gym equipment, for instance) or is it a service that looks good in brochures, but will require a lot of money directly from your assessments to pay for (like a gym instructor to lead classes)?
Lissner notes that some condo associations are scaling back their 24-hour doorman to 12 hours to save money. Outer Drive East used to have a full-service health club, but these days it’s no longer staffed, she notes.