MAY 2025 Newsletter
Jeff’s MAY News: Q1 Earnings, RU a Serious Seller?, NYC is Happy, Cheese Belt, Humanoid 1/2, Art(Lily) / Literature(Jane), AFTERTHOUGHTS & More!  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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May the Market Be

in Your Favor

May brings with it the warmth of the season, extended daylight hours, and a bustling real estate market! Whether you're planning to buy, sell, or just explore your options, now is an ideal time to take action - I did! Let's seize the opportunities this lively month offers, because in real estate, timing is everything!

(Pic, NY Botanical Garden)

Compass in the News

COMPASS' 2025 First Quarter Earnings Notes

  • We closed 49,121 transactions in Q1, an increase of 27.8% year-over-year, while transactions for the overall market decreased by 2.1% – outpacing the market by nearly 30%.

  • We closed $52.4 billion in sales volume, an increase of 31% year-over-year, while the overall market increased just 3.5%.

  • We grew quarterly market share to 6.0%, up 1.25% YOY.

  • 48.2% or 19,393 of homeowners who listed their home with Compass chose to use the Compass 3-Phased Marketing Strategy in Q1 (outside of Washington state) – proving that homeowners want more choice, not less.

  • Despite a heightened volatility in the macroeconomic landscape, we helped Compass achieve record Q1 free cash flow of $19.5 million and record Q1 Adjusted EBITDA of $15.6 million.

DISCOVER

THE ESSENCE OF LUXURY

Celebrating 10 issues of Curated Magazine. With this 10th edition of Curated Magazine, we celebrate a milestone: ten issues of showcasing the most extraordinary properties and redefining luxury real estate.


Explore CURATED Magazine

Real Estate in the News

The #1 Thing Sellers Need to Know About Their Asking Price

When you put your house on the market, you want to sell it quickly and for the best price possible; that’s generally the goal. But too many sellers are shooting too high right now. They don’t realize the market has shifted as inventory has grown. The side effect? Price cuts are on the rise, but they really don’t have to be. Here’s why.

How Staging Can Slash Days On Market And Boost Price

Many sellers think a freshly painted, empty white room helps show brightness and size, but unfortunately, empty rooms often appear smaller than they are and, worse, buyers struggle to visualize how they’d use the space.


Click HERE for my go-to company for staging and below for John Walkup's article.


FORBES.

Top 50 Most Expensive Neighborhoods Q1 2025

Focusing on the city’s 50 most expensive neighborhoods, 53 neighborhoods were included in the ranking in the first quarter of 2025 due to three pricing ties. Brooklyn took a slight lead, placing 22 neighborhoods among the city’s priciest, while Manhattan ranked 20.


Learn More at Property Shark


Did You Know?


The Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act will likely take effect on June 11, 2025​. It says, the party who hires a broker is responsible for paying the broker's fee. This means that if a tenant hires a broker to help them find an apartment, the tenant will be responsible for paying the broker's fee. However, if a landlord hires a broker to find a tenant, the landlord is responsible for the fee. 

Local News & Happenings

NYC is Among the Happiest Cities

Created by the London-based Institute for Quality of Life, the annual index evaluates 200 cities worldwide using 82 indicators across six major categories believed to have the most direct impact on overall happiness.


Click HERE for 26 subcatagories and the final list!


Take the HAPPINESS Quiz

(I scored a 140).

late 2025

New Food Hall - With a Cheese Conveyor Belt

In the former lobby where beauty counters once stood, Shaver Hall is set to open in the former iconic department store Lord & Taylor’s in Midtown at 424-434 Fifth Avenue, in late 2025.


Click HERE for more details!

$8B Casino Project Near Citi Field Gets Big Boost

State Sen. John Liu  introduced a bill proposing to redesignate the parking lots around the Queens baseball stadium from parkland to commercial use, which would allow the application for Met's owner Steve Cohen’s ambitious Metropolitan Park casino proposal to move forward. The project also includes a hotel and music venue.


Click HERE for more details!

Health & Fitness

Robots Compete in Beijing for the World’s First Half Marathon for Humanoids

The Tien Kung Ultra robot, developed by X-Humanoid, a Beijing-based state-owned enterprise, won the race for humanoid robots. It is 1.8 meters tall and weighs 52 kilograms. The first runner-up, Noetix Robotics’ N2, finished the half-marathon in 3 hours 37 minutes.

Watch them run...and fall!

Common Household Plastics Linked to 1000's of Global Deaths

Synthetic chemicals found in consumer products such as food storage containers, shampoo, makeup, perfume and children’s toys, may have contributed to more than 10% of all global mortality from heart disease in 2018 among men and women ages 55-64, a new study found.

Apple Watch has a

Fall Detection Feature

When a hard fall is detected, the watch will vibrate, play an alarm, and display an alert on the screen. Users can choose to call emergency services or dismiss the alert.

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Art & Literature (with my amazing daughters)

Lily, who is an Account Manager in the Valuations department at Sotheby’s, gave me a tour last week of the current collections coming up for the upcoming auction. So cool!


Additionally, Jane recently had a "Talk of the Town" article featured in The New Yorker magazine! This edition, highlighted below, is part of a series of four issues celebrating the magazine's 100th anniversary in 2025. Read TOTT HERE.

Featured Listings

carnegie hill

1349 Lexington Avenue, Unit 1F

3-4 BD 3 BA 1800 SF $1,895,000

carnegie hill

49 East 96th Street,

Unit 8/9E (Contract Signed)

3 BD 4 BA 1900 SF $2,300,000

Midtown East

100 United Nations Plaza, Unit 8A (Contract Out)

2 BD 3 BA 1327 SF $1,400,000

Upper East Side

160 East 91st Street, Unit 7E (Closed)

STUDIO 1 BA $285,000

Jeffrey Bua

The RMJ Home Team at Compass


Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker

M: 917.991.1792

jeff.bua@compass.com

Afterthoughts 


Did you realize, 1972 and 2025 are as far apart as 1972 and 1919?

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