The Heart Finds its Home

As February arrives, love fills the air - and not just because of Valentine’s Day! It's an ideal moment to embrace the excitement of new beginnings, whether you're searching for your dream home, making a smart investment, or getting ready to sell. Heres to a month full of possibilities, new opportunities, & discovering the place where your heart truly belongs!

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Compass Cares Wildfire Relief Fund

As of this week, we ​h​ave raised nearly $250,000!  If you'd like to contribute to the fund established to aid COMPASS Los Angeles family members who have lost their homes, please do so HERE. Please consider sharing this fundraiser to those looking to help.

Did You Know 

Homeowners usually have the option to pause mortgage payments for as much as a year if they are impacted by a natural disaster. This is called forbearance. Mortgage companies are required to offer it on the roughly 40% of loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Forbearance is often doled out in three or six month increments. 

Compass in the News

For buyers and sellers, Compass One is the only platform designed to connect you and your agent through every phase of your real estate journey.

Compass One puts the full power of the Compass platform directly in your hands, simplifying the entire process, offering 24/7 transparency and peace of mind before, during, and after the transaction.

Not only does this dashboard serve as a shared access point for us to connect, but it unlocks the depth of tools, inventory, & services only available at Compass. (Worth reading through twice).

*LEARN MORE*

INTERLUDE:

“We are working with our agents and their clients to create a company that better serves homeowners.”

ROBERT REFFKIN, FOUNDER & CEO, COMPASS

Why Compass Will Overtake Zillow as the Most Popular Real Estate Platform

Zillow’s business model has fundamental weaknesses that hinder its ability to turn a profit (and three consecutive years of declining revenue from 2021-2023). Meanwhile, Compass is rapidly emerging as the industry’s most promising real estate platform, leveraging a superior approach that prioritizes local expertise and direct agent relationships.

Read more @ Hausmarket (Chicago's #1 real estate website).

*Also included, Robert Reffkin was live on CNBC discussing the housing market, interest rates, Compass Private Exclusives & brokerage commissions*

Real Estate in the News

Midtown South Rezoning Plan to Build 10,000 New Homes Begins Public Review

The Midtown South Mixed-Use (MSMX) plan, a proposal to rezone 42 blocks of the neighborhood to allow for roughly 9,700 new homes in areas where housing was largely prohibited under old zoning rules. The rezoning is part of the mayor’s “Manhattan Plan” introduced in his State of the City address last week to add 100,000 new homes to the borough over the next decade.

Courtesy of 6sqft

Did Someone Die in That Property?

When a real estate agent works with a prospective homebuyer, they’re required to point out physical or material defects in the property. A death on the property? It depends on the state where the house is located. In most states, death doesn’t count as a material defect requiring disclosure.

CNBC to find out which states are required to disclose a death.

Your January 2025

Market Snapshot is Here!

Curious about the real estate market? I'm here to provide valuable insights into the market so you can stay educated and informed.

I'm pleased to share Compass' January 2025 Market Snapshot, highlighting the prevailing trends shaping the market.

UK Real Estate in the News

Average U.K. House Prices Rise in January

The average price of property coming to the market in the U.K. rose by 1.7% in January, representing the largest jump in prices at the start of the year since 2020, according to new Rightmove data. Buyer activity has been encouraging, as well.

Read more @ Dow Jones Newswires.

Local News

These are the Loudest Neighborhoods in NYC

According to the data, New Yorkers submitted a total of 753,222 noise complaints to 311 last year and 10% of them came from Bronx Community District 12, making neighborhoods like Eastchester, Olinville, Williamsbridge and Woodlawn some of the loudest in town.

Click HERE for the top 10 loudest Neighborhoods in NYC.

MTA Installs Turnstile ‘Spikes’ at NYC Subway Station

The pointy panels would make it painful for people attempting to skip the toll by using the handrails to lift themselves over the turnstiles. But they don’t address a hack used on old gates of pulling on the turnstiles enough to slip through, or of climbing over them. Click HERE to learn more!

95 year old at Zabar’s, Len Berk, Talks About NYC & Folks’ to-go Orders

On the UWS, behind the fish counter of one of the most iconic grocery stores in the country, Zabar’s, New Yorkers unknowingly interact with a living piece of the city's history: Len Berk, the 95-year-old lox slicer who’s been with the Jewish deli for over 3 decades and still works there.

Read TimeOut for more about Len!

Lifestyle Tips and Tricks

Home Appraisals: Your Questions Answered

A home appraisal helps sellers extract maximum value and protects buyers and lenders from overpaying.

Courtesy of U.S. News

Tech

Design & Tech Pros Predict Top AI-Powered Home Innovations for 2025

For those of us who saw Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in our youth, artificial intelligence may evoke a bit of suspicious fear, as well as enthusiastic favor...

Courtesy of Forbes

DeepSeek’s Breakthrough Emboldens AI Models Like Meta’s Llama

Last month, DeepSeek released R1, an open-source reasoning model that claims to rival the performance of OpenAI’s o1 model using a cheaper, less energy-intensive process.

Courtesy of CNBC

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Film/Art/Music/TM

Remembering David Lynch

David Lynch always has and always will defy understanding, beguiling us into deeper and darker and more heavenly depths as time unspools like frames of a film, and as life trundles on, ferrying you along with it. You carry Lynch with you until you die—maybe after, too.

Read Flood Mag.

David Lynch on Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain

Word of the Month

Pareidolia:

A psychological phenomenon that causes people to see recognizable shapes or patterns in random or unrelated objects. Check This Out.

Featured Listings

Upper East Side

160 East 91st Street,

Unit 7E (CONTRACT SIGNED)

STUDIO 1 BA $285,000

Coming Soon to Carnegie Hill

Versatile 3 to 4 bedroom Maisonette with a dual-purpose residence and office for professional usage.

*CLIENT*TESTIMONIALS*

Jeffrey Bua

RMJ Home Team

at Compass

Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker

M: 917.991.1792

jeff.bua@compass.com