East New York homeowners experiencing persistent harassment by vulture real estate investors and speculation

THE CITY

When Mercedes Sandoz fell behind on mortgage payments, a lawyer she didn’t know called her personal phone offering to help — by buying her East New York home for cash.

The mother of five also got daily fliers and knocks on her door from lawyers and investors. That’s because she was on a public list as being at risk of foreclosure.

“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 33 years, and in the last few years, I’ve felt like it’s a takeover,” said Sandoz, who bought her home in 2000 after years of renting in the area.

Now, she’s joined an effort to protect homeowners from harassment from real estate speculators by designating the neighborhood as Brooklyn’s only “cease-and-desist” zone — an area declared off-limits under state law.

Cease-and-desist protections would allow homeowners to opt into a list restricting would-be house flippers from contacting them — and hit violators with fines, criminal charges or loss of real estate licenses.

Local residents say the designation is badly needed in East New York: A 2018 Center for New York City Neighborhoods report that found investors were flipping more homes at higher rates and for higher profit margins in East New York than anywhere else in Brooklyn.

After a push by residents working with the Coalition for Community Advancement and state Sen. Julia Salazar’s office, the New York Department of State scheduled a public hearing on the cease-and-desist bid for March 5 at 5 p.m. at 127 Pennsylvania Ave.

 The hearing marks a key step toward whether state officials find the “evidence of intense and repeated solicitations” needed to declare a cease-and-desist zone.

The Department of State gained the authority to grant neighborhoods cease-and-desist protections in 1989, but currently has only three designated zones in the city — all in suburban-style, largely white and Asian middle-class areas.

Two cover a swath of northeast Queens, including College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace and surrounding areas. The third covers the Country Club neighborhood in The Bronx.

Alexa Sloan with the Coalition for Community Advancement, a band of residents, businesses and houses of worship advocating for East New York and Cypress Hills, said locals have been collecting evidence of solicitation for more than two years. They’ve amassed 540 surveys detailing their experiences.

One of the residents who has been organizing for cease-and-desist protections, Linda Ford, installed a camera outside her house because of frequent visits from would-be buyers offering cash.

“I keep the door locked, and I don’t answer,” said Ford, who inherited her home from her mother and has lived there for more than 50 years. “Sometimes the notes they leave are handwritten, like they’re from a friend.”

After offering sums of cash for far less than properties are worth, many of those investors quickly resell the houses for far higher sums. Rampant flipping can put real estate prices out of reach for local buyers while bumping up existing homeowners’ tax bills.

Cease and desist list now in effect

From the Times Ledger:

A cease-and-desist list targeting unwanted real estate solicitations went into effect with the new year, allowing residents of northeast Queens to opt out of receiving fliers and door-to-door visits.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who fought to have at least part of an expired cease-and-desist zone restored, reminded residents of Auburndale, Bayside, College Point, Malba, Murray Hill, North Flushing, and Whitestone to add their addresses to the list on the Department of State website.

“There may be 1,033 houses already on the list, but there is always room for more,” Avella said. “The Department of State will continue to accept new submissions and will update the list monthly.”

The cease-and-desist list established by the Department of State emulates a zone covering all of Queens County that was established in 1989 and expired in 2014. At three public hearings, residents and civic associations blasted the real estate industry for tactics they considered aggressive and complained of fliers littering their communities.

According to the Department of State, “no licensed real estate broker or salesperson shall solicit the sale, lease or the listing for sale or lease of residential property from an owner of residential property located in a designated cease-and-desist zone if such owner has filed a cease-and-desist notice with the Department of State indicating that such owner or owners do not desire to sell, lease or list their residential property and do not desire to be solicited to sell, lease or list their residential property.”

The new list will expire in 2022, but the IDC senator is hoping to get a law passed in the state to ban real estate solicitations in Queens indefinitely.

Now we have "rogue bikesharing"

From the NY Post:

A California company will dump 300 dockless share bikes across the Big Apple on Monday — and they don’t have permission from the city to do it.

Spin, a San Francisco-based company, will drop 150 rigs throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and another 150 in the Rockaways, according to City Councilman Eric Ulrich, who is in favor of the company moving in even though New York has a contract with Citi Bike.

“Bike sharing represents the future, and I don’t believe we should be protecting Citi Bike as a monopoly,” said Ulrich. “Citi Bike has a contract to have docks on city property and that’s fine, but the city has to let bike riders and New Yorkers decide who they want to pay.”

Unlike Citi Bikes, which must be picked up from and brought back to a station after each use, dockless bikeshare companies use cycles with self-locking technology that customers can access through an app. They can then pick up and leave the bikes anywhere.

Transit advocates fear dockless bikes could be a disaster.

“They litter the streets everywhere they go,” said a source familiar with the operations. “They have to go somewhere and they end up in the middle of sidewalks and in dumpsters and in the way of everything.”

At least five rogue dockless bike companies have been sniffing around the city and buttering up officials since the spring, officials have said. Spin will be the first to actually set up shop here.

This is funny. If it's Spin or nothing, the Rockaways should have nothing, according to DOT. Also humorous is the unnamed transit advocate who claims these bikes will end up in the middle of sidewalks and in dumpsters. What?

Northeast Queens set to get cease and desist zone

From the Queens Chronicle:

When, if ever, will northeast Queens receive the two cease-and-desist zones that New York State has proposed to combat aggressive real estate solicitation? It depends on whom you ask.

The office of state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) — a lawmaker who spearheaded the effort to protect homeowners with cease-and-desist zones — has asked homeowners to submit comments to the state Department of State “supporting the proposed regulations that are slated to go into effect” on the first of September. Comments, however, will be accepted until Sept. 8, the end of the 45-day period for them.

According to maps released by Avella, the DOS has proposed two sections of northeast Queens — Bay Terrace along with portions of Bayside, Whitestone, Flushing and College Point — as cease-and-desist zones. Homeowners who live in the zones could, if they wish, be placed on a registry that prevents real estate agents from soliciting them once the rules take effect.

But according to the DOS, the regulations could not go into effect on Sept. 1.

“Rules cannot be adopted until at least the end of the public comment period (ending Sept. 8), and September 1 falls within that comment period,” an agency spokesperson told the Chronicle in an emailed statement.

How about the timing for implementation of the rule, after the comment period? “We would not know at this time,” the spokesperson said.

Regardless of if or when the cease-and-desist zones will be implemented, the Long Island Board of Realtors, whose region includes Queens, plans to use the public comment period to urge the state not to go through with them.

Unwanted real estate ads foisted upon homeowners

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association receives numerous complaints of offers landing in homeowners’ mailboxes and some getting an agent walking straight up to their door.

The offers all have the same theme — agents can sell your home for cash, a lot of it. Some of the pamphlets, copies of which were provided to the Chronicle, show comparative sales in the neighborhood.

One such ad, given to the WRBA on Jan. 18, said the realtor had closed 15 deals in five months in Woodhaven and surrounding neighborhoods.

It also reads, “Your house will be next,” seemingly assuming the sale.

Another was simply a white piece of paper with the words “I am interested in buying your house ALL CASH,” with the agent’s name and phone number on it.

Such unsolicited offers were once barred in Queens, as homeowners could list their homes as properties where solicitation was not allowed.

That ended in 2014 and realtors were once again free to solicit whomever they wanted.

Now, such cease-and-desist zones can only be established for certain neighborhoods that show it’s a prevalent issue.

Seeking cease and desist zone

From the Queens Chronicle:

At a public hearing organized by state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and state officials, members of the public testified about the need for cease-and-desist zones — a designation that allows residents of certain areas to sign up for a list with the state that makes it unlawful for real estate brokers to solicit them.

“The people in the community are complaining about people that knock on their door at 7:30 on a Sunday morning asking if their houses are for sale and the tremendous solicitation,” Fresh Meadows Homeowners Association President Jim Gallagher said in his testimony.

Between 1989 and 2009, the entire borough was a cease-and-desist zone. Under current state law, neighborhoods can be declared cease-and-desist zones if they are considered eligible. Excessive solicitation must be demonstrated to the state by residents of an area who desire the designation. In addition to door knocking, the appeals come in the form of phone calls and mail.

At the end of his testimony, Avella presented a bag with dozens of pieces of solicitation mail “for dramatic effect.”

The hearing, which happened in the auditorium of Bayside High School last Thursday, was before officials from the New York State Department of State, the agency that determines whether the zones should be adopted.

Twelve people, most of whom self-identified as members of civic associations, spoke in favor of reinstating the designation. But as Avella put it in a press release issued the following day, the 27 real estate brokers who testified against making the borough a cease-and-desist zone “organized to hijack” the hearing.

Looking to bring back "cease and desist"

From the Queens Courier:

Community activists gathered outside state Senator Tony Avella’s office Thursday afternoon to call for an extension of the state’s “cease-and-desist” law, which empowers Queens homeowners to prohibit unwanted solicitations from real estate brokers.

The original law, which expired in August 2014, allowed homeowners to register with New York’s Department of State on a list banning brokers from sending advertisements to the registered addresses.

Once the law expired, Avella stated, local property owners became inundated with “predatory real estate solicitations.” During the most recent legislative session, he introduced a bill extending the cease-and-desist law and strengthening it by expediting the registration process for homeowners. The bill would also designate Queens as a “non-solicitation zone” and double its length of protection to 10 years.

Numerous civic activists in the area demonstrated their support for the legislation at Thursday’s press conference.

Legislation will create list to opt out of unwanted real estate solicitations

From the Queens Chronicle:

Avella announced on Monday that he will introduce a bill in Albany to add the entire borough to the cease and desist list, which will allow all Queens residents to opt out of receiving unwanted real estate calls, mailings and ads.

Under the present state law, only certain neighborhoods deemed eligible by the state can qualify as cease and desist areas. Residents must show excessive distribution of real estate solicitations to qualify.

Avella’s bill will allow residents to add their addresses to the list, rather than by a neighborhood. The bill will also extend the active period from five to 10 years.