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Spread Love: Our Favorite Black-Owned BK Businesses

As a small business, one of our favorite ways to support other small businesses is by using our platform to share their products and mission. Below are some of our favorite Black-owned small businesses in Brooklyn. HOME Sweeten is a free service designed to make home renovation easier (please). Tell Sweeten about a renovation you’re […]

How to Write A Great Co-Op Reference Letter

Realty Collective Tip: Did you know that when you work with us, we’ll help you solicit and polish those reference letters? Read on till the end to see 14 examples of real letters that worked! Having the money to buy in Brooklyn is often just the first hurdle of the road toward home ownership here. […]

How to Figure Out Your Co-op Maintenance Tax Deduction—a Simple Formula

It’s tax season again and a prime time to remind you that if you live in a co-op, you can actually deduct your co-op maintenance fees! You just need to know how.  Let’s start with how much you can deduct, which is based on the portion used to pay real estate taxes and interest on […]

A Message From Realty Collective

At Realty Collective, we recognize that, as a real estate firm, our business operates within a broken system. One that has historically disenfranchised communities of color and, particularly in Brooklyn, harmed Black and Latinx residents through policies like redlining or predatory lending. We are not blind to the ongoing inequities. As a mission-driven organization, it […]

How to Buy in Brooklyn (Even As a Freelancer)

Plenty of us have been moving to freelancing in the last few years (whether by choice or not) and COVID-19’s abrupt closure of most workplaces forced many of us to get up to speed on working from home, fast. But whether you’re a freelancer for life, dipping a toe in, or making the best of […]

It’s Time To Talk About How Much You Can Afford

Forget the “Zestimate.” Ditch the guesstimate. It’s time to figure out how much you can afford. Brooklyn is one of the most expensive housing markets in the world but every day, people manage to buy here. Maybe that’s in the cards for you right now or maybe it’ll be somewhere down the line (one tool […]

Condo Vs. Co-Op Closing Costs

We’re talking closing costs this week and for what are essentially a few rooms inside a big building, inside an even bigger city, whether that collection of rooms is called a condo or a co-op makes a big difference in your closing costs!  Let’s take a closer look at those differences. When it comes to […]

Closing Costs 101

You’ve probably heard of closing costs but if you’ve never bought or sold property, the term can be confusing. Let’s first take a look at “closing.” Closing is the point at which the title of the property is transferred from seller to buyer. The costs associated with this are collectively known as the closing costs, […]

Do I Really Need An Agent?

OK, But, Do I Really Need a Real Estate Agent?  Our completely unbiased opinion? Yep, you do. OK, we’re not unbiased, but even those of us at Realty Collective who are agents (including our founder, broker Victoria Alexander) have chosen to have our co-workers serve as our agents when we have bought property. Why? Because […]

How To Estimate Moving Costs

Pop Quiz: What’s the average cost to move a 1-BR apartment within NYC in 2020?  A. $750                                                                              […]