On the Market: Porches Are Back and the de Blasios Finally Move Into Gracie

The Lefferts Homestead in Brooklyn. (wally/flickr)

One of the few timeshares in New YorksMidtowns Manhattan Clubhas been banned from selling shares in the condo or foreclosing on any units until the attorney generals office completes an investigation, Crains reports. Developer Ian Bruce Eichner and partners have been accused of overbooking rooms, barring owners from being able to book rooms, in part because rooms in the building are rented to the general public.

Porches are back! declaresThe Wall Street Journal. Were they ever out of fashion? Apparently they werewith everyone wanting to hole up in their air conditioned homes for a while, but now, thankfully, the porch is making a comeback, with wealthy homeowners keen for any opportunity to add more bells or whistles. The wealthier we feel, and the more feature-rich we desire our homes to be, the more likely they are to have a porch, says one real estate consultant.

You know what house has a delightful porch? Gracie Mansion, where the de Blasio family finally, finally stayed last night for the first time, according to the Wall Street Journal. The family did not begin their drawn-out move in until last month.

A Montauk homeowner rented his four-bedroom home for $1,600 a night and was shockedshocked!that his renters hosted wild parties that involved lots of noise and maybe even outdoor sex, according to the Post. We have now, apparently, entered the phase where homeowners charge enormous, five-star hotel prices to rent their homes, but have not yet realized that this might entail visitors using their homes like hotels, where they are free to have large parties that yield wild sex and a lawn strewn with red plastic cup and cigarette butts?

Speaking of parties: Jerermiahs Vanishing New York reports that Ding Dong Lounge in Morningside Heights is closing down due to the usual: landlord greed, avarice and douchebaggery via one of the DJs there. With Ding Dong, Rodeo Bar and the Subway Inn closing, should we fear the end of bars with cheap mixed drinks, cheaper beer and permanently sticky floors?

In the increasingly wealthy, bland New York everything that used to be something else is now a Starbucks: a longtime Upper East Side dry cleaning shop on the corner of 80th Street and Second Avenue has been booted by the landlord sans rent negotiation to make way for a Starbucks, DNAInfo reports. Fortunately one of the dry cleaners clients works in real estate and found her a spot across the street.

With all these changes, its natural to worry that you arent taking your out-of-town visitors to the authentic New York, or whatever they think the authentic New York should be. Well, dont worry about it, says Gothamist. There is no authentic New York, just as there is no authentic New Yorker. Mostly, just avoid anything that packages itself as authentic. Like Little Italy.

Will yellow cabs soon join the ranks of quaint as well? Lyft has plans to launch a modified version of its car-sharing service, according toCrainsa model that would use commercially-licensed drivers rather than volunteers working for donations. The change will allegedly allow the company to launch a soft version of the service this coming Friday, though the change in business plan has required a pause on launch plans in upstate cities.

Something to keep in mind: not all innovations are better than the old-fashioned method. i.e. A 50-year old New York man has decided to use a tried and true method to find the woman of, if not his dreams, then at least a dream by posting flyers with his photo around the city that declare he is looking for a girlfriend, Gothamist reports. Well, anything is better than online dating, we guess.

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On the Market: Porches Are Back and the de Blasios Finally Move Into Gracie