Sean @ Trulia

I have been to many a closing in Manhattan working at Corcoran for 3 years and at my own closing in Hells Kitchen recently. Pretty much everyone that gets paid does so at the closing table and the bank has a check list and both the buyer and seller sign their lives away for each and every check issued. I have never seen anyone get paid without lots of documentation, with or without a bank involved. I guess you could try to get a seller to pay you on faith after the deal is closed - good luck with that!

By default, attorneys in the state of New York have the right to act as an agent and receive commission. Therefore, an attorney you can legally represent a seller or buyer (by law all agents represent the seller by the way) and receive a commission. So the real question is can you justify a fee and/or commission above and beyond your attorney's fees to your client? You can do that lots of ways: 1. By doing all the work to help them find and purchase the apartment including showings, appointments, offers, negotiation, coop or condo board packages, etc. 2. By offering a discounted commission that will somehow save the seller money (100% of the commission comes from the seller/purchase in NYC) 3. Just do your run of the mill attorney duties but do a good job of selling yourself as deserving of more than just you run of the mill attorney's fees!

Best bet is #1! I hope that helps! - Wed Sep 10 2008, 08:03

Sean from Trulia here! Pravda is an extremely hip downtown vodka bar guys, so this should be a great venue. We look forward seeing our loadest Voices next Thursday night! - Wed Aug 29 2007, 03:57

Sean from Trulia here! Pravda is an extremely hip downtown vodka bar guys, so this should be a great venue. We look forward seeing our loadest Voices next Thursday night! - Wed Aug 29 2007, 03:53

Hello Cody, this is Sean from Trulia. As you may know, Trulia has a wonderful partnership with NRT, the parent companies of Corcoran. We hope to include Corcoran listings on Trulia very soon, as I am an old Corcoran VP and I can't wait to share all of Trulia with my friends over there. - Fri Aug 10 2007, 12:51

Boy, you guys are making this way more complicated that it really is. The easy answer to this question is put more money down! If you are looking to down 10% you are out of luck. However, what you have to realize is that alot of people that are making serious cash (Wall Street alone made several billion in bonuses alone this year) are looking for a place to park their money and use as a tax shelter. So if you put down 50% or more on a NYC apt then you will have a positive cash flow in many if not most cases. - Mon Jul 23 2007, 10:56