The national home price index continues to fall, with a 17.4 percent year-to-year drop in September and an 18.2 percent drop predicted for October. [WSJ] A record 47 million tourists visited NYC this year, spending $30 billion. [City Room] In its first round of Streetsie Awards, Streets Blog hands out the honors for “The Year’s Best Livable ...

White House offers to use funds from the $700 billion TARP program to help Detroit. [NY Times] Financial insiders wonder why it took so long to uncover Madoff and his Ponzi scheme when there were so many hints along the way. [WSJ] With Saigon Grill’s owners charged last week with fraud and underpaying their workers, deciding whether or not ...

DOB lifts a stop work order and the Hotel Chelsea gets to work renovating (i.e. demolishing) Bob Dylan’s former apartment. [Curbed] A primo Park Slope brownstone goes condo. [Brownstoner via Curbed] Since they work on commission, brokers often stand to lose the most cash when real estate deals for pricey properties fall through at the last moment. Just ...

On Monday, the door to the new and expanded Beacon's Closet, a consignment shop now on the corner of Warren Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, opened. Along with a burst of cold air came not a customer but a stink bomb. "All I heard was a bang and then ahhhh," said Tiffany, a blonde, tweed-laden shopgirl, as ...