Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonFebruary 21, 2026February 21, 2026

Mortgage Payments Explained: How Interest Rates Impact Buying Power

Homeowners live in their monthly payments, not the purchase price.
To illustrate this, we will compare two interest rates on a conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage: 6% and 7%. That 1% difference, often referred to as 100 basis points, represents the approximate swing between more favorable rates and the high-water mark seen in late 2024.
Rather than thinking in decimals, the most useful way to evaluate this change is in dollars.

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonJanuary 19, 2026January 19, 2026

Queens Is Having a Moment: Navigate It With The Excelsior Team at Brown Harris Stevens

With a drastically lower price per square foot than Manhattan or Brooklyn – not to mention lower taxes and carrying costs – more buyers are discovering that Queens offers unbeatable value and space.

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonJanuary 29, 2023January 29, 2023

Negotiate Like a Child [Minus the Tantrums, of Course]

Remember the show, “Are you smarter than a 5th grader” or the book, “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten.”? Well, add Negotiation Skill and Prowess to the list of things we can learn from our children.

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonOctober 6, 2022

Video :: The Martingale :: A Losing Strategy for Gamblers & Negotiators

Also known as the “Double Down” Strategy, the Martingale is a betting strategy involving doubling the bet after each loss. In negotiations, the ‘double-down’ strategy is often employed as an ‘intimidation tactic’ using reckless maneuvers, bluster and a rapid escalation of the stakes to compel the other side to comply. In this video I explain the flaws in the Martingale Strategy though blackjack memory from teenage years.

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonMarch 23, 2022March 24, 2022

Real Estate Market Imagery: A ‘Rock’ and a Hard Place

The use of imagery, metaphor, and analogy can be incredibly effective when conveying a new concept, “shining a light” on a blindspot (look at that – imagery to promote imagery!), or weighing available options when making a decision.

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonFebruary 26, 2022April 14, 2022

Knowledge is Power: Understanding Amortization and Mortgage Interest Rates

Have you ever calculated how an increase in mortgage interest rates actually affects your purchase in real dollars?

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonAugust 22, 2021

A View From the Bottom: Six Reasons Why You Want a Ground Floor Apartment

You’ve been there. You are at an open house for a first floor apartment staring out the bedroom window estimating the distance to the sidewalk, gauging the noise levels from traffic, and waiting to see if passers by look directly into the apartment as they pass. You whisper under your breath, “I love this apartment, […]

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonFebruary 3, 2021

Knowledge is Power: Understanding Amortization and Mortgage Interest Rates

Have you ever calculated how an increase in mortgage interest rates actually affects your purchase in real dollars?

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonFebruary 10, 2020February 3, 2021

Knowledge is Power: Understanding Amortization and Mortgage Interest Rates

Have you ever calculated how an increase in mortgage interest rates actually affects your purchase in real dollars?

Written by Eirik Davey-GislasonFebruary 3, 2020February 3, 2020

Six Reasons You Should WANT to Live on the First Floor

I have lived in ground floor apartments in NYC for the last fourteen years. In fact, we recently purchased another apartment on the – wait for it – yes, the first floor. We move in later this month, which means we are committed to first floor living for the foreseeable future – and we love […]

The Ever Upward BLOG

with The Excelsior Team at Brown Harris Stevens

Tag: co-op

Mortgage Payments Explained: How Interest Rates Impact Buying Power

Queens Is Having a Moment: Navigate It With The Excelsior Team at Brown Harris Stevens

Negotiate Like a Child [Minus the Tantrums, of Course]

Video :: The Martingale :: A Losing Strategy for Gamblers & Negotiators

Real Estate Market Imagery: A ‘Rock’ and a Hard Place

Knowledge is Power: Understanding Amortization and Mortgage Interest Rates

A View From the Bottom: Six Reasons Why You Want a Ground Floor Apartment

Knowledge is Power: Understanding Amortization and Mortgage Interest Rates

Knowledge is Power: Understanding Amortization and Mortgage Interest Rates

Six Reasons You Should WANT to Live on the First Floor