However, some reports also note that TPG's financial health may be too weak for acquisitions. The firm is reportedly wooing investors by offering discounts on management fees as high as 25% off.

Brokerage firms seem to be merging regularly in order to expand their geographic reach. Savills and Studley came together earlier this year and back in 2011, BGC Partners purchased Newmark Knight Frank and combined it with Grubb & Ellis.

New York State's Tenant Protection Unit has served a subpoena on Marolda Properties as part of an investigation into allegations of tenant harassment in Lower Manhattan. The broad-based subpoena examines the patterns and practices of Marolda; accusations of tenant harassment and allegations of trying to exploit Asian-American tenants by forcing them out of their rent-regulated apartments.

“No New Yorker should be forced to live in fear of harassment by their landlord, and today we are taking an action that will help protect thousands of New Yorkers from this kind of abuse,” says Governor Cuomo. “This case is especially egregious because it appears this landlord preys on many tenants who are elderly and whose primary language is not English – which will not be tolerated in New York State.”

Marolda is a large New York City landlord which owns and manages over 70 buildings with approximately 1,700 apartments throughout the five boroughs and Westchester County. The company has owned properties in New York City for several decades and recently expanded its holdings, purchasing a large number of buildings in Chinatown and throughout the Lower East Side. According to tenants' accounts, Marolda has engaged in a pattern of unlawful and abusive behavior to drive tenants out of their homes, including: denying basic services, refusing to renew leases as required by the state's rent laws, bringing groundless eviction proceedings, and pressuring tenants to accept low buyout offers.