<p>Glad that you’re on top of it, Soozie!</p>
<p>Soozie, it’s 20 minutes on Metro North to midtown Manhattan. The closer you are to Manhattan the more a house is worth.</p>
<p>Location, location, location. :)</p>
<p>I truly know that location affects real estate prices…but still, it is hard to fathom the value of that house and small piece of property…just sayin’. You get a lot more in my neck of the woods for that! And I live in a resort community.</p>
<p>^They only paid $185K for it in '81. ;)</p>
<p>It’s not just the proximity to NYC; it’s also the school system in Scarsdale.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Depending on the neighborhood, a 500 square foot apartment in Manhattan can go for $500,000.</p>
<p>Yes, it seems crazy. But a property is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience in buying or selling a co-op in Manhattan?
My S is going through this process and the co-op board application and approval process is something that does not exist anywhere else in the country.
I worry that he may not pass the boards or that he will have trouble selling it at a later date because no one would want to go through this process. The previous buyer of the same co-op was rejected by the board and now my S is the second buyer.
Why would anyone in their sane mind buy a co-op?</p>
<p>“It’s not just the proximity to NYC; it’s also the school system in Scarsdale.”</p>
<p>True. Two blocks down, same street similar house, but in White Plains, would be about $300-400K less.</p>
<p>cbreeze,</p>
<p>The reason buying a co-op in Manhattan is its price, you may have to pay double for a condo, never mind a single family… The land value is so great, you may only qualify to buy a co-op and take the heat.</p>
<p>cbreeze – good luck to your son – since boards don’t have to tell you why they rejected you, the process can seem capricious, but most boards are often looking for job and income stability and good assets. A knowledgeable realtor can usually tell by looking at your financials if you’ll pass the board or not. Yes, it poses a hurdle for your son’s eventual buyer, but as artloversplus said, they’re really the only game in town if you can’t afford a condo.</p>
<p>Many condos now also have a board approval process. They didn’t used to, but I’m hearing that more and more.</p>
<p>The only exception would be a sponsor-held unit in a co-op which (I have heard) does not require board approval.</p>
<p>Soozie
7500 sqft lot is not small by all means. In our neck of the woods builders are trying to build a single family house on a 2500 sqft lot and in some locations they sell for more then one million. Go figure.</p>
<p>Similar prices per square foot - probably higher - where I used to live in NJ. That’s why we sold the house. We were living in a house I could not afford to buy, and certainly could not afford to live in it without working. (Bought it cheaper 15 years earlier…yikes! just checked, when we sold the house in 2008 prop taxes were $27k. in 2012 they were $32.5k)</p>
<p>I am going through buying a co-op right now. It took me 2 weeks of compiling necessary documents for the board. I had to write a personal statement and show 2 months of financial statement for every acct I have, plus a lot of employment verification. Between H and I we had 10 recs.</p>
<p>The key is to work with a top notch broker. They would know how difficult/reasonable each board is. This would help you decide if you want buy in any particular building. The building we are buying into is known to ask for a lot of documentations, but they are not unreasonable. They do not ask for 50%+ downpayment. They also do not ask for multiple of purchase price as liquid asset. Our broker prepared our application for us. She went through it with their coop board specialist to make sure everything was in place. She was also responsible for making 10+ copies for the board. </p>
<p>We have just been contacted by the board that our interview is this Mon night. I guess we passed their first inspection (financials), now they want to make sure we would be good neighbors. Our broker is coaching us on what to say and not to say. I feel like we are working with a private college counselor. :)</p>
<p>Most apartments in NYC are coops, very few condos or condops, so everyone goes through this process. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific question.</p>
<p>^^ can you give some examples of what Not to say?</p>
<p>They say not to ask any questions.
</p>
<p>Do not try to sell yourself, it is not a networking opportunity.
Never volunteer information
Couples should decide in advance who will respond to what type of questions.
Prepare for a lack of privacy
No one ever gets turned down for being boring.</p>
<p>We have a piano because our kids play. Our broker told us to say that we (H and I) do not play any instruments. We also put down on our application that our kids no longer live with us because people do not like young adults living in the building (potential loud parties). Cbreeze’s son should say that he is very busy working with very little free time to entertain at home. When he does, it is mostly dinner parties.</p>
<p>If asked about renovation of new apartment - nope, it is fine, we have no plan to renovate at this time.</p>
<p>Subleasing - no plan to sublease, it will be our primary resident.</p>
<p>^^ In 1988, my dear friend bought a co-op on the 30’s (garment district) and decided to rent it out. The board approved the deal. Then he got a phone call from fire department few months later, the tenant left the gas stove on and left the apartment, the stove eventually burned a hole in the pot and the fire was extinguished. However, the gas kept leaking and permutated throughout the building.</p>
<p>He was expelled from the co-op and had forced to sell his unit, in addition to a hefty fine.</p>
<p>Thanks Oldfort. Will keep you posted through PM.
He is a first time buyer and made a few mistakes because he had a lousy broker… He is the only buyer but his fianc</p>
<p>Husband and his brother sold the home they grew up in to an investment company in less than two months. Sold as is, and for a song. Seriously, we could have taken out a minor loan and bought brother out at that price, but husband kept pointing out that along with buying a house comes upkeep, insurance, utilities, so we couldn’t really afford it, although I thought we could. So sad to see the neighborhood husband grew up in turning into rental property central. Where once were families with many children of the same age are now grown children getting rid of their parents’ homes. On the other hand, on my block, we now have six houses for sale, in one block, not neighborhood, and some have been for sale for over two years. The city is growing, though, as hurricane ravaged homes are being snapped up by young professionals who are renovating them and making them homes. New restaurants and shopping strips going up in areas that were once blighted, so glad to see progress being made on that front.</p>
<p>cbreeze - if she is not on the application, and I am assuming she is not or she would had to submit recommendations, then she should not appear at the interview. Your son shouldn’t say anything about her either during the interview. Once he is in, they can’t evict him except for non payment of maintenance. Tell you son to just stick it out, he is not alone. BTW, I almost walked away because amount of work. I also fired my broker twice because she was such a pain in the neck about having the application perfect. But she said she never had a rejection.</p>