Weddingbee boards

Yup, i own in NYC.  Let me know what questions you have, i'm happy to help :)

I was not totally positive that i wanted to (or could afford to!) buy at first, so i just started visiting open houses. I went to several a day on the weekends for a few weeks to get an idea of what was out there in my price range.  I also looked a LOT on the NY times website - their real estate section is awesome. 

I did not contact a real estate agent, and i don't really recommend doing so.  In my personal opinion, contrary to their role, they don't tend to have your best interests at heart and are more concerned with pushing a sale so they can get their commission.  Instead, i looked on my own.  When you go to open houses, you have to sign in, and that's actually how i got a broker (the broker at an open house sent me to another open house, and i ended up buying that apt so she became my broker).  All that said, real estate agents' websites can be really helpful in gathering info about the buying process.

During the process, the mortgage broker was my go to person, not the real estate agent.  She fielded all of my questions (even the stupid ones) and made me feel very comfortable with the process. In my opinion, the mortgage broker is way more important right now especially, given that the banks have tightened up so much on requirements.

I looked exclusively at coops over condos because they are such a great deal. you dont have to pay real estate taxes (though you indirectly pay a portion of the building's taxes through your maintenance), but you get to deduct 50% of your maintenance on your tax return, so you really end up paying very little.  However, you do have to go through a coop board, and the coop application can be a pain.  It was totally worth it though, i love owning!

OK, i've written a novel, i hope that helps! let me know if i answered your questions...

oh hilsy's comment reminded me, keep in mind that you will have a lawyer representing you who will review all of the building's financials for the past few years.  This will tell you whether the maintenance and other costs are likely to rise over the next few years (i.e., how much reserve the building has).  Even if you put in an offer on a place, you will still have an opportunity to review all these things before you actually buy.    

@moderndaisy: no, real estate agents will LOVE you if you're not planning on taking out a mortgage. it generally means a quicker closing and they get their commission earlier!

I wish i had more to offer on the neighborhood aspect, but when i bought my place i was single and just looking to be centrally located. I didn't care at all about school districts or anything of the sort.  I did consider that the midtown and upper east/west areas tend to hold their value pretty well as compared to murray hill, gramercy, w. village, LES, and that has helped me as my place hasn't lost value.  There must be resources available about the quality of schools, but I wouldn't even know where to tell you to begin on that! (not ready to think about that) :)

I own in NYC too (Gramercy) and would be happy to help.  I suggest getting bank pre-approval so you know the budget you're working with AND get an agent so that they can advise you about the liqudity requirements of the buildings you look at.

I went the co-op route and for me it was a process of having a large downpayment + liquidity on top of that and board approval.  I looked at building that had a minimum of 20% down and a max of 50% down.  I ruled out 100% down buildings for cost.

And I found that most boards are looking for an additional 75k to 200k in savings AFTER the downpayment for co-ops.  This is so that they know the residents in a building can cover any special assessments that might be wagered on the building.  

For example, in my first year my building had an assessment that ended up being 10k for my shares.  This was for facade brick work.  This was above and beyond my regular maintenance fees per month.

Also some of the taxes/maintenance is tax deductable and a realtor can help you with that.

Good luck!

@moderndaisy: I think buildings will be willing to work with you on liquidity if you are an all cash buyer.  Just make sure the assets for buying are yours and not gifted, etc.  Then the building might not approve you.  Every building differs, as you know - but all cash will give you some leverage.

For my building, the requirement was 40% down and they wanted 2-3 years of mortgage and maint fees in savings beyond that.  So the liquidty after dp they wanted was around 96-130k.  The 40& down requirement is more than average, but the 96k in liquidity seems about average IMO.  One building on Park that we looked at wanted 500k of liquidity after, but you'll get that with the prime addresses.

Good luck!  What are of the UWS are you thinking of?  I went to grad school in Morningside Heights (I'm sure you can guess the school) and love that area of the UWS in the 90s and 100s.  I never would have thought it initially.

But the Gramercy/Flatiron area has my heart.  I just love it.  Love all the action and shopping of Union Sq.  All the amazing restaurants in that area.  Just a total soft spot for me.  Although, I don't know anything about the schools in that area - so it might not be best for you.

Good Luck!

Hi there ModernDaisy!

My husband and I rent have rented in Gramercy for 4 years...and 2 in UES and 2 in UWS.  We are closing next month on our first purchase (!!) in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

I know if there's any real estate agent on this thread, they might disagree with this advice...but we did the whole process ourselves without ever having a broker.  As a PP said, Streeteasy.com, and trulia.com, are both amazing listing sites to get an idea of what's available for how much in what neighborhood. They also have open house listings.

After you see some places, you'll get a better idea of what you want!  Prewar?  New Construction?

If you become a member of streeteasy.com (which I think is only a few bucks a month), you can see every single sales transaction in the past few years.  This helped us enormously when choosing a building, seeing what everything else sold for, and then deciding how much to offer.

We were clueless to start, but it's really easy to educate yourself.  we did all the negotiation ourselves.  After reaching an agreement with the seller, we passed everything off to our lawyer, and then it was his due diligence to find out the financials of the building, insurance, and all that mumbo jumbo we didn't want to deal with.

If you're not in any rush - I highly recommend doing your own research and NOT using a broker.  Sellers dropped their price for us (because they would have to pay the buyers' broker).

sorry to ramble - good luck!

OH and more input:

Again, I'm sure there are some coop owners out there who won't like my last piece of advice....but if you have a choice, choose condo over co-op.  Co-op's are cheaper (as @esqbee said) but for a reason - they have a lot of strings attached.  So if you can afford the extra cost to be in a condo, they're much more desirable.  Look at how all new developments are condo, or how coops are converting to condos...coops are being slooowwwly phased out because they are very antiquated and inconvenient.

We exclusively looked at condos, from horror stories of coop owners.  They're hard to sell.  In 2006, my dad who is retired living in Boston, made several offers on small 1BR coops in the UES.  He offered full cash.  but because he lived in Boston, it would be a "pier de terre", and was denied by the coop.  Imagine being the owner!  You have a buyer willing to give you full cash, but the coop cancels the sale?  We have many, many friends trying to get out of their coops and have buyers, but cant sell.  In a condo, you'll have a much happier transaction on the other end.  

PLUS, a lot of condos have tax abatements and minimal maintenance charge.

Condos generally dont have the pre-war appeal, so there's also an aesthetic choice.

Sorry to write a novel!!!!

good luck!