Co-op
Do No-Pet Policies Affect Market Value?
We get a lot of questions on the Saturday morning radio show I co-host (Eye On Real Estate, WOR710), but a recent caller posed one that got me thinking. She is considering a coop purchase in a building that does not permit pets. She is not a pet owner, so it won’t affect her directly, …
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Why Deals Die and How to Avoid These Problems
It’s an unfortunate reality of the New York City marketplace that not all deals end up closing. But given the amount of work it takes to successfully market a property and find a willing buyer, just as much effort should go into ensuring that deal gets from the handshake to the closing table. Let’s start …
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Flip Taxes and the GFE
GFE disclosure rules are unforgiving when it comes to under-disclosing. But most loan officers have become adept at accurately disclosing and GFE refunds are less frequent than before. Hopefully my efforts in this column to educate the banking community has helped, and of course don’t forget the comprehensive closing cost brochures for NYC and the …
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To Inspect or Not to Inspect: That Is the Question
Among the most frequently asked questions of buyers of cooperative and condominium apartments is whether they should engage a professional engineer to inspect the apartment before buying. Like many issues in New York real estate, the answer is not always straight-forward. When evaluating whether to hire an engineer, or professional home inspector, let’s first re-examine …
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Is My Building Really Worth Less Than my Apartment?
Building financial statements have taken on a new found prominence in the age of tough bank underwriting, as institutional lenders are now scrutinizing these reports to determine whether the collateral – the apartment being financed – as opposed to the borrower, are worthy of extending a loan. But to the non-CPAs in the crowd, these …
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Pretending to Be a Coop: Confessions of a Condominium
I used to study the violin when I was a teenager. Home alone in the summer practicing it could get boring, so I would imagine walking onstage to the roar of applause as guest concert master at the Moscow Philharmonic, and having to stand and then sit again three times just to calm the ecstatic …
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