Co-op owners or past owners - a few questions

[Joanne teacher]

Originally Posted by darkmark

Hi there - My family (My wife, myself and my 3 year old daughter) is renting a house (3br, 1 bath) in Gibson (near Valley Stream) and saw a lovely 2br 2 bath COOP in Lynbrook. And when all is said and done we would save about $100 a month by buying the Co-op and the Co-op is actually 200 sq ft larger than the house we are living. We have the money to put down, we like the schools and are extremely tempted but not in a huge rush since there are co-ops everywhere for sale. The reason we wanted to buy over renting are the tax breaks, if something breaks it gets fixed, lawn is done for you , etc. But my questions are these

- in reference to tax deductions - do you realistically see some of this money coming back to you? We make about $120k together (nope, not rich), owe a little in student loans and own our cars. Will we see a difference? FYI, We had to actually pay out this past year because I did freelance, now I am settled in a regular gig.

- When the light-switch breaks or the heat sucks does this stuff get taken seriously?

- Did you install an alarm? Any break-ins?

In your personal experience what are the pros and cons of your experience? Noisy neighbors, smells, smokers, etc. I appreciate this and think we will be be moving forward and perhaps even spend about $700 more a month for a 3br we liked. With the 2br we can probably sit tight for 8 years before need more space (the coming teenage years) while the 3br is something we can stay in much longer.

thanks all

To answer the questions that you asked, I currently own a coop in East Rockaway, and although I am single and make a considerable amount less than you (about half), I will give you my details.

1. I have gotten a significant amount back in taxes that I didn't get before I owned. This year I got back about $7,000. In the past I usually got $1,000 from Fed and had to pay a few hundred to state.

2. My building has a live in super who takes care of everything pretty quickly. The heat would be the opposite of sucks, imagine windows open in February.

3. I do not have an alarm, and I have never felt unsafe. The building does have cameras in public places which is a nice addition.

4. I have never had a problem with any neighbors. Most people keep to themselves, but are generally pretty considerate to others.

A lot of people are very anti-coop, however for me it has been the right choice. I simply do not have the money to afford a house, and this was my only option for home ownership. Everyone can have their own opinion, but you must do what is best for you and your family.

Good Luck, no matter what your decision!

[eugenet]

I/We lived in a coop for 4 years in Forest Hills. The maintenance started at $800/month but went up by 5% annually. Only got hit with 1 assessment = around monthly payment for the roof.

Neighbors kept to themselves, no major issues there.

Regarding the fire escape, never saw the need to add a gate to the window. Just don't leave the window open, that's like leaving an invitation to come in.

Sold our coop in 8 days in Summer '08, maybe because it was a month before the bottom fell out of the real estate market.

[Jetties]

I owned a co-op in Long Beach for 4 years and sold it in 2004 (it took less than a week). We had a pool, gym and an oceanview from every room in a high demand building with over 200 units in it varying in size from 3 BR to studios. There were still some rentals, probably about 20%. My maintenance went up from about $700/month to nearly $900 in my four years which included a renovation of all the terraces (some involved replacing the steel beams that supported them).

I loved it but did live in some fear of a possible corrupt board (just having other people having influence on my asset bothered me). As for tax returns, I believe the maintenance was about 60-65% tax deductable. Water and heat were included.

We had both a super (who was good) and a building manager (who was also good) though I really didn't have any problems.
We obviously sold at a good time and we almost tripled our money.