Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am hoping to move to NYC over the next year and was wondering what I could expect in finding a place to buy.
I don't know how much I trust zillow so I figured i'd ask here since I'm sure some of you are in real estate. I'm most interested in purchasing in Manhattan; order of precedence would be Manhattan(not Harlem and FiDi) > Accessible and walkable Brooklyn > South or East Harlem/FiDi. Outside of those areas I wouldn't be interested.
Looking for either a decent studio or 1 bedroom. We live in 700sf now, so that won't be a problem, we have more than enough room now; we'd be fine if its in a good spot at a good price going as low as 500sf.
So the question is can you find 700sf 1brs in the areas above for 400k or less (preferably the top choice of Manhattan)? What can I expect in terms of COA fees? My current place has a $350 COA but it covers water and gas also, again I am flexible but am hopeful COAs aren't generally $500 or 600 for a studio or 1br.
Thanks for help and general advice. I'll be strong cash if not all cash if that helps pricing at all, I considered renting instead but 20 - 30k per year in rent would pretty much cancel out closing costs, so we figured we'd buy something smaller and set up/make sure its where we should be before upgrading to a bigger 1br or 2br with a mortgage.
I am not sure about prices so I will let others answer you on that. What I do know is that you will need to do some homework on the difference between condos and coops. I noticed that you didn't use either word in your post. Coops still make up the majority of the real estate market, as far as I know. New buildings tend to be condo. Some people are interested in buying only condos, and in that case, the prices will be substantially higher. COA may be lower with a condo for various reasons.
Have you looked at actual real estate websites that are not Zillow? Some that come to mind are Corcoran, Douglas Elliman, Halstead and Brown Harris Stevens. Also NYTimes has a real estate section.
I'll second Henna's wise comment: Do some research. Maybe you can find a copy of "The Co-Op Bible," by Sylvia Shapiro. I'll even go further and suggest that you not only need to understand more about the condo/co-op distinction, but you need to see for yourself how you feel about different neighborhoods. I don't think that's something you can plan long-distance a year in advance.
I am not sure about prices so I will let others answer you on that. What I do know is that you will need to do some homework on the difference between condos and coops. I noticed that you didn't use either word in your post. Coops still make up the majority of the real estate market, as far as I know. New buildings tend to be condo. Some people are interested in buying only condos, and in that case, the prices will be substantially higher. COA may be lower with a condo for various reasons.
Have you looked at actual real estate websites that are not Zillow? Some that come to mind are Corcoran, Douglas Elliman, Halstead and Brown Harris Stevens. Also NYTimes has a real estate section.
Thank you for the recommendation. I do know that there are differences between co-ops and condos, in my area DC Metro there aren't any co-ops so I haven't really run into it before. I will look into those real estate websites.
What would be a drawback of a co-op versus a condo in terms of benefits and drawbacks (other than COA being lower in a condo)?
From what I understand
1) Financing can be more difficult (this wont be a problem as I will likely be coming in all cash)
2) Fees are higher typically because the building as a whole must stay solvent, but a benefit is that taxes seem to be included in the maintenance fees usually (thats $400+ per month anyways).
3) You have to be voted in (we are a quiet married couple in our 30s with steady jobs so hopefully that wouldn't be a problem but I have no idea on this one)
4) There are certain levels of upkeep and requirements for each units interiors as well from what I understand? You can't let you particular part of the coop drag the rest down?
5) Because of financing hurdles and lack of immediate sales information it sounds like in hot markets Coops can lag behind condos. I generally feel that these things tend to even out, that while your property might not have risen quickly, if you are buying into another coop its as likely you find another one which also didnt rise quickly. This isn't an investment necessarily for me, just looking for shelter and a good spot in the city that won't make me house poor.
6) Condos appear to be atleast 20% more expensive. I have seen some decent 300k studios, 400k 1brs coops on the R.E. firms suggested, not very common to find a studio condo for less than 500k in Manhattan it appears.
Last edited by ECTravels; 09-30-2014 at 07:06 PM..
I'll second Henna's wise comment: Do some research. Maybe you can find a copy of "The Co-Op Bible," by Sylvia Shapiro. I'll even go further and suggest that you not only need to understand more about the condo/co-op distinction, but you need to see for yourself how you feel about different neighborhoods. I don't think that's something you can plan long-distance a year in advance.
Thank you for the suggest on the book about Co-Ops. In terms of neighborhoods, I travel to NYC often so I know which areas I like and which I don't. We don't have children and dont plan to have any while living in this unit so schools are irrelevant. We want good price, good location to restaurants, but not sterile. We both like Murray Hill for example. In general though it seems impossible to get a general comp because I have heard some listings can be fakes to get folks in the door and the prices in reality might be higher. So I was wondering if 400k was a decent amount for a 500sf studio to a 1br 700sf (generally), or if it should be 500k, or 600k. I'll look into better sources than zillow also, research of course is crucial.
Thank you for the suggest on the book about Co-Ops. In terms of neighborhoods, I travel to NYC often so I know which areas I like and which I don't. We don't have children and dont plan to have any while living in this unit so schools are irrelevant. We want good price, good location to restaurants, but not sterile. We both like Murray Hill for example. In general though it seems impossible to get a general comp because I have heard some listings can be fakes to get folks in the door and the prices in reality might be higher. So I was wondering if 400k was a decent amount for a 500sf studio to a 1br 700sf (generally), or if it should be 500k, or 600k. I'll look into better sources than zillow also, research of course is crucial.
You can go onto ACRIS, which is the city's website, and see what something sold for. The way to do it is to watch for a recent sale (closed), then go into ACRIS and check that particular building. (You will have to look up the lot number on ACRIS but you can probably find instructions on how to do this. It's not that hard.) You can then see what the actual sale price was. This doesn't always work for older sales if you don't know the unit number or never saw the actual listing to check the condition of the unit. I recently saw a one bedroom listing in my own building on a real estate site for $329K, which is high for my bldg in Queens, and after it closed I went to ACRIS to find out the closing price ($305K)
As for the rest of the coop/condo debate and the other questions you raised, it's too complicated for me to go into and some of it I may have wrong. So I will leave it to others or maybe you can find a good website that goes into the issue in more detail.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
