Monthly Archives: May 2011

Manhattan NY Condo FAQ: Can I renovate my Manhattan NY Condo?

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Manhattan NY Condo FAQ: Can I renovate my Manhattan NY Condo?

The quick answer is Yes.  You can certainly renovate your Manhattan New York Condo. The long answer is that it’s not going to be as easy as you may think and certainly going to cost more than what you could do in a more suburban environment.

Now that you are a condo owner, you have to live within the by-laws the building has adopted.  One of those by-laws concerning a renovation is that any person you hire to come in and do work must be licensed, bonded and insured. Because work you are performing to your Condo could possibly effect another condo, the contractor you use has to be authorized by the building to perform the work.

Another large factor involved is that any work to the condo apartment typically has be be authorized by the building management and condo board.  If you are renovating your bathroom or remodeling the kitchen where the plumber will be tapping into the building’s plumbing systems before you do any of the work, you will submit an alterations agreement to the building to make sure the work you are doing isn’t going to negatively effect other apartments.

This process of getting your renovation authorized by the building can take some time, especially if you need permits from the city of New York.

If you are remodeling your house the worker’s can start very early in the morning and stay late into the evening if you want them to.  Not in a Manhattan condo building. There will be building work hours, typically between 9-5pm, Monday through Friday. The limited hours will add to the amount of time it takes to finish a project.

Don’t be surprised if the cost to do what you may think is a simple renovation is more expensive than what you expected.  The labor costs here are much higher than anywhere else.The key aspect to renovate big or small your Manhattan apartment is to work with an experienced general contractor who has a lot of experience working in Manhattan apartment buildings.  Who understand how to process the paperwork, who knows how long and how much a renovation is going to cost.  We work with a number of different contractors who have such experience depending on the type of project you want to undertake.

Because renovations are not as easy as you’d think, that is why there is such a premium price for fully renovated turn key apartments in the city.  Completely unrenovated ore estate condition apartments typically sell at a discount because renovating them is not as easy as you’d think.  If you are looking for an apartment to renovate be prepared to undertake the project or hand it off to an experienced contractor.

Manhattan NY Condos FAQ: How can I buy NYC condo as First Time Investor?

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Learn How to Buy a Manhattan New York Condo as first time investor. We are Manhattan Condo Specialists, we help finding suitable condos for first time investors, first time home buyers, parent buying for children and foreigner buying in Manhattan New York.

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as first time investor you should have a clear goal of what you plan to achieve in this investment. Is this a 5 year Real Estate plan or 10 year Real Estate plan? Why do you feel is the time to invest? Are you going to have a tenant in place the entire duration or only part of the time. Have you discuss this with your accountant to understand how to structure this transaction to recieve the most tax benefits or possible tax complications?

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as first time investor, you should ‘play it safe’, do not over leverage yourself. If you are planning to buy the condo all cash, that is always desirable when presenting offers to condo sellers. Keep in mind that you should have enough equity in case there is an increase in monthly carrying charge for this condo or other misc mishappens. If you are planning on financing this investment, be sure to speak to alocal Manhattan lender that is familiarize with the market, the lending rules, and the mortgage products that may be suitable for you. We can recommend you a reliable and knowledgeable Manhattan mortgage consultant or You may have a bank that you are currently banking at, you can ask them to refer you a Manhattan branch mortgage banker as well. As an investor, the mortgage interest rate will be slightly higher than others, it is important to keep that in mind when figuring out your monthly expenses.

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as first time investor, team up with us, the experienced Manhattan Condo specialists that can guide you through this process and navigate through the Manhattan Real Estate maze. Whether you are a first time Real Estate investor, or an investor that have bought and sold multiple properties in other parts of United States or country, we can help.  Understanding the local market with the market expert can maximize your investment and avoid any possible problems down the rule. Many of our past clients are first time investors, they have bought many Manhattan condos under our guidance and continue to do so because we have developed a Real Estate plan for them. If this is something you are interested in, contact us now at (917)837-8869.

Or contact us:

https://manhattannycondosforsale.com/contact/

Manhattan New York condo buyers frequent asked questions:

Dorchester Towers condo-155 West 68th Street New York NY 10023

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Dorchester Towers located at 155 West 68th Street New York NY 10023 is located in one of the most prime Upper West Side Condos locations. Just blocks to Lincoln Center, Dorchester Towers is one of the longest established Upper West Side Condo buildings.

This Upper West side condo was built in 1965 originally as a rental building when the Upper West Side was still an up and coming neighborhood. Dorchester Towers at 155 West 68th Street is now in one of the most desirable and convenient Upper West Side locations. Converted in the late 1980’s into a condominium building Dorchester Towers Condos is a full service doorman building. Dorchester Towers has a roof top deck, laundry on every floor, bike room, on-site management, and circular driveway.

Dorchester Towers has some of the most attractively priced Upper West Side Condos Sales.

At Dorchester Towers, Dorchester Towers condo has multiple layout of different apartments, such as one bedroom, two bedroom and combination of large condo apartments. For the latest availability or to be be put on the list, please contact us at (917)837-8869 or (646)644-6929 today.

How to Price your Manhattan NY Condo

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How to Price your Manhattan New York Condo.

How do you price property in today’s Manhattan Real Estate market? If you ask 10 different brokers what your apartment is worth, you will probably get 10 different answers.  Do you price your property for what your neighbor got for his 4 months ago, right before the financial crisis hit?  Do you price it a little bit lower than all the other listings available in your building?  Do you take the advice of the one broker who says that they can get you 100k more than everybody else said they could?

It depends…. pricing property is a combination of art and science in today’s Manhattan Real Estate market.  To evaluate how to price a property lets first take a look at the science of pricing.   You need the hard facts, numbers don’t lie, but they have to be taken in context.  Closed sales data is stale in today’s market.  Closed sales data is a lagging indicator of today’s value.  Property that closed recently probably went into contract 3-4 months ago and if it was a new construction condo, it could have been as long as 12-18 months ago.  Those prices were negotiated under a different climate.   In-contract sales data is key.  In-contract data will give you the most recent idea of what your New York City apartment could possibly sell for.  The next logical question is how do you get your hands on this information?

As a consumer, websites like propertyshark, streeteasy are terrific for closed sales information. For in-contract information you can either look it up on the Douglas Elliman website, or contact us and we will provide a detailed list of properties in-contract for your desired search.

You also need to understand a holistic approach the macro outlook of pricing trends throughout the entire market, not just your specific market segment.  Questions to consider: What price points is property moving the most?  How long is property taking to sell?  What’s the market’s absorption rate?  What’s the average price drop once a properties been on the market?  What neighborhoods have more sales?  What type of offers are people making?  This is the type of information you need to understand or your agent needs to understand in order to be fully informed of a pricing strategy for your property.  Contact us Today for this information!

Let’s take a look at the art of pricing property. We can look at numbers all day long, but there is a qualitative approach to pricing property that should be discussed. The best explanation of what your property is worth is this: A property is worth what a buyer is willing to pay and what a seller is willing to take.  You might be the lowest priced line in your building, the lowest price in a two block radius, but if buyers are not responding to your apartment and weeks and weeks go by, essentially they are rejecting the price.

What else is available in your building and how does it compare to your apartment?  Who is the competition? What is the condition of those apartments, what about the views, is it a rental property or owner occupied, who is the broker representing the property?  Obviously the condition and exposure will directly impact a properties value, but so will the type of marketing exposure a property has and how easy it is to show the property.  If an apartment has a renter, you will have to coordinate around the access the tenant gives to the property, and often a tenant will not maintain the property as well as would an owner.  Dirty dishes, dirty bathrooms, these factors don’t exactly create a wonderful first impression.  If you are selling an investment property with a tenant involved, understanding how that can influence your bottom line is something you should consider.

Ultimately, what’s your motivation?  Do you really need to sell or would it be nice to sell if you could get a certain price? In order to have a successful sale being market educated and to understand what it will take to actually sell will be the keys to your success.

Contact Morgan Evans and Eileen Hsu at 917-837-8869 to list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Manhattan, New York City.  We are accepting referrals.

Checklist for Manhattan New York Condo Buyers

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We are Manhattan New York Condo specialists, we work with many out of town first time investors and buyers that would like to acquire a Manhattan New York condo as part of their investment portfolio.

We often have a check list of basic steps to educate the buyers as to how to get started. Here is a good check list:

  • Consult with a reputable lender or mortgage consultant to see how much can you finance in today’s market. In today’s market, lending guidelines are changing by the day, it is in your best interest to see what will it take to qualify for a loan.
  • Do speak to your banker if you have money in bonds and money market. Find out how many days will it take to liquidate your funds so you know once we have a verbally accepted offer. Often in Manhattan New York market place, the seller seeks 10% of the sales price as downpayment at the time of signing contract. With that being said, if you are buying $1M Manhattan condo, you will need $100,000. at contract signing.
  • Do your homework on finding an Real Estate agent to work with. What is it that you are looking to buy? You want to find an agent that is familiar with the product that you are interest in buying. We are very well versed in Manhattan New York market, we have sold many Manhattan New York condos to first time home buyer, first time investors, foreign internationals, parents buying for children and many serious and motivated buyers. A Condo or Co-Op? Uptown or Downtown? Do you speak specific language that you preferred the agent speaks your mother tongue? Do you need an agent that work specifically with foreigners? Go on a search engine such as Google, try type in what you are looking for, and see if any agent shows up on the search result.
  • Do Have a realistic budget of what you are looking for. Manhattan New York condo is approximately $1,000 per square foot, so unless you are looking for a 500 SF one bedroom, you will need more than $500K to buy a one bedroom condo. (the price will also depend on the building amenities, such as fitness center, residents lounge, roof deck, basketball court, swimming pools and etc.)
  • Do speak to an accountant to see if you need to structure the purchase in a specific way to enjoy the tax deductible benefits of buying a Manhattan Real Estate. If you are a first time home buyer, is it beneficial to co-purchase the condo unit with your parents or alone; If you are an foreigner, is it better to buy it under your own name or start an LLC?; If you are an out of town investor, is this purchase going to be an investment property or?
  • Do have a Manhattan New York Real Estate attorney ready. Manhattan Real Estate transaction requires each buyer and seller to have an attorney representing them in drafting and finalizing the contract. A good attorney can save you headachs, money and risks, ask your agent to refer you (3) attorneys so you can call and interview. Explain to the attorney what you are planning to do, and see which attorney you feel most comfortable to work with.

If you would like to find out more information or learn about more Manhattan New York investment opportunities, please contact me today.  Email us today (https://manhattannycondosforsale.com/contact/) call (646)644-6929 or (917)837-8869.

Manhattan New York condo buyers frequent asked questions:

Parents Buying for Children Manhattan New York condo MUST READ

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We are Manhattan Condo Specialists, in our How to Buy a Manhattan New York Condo series, we talked about Know the Housing Product, Understand the Buying Power, Financial Report of the Manhattan Condo or Coop building, NYC Apartment Terminology, and this section we will talk about how parents can buy for children. We know the Manhattan Condo market and the specific needs of each type of buyers.

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as parents buying for children, you should understand your budget and time frame to start. We work with many parents who are buying for their son/daughter that goes to New York University, Parsons school of design, School of Visual Arts, Columbia University, Jillards music school and other well known schools here in Manhattan New York.


Is this for your son or daughter that is currently working in Manhattan? Do they have a job stability or financial freedom? Are they currently renting and lease may be expiring soon or month to month arrangement? It is important for us to know the reason and timeframe so we can narrow down the search for you.

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as parents buying for children, you should PLAN AHEAD, and speak with all the parties involved (not you and your child but rather the right mortgage consultant/banker, accountant, a knowledgeable Manhattan Real Estate attorney, but first, you should contact us (917)837-8869 to start the conversation early.)

  • If Buying all cash, and you are buying a condominium, the quickest we can close would be 45 days. If it is a cooperative, then it can be 90 or more days subject to condo board approval. If it is new construction condo, it can be two weeks up to unknown period of time depending on construction stage.
  • Mortgage consultant: If you are planning to buy the condo all cash, that is always desirable when presenting offers to condo sellers. Keep in mind that you should have enough equity in case there is an increase in monthly carrying charge for this condo or other misc mishappens. If you are planning on financing this investment, be sure to speak to a local Manhattan lender that is familiarize with the market, the lending rules, and the mortgage products that may be suitable for you and your son/daughter.
  • Accountant: If you are planning to co-purchase the condo with your child, be sure to discuss the possible tax complication you may have with your accountant. Speak to your accountant prior to your purchase can be very helpful.
  • Manhattan Real Estate Attorney: In addition, speak to a local Real Estate attorney will be helpful as well since the local Manhattan Real Estate can also advise you what is the best way to structure the purchase and think about who/how should take the title of the deed.

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as parents buying for children, the experienced Manhattan Condo specialists that can guide you through this process and navigate through the Manhattan Real Estate maze. Whether you are a first time buyer, or an investor that have bought and sold multiple properties in other parts of United States or country, we can help.  Understanding the local market with the market expert can maximize your investment and avoid any possible problems down the rule. Many of our past clients are first time investors, they have bought many Manhattan condos under our guidance and continue to do so because we have developed a Real Estate plan for them. If this is something you are interested in, contact us now at (917)837-8869.

Here are some very useful information about buying Manhattan New York condos:

Other Manhattan New York Frequent Asked Questions:

If you do not see your question being answer in any of our blog articles, call us directly (917)837-8869 or email us (https://manhattannycondosforsale.com/contact/) and we will reply promptly.