Category Archives: Manhattan NY Condos FAQ

5 BIG tips for Parents Buying for Children in Manhattan New York

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We are Manhattan Condo Specialists, we work many buyers in our market place that are out of town parents buying condo for their son or daughter that are in New York or moving to New York for either school or work. If you are a parent looking to buy a property for your son or daughter, not sure where to start, here are 5 big tips for you:

  1. Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as parents buying for children, you should understand your budget and timeframe 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 in Manhattan New York is very different than the rest of the country or world, once we identify the property, it will take some time to actually close on the property.
  2. Manhattan New York is a unique market where about 85% of the housing products are ‘cooperatives’ and 15% are condominiums. Each building has different rules and guidelines, as parents buying for children, not every cooperative will accept this type of scenario since all sales are subject to board of directors review and interview. Even if it is an all cash purchase, cooperative still review and decide if the perspective buyer fits the building’s profile. Condominiums are essential real property, therefore, the board of directors will review the perspective buyer as a formality but no interview.
  3. 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.
  4. Making offer and offer acceptance – Unlike other parts of the country or world, when a buyer makes an offer on a property here in New York, the offer is made through us, the Real Estate agents and the buyers do not sign any contracts or purchase agreement nor any earnest money when making an offer. Buyers and sellers agreed on the price and then both parties enter into attorney contract review period. With that being said, until both buyers and sellers sign the contract and the 10% deposit is clear, the property is NOT off the market and there is NO BINDING CONTRACT. This means if sellers receive a higher or better offer prior to they sign contract, they can change their mind.
  5. Neighborhood safety – this is the #1 concerns for many of our parents buying for children buyers. In Manhattan New York, this is a city where many of the people work or social until late past 9pm or after, most of the Manhattan Streets are very safe to walk around and pedestrians friendly, this is truely a city that never sleeps! We encourage our buyers to walk around the neighborhoods in different time of the day or week to see if they feel comfortable living in that neighborhood. Many of the Manhattan New York buildings are also doorman buildings, so if possible, it will be a good idea to look buying in a full time doorman building.

As parents buying for children in Manhattan New York, we have successful experiences that can guide you through this process and navigate through the Manhattan Real Estate maze. 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.

Greenwich Village NY Condos buyers MUST READ

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Greenwich Village NY Condos buyers MUST READ

Have you been looking for a condominium for sale in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City? If you have been looking for a Greenwich Village NY Condo than you have probably been seeing a couple of market activities happening quite consistently:

1. Multiple Offers on 1 Bedroom Greenwich Village Condos for sale. I have been working with multiple customer’s looking in the 1 Bedroom Condo market. If a newly renovated full time doorman 1 bedroom condo has come on the market for less than $1,000,000, the first open house is packed and multiple offers come in shortly. Most of the offers are cash, or non-mortgage contingent at or near the asking price.  

2. Almost no inventory for Greenwich Village apartments less than $600,000. The studio or alcove studio condominium market in not only Greenwich Village, but in the East Village or the West Village is quite limited. After a couple of afternoons you can see everything that is available. The well priced apartments are selling quickly and the apartments with more aspirational pricing are even getting more interest. This time of year see’s an influx of demand and the low supply creates an atmosphere where the best Greenwich Village condos for sale are moving quickly.

3. Greenwich Village Pre-War condo inventory is scarce. Building’s like 59 West 12th Street, 2 Cornelia Street, 115 Fourth Ave, 45 Christopher St, 299 and 302 West 12th St, The American Felt Building have very little inventory. The Bing and Bing Emery Roth designed pre-war condos are always desired and when priced well sell quickly. The unique apartments, such as duplexes, apartments with open views, recently renovated, don’t sit on the market quickly.

4. Larger Apartments Inventory Limited. In my database I see 12 Two Bedroom Condos for Sale in Greenwich Village right now, 10 Three Bedroom Condos for Sale in Greenwich Village and 4 Four Bedroom Condos or Larger in Greenwich Village. If you are entering this segment of the market, you will probably expand your search to the West Village, parts of the East Village and parts of Chelsea, but you will still have a small number of apartments to view.

Overall, the spring and early summer real estate market for condos for sale in Greenwich Village has been quite robust with multiple offers for apartments priced effectively for their individual part of the market. One Bedroom Condos in Doorman buildings have seen a lot of interest.

For more reading about Greenwich Village Real Estate:

If you are interested in purchasing a Greenwich Village Condo or an apartment in the downtown area contact me today at (917) 837-8869 to discuss your specific needs.

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.

Manhattan NY Condos FAQ: How long does it take to close on a Manhattan NY Condo?

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We specialize in Manhattan New York condo market and well verse in all neighborhoods of Manhattan New York. As experienced Manhattan condo Real Estate agents, we compiled many other Manhattan NY Condos Frequent Asked Questions you can read here: (https://manhattannycondosforsale.com/tag/manhattan-ny-condos-faq/). These frequent asked questions will help educate buyers the buying process and the Manhattan New York Market.

One of the frequent questions we receive is “How long does it take to close on a Manhattan NY Condo?”

***To be specific, this question pertains to Condominium sales in Manhattan, NOT co-op sales.  The closing process for a co-op is very different than a condominium sales.***

How quickly you can close on your Manhattan NY Condominium purchase depends on a couple of different things.

  • Is it a New Construction condo or Resale Manhattan New York condo?
  • Are you buying it ALL CASH or FINANCING?

What kind of building you are purchasing in?

If you are buying a new construction condominium that has their certificate of occupancy and is completed enough that you can move in, then you could probably close within a couple of weeks once the contracts are signed, if you are paying cash for the property.  There is no condo application to submit or condo board waiver needed.  Your closing will depend on how quickly the attorneys can schedule the closing.

If you are buying a resale condominium all cash, then you will have to submit a condominium purchase application, a credit check will be completed, and the condominium board typically has a first right of refusal for the apartment and they must issue a waiver for you to be able to schedule a closing for the apartment.  So in this case the closing depends on how quickly you can submit the application (here is blog post we wrote about condo sales applications).  Often sales applications require some financial documentation, maybe reference letters, documents to be notarized, etc.  The longer it takes for the application to be submitted the longer it takes you to close on the Manhattan NY Condo.  Once the application is submitted the first thing the management company usually does are the credit and background checks.  Each management company works at a different pace, often they will say they have 5-7 business days, to complete the checks, which in reality can turn into 2 weeks.  Then they give the board the application.  Each building is different, but each building will have a certain amount of time they are allowed to review the application, often 3-4 weeks. The board might not take the full 3-4 weeks, sometimes they might issue the waiver in a week, but sometimes it could be the full amount of time.  Once the board issues the waiver for you to purchase then a closing can be scheduled. All in, you are probably looking at approximately 30 days-60 days once the contracts are signed until you can move into the apartment in a resale condominium.

How are you purchasing the Manhattan NY Condo? (All Cash vs. Financing)

An all cash purchase is always the fastest way to close on a Manhattan New York. This means you have all the funds for closing in the bank account, and/or the funds are in an account that can be wired/transfer to a New York bank account to issue the check.

If you are financing the purchase that is probably going to double the amount of time it can take compared to the cash option.  One of the big realities of getting financing for a Manhattan NY condominium in today’s lending environment is that the bank will not only be qualifying you as a borrower but they will also be looking at the building if they want to do a loan in the building.  The qualification of the building is going to be different for every bank.  One bank might be okay with doing a loan in the particular condo building and another may not, even though the banks are using the same information about the building to determine their desire to give you a loan for that building.

Qualifying the Manhattan Condo building is a process that will add time to the closing.  We have seen certain banks able to qualify the building and the buyer, do the appraisal, issue the commitment letter and have underwriting give a clear to close in 45 days from the time of contract signing, but we have also experienced when it takes more than 5 months for the bank to finally give the clear to close.

What also adds time to the closing when you are financing is that in a re-sale condominium building, the purchase application will often require the purchaser to submit the committment letter from the bank within the application.  As we have already discussed, once the application is in the hands of the board in can easily take 30 days to get the board’s approval.  Once the board issues the waiver that the buyer can purchase, then the bank will have the underwriters look at the buyer’s information again before they issue a clear to close.

As you can probably easily see, the process can become arduous and consuming very quickly because there are so many integral steps that have to be done one at a time when financing your purchase.

Conclusion:

Every buyer’s situation will be different and there is no one step by step map for every purchase.  Depending on what you are buying, how you are buying (all cash vs financing), and the building you are purchasing in will determine the approximate amount of time it will take to close.

If you want to know more about what to expect for your OWN situation, contact us today and we will talk to you about how long it will take for you to close on your Manhattan NY condominium. We can be reached at (917) 837-8869. Email us your specific questions or requirements here: https://manhattannycondosforsale.com/contact/

Other Manhattan New York Frequent Asked Questions:

Manhattan NY Condos FAQ: Does this Manhattan NY Condo have a Garage in it?

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We are Manhattan New York condo specialists, we sell many Manhattan Condos to international and out of town buyers, a common Manhattan NY Condo question that always comes up is, “Does this Condo have a Garage in it?”


The answer is that not all Condominium buildings will have a garage, most will not. If  the Manhattan New York condo has a garage often the garage will be owned and operated by a separate company or vendor independent of the condo association. So if you own or rent an Manhattan New York apartment in the building, it DOES NOT automatically come with a parking spot.

In some Manhattan New York New construction buildings that have built in garages where you have had the opportunity to purchase your own parking spot.  When you buy a parking spot it will often be like purchasing any other “real property.” You will have monthly or yearly operating expenses to own it.  You could rent it out to other people just like an apartment depending on the rules of the garage.

Often what we find extremely useful is if you can gain access to the garage from within the building.  This is where we see some real utility of having a garage in the building.  Those days when you are dropping off groceries, luggage and you can go directly from the car to the condominium elevators and up to your apartment is a terrific convenience amenity to have at your disposal.

If there is a garage in your building but it is operated independently of the condominium association people ask if they get a discount for parking there. That answer depends on the arrangement the building has with the garage.  We would lean towards saying that probably not.  You will rent the space like anybody else, but the benefit is that being able to use a garage that is right next to or within your building will be very valuable especially on those cold rainy winter days when you are coming back from the airport or when your car is loaded with groceries.

How much will a parking spot cost? That is a very typical question and it really depends on the location and demand for a garage in the particular area you are looking in.  The price typically has a strong correlation to the pricing of apartments in the area.  Typically areas with a high demand for apartments will have an equally high demand for parking and therefore the price will reflect that high demand.  I have seen parking spaces be as high as $1000/month and sometimes as low as $200/month in certain parts of Manhattan.  The best way to find out is to just ask and you will quickly see what the pricing for your neighborhood will be.

Other Manhattan New York Frequent Asked Questions:

If you have a specific question about Manhattan New York condos, email us directly on the form below or call us today at (917)837-8869.

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