co ops

Great investment for the price. Just make sure you get into a good financially stable one. Also make sure the maintenance payments are reasonable. Under $600 for a 2br... under $450 for a 1br. Nothing turned me more off when looking at co-ops than high maintenance fees. Also ask them if they had any recent or upcoming assessments.

I bought my 1br at 69k back in 2001... sold it two years later at 109k.

Bought my current 2br at 182k last year... they are now selling at over 220k.

I am not complaining.

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Posted by DjPiLL

Also make sure the maintenance payments are reasonable. Under $600 for a 2br... under $450 for a 1br. Nothing turned me more off when looking at co-ops than high maintenance fees.

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Gosh, we are looking in Great Neck and we haven't seen a place for under $950 for a 2 bedroom. But that includes pretty much everything accept electric.

We bought one in Glen Cove...and we love it!
It's a wonderful feeling to own something, but not have to worry about a whole lot of upkeep! There's always someone around to help out, and we have neighbors, and a little garden out front.
And when we want to buy a house, we can sell it!!
Maintenance fees depend on the area I think. I think $450 for a 1BR is a little low....we have a 1BR and we're paying $530 - which is the cheapest we found....and we looked at A LOT of co-ops, all over hte island.

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Posted by Chloegirl

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Posted by DjPiLL

Also make sure the maintenance payments are reasonable. Under $600 for a 2br... under $450 for a 1br. Nothing turned me more off when looking at co-ops than high maintenance fees.

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Gosh, we are looking in Great Neck and we haven't seen a place for under $950 for a 2 bedroom. But that includes pretty much everything accept electric.

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If you are getting two baths... then $800-900 can be acceptable I guess. If its a newer building... could be more. If you get an included parking space... thats more cash too. If its a hi-rise... the higher you go up the more it costs. If its a 'garden apartment' and you have a corner lot with a lot of grass surrounding you... that can cost more.

I have a TWO BEDROOM (editied)... building was built in 1951... and I am on the 5th floor in a 6 story apartment. I pay $546 a month for my maintenance. Includes water, heat, and gas. I pay an extra $65 for my indoor garage assigned spot, and an extra $50 for my FW's outdoor assigned spot.

Still only about $650 a month which includes two assigned parking spaces.

How much are the 2brs in Great Neck going for? I don't live too far from there (Oakland Gardens) but I am in Queens so its different out here.

Oh and you should consider looking where I live. Its not too far from Great Neck like I said... and the grounds and neighborhood out here is georgeous.

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Posted by palebride

We bought one in Glen Cove...and we love it!
It's a wonderful feeling to own something, but not have to worry about a whole lot of upkeep! There's always someone around to help out, and we have neighbors, and a little garden out front.
And when we want to buy a house, we can sell it!!
Maintenance fees depend on the area I think. I think $450 for a 1BR is a little low....we have a 1BR and we're paying $530 - which is the cheapest we found....and we looked at A LOT of co-ops, all over hte island.

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I had a small 1BR in my old place and I was paying $360 a month. The largest 1BRs were going for $450.

Again... it all depends on how financially stable the co-op is. Higher maintenance usually means more costs for the co-op. That can lead to a couple of reasons why.

Also... one other thing I just realized. Property taxes in NASSAU are significantly higher than Queens. This would cause higher maintenance rates.

I never looked at co-ops in Nassau county so I do not have something to compare to. I know know what the queens rates are.

I can't see paying the mortgage + maintenance fee. Maybe it's a good investment but I'd never be able to save for a downpayment or closing costs for a house if I'm shelling out close to $2G a month for a co-op.

The maintenance fee includes the taxes.....just like with a house you'd have to pay the mortgage and the taxes. The majority of the maintenance fee (from what i understand) goes to the taxes.
You can find co-ops for cheaper than $2000 a month! Our monthly payments, mortage and maintenance combined is about $1100.....which is very do-able!

When FH and I bought our co-op in 2001 everyone gave us a hard time and the number one thing I heard was that the resale would hurt us - if we could resell.

Well now those same people are saying how happy they are that we didn't listen to them.

We have a two bedroom co-op in Bayside (first floor of a garden appt) with a private entrance and windows on three of the four sides. I love it. As far as saving - this was the best thing we could have done for several reasons:

1. We can get an equity line of credit

2. The sale of our co-op will transfer right over to the purchase of our home.

We pay $764 for our mortgage and $535 four our maintenance - that's a total of $1299 - I know plenty of people who pay more than that in rent per month so all in all I don't think this is a bad thing at all.

As far as resale - I have had people come up to my place and ask me if I was selling - even offered cash! No joke I swear. The last 2 bedroom in our co-op sold for $224,000...not a bad downpayment on a house.

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Posted by DjPiLL

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Posted by Chloegirl

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Posted by DjPiLL

Also make sure the maintenance payments are reasonable. Under $600 for a 2br... under $450 for a 1br. Nothing turned me more off when looking at co-ops than high maintenance fees.

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Gosh, we are looking in Great Neck and we haven't seen a place for under $950 for a 2 bedroom. But that includes pretty much everything accept electric.

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If you are getting two baths... then $800-900 can be acceptable I guess. If its a newer building... could be more. If you get an included parking space... thats more cash too. If its a hi-rise... the higher you go up the more it costs. If its a 'garden apartment' and you have a corner lot with a lot of grass surrounding you... that can cost more.

I have a TWO BEDROOM (editied)... building was built in 1951... and I am on the 5th floor in a 6 story apartment. I pay $546 a month for my maintenance. Includes water, heat, and gas. I pay an extra $65 for my indoor garage assigned spot, and an extra $50 for my FW's outdoor assigned spot.

Still only about $650 a month which includes two assigned parking spaces.

How much are the 2brs in Great Neck going for? I don't live too far from there (Oakland Gardens) but I am in Queens so its different out here.

Oh and you should consider looking where I live. Its not too far from Great Neck like I said... and the grounds and neighborhood out here is georgeous.

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We are actually looking at 2bed and 2 bath but in the Village of Great Neck blocks from the LIRR...and they run upper 3's to mid 4's or higher and the ones with parking are over 1K a month...so its kind of steep! The buildings we are looking at are 1950's or prewar 1920's.

Where is Oakland Gardens...I am in Bayside now.

We are looking at another tonight...wish us luck!

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Posted by Chloegirl

Where is Oakland Gardens...I am in Bayside now.

We are looking at another tonight...wish us luck!

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I'm in Oakland Gardens which is a subdivision of Bayside. Where are you looking?

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Where is Oakland Gardens...I am in Bayside now.



Oakland Gardens is the area of Bayside near 73rd Ave and Bell Blvd.

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Posted by Donna
Oakland Gardens is the area of Bayside near 73rd Ave and Bell Blvd.

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Yup... thats my hood.

Very nice area and worth checking out. Might even be better than Great Neck... which sounds very expensive.

My mortgage is $804 a month and my maintenance is $540 plus my assigned parking so thats doable as well. I can easily rent my apartment for $1350 a month.

I bought a co-op 4 years ago for $35k and just sold it for $85K in New Rochelle.
My mortgage payments were $340 a month on a refinance to a 15year loan + maint., which included everything, even electricity was $420. They raised it to $445 a month when they were rennovating the property and the taxes went up.
I have been renting it out for the past 2 years and making $$ on it that way.

I think they're a good deal. They're easy to sell if you buy in the right neighborhood. Watch out though, make sure you don't have to live there a certain amount of time before you either rent or sell. Some of the boards try to put restrictions so the turn over rate isn't huge.

I'm in Bayside now, and I'd LOVE to own a co-op here too! LOVE the neighborhood and you will have no problem selling it in the future.

Best of luck!

Good advice.

But remember that most of the 'good' co-ops do have restrictions on renting/subletting. Thats what makes them good. You have mostly owners actually living there and not the 'riff-raff' renters. (no offense if anyone here rents a co-op)

Some co-ops don't even let you rent them out period. Those are the ones I would avoid.

But a good case & point... my co-op has a three year wait before you can rent it out. You may think thats a long wait to have to live there... but remember that you have to live in your residence for two years to avoid paying capital gains taxes on a sale. So in actuality... its only a year wait IMO for me.

My co-op also has fees for subletting. But they aren't bad cause most shareholders would just pass the fee down to the renter because the renter wouldn't have to pay a broker's fee (assuming you rent it out on your own).