is it possible

to buy a co-op in a decent area (2br) for $110,000 these days? that won't be 2 hour commute to NYC?

not from my experience.
you might be able to find a 1 BR for that price though

We originally wanted a 2BR
after looking around and realizing that the only 2BR we could afford we wouldn't want...we settled for a 1BR.....and it's actually plenty of room!

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Posted by Maribelle7777

to buy a co-op in a decent area (2br) for $110,000 these days? that won't be 2 hour commute to NYC?

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Not a chance in hell unfortunately. You will be hard pressed to find a 1br at that price now. 1brs in my area are going as high as 160k !!!!!

If you want a 2br... you are going to pay MINIMUM 175k now for something decent... but on the 'smaller side'.

Moe - see my FM. We didn't get to do it this weekend.

I don't know what to do. My friend bought a hosue in Elmont 15 months ago. She went through a mortgage banker (as opposed to a broker). Said that her sister used a broker that waited until 3 weeks before her closing to start looking for a mortgage - he wanted to find the 'best rate' for her. It was too close for comfort for her. I am sure not every broker does that but still....now I'm thinking of us going to a mortgage banker. She is paying a higher interest rate (half a percent higher) than what she could have paid because they didn't check her income. And becasue of that they kinda fudged the income on the papers. OK - not the best idea in the world but her husband works mostly off the books and she owns her own business and had made alot of purchases that year and hence her credit wasnt entirely wonderful. And they put down $20K.

I don't want to get myself into a hole but seems to me that maybe a co-op isn't the way to go now. With maintenance fees and having to find out if the co-op is financially stable and possible interview (depending on the co-op I guess) we are starting to wonder if it's even worth it.

Thanks everyone for being so patient and answering my millions of questions.

Mary

I'll tell you this.... even if you do a 'no income check' mortgage with a bank... and they approve your mortgage.

The co-op WILL check your income/financials. And they can very easily decline you if they don't like what they see, regardless if you can get a mortgage or not.


My co-op interview was pretty funny actually. All they did was tell me about the co-op... told me where i could find the pool, community room, laundry, restaurants, etc. It wasn't even an interview... more like an orientation. I guess they saw my paperwork and say I was plenty qualified to live there.

You seem to be worried about the maintenance fees....but all they really are are taxes, with an additional charge for keeping the grounds looking nice.
A lawyer can look into the financial stability of a co-op for you
We only have a 1BR co-op, but with our mortgage and maintenance combined, we're paying under $1200 a month....it's really not that bad!

Good luck!

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Posted by palebride

You seem to be worried about the maintenance fees....but all they really are are taxes, with an additional charge for keeping the grounds looking nice.
A lawyer can look into the financial stability of a co-op for you
We only have a 1BR co-op, but with our mortgage and maintenance combined, we're paying under $1200 a month....it's really not that bad!

Good luck!

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I agree totally with palebride. Usually 50% of your maintenance is deductable on your taxes. My payment for the 2br is $1350 between my mortgage and my maintenance. I can easily rent it out for that. Plus I look at maintenance as people in the co-op doing my work. Its like I pay them to upkeep the grounds, have security around, etc etc.

The rule goes... if you can get a co-op for the price of what you would pay to rent... then its worth it IMO.

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Posted by DjPiLL

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Posted by palebride

You seem to be worried about the maintenance fees....but all they really are are taxes, with an additional charge for keeping the grounds looking nice.
A lawyer can look into the financial stability of a co-op for you
We only have a 1BR co-op, but with our mortgage and maintenance combined, we're paying under $1200 a month....it's really not that bad!

Good luck!

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I agree totally with palebride. Usually 50% of your maintenance is deductable on your taxes. My payment for the 2br is $1350 between my mortgage and my maintenance. I can easily rent it out for that. Plus I look at maintenance as people in the co-op doing my work. Its like I pay them to upkeep the grounds, have security around, etc etc.

The rule goes... if you can get a co-op for the price of what you would pay to rent... then its worth it IMO.

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yeah but I highly doubt that there's any 2br's out there for $900/month (unless I want to live in a crack house!!!)

we need the 2br for DH's father when he comes to visit. and if we have a baby.
i know that half the maintenance is deductible, but if I can't afford it when it comes to pay it monthly, that won't even matter.

We are willing to pay up to $1200/monthly.
We might be able to pay more if DH gets a new job. It's a long story with him..

Mary

Check out the advice I gave you in FM. If you can afford $1200 before tax deductions now... and have some money saved up for a down payment... I don't see why you can't look for a co-op. One might be available in that range (even 2br).

Also... when you own... you can claim some additional deductions on your income taxes so you can 'take home' more pay from your job. That will help give you the benefit of tax deductions for your maintenance in the here and now... instead of waiting till the end of the year and having trouble affording the payments on a monthly basis.

Go over this with your accountant before you decide to claim deductions though. Or at least talk to somebody that knows what they are doing regarding this... and can crunch your numbers in any of the 'take home pay' calculators available on the internet.


If you have any other questions... throw me a FM.

IRS Witholding Calculator

You can use this calculator if you want to crunch the numbers yourself... but if you have an accountant do your taxes... a lot of the fields may be unknown to you and you may end up crunching the numbers wrong.

I plan to use this at the end of the year. I get insanely large tax refunds every year because I never bothered to change my taxes since I bought my co-op (still claim single 0). I would need to get a much better picture on my true 'take home income' before I can even think about buying a house.