Sad

My fiance and I are in the hunt for a co-op or apartment. We came across an ad in the paper for co-ops in Nassau and went to see them yesterday. They were beautiful and newly renovated with a large terrace and they were cheap....but the maintenance fees were ridiculous!

We could just afford it and it would be a stretch and we wouldn't be able to save anything....plus, we would have to take out a 30 year mortgage and wouldn't be able to pay much off of our pricipal amount.....so as much as we love it, I think we are going to have to pass on it.....I was so excited about it and my fiance was even more excited than me....SO SAD

Yup....but now we are probably going to have to rent, rather than buy. I am glad that we figured it out early, but it is hard once you get your heart set on something!

I think I felt worse because my fiance was so upset....he really loved it there and I think would give anything to live there....but he wants to be able to put money away so we can eventually move into a bigger place....a 1 bedroom only lasts for so long

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Posted by futuremrsfab

we just bought a VERY reasonable coop at the edge of queens/nassau- if you are interested, fm and I can send you more information

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I would love it! THANK YOU!

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Posted by JJC

i personally would rather wait 1-2 years and save more for the house of my dreams rather than a co-op. I just feel its the same as renting almost...paying a mortgage and maintenance fees...to me its not worth it...JMO

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ITA! I know we will be renting for another 2 years in order to afford a home and I much rather wait

I know exactly how you feel. FH and I keep looking at houses thinking maybe we can swing it here, and then we get brought back down to reality. Thats why we are probably moving down south. We are pre approved for a mortgage but it is the taxes and all the other things that make the payments ridiculous- so I sometimes feel like it will never happen. Cheer up- when the time is right it will work out for us!!

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Posted by eoconnell09

My fiance and I are in the hunt for a co-op or apartment. We came across an ad in the paper for co-ops in Nassau and went to see them yesterday. They were beautiful and newly renovated with a large terrace and they were cheap....but the maintenance fees were ridiculous!

We could just afford it and it would be a stretch and we wouldn't be able to save anything....plus, we would have to take out a 30 year mortgage and wouldn't be able to pay much off of our pricipal amount.....so as much as we love it, I think we are going to have to pass on it.....I was so excited about it and my fiance was even more excited than me....SO SAD

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Was the maintenance fee with or without STAR?

I don't know if you are limited to the Nassau/Queens areas but if you want info about co-ops on the Suffolk/Nassau border FM me for more info...1 BR co-ops are going for about $170,000 with (average) $625/month maintenance.

Ohh I feel your pain! We're in the same exact situation - we really want to buy a co-op but in some places the maint. is actually MORE than the mortgage!!

We really go back and forth every day of whether we should buy or rent.

sorry to hear that

have you looked into condos at all? i've heard that the maintenance for co-ops is significantly higher than that of condos

In our case the maintenance would be double what our mortgage would be...which is insane! That is why we probably won't buy it. I think we will rent, which is fine....I honestly don't mind renting but we know that we aren't going to find a place like that for the amount that we want to spend on rent.

We have looked into condos but they are really expensive.....a lot of condos are about the same as a house, so we aren't going to do that right now. There is one more co-op that we wanted to look at in Howard Beach, so we will keep our fingers crossed....

But, thinking about it, I am just happy that we will finally be out on our own and I don't care where we stay.....we will make the best of it anywhere!

THANKS ALL!

hey,
DH and I did a ton of research. FH also has his realestate license even though he works for the FDNY, and owns property in different places.
I just wnated to write to you some things I learned about co-ops that schocked me:
co-ops are a litter cheaper than condo and have higher mait. condos are a litte more exp. to start but the mait. fees are much less. Mybe you can look into condos. they are less common but worth it in the end. you have more rights to your property and it is 100 % yours. co-ops can have so many rules are you really only own a share of the property and everything needs to be approved by the board.

one of my friends in the co-op had to sign something stating that he would not seell before three years. 90% of his floors must be covered with rugs.

another friend has a co-op in long beach she also has to cover her floors. When she sells because you really only own a share of your property what ever she makes she needs to give the co-op 10% of her earnings. I know its only 10 % but when you are paying all that move you wnat to keep earnings.

hopefully this makes you feel better

do not get me wrong some co-ops are more relaxed and thats great if you can snatch up one of them. Good luck !!!!

HTH Meagan

keep looking around for an affordable co-op if you can.
Buying real estate is a sound investment. when you rent.. you are just throwing that money out the window. when you buy a coop.. you will recoup the mortgage portion of your monthly expense when you sell... to me that alone is like a savings plan.

years ago i bought a coop and when i sold it 5 years later my profit was around $90,000 .. almost double what i paid for it, plus the equity of the mortgage payments.. was a down payment for my house.

for instance...
if you rent... $1500 a month.. x 12 months you are throwing away $18,000 a year.
If you have a mortgage... and then pay $600/month maintenance at least you are only spending about $6720 a year that you won't get back vs $18,000 of rent.. gone in the landlords pocket.

also... not all coops have flip taxes... above poster mentioned having to give 10% of profit to coop upon selling... that is a flip tax that is to off set the monthly maintence. coops with flip tax generally have lower monthy maintence.. however, I strongly recommend that you avoid coops with flip tax.

good luck.