Make sure to read schedule A and schedule B. The 2 most imp documents in the offering. And always read any amendments.

Sched A is the budget. Notice that 100 percent of the income should be common charges. If not, see if they expect some portion of the building to be rental or commercial.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 24, 2009 3:19 PM in response to Offer Accepted - Now What?

Make sure to read schedule A and schedule B. The 2 most imp documents in the offering. And always read any amendments.

Sched A is the budget. Notice that 100 percent of the income should be common charges. If not, see if they expect some portion of the building to be rental or commercial.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 24, 2009 3:19 PM in response to Offer Accepted - Now What?

You need to read the entire offering plan. Especially shedule A and B since those tell you the budgets. In my condo, 80 percent of the charges came from the owners, which I thought was strange but then I looked deeper and found the remaining 20 percent of income was from a sprint cell antenna contract the previous owner signed. You can find good and bad things in the entire offering. It pays to read it.

Look at the compososition of the board. Can board members remove another board member by a simple majority vote of the board members or of the entire vote of the building. Thats important. Newer offering plans allow the board members to vote each other out which can make for a very silent oppressive board.

House rules can and usually are amended.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 11, 2009 11:37 AM in response to Condo By-Laws

You need to read the entire offering plan. Especially shedule A and B since those tell you the budgets. In my condo, 80 percent of the charges came from the owners, which I thought was strange but then I looked deeper and found the remaining 20 percent of income was from a sprint cell antenna contract the previous owner signed. You can find good and bad things in the entire offering. It pays to read it.

Look at the compososition of the board. Can board members remove another board member by a simple majority vote of the board members or of the entire vote of the building. Thats important. Newer offering plans allow the board members to vote each other out which can make for a very silent oppressive board.

House rules can and usually are amended.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 11, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Condo By-Laws

You need to read the entire offering plan. Especially shedule A and B since those tell you the budgets. In my condo, 80 percent of the charges came from the owners, which I thought was strange but then I looked deeper and found the remaining 20 percent of income was from a sprint cell antenna contract the previous owner signed. You can find good and bad things in the entire offering. It pays to read it.

Look at the compososition of the board. Can board members remove another board member by a simple majority vote of the board members or of the entire vote of the building. Thats important. Newer offering plans allow the board members to vote each other out which can make for a very silent oppressive board.

House rules can and usually are amended.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 11, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Condo By-Laws

http://9stopsout.wordpress.com/

Same story differnt era

Posted by: bonsavant at June 20, 2009 8:32 PM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market

http://9stopsout.wordpress.com/

Same story differnt era

Posted by: bonsavant at June 20, 2009 8:31 PM in response to Nondescript East W'burg Condos Defying the Market

Finance does not establish the legal use of a property. Finance taxes parcels based on "observed" use which can be different than legal use. The C of O (certificate of occupancy) determines the legal use. If the house is built before 1938 then it usually will not have a c of o. You should look up the original property card at the borough office, which shows a photo taken in the late 1930's and has the original use code. The dept of buildings can issue you a letter of no objection in the event no c of o is available. This can serve as the current

Posted by: bonsavant at May 31, 2009 4:07 PM in response to Way to determine dwelling status

Finance does not establish the legal use of a property. Finance taxes parcels based on "observed" use which can be different than legal use. The C of O (certificate of occupancy) determines the legal use. If the house is built before 1938 then it usually will not have a c of o. You should look up the original property card at the borough office, which shows a photo taken in the late 1930's and has the original use code. The dept of buildings can issue you a letter of no objection in the event no c of o is available. This can serve as the current use.

Posted by: bonsavant at May 31, 2009 4:06 PM in response to Way to determine dwelling status

You might want to read my blog. It covers alot of this. 9stopsout.com

Posted by: bonsavant at May 7, 2009 5:07 PM in response to Ah, Coop Board Politics

N attorney who has done these types of deals should have enough confidence to stand by his/her financial.s

My attorney did not advise me as to my rehabbed condos financial because I am a trained in finance and do building financial for a living.

My attorney asked me about stuff. ALmost everyone who bought into my condo had no idea that 80 percent of the revenue came from common charges when it should be about 100 percent.

The reason our building was 80 percent is because we have a sprint antenna that provides 20 percent to our budget in rent.

ANyone looking at scedule A and Schedule B can find all this info out.

If anyone would like me to review their offferigng I would be glad to for a small fee.

Posted by: bonsavant at April 10, 2009 1:59 PM in response to Attorney Question

N attorney who has done these types of deals should have enough confidence to stand by his/her financial.s

My attorney did not advise me as to my rehabbed condos financial because I am a trained in finance and do building financial for a living.

My attorney asked me about stuff. ALmost everyone who bought into my condo had no idea that 80 percent of the revenue came from common charges when it should be about 100 percent.

The reason our building was 80 percent is because we have a sprint antenna that provides 20 percent to our budget in rent.

ANyone looking at scedule A and Schedule B can find all this info out.

If anyone would like me to review their offferigng I would be glad to for a small fee.

Posted by: bonsavant at April 10, 2009 1:58 PM in response to Attorney Question

So dookie, did you get a chance to find out why you got a revised assessment? I am interested in knowing if my posting was helpfull

Posted by: bonsavant at February 28, 2009 2:33 AM in response to Notice of Revised Property Value

This is just more evidence of how poor a place tgis is for getting advice or info. Apologies to those who have posted sensible advice.

First, good tenants are hard to find but they can be found. Landlords must be modest with expectations and also understand that if units are renting for X dollars in an area, those X dollars might not be realistic long term. So as a landlord see whats really reasonable for your area.

First you need to know good lawyer. Before you rent or do any type of commerce. A good attorney will look after your interests and a good attorney will not charge you for decen adive.

They will charge you and should charge you for creating a lease agreemennt. If you downloaded these agreement from the web or purchased the 10 pack lease agreements at staples, then you need to let these tenants and anyone else who floows them go. You have to have a good lease agreement in the first place.

Second.....if you had a good lawyer that attorney will have already sent you tenants a notice putting them on alert that they are violating their agreement made in good fath and that the next letter the attorney sends to them will be a court appearance.

As for your deadbeat tenants...you should have their SS numbers and report this to a credit agenncy or at least tell them this. As well as explaining to them that any new landlord in any city will be contacting past referances and that any good a vigilant future landlord will see this as a big warning sign.

These are about the 2 best options. A menacing letter from your attorney and a letter from you stating that their lack of honoring their contract commitment will stay with them. You can even fuck with their heads a little and tell them you know of websites that keep track of deadbeats and their names may wind up there like bad ebay feedback.

FYI, my tenant tried to pull the "economy sucks can you lower my rent" scam.

I politely told her that the agreed to the rent and simply saying she cant afford it will not work. The other issue is her weekly freshdirect orders, amazon,com deliveries and all sorts of other things which look very much like things are fine in this persons budget but thinks they can use the current market as an excuse.

As for the other tenant in my building, she has been paying rent for 10 years with modest or no increases. She is rarely late with payment and understand that her unit can be rented to anyone for much more and understands there is economic value in having this situation work for both parties.

Posted by: bonsavant at February 28, 2009 2:16 AM in response to Tenants moving out early

This is just more evidence of how poor a place tgis is for getting advice or info. First you need to know good lawyer. Before you rent or do any type of commerce. A good attorney will look after your interests and a good attorney will not charge you for decen adive.

They will charge you and should charge you for creating a lease agreemennt. If you downloaded these agreement from the web or purchased the 10 pack lease agreements at staples, then you need to let these tenants and anyone else who floows them go. You have to have a good lease agreement in the first place.

Second.....if you had a good lawyer that attorney will have already sent you tenants a notice putting them on alert that they are violating their agreement made in good fath and that the next letter the attorney sends to them will be a court appearance.

As for your deadbeat tenants...you should have their SS numbers and report this to a credit agenncy or at least tell them this. As well as explaining to them that any new landlord in any city will be contacting past referances and that any good a vigilant future landlord will see this as a big warning sign.

These are about the 2 best options. A menacing letter from your attorney and a letter from you stating that their lack of honoring their contract commitment will stay with them. You can even fuck with their heads a little and tell them you know of websites that keep track of deadbeats and their names may wind up there like bad ebay feedback.

Posted by: bonsavant at February 28, 2009 2:04 AM in response to Tenants moving out early

What a waste of space this has become. DOes anyone even care to answer decent and valid questions anymore? In the interest of keeping these blogs on topic, maybe these posters who post without any relation to the topics get removed.

I will repost my response in case some of you care.

Tough to answer this based on your info. That sounds like a property tax class change. Has there been a renovation? has there been additions? Is it a new condo that previously was not on the rolls or an empty lot? The $40,000 AV sounds like it was a class 2 or 4 assessment commercial income producing residential property tather that a 1-2-3 family or residential condo.

Its sad that the other posters have no idea what is going on so they assume its a govt conspiracy.

Your question cannot be answered unless we know the section block and lot and look up the previous assessment history.

Revised mens something was changed between the January 15th tax date and now prior to the final assessment being published.

Please let me know how I can get more info and I can answer this properly without speculation.

If this was a rehab from say a factory to a residential condo, this is exactly the type of assessment change that would happen prior to an exemption being introduced.

Posted by: bonsavant at February 22, 2009 7:32 PM in response to Notice of Revised Property Value

What a waste of space this has become. DOes anyone even care to answer decent and valid questions anymore? In the interest of keeping these blogs on topic, maybe these posters who post without any relation to the topics get removed.

I will repost my response in case some of you care.

Tough to answer this based on your info. That sounds like a property tax class change. Has there been a renovation? has there been additions? Is it a new condo that previously was not on the rolls or an empty lot? The $40,000 AV sounds like it was a class 2 or 4 assessment commercial income producing residential property tather that a 1-2-3 family or residential condo.

Its sad that the other posters have no idea what is going on so they assume its a govt conspiracy.

Your question cannot be answered unless we know the section block and lot and look up the previous assessment history.

Revised mens something was changed between the January 15th tax date and now prior to the final assessment being published.

Please let me know how I can get more info and I can answer this properly without speculation.

If this was a rehab from say a factory to a residential condo, this is exactly the type of assessment change that would happen prior to an exemption being introduced.

Posted by: bonsavant at February 22, 2009 7:29 PM in response to Notice of Revised Property Value

Tough to answer this based on your info. That sounds like a property tax class change. Has there been a renovation? has there been additions? Is it a new condo that previously was not on the rolls or an empty lot? The $40,000 AV sounds like it was a class 2 or 4 assessment commercial income producing residential property tather that a 1-2-3 family or residential condo.

Its sad that the other posters have no idea what is going on so they assume its a govt conspiracy.

Your question cannot be answered unless we know the section block and lot and look up the previous assessment history.

Revised mens something was changed between the January 15th tax date and now prior to the final assessment being published.

Please let me know how I can get more info and I can answer this properly without speculation.

If this was a rehab from say a factory to a residential condo, this is exactly the type of assessment change that would happen prior to an exemption being introduced.

Posted by: bonsavant at February 20, 2009 4:41 PM in response to Notice of Revised Property Value

Tough to answer this based on your info. That sounds like a property tax class change. Has there been a renovation? has there been additions? Is it a new condo that previously was not on the rolls or an empty lot? The $40,000 AV sounds like it was a class 2 or 4 assessment commercial income producing residential property tather that a 1-2-3 family or residential condo.

Its sad that the other posters have no idea what is going on so they assume its a govt conspiracy.

Your question cannot be answered unless we know the section block and lot and look up the previous assessment history.

Revised mens something was changed between the January 15th tax date and now prior to the final assessment being published.

Please let me know how I can get more info and I can answer this properly without speculation.

If this was a rehab from say a factory to a residential condo, this is exactly the type of assessment change that would happen prior to an exemption being introduced.

Posted by: bonsavant at February 20, 2009 4:39 PM in response to Notice of Revised Property Value

Ok..let me be clearer. PSF for basically billing, attending board meetings every 6-8 weeks, taking calls from owners 24/7 and preparing monthly financial documents.

No law, accounting or charges for maint staff. Im talking about strickly admin/mgmt stuff. 53 cents psf. For 32 units thats 625 per unit per year.

625 per unit or 53 cents PSF. Each unit has its own hvac and building has an elevator. These things dont affect a mgmt fee.

There isnt an easy boilerplate way to do this other than keep comparing PSF values.

Im starting to beleive that a good PSF charge is about 20 to 25 cents PSF

Posted by: bonsavant at October 26, 2007 4:12 PM in response to Who manages a condo building?

7-10k a year is a pretty wide difference. If the average 5 story brownstone is 5000-7000 square feet in size your paying almost a dollar per square foot.

On West 13th street in manhattan, a 250,000 square foot luxe building pays about 17 cents PSF. My uilding at 37500psf pays 53 cents.

A company that gave me an estimate turned out to cost about 31 cents psf. The problem with the industry is that all companies use different standards.

Im trying to figure out some standard to measure value by.

Posted by: bonsavant at October 25, 2007 9:35 PM in response to Who manages a condo building?

so nobody who reads here can post an estimate or an actual management fee amount? Id really like to know what people are getting charged.

Posted by: bonsavant at October 25, 2007 9:15 PM in response to Who manages a condo building?

Co-ops yes, 80/20 rule. But not Condos. I should have stated condos.

Does anyone have lease info on cell sites to compare?

Posted by: bonsavant at October 25, 2007 4:07 PM in response to Wireless towers on top of co-ops?

what do each of your respective managment companies charge you all on a per square foot fee? My mgmt charges 53 cents per square foot which I think is high.

My building is 37500sf and the fee is 20,000 a year so thars $20000/37500sf= .53

ANyone have some info? Im trying to get some perspectives on this.

Posted by: bonsavant at October 25, 2007 4:04 PM in response to Who manages a condo building?

We have a long term lease with Sprint which contributes over 25% of our operating budget.

If you want to know more you can email me.

The contracts are usually 5 years renewable by the cell company. Most companies pay between 1500 and 1700 per month.

Posted by: bonsavant at October 23, 2007 5:03 PM in response to Wireless towers on top of co-ops?

http://101wyckoff.blogspot.com/

See about broken j-51 promises

Posted by: bonsavant at August 27, 2007 10:11 AM in response to Complaints Rise Along With New Condos

Sloaptoad,

I know I'm coming to this late, but I think the 30 days business is a red herring. You have 30 days. They're saying they'll be gone by the end of March. If they leave earlier you aren't going to pro-rate their rent, are you? No. So you have 30 days and honestly, you have a better deal than 30 days if they're gone before the month is out, because you have time to clean the place up and show it.

The question is whether the deposit should be used as the last month's rent or not.

Yesterday we got the pleasure of overhearing our landlord bickering with a departing tenant about the return of his deposit. Landlord wanted proof that all the utility bills were paid up, which is absurd. Later in the day I could hear him mumbling about the condition the apartment had been left in--condition that is pretty hard to gauge since he went in with his paint cans on Wednesday even though the tenants had every right to stay there through Saturday. So he was really griping about the state of things halfway through their move, which is lame.

My note to self in listening to them? Insist that he use our deposit to cover the last month's rent. Because people find all kinds of ways to drag their feet.

Meanwhile, while first, last and deposit sounds nice, if you're using an agent keep in mind that that means someone has to come up with a *lot* of cash to move in.

Posted by: serpentor at March 2, 2009 3:33 PM in response to Tenants moving out early

CookieCutterBrownstone -

A security deposit only has to be held in an interest bearing account if it is for a rent regulated apartment or part of a building with 6 or more units. Otherwise, it is up to the landlord what he/she wants to do with it. The only stipulation is that it can not be combined with any of the owner's own funds. So unless your apartments fit the above criteria then you probably did not miss out on any interest.

Posted by: WrathOfGates at March 2, 2009 10:37 PM in response to Tenants moving out early

N attorney who has done these types of deals should have enough confidence to stand by his/her financial.s

My attorney did not advise me as to my rehabbed condos financial because I am a trained in finance and do building financial for a living.

My attorney asked me about stuff. ALmost everyone who bought into my condo had no idea that 80 percent of the revenue came from common charges when it should be about 100 percent.

The reason our building was 80 percent is because we have a sprint antenna that provides 20 percent to our budget in rent.

ANyone looking at scedule A and Schedule B can find all this info out.

If anyone would like me to review their offferigng I would be glad to for a small fee.

Posted by: bonsavant at April 10, 2009 1:59 PM in response to Attorney Question

Lechacal- When I state a mortgage broker/banker should be able to review financials I mean a coop with bad financials will not be able to obtain financing. The loan would not be able to get approved if the financials are in bad shape. If the financials are good enough for the bank they should not affect marketability. Anything outside of that is your own risk of buying shares in a corporation and I or the bank would hold no responsibility.

Let's speak with an actual real estate lawyer that does these transactions before jumping to conclusions. The vast majority of RE lawyers that I deal with review the financials with the client. Hey I only do this for a living.

FYI And I am a Mortgage Banker not a broker. I am actually responsible for the loans that I make.

Posted by: Adam Dahill at April 11, 2009 1:13 PM in response to Attorney Question

I am an actual, on the ground, real estate lawyer and have done over 1,000 closings in NY and NJ during the last 6 years.

When I represent individuals buying a condo or a coop I let them know the limits of my expertise, as Sloper5's attorney did. I believe in being frank with my clients and that I am not an accountant, but know what to look for in terms of the typical financial arrangements of buildings under common ownership. As part of my due diligence, I tell my clients what red flags I see, but when they are particularly concerned I advise them to spend a hundred dollars to get an accountant to review it as well.

I also think it is fair to charge my clients a fee based on my expertise and services. Thus I don't charge as a "one stop shop" for detailed financial analysis.

If you want an attorney who has additional expertise outside of Real Estate Law, you should look for someone with a dual accounting degree or an L.L.M. (legal master's degree) in Finance.

Good luck Sloper5! I hope by now you are well on your way to buying a great home!

Posted by: LegallyBevin at May 19, 2009 12:17 PM in response to Attorney Question

Finance does not establish the legal use of a property. Finance taxes parcels based on "observed" use which can be different than legal use. The C of O (certificate of occupancy) determines the legal use. If the house is built before 1938 then it usually will not have a c of o. You should look up the original property card at the borough office, which shows a photo taken in the late 1930's and has the original use code. The dept of buildings can issue you a letter of no objection in the event no c of o is available. This can serve as the current

Posted by: bonsavant at May 31, 2009 4:07 PM in response to Way to determine dwelling status

You need to read the entire offering plan. Especially shedule A and B since those tell you the budgets. In my condo, 80 percent of the charges came from the owners, which I thought was strange but then I looked deeper and found the remaining 20 percent of income was from a sprint cell antenna contract the previous owner signed. You can find good and bad things in the entire offering. It pays to read it.

Look at the compososition of the board. Can board members remove another board member by a simple majority vote of the board members or of the entire vote of the building. Thats important. Newer offering plans allow the board members to vote each other out which can make for a very silent oppressive board.

House rules can and usually are amended.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 11, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Condo By-Laws

What the others said. Yes, especially get the House Rules. You just include a lawyers contingency and he'll review it all after your bid is accepted. Sometimes there's a charge for the Blaws and Rules. In my last place where I sold it was $300 and it was a fairly thick package of stuff.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at September 11, 2009 11:37 AM in response to Condo By-Laws

You need to read the entire offering plan. Especially shedule A and B since those tell you the budgets. In my condo, 80 percent of the charges came from the owners, which I thought was strange but then I looked deeper and found the remaining 20 percent of income was from a sprint cell antenna contract the previous owner signed. You can find good and bad things in the entire offering. It pays to read it.

Look at the compososition of the board. Can board members remove another board member by a simple majority vote of the board members or of the entire vote of the building. Thats important. Newer offering plans allow the board members to vote each other out which can make for a very silent oppressive board.

House rules can and usually are amended.

Posted by: bonsavant at September 11, 2009 11:37 AM in response to Condo By-Laws

Hey Brownstoners,

This is all great advice -- thank you.

Ysabelle, if you don't mind me asking, what area of the city do you own in? And what kinds of things have they harrassed you about? You mention it's petty stuff, but I'm curious to know more....

Thanks again,
PV

Posted by: PropertyVirgin at September 11, 2009 11:53 AM in response to Condo By-Laws