You’re never going to be able to predict the strngth of the condo’s financials. Look at places in older established buildings first. Find out when the boiler and the roof were last replaced, when the brick was last pointed and what new special capital projects are upcoming (hallways, windows, lobby?).
Additionally, try and find a place that’s got a few hundred thousand bucks in reserve. New condo developments are “buyer beware.”
dbcn — I missed that article, but I can imagine the vicious circle — as more people fall underwater they stop paying their mortgage — why pay maintenance if you’re going to get evicted anyway? So then as maintenance goes up for the remaining owners, the re-sale values fall to compensate, and more people fall underwater — but now become spiteful as well. Their building is falling apart and their neighbors are screwing them, and neither one is their fault. The winning strategy for an owner is to avoid being the last to walk away, and living with a bad credit score starts to look better than throwing good money after bad. It could be come a race for the door.
thanks so far — what I’m especially worried about is that the starting maintenance charge reflects the most optimistic scenario – that everything works perfectly. If you end up becoming a shareholder in a half-sold development, and the developer goes under, I’ll bet you can end up paying double your share of the repairs over time. When I saw the picture of the cracked brick on Brownstoner last week I got a chill.
When you factor in the future taxes after the abatements go away, you really could be looking at a carry cost many times what they are marketing.
A question about these new condo developments: When you buy a new condo and have an inspection done pre-closing, is it customary for the inspector to look over the building as a whole (ie construction quality, systems, etc.) or does s/he just examine the condo unit itself?
The NYT had a really interesting (and scary) article on Sunday about what can happen to condo owners if other owners in their building start to default on maintenance – sounds like a total mess.
I was once told by a friend that one of the buildings on Bayard in Williamsburg was ‘structurally unsound’ and that in 5 years none of the doors would fit in the door frames – has anybody heard anything like this? I’d love to see some quality analysis on those buildings.
That said, I went to an open house at a toll bros building in LIC yesterday, and the build quality was miles above what I’m seeing in Williamsburg.
Ditto what DIBS said.
You’re never going to be able to predict the strngth of the condo’s financials. Look at places in older established buildings first. Find out when the boiler and the roof were last replaced, when the brick was last pointed and what new special capital projects are upcoming (hallways, windows, lobby?).
Additionally, try and find a place that’s got a few hundred thousand bucks in reserve. New condo developments are “buyer beware.”
dbcn — I missed that article, but I can imagine the vicious circle — as more people fall underwater they stop paying their mortgage — why pay maintenance if you’re going to get evicted anyway? So then as maintenance goes up for the remaining owners, the re-sale values fall to compensate, and more people fall underwater — but now become spiteful as well. Their building is falling apart and their neighbors are screwing them, and neither one is their fault. The winning strategy for an owner is to avoid being the last to walk away, and living with a bad credit score starts to look better than throwing good money after bad. It could be come a race for the door.
thanks so far — what I’m especially worried about is that the starting maintenance charge reflects the most optimistic scenario – that everything works perfectly. If you end up becoming a shareholder in a half-sold development, and the developer goes under, I’ll bet you can end up paying double your share of the repairs over time. When I saw the picture of the cracked brick on Brownstoner last week I got a chill.
When you factor in the future taxes after the abatements go away, you really could be looking at a carry cost many times what they are marketing.
Happy *Sweet 16 x 2* Birthday Rob! Hope it’s a good one!
Anybody see/going to see John Legend? Saw him at Radio last Thursday. He ripped it!
***Bid half off peak comps***
A question about these new condo developments: When you buy a new condo and have an inspection done pre-closing, is it customary for the inspector to look over the building as a whole (ie construction quality, systems, etc.) or does s/he just examine the condo unit itself?
Happy B-Day Rob. Go out and party like a rock star 🙂
The NYT had a really interesting (and scary) article on Sunday about what can happen to condo owners if other owners in their building start to default on maintenance – sounds like a total mess.
I was once told by a friend that one of the buildings on Bayard in Williamsburg was ‘structurally unsound’ and that in 5 years none of the doors would fit in the door frames – has anybody heard anything like this? I’d love to see some quality analysis on those buildings.
That said, I went to an open house at a toll bros building in LIC yesterday, and the build quality was miles above what I’m seeing in Williamsburg.