Tenant in a Condo Conversion
Has anyone here been a tenant during a period of condo conversion in their building? Do the listed prices found in the “red herring” usually correspond to the final asking price for one’s unit? I live in an 80-unit pre-war Brooklyn building that is going condo and I want to buy my apartment. There is…
Has anyone here been a tenant during a period of condo conversion in their building? Do the listed prices found in the “red herring” usually correspond to the final asking price for one’s unit?
I live in an 80-unit pre-war Brooklyn building that is going condo and I want to buy my apartment. There is a pretty non-existent tenants’ association in my building, so everyone is running around in a panic. Thanks.
So there are no insider prices?
I was in a building that went condo. When my wife and I first saw the prices in the red herring they seemed crazy. By that I mean they implied a monthly cost of carry to stay in the future condo that was substantially in excess of what we were paying in rent for the exact same apartment. There was a tenant’s association that formed. But as it became apparent that the prices were not really all that negotiable folks started moving out over the next few months and the whole thing just got more and more disorganized.
I wouldn’t waste much time on fighting pricing on a condo conversion. The whole reason that they’re done is because the upfront price on the unit that the condo market will support is worth more to the owner than the present value of the monthly flow of rents less expenses. Almost by definition that means it will be uneconomical for you to buy relative to what your rent was like before. So I would seriously consider moving. Its a pain, but it sounds like you’ll have plenty of time to make all the arrangements you need to find something that will suit you (either another rental or buying something).
If you *do* decide to buy into the conversion than prepare yourself for an increase in monthly carrying costs and make sure that you consider alternatives so that you know that you are getting something on market and can negotiate from a position of power.
Where is this building?
Hope this article helps:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902EED9173DF934A35751C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1