First Time Buyer - Condo or Co-op?
My husband and I are relocating from Europe for a fixed 2 year work assignment. I am American and would like to benefit from the mortgage tax deductions for owning real estate versus renting. We both work, double income. We would like to purchase a 2 BR property in Boerum Hill or Park Slope. After…
My husband and I are relocating from Europe for a fixed 2 year work assignment. I am American and would like to benefit from the mortgage tax deductions for owning real estate versus renting. We both work, double income.
We would like to purchase a 2 BR property in Boerum Hill or Park Slope. After the 2 year assignment is up, we intend to return to Europe and either sell or rent out the property.
Questions: Is a condo a better fit than a co-op? Is it difficult to rent out a co-op? Is board approval required for the tenant?
Any tips or insight is much appreciated!
Thank you,
shiny
I’d sooner become a renter again than buy another co-op.
The board is full of nice folks who are totally ineffective and don’t know anything they need to know. Plus a few of the inevitable power-trippers, who are ineffective except in their ability to be stubborn for no good reason. More of a pain in the neck that I could ever describe. Takes FOREVER to get anything done or answered…
Go condo, condo, condo, IMHO.
Hey Shiny, my wife and I are selling a 2 BR, 2 Bath condo in Boerum Hill. There are NO rules/restrictions re renting out the apartment. If interested, please email me at statestreet464 @ yahoo.com
Ah…CHF…sorry, I assumed Euros were in play. That will be a big change: Switzerland to Brooklyn…even if you’re in Zurich or Geneve…if you in Bale or Sion! Fuggedabouddit! Brooklyn’ll be a huge shock!
At least the food will be A LOT cheaper!
AND…you can join the Park Slope Food Coop when you get here!: foodcoop.com
See you there!
Thank you everyone for the comments, extremely helpful!
As to USD/CHF:
The Swiss Franc has appreciated about 20% against the dollar since June 2006 (similar to the Euro story, but not as extreme). But, I would rather not play the currency exchange too much. I have no idea whether USD will continue to weaken but my gut feeling is that over the long term, it will. This takes away some of the upside on returns, but also means maint fees paid in the US are relatively cheaper.
Anyways, I really appreciate your help and will reconsider the idea to purchase something instead of renting.
Cheers,
shiny
8:00 Stop using the word moron in every one of your postings you america-hater. Why don’t you move to Europe where the beautiful people will embrace you, I’m sure (not).
7:28, moron, learn how to spell “advice” you ugly American.
i live in a condo where my neighbors from the UK are renting. they quickly figured out that they were losing money and just bought a condo in wiliamsburg. guess it depends if you have the money or not. they are very relieved to be buying now.
My advise is to stay away from my co-op. we don’t need eurotrash.
As people wrote above, do not go for a coop.
If you can find an affordable condo, you might buy it and then hope the dollar rises against the euro.
Otherwise, just rent. If the dollar looks like it’ll jump against the euro and you want to play the currency markets, shift euros to dollars for a year or so and then back again.
It used to be that the French franc fluctuated enough with the dollar that a year could make a decent difference. I worked in exchange in Paris in the 80’s. I would not play that angle these days b/c it seems the dollar could remain low against the euro for a couple more years…but then again, a nickel’s fluctuation can result in big gains (or losses) depending on the amount at play. Unless you have 1) a crystal ball or 2) high level information, playing the currency market can be hair-raising. It’s a gamble unless you’re a big outfit doing millions of business daily. Small players can get burned.
This may all sound off topic, but if the main bulk of your money is in euro right now and you might loose if you bought a, for example, $800K apartment with the dollar dropping further, you may find yourself on the short end of the stick.
If, though, you are currently paid in euro, don’t have much in dollars here and want to diversify, and if you’ve plenty so you do not have to worry, go ahead, buy dollars while they’re cheap for you. [of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance!!!]
If you can afford a place and can keep it so you have a Brooklyn pied-à -terre, enjoy. You’ll have a place to stay when you come to the US to see friends and family and/or can let people stay in your condo when you’re not there.
Heck, you might, just might, do okay, getting a condo, probably furnish it a l’IKEA (since you’ll be here for only two years) unless you’ve things in storage in the States, and then leave it in two years as a furnished sort-term rental. If you’ve a couple of sleeper couches and a couple of bedrooms, a family of 5 or 6 or two couples or whatever can rent for a week or two for a lot less than the cost of a NYC hotel…and parts of Brooklyn are featured in lots of guide books so many Europeans are coming to BAM, Park Slope, the Botanic Garden, the Promenade.
If you have someone who can manage it, you may end up making decent money on short term and vacation rentals. There are some small outfits/people specializing in this in NYC. Check the web.
You can also go through one of these companies to rent out as a mini-corporate apartment as well and stay out of the vacationer realm. Film productions hire NY-based people to scare up enough housing for their crews (apartment owner does well!), universities often will take a long term sublet so they can house visiting faculty; likewise with cultural institutions.
I personally prefer the idea of non-institutional rentals since it’ll give you your place back sporadically or when you want to block out time so you can use it as needed.
I, for one, would not like to have anyone staying in my place but have a friend who has gone away for a year or three months many times and has done well doing these short term rentals. His West Village one-bedroom is comfortable but utilitarian and he doesn’t care too much about “stuffâ€. He simply puts clothes and personal papers into a Manhattan Minstorage closet when he leaves for a year. Has a full sized sleeper in the living room.
If you HAVE to get a “regular” large US-based mortgage in order to buy an apartment, do NOT. If you work for a financial firm with in-house preferential mortgage and can benefit from the interest payments, maybe think about it. I take it from what you’ve written, you may be paid in USD, are worried about your income in euro above and beyond the limit for expats and are taxed on it, have some other income in USD that needs to be offset or some combination of these three.
Talk to a financial planner.
To the forum here:
Real estate is falling/precarious in Europe (the run up there is collapsing in places) so “Shiny†may not do so badly investing in NYC.