Good Co-op Inspector
We’re buying a late 50s coop in Brooklyn and are looking for a thorough and reliable inspector: does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.
We’re buying a late 50s coop in Brooklyn and are looking for a thorough and reliable inspector: does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.
Minard, you live in Brooklyn Heights, right? You’re on the board? I know board members at 1 Pierrepont St and 2 Montague Terrace and both allow inspections. Those are pretty large/luxury co-ops. And I’m on the board of a neighboring building that is of similar size. True, we may not be considered quite so lux, but we do know the difference btw feeling bad and badly 😉
I didn’t inspect when I bought into this building because I was pretty familiar with it, but I would have walked had I been told that I couldn’t. How would you know if the 100k/200k/650k reserve is at all reasonable if you didn’t know what major cap ex projects are coming down the road?
My experience is with large, luxury co-ops. Sorry. I really feel badly about perhaps misleading folks who are looking to buy into smaller co-ops.
In my building, we would never, ever, allow a prospective buyer to look at the infrastructure of our building.
If you don’t want to live here, don’t.
My advise is sound if you are planning to move into a prestige co-op. Don’t challenge the board. They will not schedule an interview.
As I said in an earlier post, i don’t have experience with smaller co-ops.
Our small coop has always let building inspectors look at the whole thing when someone is buying. That way we get free trouble-shooting ourselves. We just fixed something the last inspector found. Cannot imagine that a well-run coop would have big objections to something for nothing.
For a co-op with 12 units or more, just read the minutes and the financials, for a building with 4 units or less, it would be financially irresponsible not to have a building inspection. For a co-op in a building with between 4-12 units, it is up to you and your comfort level.
Appraisers do not do an engineer’s job!!! It’s true that most coop/condo buyers don’t hire an engineer to check the whole building (at least $2K probably) or even the apartment. You can check most things in the apartment that an engineer would: turn on all faucets, include checking the shower; take a nightlight to check that all outlets work; turn on the oven, burners, dishwasher, and any other appliances included; check out the circuit breakers.
That’s all I can think of right now but you may be able to come up with other checks you can make yourself.
Good luck!
BPG, think long and hard about whether you want to be a part of a tricky co-op or buy into a building where simply being a fully informed buyer (which I applaud you for) may count against you. Your attorney won’t be able to tell you anything about the underlying condition of the building, and the bank’s appraisal is extremely cursory. Our bank spent 10 minutes in the apartment and never even went into the basement or up onto the roof. Go with your gut– if your gut says to get an inspection, get one. If the Board doesn’t approve you because of it, perhaps this wasn’t the right fit to begin with.
I’m shocked that it’s not standard practice to have the entire building inspected: as slopegirl points out, that building will be our responsibility, if/when we own shares in the co-op. My concern, however, is that we already know that we’re dealing with a tricky co-op, so if this is going to count against us, I’m not sure what we can do, except trust the bank’s appraisal and our attorney’s vigilance.
I’m on the board of a medium-sized co-op in Brooklyn Heights (more than 25 units, less than 100) and we NOT mark the application as “troublemaker”. In fact, I’d estimate about 1/3 of buyers have an full inspection. They’re buying into a corporation. I think it makes perfect sense to check out your investment. And we’re a very well-run co-op if I do say so myself.
Tim Curran helped us out on inspections of 2 places- he caught things on the first place that we would never have noticed and ultimately caused us to walk away and find a place we loved even more- and his approval of that 2nd place was key. He was very complete, poking into every little nook and cranny, and helpful.