Open House Picks: Six Months Later
Comment: Blah. Open House Picks 10/31/08 [Brownstoner] Previous Six Months Later Posts [Brownstoner]
Comment: Blah.
Open House Picks 10/31/08 [Brownstoner]
Previous Six Months Later Posts [Brownstoner]
brooklynguy: Certainly of result, I suppose. Maybe you can get it cheaper from the bank, maybe not. There are plenty of paths to buying cheap in a down market. Find the one that works for you and go for it!
Why is this plan better than waiting for the developer to go insolvent (the inevitability of which is one of your assumptions) and buying the units at an even steeper discount from the bank?
Well Snark, either you see it or you don’t. I see it.
Alternatively, of course, you can buy and sell the same way everyone else does. If that’s where your comfort zone is, then so be it. Nothing wrong with that. In my personal experience, challenging custom has always worked out for me quite well. Most people are afraid to take steps like this because all they see is difficulty and risk. I love doing stuff like this.
The idea here is to exploit in a very focused way the single biggest weakness that a condo developer has in a down market: inability to move those first couple units. The beauty of it is that the developer has already done all fo the work for you, which allows you to exploit this weakness in a very clean and focused way. And your sunk costs to get to bid (and hear yes or no) are minimal.
I agree with z and FatLenny. It’s a nice concept, but the actual implementation seems tough. We’ve shelved the idea for now.
FatLenny: This isn’t a tenancy in common. It’s off-the-shelf condo units. Someone else has already done all the work, which makes the negotiations that much easier. There are basically two questions: 1. who buys which unit and 2. how much does each person pay. Once you answer those questions you are just bidding for a product that has already been packaged by someone else.
Yeah, best to keep friends and business separate. We entertained doing a Tenancy In Common with some friends (e.g., 2 couples share a 4-storey Brownstone), but the details get sticky. Your financial interests may not always be aligned.
z – This is still New York City. I can’t imagine it would take me long at all to find three people with money who are interested in getting a nice apartment in Park Slope on the cheap. There would obviously be some work involved, but this is very doable. Negotiating complex financial things with unwieldy groups of people is my day job.
lechacal, it’s an interesting concept. finding 2 or 3 fellow buyers who are all looking to buy at the same time, have similar housing tastes/preferences, and are known to you/trustworthy/financially sound may be more than a little difficult, though.