Hi, my name is Andrew Weltchek. I’m a partner with the law firm of Cohen, Hochman, and Allen. I practice real estate law in New York City. One of the things that clients ask me is, co-op or condo, which should I buy?
I have a unique perspective on that because I very often represent apartment owners after they bought when they have problems with their boards, and that leads me to the following answer. Small buildings, you want to buy a co-op. Larger buildings, you want to buy a condo.
Here’s why. A co-op involves an apartment corporation owning an entire building and leasing it to each of the people for each of the apartments. It has the right to reject anybody for any reason other than a discriminatory reason. Very often, that’s a negative to people. They don’t want to be subjected to that kind of interrogation.
But if you’re buying into a small building — four or five units, for instance, you are going into business and intimate relationship physically with four or five other people. And when the time comes for you to sell or one of your neighbors to sell, everybody else is going to want to have some input into who replaces you — that they be cooperative, literally a cooperative person. In a larger building that’s much less of an issue. And therefore, in a large building, I would recommend that you go for a condominium which does not have the power to reject buyers.
If they can afford the price then the board has no say over rejecting them. This is not a perspective you often hear, but in my experience representing people who have had problems with their boards, I think it’s a powerful lesson. If you’re going to buy into a small building, you’re better off buying into a co-op. If you’re going to buy into a large building, you’re better off buying into a condominium, thank you.
My name is Andrew Weltchek at the firm of Cohen, Hochman, and Allen. You can reach me at 212-566-7081. My other contact information is on the slide at the end of the video, thank you.
From the desk of Andrew Weltchek 