Tired of renting, looking to buy -- I need advice!

brooksignal

Forget co-ops! They're such a pain! Try to find a condo, no board approvals necessary.

gphant

That's true. Coops drag out the process for a really long time and they all have different weird rules that they have made up for their own special reasons, all of which sound completely legimate to them at the time they made them up but may not be so sound several years later when people have moved out and inherited those rules (but are, of course, still carrying them out)

I was formerly on a coop board. Blech.

guvna

BrookSignal wrote: Forget co-ops! They're such a pain! Try to find a condo, no board approvals necessary.

Good coops arent much of a hassle. Depends on the people involved.

alafairnadia

I like my co-op. the only person who was sucky in the process was the sponsor - the co-op board, banks, etc all awesome.

sterling2000

gphant wrote: That's true. Coops drag out the process for a really long time and they all have different weird rules that they have made up for their own special reasons, all of which sound completely legimate to them at the time they made them up but may not be so sound several years later when people have moved out and inherited those rules (but are, of course, still carrying them out)

I was formerly on a coop board. Blech.

This is a common NYC mythical over-generalization that I'm sure has individual merit particular to this person's experience but in no way represents all co-ops.

I've been a board prez for 3 years now, and we have no weird rules. In fact, we try to avoid as many rules as possible so as not to hamper future re-sale value as well as current quality of life.

If a new Board functions under old rules, they're not paying attention. Rules should be revisited and revised to fit the needs of current residents, not those of the past.

brooksignal

You guys are right. I shouldn't have bashed all co-ops.

I had what could have been a really bad situation with the sale of a co-op last year. It was a small (fifteen units) self- managed co-op, long story short the board pres was out of town, share transfer paperwork in the corp mailbox wasn't received... blah blah blah

Buyer is ticked off, might back out of the deal, I've got the first mortgage on the co-op, home equity line of credit on the co-op and the mortgage on the new condo.

In a condo you deal with the owner of the condo, and of course the real estate agent..blechhh, don't get me started about that. LOL

gphant

Subject: Coops

I've been a board prez for 3 years now, and we have no weird rules. In fact, we try to avoid as many rules as possible so as not to hamper future re-sale value as well as current quality of life.

If a new Board functions under old rules, they're not paying attention. Rules should be revisited and revised to fit the needs of current residents, not those of the past.

Ultimately, this is the dream, not always the experience. Maybe you should look for a coop in HIS building!

brooksignal

It must be cool! All the kids on the block hang out on his stoop gphant! 8)

ntfool

Any further updates on this thread? I'm about to start looking for mortgage brokers, and a colleague of mine at work also used Eugene Lee at Apple Mortgatge (reccommended by someone else above). Anyone else?

sulefamilybkny

VeggieQueen wrote: also be aware they will most likely approve you for what they are willing to give you, not necessarily what you can afford.

i think brokers take a cut? i called banks directly to get rates. also, make sure they don't run a credit check until you are actually ready to work with them. every time someone runs your credit report it will negatively affect your score (at least that's my understanding).

Um no it doesn't the only thing that messes up your credit report is not paying bills and credit card balances on time or defaulting totally...DUH.

stacey

sulefamilybkny wrote: [quote=VeggieQueen]also be aware they will most likely approve you for what they are willing to give you, not necessarily what you can afford.

i think brokers take a cut? i called banks directly to get rates. also, make sure they don't run a credit check until you are actually ready to work with them. every time someone runs your credit report it will negatively affect your score (at least that's my understanding).

Um no it doesn't the only thing that messes up your credit report is not paying bills and credit card balances on time or defaulting totally...DUH.

Nope from credit.com
"Inquiries remain in your credit report for 2 years (24 months). The good news is that they can only hurt your credit scores for the first 12 months. After 12 months, they don't impact your credit scores at all."

novanglus

One note of caution is new condos--If you see a new buildling with zero or only one unit in contract, most likely you're going to have to wait a while before you can close. Of course, you're more likely to get a choice unit or a slight break on price if you go in early. But, if you want to go quickly, pick a place that's already got 70% in contract, or in the alternative, one that doesn't have far to go.

Re: mortgage brokers, yes their cut comes from the bank, not you. Think of it as the bank outsourcing their origination function. We're in contract right now, and our mortgage broker found a way for us to do 10% down without paying PMI by paying an extra .25% in interest by shopping around.

If you can get in contract before April 30 and close by June 30, the federal government will cut you a check for $8000. Mortgage rates are projected to go up as the year goes on, so there's really no time like the present.

We used Trulia and the NY Times for our place. We saw about 20 places, but wound up going into contract on the first place we saw. Go figure.

tcurranmortgage

Multiple inquiries for a mortgage, student loan or auto loan are ignored by the FICO scoring system. They don't penalize you for shopping around.

Retail credit inquiries do indeed affect scores, but not as badly as everyone believes.

http://www.tcurranmortgage.com/2010/01/21/the-myth-of-credit-inquiries/