Co-op Board Inerview

brooklynpotter wrote: they will go over all of your financials and question any tiny thing. this includes credit report, past tax returns, etc., which i'm sure you've already given them.

they will ask you about your work, whether or not you have any lined up, what you would do if you didn't get work for xx months. (if you were seeking approval in our coop, for example, and we were concerned about your uneven work history, we might ask you for a year's worth of maintenance payments upfront.)

they will ask you about your life, whether you have pets, parties, musical instruments. they may or may not call your references. they will ask you what you like about the building, why you want to move there, whether you want to do any renovations.

ask them what the building is like, whether it's quiet, do people get along, what will you be responsible for. will you need to serve on the board at any time, for example? can you bring your pet boa constrictor? stuff like that. and ask if your maintenance payments will go up and why. and ask them why they are giving you a coop for 10k.


in the meantime, you really should speak with an attorney. you should never buy *any* real estate without one. regardless of the fact that your aunt is on the board it sounds shady at best.

Thanks for the help. I heard about this opportunity straight from my aunt and the way I described it is how it was described to me. So I can go in there tomorrow and they could say something different. I have clarification now its 15000 and 425 a month maintenance. The maintenance will go up a few hundred dollars in a year or two because the building will be on its "own" financially whatever that means. And yes I have people around me who would never let me sign any kind of contract without talking to an attorney first. Its just an interview as far as I know as they said I didnt have to bring anything. All I did was fill out an application. I didnt give them any tax retyurns or pay stubs. Can they get that kind of stuff without me knowing?

The place is in Clinton Hills. Yeah as far as I know they have none of my pay stubs or tax returns tahts why I was asking if they can get this stuff without my knowledge. I know they can run a credit check but tax returns and pay rates wouldnt be on that right? Now I heard something about how they were doing home visits at prospectives apartmets to see how they live. This is all so weird at least to me.

LongTimeSloper wrote: [quote=KCYCLUB1477][quote=LongTimeSloper]This sounds like something my SIL and her hubby did many many years ago. they used to say that when they were first married they owned a coop, yet, it was nothing like what we all consider a coop. they put money down on an apartment in a complex in Queens, and then paid 'maintenance" which was like rent (they also never had a mortgage). When they decided to move out, the complex "bought" the apartment back from them by basically returning the fee they had put down years before with a slight amount of interest. They were not allowed to sell the apartment themselves since they technically didn't own it the way we own our coops.

To me, this was not a coop, but they always said that is what it was called. Now, this was out in Queens about 35 years ago or so, but it sounds like the same sort of proposition.

Yes this is how it works. But here is the kicker the building will become a market rate coop and the apartment can be sold for a profit in the future.

OK, that also sounds rather odd! Do you mean they are going to allow you to sell this apartment in the future for regular market rate? i don't see how you would spend 15k and then in later years be allowed to sell for say, 400k. or, do they just say for 'profit" so that might mean, for say 30k to someone else who wants to buy in on this deal?

Again, where in the world is this place?


Yea I mean maybe like a 100k I could sell it for in the future.