If you are aspiring to acquire an apartment in New York City, you are reading the right article. I will personalize my right-up so that you can understand my writing very well.
This is what I Need to Know When Buying an Apartment in NYC:
- There is a New York City real estate called Manhattan
- Location is everything in real estate.
- I don’t need to pay a brokerage commission when buying an apartment in Manhattan because they always pay the brokers commissions. This commission they paid is usually 5%-6% of the sale price and is split between the buyer’s broker and the seller’s broker.
- The average apartment in Manhattan in Q1 2020 was $1.89 million and the median sales price was $1.06 million. This includes both coops and condos. Coops are less expensive than condos for a number of reasons.
- Manhattan refers to the top 10% of transactions as luxury apartments. The very top of the market, say perhaps 1-2% of transactions is considered ultra-luxury. Prices for these can be in the $4,500 – $10,000 per square foot range. Super luxury starts at $3,000 per square foot.
- The average price per square foot of a Manhattan condo rose 5% compounded annually over the last 15 years. Considering, one could leverage a purchase with a mortgage, the yield would multiply.
- If you desire to buy a newer property or a property that you want to rent out for rental income, then coops are not an option. You should stick to buying a condo.
- If you desire to have your primary home and are not as concerned about the property being new or interested in renting it out, then buying a coop may be the right choice. Generally, coops are less expensive than condos but don’t have the same utility.
- Yes, you should never go it alone on the most expensive transaction of your life. There is just too much risk in buying the wrong property at the wrong price in the wrong location.
- In Manhattan, commissions are set before the property is marketed, so I don’t expect to get the property for a lower price if I go directly to the seller’s broker. Instead of receiving 50% of the commission, Manhattan will likely receive 100% of the commission and have no duty to the buyer. They only have a duty to the seller.