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jambalady
Is it summer yet?
Member since 8/06 7392 total posts
Name:
Holly
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a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Hi all,
I just wanted to share a word of advice from past experience. If you are in the process of buying a new coop/home, just remember that nothing is final until the you have closed on the house and the Seller's have vacated. My husband and I originally tried to buy my aunt's coop. She was selling it to us way under market and our combined income as a lawyer and financial analyst was way more than what the cost of the coop necessitated. My aunt let us "move in" early. We ordered a new living room set, repainted and redid the floors while we were waiting for board approval. Everything else was set, the mortgage, the contract, etc. The board rejected us!!! We ended up not being able to buy the apartment. My aunt was stuck with 2 mortgages trying to sell the place to someone else and we lost a few grand on the renovations and had to find an apartment and put the new furniture into storage. I chalked it up to being young and naive. Now, one of my closest friends and her husband just went into contract for a house, had the apprasier come in and got the mortgage and a closing date, and the Seller's couldn't pass good title (there was a lien on teh house). They had given notice to the landlord and now their landlord has rerented the apartment and wants them out. They now have to find a new place to live.
So, a word of advice . . . don't start buying new things for the house, giving up your old apartment or anything like that UNTIL THE DEAL IS CLOSED AND YOU OWN IT!!.
Also, if you are buying new construction, just remember that their expected finishing date isn't always so. I've seen new construction go over by 6 months to a year!!
Sorry, this is so sour, I just wanted other people to not have to go through what we did.
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Posted 9/14/06 11:28 AM  |
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riniko
LIF Toddler
Member since 3/06 486 total posts
Name:
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
I am being a bit nosey but why would they reject you? You guys sound so ideal.
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| Posted 9/14/06 11:36 AM |
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SweetestOfPeas
J'taime Paris!
Member since 3/06 32345 total posts
Name:
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Posted by riniko
I am being a bit nosey but why would they reject you? You guys sound so ideal.
yea... I am curious too. can you fight it?
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| Posted 9/14/06 11:43 AM |
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jambalady
Is it summer yet?
Member since 8/06 7392 total posts
Name:
Holly
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
They don't even have to give you a reason, but what they told us was that we had too much debt. We had a combined total of $200,000 in law school and graduate school debt but no other debt, such as credit cards, etc. However, we have both been out of school, working for many years, and making a combined income of $350,000 and had perfect credit. Neither of us had ever missed any payments. I even made a spreadsheet of all our assets and liabilities to show that we had a significant cushion but they wouldn't even listen to us. You can't find the board.
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| Posted 9/14/06 11:59 AM |
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Libragal07
Loving Summer.....
Member since 8/06 6636 total posts
Name:
Samantha aka Sammy Bones
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Posted by jambalady
They don't even have to give you a reason, but what they told us was that we had too much debt. We had a combined total of $200,000 in law school and graduate school debt but no other debt, such as credit cards, etc. However, we have both been out of school, working for many years, and making a combined income of $350,000 and had perfect credit. Neither of us had ever missed any payments. I even made a spreadsheet of all our assets and liabilities to show that we had a significant cushion but they wouldn't even listen to us. You can't find the board.
as a processor for a mtg company when getting a co-op the FIRST thing you should do is make sure you are approved with the board b/c those co-op boards can be a PITA!!! sooo sorry that happened to you! 
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| Posted 9/14/06 12:03 PM |
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jambalady
Is it summer yet?
Member since 8/06 7392 total posts
Name:
Holly
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Yeah, like I said, now I understand that I was naive to do all those things before getting board approval but I guess in my mind, we were good candidates. We were young, married professionals. It never even crossed my mind that our school debt would be an issue.
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| Posted 9/14/06 12:08 PM |
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SweetestOfPeas
J'taime Paris!
Member since 3/06 32345 total posts
Name:
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Posted by jambalady
They don't even have to give you a reason, but what they told us was that we had too much debt. We had a combined total of $200,000 in law school and graduate school debt but no other debt, such as credit cards, etc. However, we have both been out of school, working for many years, and making a combined income of $350,000 and had perfect credit. Neither of us had ever missed any payments. I even made a spreadsheet of all our assets and liabilities to show that we had a significant cushion but they wouldn't even listen to us. You can't find the board.
that's crap! you clearly make enough money to support your debt and then SOME! 
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| Posted 9/14/06 12:11 PM |
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Blu-ize
Plan B is Now Plan A
Member since 7/05 32475 total posts
Name:
Susan
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
The board may have a calcuation that they use that they have to go by. It could also be political. That's why you have to wait for board approval. It's not always financial. My boss is a part of his coop association and rejects and accepts people for all kinds of reasons (real reasons, some financial some for other reasons)
I don't get into it with him, so I don't know specifics.
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| Posted 9/14/06 1:38 PM |
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Ang-Rich
Beyond Compare
Member since 5/05 17988 total posts
Name:
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Posted by Blu-ize
The board may have a calcuation that they use that they have to go by. It could also be political. That's why you have to wait for board approval. It's not always financial. My boss is a part of his coop association and rejects and accepts people for all kinds of reasons (real reasons, some financial some for other reasons)
I don't get into it with him, so I don't know specifics.
I was just about to say the same thing. It isn't always so clear cut - and like it has been stated - they don't have to give a reason. It's a difficult thing but I always tell people to make sure they understand what the board is looking for.
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| Posted 9/14/06 1:44 PM |
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karacg
Babygirl is 4!
Member since 5/05 17076 total posts
Name:
Kara®
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
I sold my Co-op --- 4 times!!! Twice they rejected my buyers, and would not say why. The buyers were legit so who knows what the deal is... you can never know what a Board is going to decide. 
And I rejected some buyers myself - like one guy who worked freelance for NBC - because I knew they would be rejected by the board, so why even get that far?
In my case it turned out OK tho -- I kept hiking up the price!  Wound up getting lots more than original asking price..!
Message edited 9/14/2006 3:24:29 PM.
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| Posted 9/14/06 3:23 PM |
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chellynyc
LIF Infant
Member since 4/06 164 total posts
Name:
Michelle
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
I'm currently in contract for the third time to sell my co-op. The board denied my first buyer, wouldn't even meet w/them....denied the application. I got rid of the second buyer when she had the contracts for a month and still didn't sign them. Waiting for my third buyer to sign the contracts now.
I liked living in my co-op but have to say that trying to sell it is awful......due to my personal experience I would never recommend anyone buy a co-op because the boards are too controlling.
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| Posted 9/15/06 9:45 AM |
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MegZee
My bunny
Member since 5/06 8777 total posts
Name:
Meaghan
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Posted by chellynyc
I'm currently in contract for the third time to sell my co-op. The board denied my first buyer, wouldn't even meet w/them....denied the application. I got rid of the second buyer when she had the contracts for a month and still didn't sign them. Waiting for my third buyer to sign the contracts now.
I liked living in my co-op but have to say that trying to sell it is awful......due to my personal experience I would never recommend anyone buy a co-op because the boards are too controlling.
FH and i were looking into buying a co-op, and wont for these reasons.
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| Posted 9/15/06 9:51 AM |
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tourist
Member since 5/05 10425 total posts
Name:
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Re: a word of advice to potential new homeowners!!
Posted by Libragal07
as a processor for a mtg company when getting a co-op the FIRST thing you should do is make sure you are approved with the board b/c those co-op boards can be a PITA!!!
That's not always possible. The Co-op board approval is the last step. You need to have your commitment letter from the bank before you can even send in the application to the board.
In our case, the seller's realtor is also the VP of the co-op board, so he did a preliminary review of our finances, which is reassuring.
Posted by chellynyc
.due to my personal experience I would never recommend anyone buy a co-op because the boards are too controlling.
Unfortunately, sometimes there is no other option. In our area, there aren't many condos, and the few there that are around are as much as a house. There also aren't really any "starter houses", so a co-op is really my only option.
My suggestion to to others, is to try & find out as much about the board as possible.
I know that's hard, you never know how they will turn out to be, but there is a building we looked at where there were 2 apartments at different times we told were reduced b/c the owners were in a hurry to sell, since the first buyer was rejected.
That made me nervous that that board was too strict or too arbitrary with its rejections.
So far, the board we are deailing with seems reasonable, but I guess it is a lucky coincidence that the realtor is on the board, so I was able to get more of a feel for their procedures.
Message edited 9/15/2006 10:23:00 AM.
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| Posted 9/15/06 10:16 AM |
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