Buying a home in Manhattan -Vol.3-

After a while, we still continue house searching to buy.

We focus on the Midtown East and look around several properties.

 At a small, cozy apartment like a boutique hotel the agent says,

“ Here, there are some working people.” but I don’t get the point.

She means that in this building, there are many people who don’t have to work with plenty of money, or even that some of them, the unit is only a second home, and they don’t usually live  here.

This is not a surprising story here in Manhattan. 

Actually I see a lady and a Maltese, both with glossy curling white hair.They look so elegant and wealthy.

It seems as if it’s not easy, or even impossible to interact with neighbors.

Anyway this is not our home…Pass.

At another place, we like the location and the beautiful interior.

However, on the training machine at the gym a man, may be in his 70’s is running bent forward. The agent says in this building, many older people live quietly, so it’s very peaceful.

Yes, I can feel the very silent atmosphere; even think nobody is in here.

If the turnover of the residents is not so high, the maintenance fee may increasing, and I would hesitate to invite friends with kids to this apartment.

Again, this is not our home.

After that, we look at ten or so apartments.

My husband suddenly says, “ I want to buy here.”

Oh, Come on!

We always have this time lag.

Once we decided to get married, we had only three months before the wedding.

Once he decided to go to America, he had only two months to get ready.

“ What? Isn’t it too big a hurry? “ I’m always surprised at his speed.

Nowadays, I thought I’d get used to it, but I haven’t.

This time, I thought we would take time maybe a year.

I can’t keep up with him.

“Are you sure? This is only the beginning. You want to make a decision so fast?”

My voice is getting loud.

Husband: “ Why? You don’t like it? Do you have any concerns?”

Me         : ” No, nothing…but isn’t it too soon?”

Husband: “ If you don’t have concerns, it might be fine. Everything is in the timing.”

Me         : “ But, if we see something, we like better.”

Husband: “ Hey, do you really think we can find something better than that?

                   According to my calculations, the price of one sq ft is rarely reasonable in

    Manhattan. The maintenance fee is also reasonable and the common 

    space is very well maintained. I don’t think we can easily find such 

    a good one around that area. 

    Maybe someday in the future, but who knows when?"

Me         : "Well, maybe you’re right, but....."

                 ( I don’t have a better excuse against his logical explanation…)

So, again, I was stunned by his speed.

We decided to make an offer on the apartment.

I had expected to look at more units carefully and to discuss them over and over.

To wait until the time is ripe, if we could finally find our dream house, to say

 “ This is what we want!” and then, make an offer.

That was my scenario, so I was disappointed.

However, we don’t know if the seller would accept our price.

We also don’t know if another buyer could pay cash or make a higher offer.

So, it should be fine if we only make an offer.

We make an offer $100,000 less than the asking price and think the seller’s 

agent will answer,

“ Are you making fun of us?” No, he doesn’t, but he says

“If you can pay a little bit more, the owner wants to accept your offer.”

The counter offer is really the maximum that we can pay.

“ Then, we should go for it.” My husband said.

About this time, my husband is not easygoing, but his eyes are very serious 

when he researched of the property history, doing financial projections repeatedly.

After thoughtful research on the property, we finally agree to accept the counter offer.

Once we decided to proceed, we need to follow the necessary procedure.

Even if we don’t know whether we can buy or not, there is lot’s of paperwork.

And some people said it takes about six months to close the deal.

Anyway, if we want to buy an apartment in New York City, the choice is either 

Condo or Co-op.

And most of the time, if foreigners want to buy as an investment, they get Condos.

However, we are trying to buy a Co-op, more reasonable and more abundant on 

the market than Condos. So the procedure is very complicated and different from Condos.

 
Here is how website of Douglas Elliman, real estate defines of Co-op.

（cf: “New York City Buyers Guide” by Douglas Elliman）

Cooperatives are owned by an apartment corporation. Individual tenants do not actually "own" their apartments as they would in the case of "real" property. Owners, (shareholders) of co-op apartments, actually own "shares" in the corporation which entitles them to a long-term "proprietary lease." The corporation pays the total amount of the building's mortgage (importantly, a cooperative may have an underlying mortgage on the entire building, whereas a condominium

building must be owned outright), real estate taxes, employee salaries, and other expenses for the upkeep of the building. The tenant-owner, in turn, pays a portion of these expenses as determined by the number of shares the tenant owns in the corporation. Share amounts are dictated by apartment size and floor level.

So….Buying a co-op seems very hard to us.

First of all, our agent said we should hire a lawyer.

To buy a home, we need to hire a lawyer….

Even if we don’t know weather we can buy, we need to spend more then $3,000…

It hurts..

And we have already gotten pre-approval letter from the bank to get the mortgage, 

but some other complicated procedures are needed.

For example, there are strict rules that we need to have certain amount of 

US dollars as assets.

When my husband had to exchange his assets in Japan to move here, 

the yen was suddenly low against the dollar.

If he delayed one day, we might have lost millions of yen..

He was utterly exhausted.

One after another, we got many contracts and documents in English

( in very tiny letters..), I look through them with a dictionary, fill them out, 

sign them and got the additional necessary documents.

If any corrections or additional documents are needed, we urgently modify them 

and sign them at my husband’s office.

It is very busy time to us.

For the reference letters, we need to get three for each.

To buy a home, it is necessary to get total of six reference letters…

We are so little trusted.

Moreover, we proceed this point and one day we were so confused when we got

the news that we couldn’t buy a co-op without a Green Card.

And then we got letter from the bank that we couldn’t get a mortgage.

But in the end, all are needless fear.

Sigh….

It’s not so easy to buy a home in New York City.

My husband finished this heavy paperwork within 1 month on his time table and 

completed the three very thick files of the documents.

After such a labor, we could finally be “ In Contract”, but it doesn’t mean we could buy.

If the document passes to the Co-op board, we go to the interview with board 

members and if we can get the mortgage approval, everything will be done.

That’s a long process….

For the moment, all we have to do is wait for the board interview.

Where will it all end?