If you're tired of faucets that leak, steam that never comes up in the coldest days of winter, requests for repairs that go unanswered, rising rents and diminishing services, don't go in grumbling and accepting your fate-become your own landlord! Give yourself the top-notch service you and your family deserve!
You may have dreamed of owning your own home, but thought it was beyond your financial means. Or perhaps you don't want or need as much space as a house offers. Or, you may prefer to remain in the city rather than move to the suburbs. If so, a cooperative apartment may be your answer.
As the owner of an apartment, you have many advantages you don't enjoy as a tenant. That's because you are actually buying shares of the cooperative corporation that owns the building in which you live. Ownership if the shares entitles you to a special lease known as a proprietary lease and gives you the right to make the rules governing your building.
As a shareholder, you vote for the Board of Directors who conduct the business of the cooperative corporation and supervise the operation and maintenance of the building. By voting for each member of the Board, you are placing in a position of supervision only those tenants like yourself who have your interests at heart and share your views of proper management.
Best of all, at income tax time, you'll find that most of the monthly "rent" (known as maintenance charge) you've paid during the previous year is normally tax-deductible. At the same time, the resale value of your apartment may continue to grow to many times its original cost.
Having decided that you'd like to own your own cooperative apartment, how do you go about it?
Suppose you don't have sufficient cash available to buy one now. Is it wise to wait until you accumulate the necessary funds? No, because the cost of property may double or triple by the time you have saved enough to pay the original asking price.
You may be able to borrow up to 85% of the cash purchase price of a cooperative apartment and present co-op owners may be able to refinance up to 85% of the apartment's appraised value. You may pay back the load over as long a period as twenty-five (25) years. The terms of your particular loan may vary slightly, depending on the age and condition of the building in which your apartment is located, the price of the apartment you select, and your ability to repay the load over a given period of time.
The normal co-op loan should be a self-amortizing loan. This means that at the end of the loan period the loan will be paid in full, including the interest charges. The important thing to remember is that the interest charges are tax-deductible.
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