[QUOTE=amarinth]
We do have co-ops here, and they tend to be slightly less expensive than condos, but also harder to get into and harder to be “creative” about financing.
What I don’t understand is the concept of “apartment” in New York City. Here, it generally means you rent a small, self contained portion of a building that has many more small self contained portions. I’ve also never heard of anyone using a real estate agent for an apartment, because you’re not the owner, just a renter.
There, do you buy apartments? Do you buy them sometimes and rent them sometimes? Do they require down payments? Do they require agents? What does the word “apartment” mean?
[/QUOTE]
OK, here’s the scoop.
An “apartment” is indeed a small (or large) self-contained portion of a building. It will have its own kitchen and bathroom, and its own electric and gas meters.
Yes, sometimes you rent and sometimes you buy.
A “condo” means you actually own your apartment. You physically own it, just like you would own a house.
A “co-op” means you own shares (usually in an amount proportionate to the size of your apartment) in the corporation that owns the entire building, i.e., the residents of the building are the shareholders of the company that owns the building itself. You have a proprietary lease on your apartment. To buy in, you must be approved by the other members of the co-op corporation, which is a royal pain in the ass, since a co-op can refuse you for any reason, or for no reason, which means that there are co-ops in NYC that will not accept Jews, or entertainers, or African-Americans (and, of course, co-ops that will only accept Jews, etc.). You must also obtain the approval of the co-op board to made modifications to your apartment (since you do not actually own the apartment, but rather shares in the company that owns the building).
Rent control is a law that covers a fairly small number of rental apartments, and keeps rents very low. At this time, I believe, once the current occupant of a rent-controlled apartment vacates (either by moving out or dying), the apartment becomes decontrolled and goes on the free market. It is not unheard of for New York City landlords to have rent-controlled tenants killed.
Rent stablization is another law that covers a much larger number of apartments. The rents for stablized apartments, as opposed to controlled apartments, is much higher, but in some neighborhoods still lower than what that apartment would fetch on the free market. Once the rent on a stablized apartment reaches, by means of legally permitted rent increases (which are determined by time and other factors such as the price of heating oil), $2,000 per month, it becomes a free-market apartment, which is the landlord’s dream.
Contrary to what **Friedo ** says, I belive that rent stablization is a law that prevents the middle class from being driven out of the city entirely (as they have been driven out, more or less, from Manhattan, at least below 96th Street).
