NEW YORK CITY

Just a few weeks ago, StreetEasy analyst Alan Lightfeldt mentioned, when discussing February condo sales figures, that sellers would begin to flood the market with new units come spring. Well, spring's finally here and the New York Daily News reports that, according to Corcoran Sunshine, approximately 5,377 new condo units are expected to hit the market this year, including 1,900 this spring alone. The "stream of uber-luxe new condos is coming to market in some of the city’s priciest locales, finally putting an end to the enduring inventory shortage that’s been pushing up prices." Well, that's good news for the super wealthy, but Andy Gerringer of the Marketing Directors, which specializes in marketing new condos and rentals, warns that it can create backlog in the market. We'll be following, but in the meantime, do check out the eye candy hitting the market soon.

You survived the mountain of paperwork, you scored your first mortgage, and you passed the board interview with flying colors. Congratulations, new shareholder! So now that you've had a chance to settle in to your brand new co-op apartment, how does a spot on the board sound to you? Well, maybe it's too soon. But since you've invested in co-op living, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the board and how it works — you will not only get insights on how the building is run and why but you may decide in future to throw your hat in the ring. 

We were just talking about how potential co-op and condo buyers with little-to-no-credit may have a shot at getting approved for a mortgage, even with credit scores as low as 620. Well, sit down, because we have some more good news on the mortgage front. Come August 1, reports The New York Times, mortgage terms will be simpler for potential buyers to understand. "Borrowers will receive one disclosure, the Loan Estimate, detailing the terms and projected closing costs shortly after application, and another, the Closing Disclosure, just before signing off," according to the article. The new forms were mandated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as part of its "obligation under the Dodd-Frank Act to integrate and simplify the four different mortgage disclosures currently required under the Truth in Lending and Real Estate Settlement Procedures acts." Jonathan Corr, chief executive of Ellie Mae, a provider of loan origination and other software systems for the mortgage industry, explains to The Times that the rule streamlines the forms but goes a step further and renders the terms of the mortgage in plain speak. "It [also] rewrites long-established rules about the timing and method of disclosing, what triggers a disclosure requirement, and under what conditions you might need to re-disclose," Corr was quoted as saying.

At each annual meeting, you give your co-op shareholders or condo unit-owners a copy of the yearly financial statement. And for most of them, it's like handing them the inside of a board-game lid where all the rules are printed: almost nobody reads them, since the rules go on and on in that tiny type, and people figure there will always be one person who'll read and explain them to everyone else. Indeed, that job usually falls to the board's accountant, the one who has prepared all those columns of figures in tiny type. "That's generally something we do as a presentation at the meeting," says Stephen Beer, a partner at the accounting firm Czarnowski & Beer. "We go through important changes and highlight specific benchmarks so people can get an understanding as to how the building is doing. Every now and then a treasurer will do it," he says, "but I don't usually see that [as something done by] board members."

The board, however, does set the parameters of what it wants to emphasize to shareholders and unit-owners. That raises the question: what are the most significant points you want to give residents as a takeaway?

Buying a co-op apartment in New York City can be daunting. Potential co-op buyers have to pass muster with the building's board of directors, wrap their heads around the admissions package, prepare for an admissions interview — and then there's the bank. Getting approved for a mortgage is formidable enough. But when you have a craptastic or nonexistent credit score, you may as well fuggedaboutit — which is a shame considering that co-ops and condos are starting to hit the market in still-kind-of-affordable neighborhoods like the South Bronx. It's also a shame because a low credit score is not always indicative of fiscal irresponsibility. As Brickunderground points out, it can simply mean that a person has chosen not to use credit cards (it happens!) or they can't get them because of bankruptcy or foreclosure. These are people who pay their other bills on time. We're talking cell phone, cable, phone, and gas and electric bill payment history. Surely, that should count for something, right? Well, now it does. The Wall Street Journal has reported that "Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), the credit score system used most often for mortgages, has announced a new credit score based on other financial data, such as cell phone, cable, phone, gas, and electric bill payment history." This ray of hope has the potential to be a game-changer for those who keep up with their bills for at least six months. "In New York City," adds Brickunderground, "Fannie Mae will entertain scores as low as 620, as long as the loan is no more than $417,000. For higher loans, you'll generally need a FICO credit score between 680 and 700 to qualify for a mortgage." 

A READER ASKS: I am a recent addition to a nine-member board in a small Brooklyn co-op. We're starting to discuss a few capital improvement projects, including replacing our elevator, revamping our laundry room, and determining whether it's time to expand the storage area. The elevator is priority, because it breaks down a lot and has become a major safety concern. But we're torn on the other two projects. Neither is priority but we don't have the funds to do both. I suggested we survey the building residents, but a fellow board member thinks that may open up a can of worms. I don't want to be pushy because I'm new — and I've never served on a board before — but are surveys a thing that boards should just avoid altogether?

Short-term rentals, particularly in condos and co-ops, are hotly debated in the press, the courts, and legislative tribunals in urban centers throughout the country. In City of New York v. Abe Carrey, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) issued several violations to a condominium unit-owner, arguing that he was in violation of law because his tenant allowed a tourist to rent a room in the apartment on a short-term basis.  

Abe Carrey owned a condominium apartment at 184 East 2nd Street. He rented the apartment to Nigel Warren and Julia Kodysh. Warren used Airbnb (which actually intervened in the proceeding) to find a guest to stay in the apartment while he was out of town. The certificate of occupancy showed the apartment as a "Class A Multiple Dwelling," that is, one that is zoned for permanent, rather than transient, occupancy. Further, the condominium declaration states that units may only be used as private residences and not be rented for transient, hotel, or motel purposes.

You know when you're on the subway and the train stops in the tunnel and ten minutes later steam starts coming out of your ears because it looks like you will all be languishing there indefinitely? Sometimes it's the lack of information that ticks us off. Sure, the conductor "communicates" with the straphangers, saying there are delays (no duh) or that there's train traffic ahead (yeah, okay), but maybe we'd be a little more patient and sympathetic if we had actual facts. That's not always possible on the subway, especially if someone's been hurt and police are on the scene investigating. But the concept applies in all walks of life. People lose their patience faster when they feel like they are being kept in the dark — including those in co-ops and condos. That's what seems to be happening at one co-op in Chelsea.

Unsold shares. Those two little words make up a lucrative niche in the city's real estate market that can be a vexing headache for co-ops. That's because unsold shares sometimes prevent co-ops from becoming what they're supposed to be: corporations composed of shareholders who live in a building and work toward its long-term fiscal and physical well-being. Healthy co-ops, in other words, are built on owner occupancy. Unsold shares in co-ops are, as a rule, rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartments, usually occupied by long-term renters. Owners and renters tend to be oil and water. And that's the problem.

Back in the day, people who couldn't afford to live in pricey Manhattan would take the next best thing. The goal was a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood in one of the outer boroughs with a commute that wasn't too tedious. The payoff was that rents were significantly cheaper in the outer boroughs — even in Brooklyn. But times have changed, and as Brickunderground astutely notes, the price difference between Brooklyn and Manhattan is shrinking. First quarter 2015 sales reports generated by real estate firms like Douglas Elliman confirm that "Brooklyn has set a new record for median sales price, coming in at $610,894 — that's a 17.5 percent increase over the same time last year." It's not news for people who have been priced out of Brooklyn. Brooklynites have been scrambling out of their home borough in search of better prices for a few years now. Some of those folks have ended up in Queens. The good news is that, according to Douglas Eliman's report, the median sales price there is still nearly $200,000 less than it is in Brooklyn. The sobering news is that it's increased by 20.7 percent compared to last year. So it looks like for co-op and condo buyers the time to consider Queens is now, and don't forget that all eyes are also now on The Bronx. 

Photo credit: Postdlf for English language Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.