what does co-op mean in buying a condo?

Answer 1

A real pain. Half kidding the co-op structure can be complicated and frustrating. Basically it is an organizational structure related to owning property.
The co-op structure is more common in urban high rise type settings. There are of course many variations, but in a co-op you usually have more restrictions such as, a buyer has to be approved by the board and pass financial tests, financing may be restricted by type of loan and lender, restrictions on pets or who you can have stay there, etc.
You will have to do more research, but one thing is for sure, read the bylaws and talk to other folks in the building. This is probably good time to have a BUYERS realtor or an attorney.

Answer 2

It is either Co-Op, or Conominimum. A Co-Op is what you buy into for "Cooperative Shares" you own shares, not property. A condo is owned by deed and title, and you actually own it. Co-Ops are the worse of the two, because you don't really own the unit, and if the management company deems you undesireable at any time even if you have lived there for a while, they can revoke your shares and evict you. Condos offer a better situation in that you own the deed and title, and they can't remove you if they wanted to. Resale is better on a condo as well. It is very tough to sell a Co-Op. Maintanance fees are also usually much lower for a condo.

Answer 3

A coop is not a condo, it is a different thing entirely...it might look and feel and smell like a condo but it is a rarer form of ownership. When you buy a condo, you are buying real property and acquire the rights to a specific physical space, the unit, plus a percentage of interest in the common areas.

Think of a slice of pie...you can identify the slice you own

In a co-op you acquire shares in a company which owns a building. No one owns their specific unit, rather you are all partners in a common building with exclusive rights to use a unit.

Think of a pot of soup that you own with 10 other people.

Be careful of co-ops, they are tricky to sell, finance and most people have no idea what they are getting into, they just see a nice apartment with a nice view and ask the price.

Co-ops have some advantages but not many. The Board is allowed to select and approve who comes in. You need to meet their financial criteria, the unofficial byproduct is that they can also discriminate and refuse to let someone in whom they don't think is a good fit.

One advantage is that if you are in a coop and your group is comprised of liked minded people, (every ones rich, everyones an artist, everyones something) you can preserve the status quo and protect your quality of life because you can pick your neighbors.

Of course if you are the one being excluded its not such a great feeling.

One caveat- in place like Manhattan, they are quite common,
if you are in an area where they are common and market accepted, then you don't have much to worry about (when in Rome....) but if its the only one in your city, I might think about moving on.

Good luck.

www.myfinancialmentor.com

Answer 4

IF gatsby is in tune with your question, he means that if you buy a coop, you are buying stock within a corporation (the building), which then is personal, not real, property. with that stock, you get a proprietary lease. it is very hard to rent out a coop--coops are highly exclusive apartments, where owners are carefully screened. they usually sell for all cash because you are buying PERSONAL PROPERTY, not real estate. in a condo, you are buying real estate, but remember that all it is is the air within your unit as well as a portion of the common elements of the building. you CAN now get a loan to buy into a coop. ask the banks--and yes, if i am getting what you mean (see below), DO for SURE have a buyer broker representing you, since the contracts for a coop are a little hard to figure out as opposed to all the other real estate contracts. know that if you buy a condo and not a coop, you can deduct all the interest you pay on your mortgage as well as your real estate taxes each year (how much you get as a return from uncle sam depends on your tax bracket). not so in a coop. if a coop is a corporation, that means that the corporation pays the real estate taxes, and they are not tax deductible by you. talk to a CPA conversant with different types of real estate, too.

BUT, you may mean what i thought you meant the moment i looked at your question. do you mean that you are looking at the listing sheets for condos? if you see the word "coop" on it with a number, usually a decimal number, written next to it, that only means that the seller's broker will pay the buyer's broker whatever percent it shows as a "coop" split on the listing sheet. you will see this word on all listings in the MLS. no selling agent holds all the buyers in his pocket. the purpose of the MLS is to service your clients. if the client happens to be your seller, then the reason you put the listing into the MLS is because other brokers will bring their buyers to see it. if their purchaser buys, then at closing, the percentage of the commission stated by the seller's broker is paid, once the deal closes, to the buyer's agent, who brings it back to her office so she can then get her cut from it.

well, by the way you state your question, there are two ways to look at it, so i thought i'd clue you into both. sorry for my verbose explanations.

Answer 5

interior the simpliest words, while it involves the fundamentals of residing, Co-ops are condos the place the "apartment/co-op" board has plenty extra potential (like they are in a position to keep away from you from procuring a place interior the construction or merchandising your unit to somebody they do unlike). they're extra value-effective because of fact lots of individuals do no longer % to might desire to manage "the board". there are legal adjustments (like the inventory element others have pronounced), yet they actually don't count lots of the time