Anyone here own a co-op? Pros? Cons?

[luvwinnie]

My niece is considering buying one. I am helping her research. One thing I don't like is how the board has to "approve" the buyers. That seems like it could delay the process when she goes to sell eventually.

 

[FergieTCat]

Off the top of my head:

Pro

All of the money I would have spent paying rent is now equity that belongs to me.

I bought my apartment long enough ago that even if I had to sell "low" I will still make a profit.

Con

I really want to move but I have to sell it. I just can't let my lease run out and move on.

All repairs within my apartment have been at my expense. In November 2009 I paid alot of money to have my kitchen renovated. I have a long way to go before my apartment is in sellable condition.

The co-op board can (and did) arbitrarily raise my maintenance payment. There are no laws regulating how much they can raise the payment.

 

[luvwinnie]

Thank you!

 

[bicker]

We had a choice between co-op and condo, the last time we moved, and went with condo for the reason you allude to - we didn't want the co-op getting in the way of us selling if we wanted to sell.

BTW, while there may or may not be laws about maintenance fee increases, as asserted by pp, generally the master deed or bylaws do cap increase. In our condo, there is a very clearly outlined cap. Beyond that, if the board tries to raise fees too much or too fast, they'll going to find themselves voted out; different condos and different co-ops might have restrictions on how easy that would be, but here, it's very simple. Maybe too simple.