Buying a House

[ctrayer]

Reguardless of how you find a listing you need to walk the neiborhood yourself
A realtor is only going to show you what they want you to see. Drive around
park and just watch what is going on. Is there something that stands out, good and bad.
When you make an offer be firm but don't low ball. Get a home inspection. At closing
make sure any work that has been recently done on the house is paid in full. Get
proof of payment for the work. A contractor can put a lien on the house if not payed.
Get a good realestate lawer for closing
Good luck with your search

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Any thoughts on buying a co-op? Understand the basics behind it, would it be a decent investment?

I came across one that has everything we want minus 1 bedroom for a great price.

Would it be worth looking into?

A co-op is about as far from an investment as you could possibly get..I think you are better off buying a boat! They are nothing but a pain in the arse. Most have high maintenance fees which you will have to pay ON TOP of your mortgage most of the time it's almost the same amount! It will probably cost less to buy a house lol. Not only that but you are attached to people all over the place,there is ZERO privacy,no yard of any kind, so many rules to follow and to even get in you need to go through an approval process by the board. As far as resale if you get lucky enough to "make money" on the property and i use that term VERY loosely you have to kick back a cut of the profit to the board as well as paying taxes on it.

Bottom line they are much more trouble than they are worth. A townhouse is a similar but much better option all around. There is no board approval, no one to kick anything to upon sale and many of them have a yard of some type depending on where you are going to live. If you get a corner one it's like a semi because you are only attached on 1 side.

 

[crox99]

Any thoughts on buying a co-op? Understand the basics behind it, would it be a decent investment?

I came across one that has everything we want minus 1 bedroom for a great price.

Would it be worth looking into?

Kris,

If you buy it for a decent price it can be a good investment. I purchased mine in 2005 and sold it in 2009 and mde a $65k profit. Also make sue to look at the financials of the building to make sure that they aren't in trouble. Also see what their policy is when you sell it. Mine had a flip tax based on the amount of shares that I owned and if you make a profit you can exclude either $250k or $500k from your taxes.