When you buy a cooperative apartment in New York, you are buying shares in the corporation that owns the building, along with a proprietary lease giving you the right to occupy your apartment, rather than buying real property directly. That share structure is the foundation of the transaction, and it shapes the financing, the closing […]
A condominium buyer owns real property: the unit itself, described in the declaration by its boundaries, and an undivided share of the building’s common elements, such as the lobby, the roof, the elevators, and the exterior walls. Ownership passes by deed and is recorded like any other real property purchase in New York. A cooperative […]
A single-family house purchase is the most common residential transaction in the New York City area, and it is also the most straightforward. You are buying real property directly, by deed, with no co-op board to approve the sale and no condominium rules to review. Many of our clients here are first-time buyers, and the […]
A multi-family home is a single building with two or more separate residential units, typically a two-family or three-family house or a small apartment building under one owner. Buyers purchase these buildings either to live in one unit while renting the others, or purely as rental property. If the building already has tenants, the purchase […]
A mixed-use property combines residential apartments with commercial or retail space in the same building, the classic New York arrangement of a ground-floor storefront with apartments on the floors above. It is one building with a single roof and shared building systems, but the residential units and the commercial space are governed by different rules […]
Buying or selling a home in New York City means working through a contract, a title search, a lender, and in many cases a co-op board, all before you reach the closing table. New York is an attorney-closing state, so a lawyer represents you at every stage of that process, not just at the signing. […]
Commercial real estate transactions move differently than residential ones. The documents are longer, the terms are more heavily negotiated, and the parties on both sides are usually businesses rather than individuals. Whether you are buying a building, selling one, or negotiating a lease as a landlord or a tenant, the terms you agree to will […]
Buying property as an investment raises questions a home purchase does not. How you hold title affects your liability and your financing. Selling one property to buy another can trigger a large capital gains tax bill, or it can be structured to defer that tax under federal rules. Multi-family buildings come with existing tenants and […]
Every New York real estate closing with a mortgage has a lender at the table, and that lender needs its own attorney. The borrower’s attorney is not positioned to protect the bank’s interest in the loan, and the bank is not positioned to protect the borrower’s interest in the purchase. Each side needs separate representation, […]
