BrickUnderground

wenzday01

Q.  I live in a co-op where the sponsor still owns and rents out 30% of the units.   The house rules and proprietary lease both require that all apartments be 80% carpeted, but the renter who lives above me in a sponsor-owned unit hasn't carpeted the floors, and the noise is loud and disruptive.

Do our house rules and proprietary lease apply to the sponsor's apartments?

 A.  A co-op's house rules and proprietary lease apply to sponsors, say our experts, but they frequently contain special exceptions for sponsors, who draft these documents to begin with.

Often "the governing documents afford the sponsor greater rights than other shareholders," says co-op and condo attorney Scott Greenspun of Braverman Greenspun, such as allowing the sponsor "to sell or sublet its apartments without board approval."

Photo Credit / Angela Rutherford

In a perfect real estate world, we would all transition from one apartment to another in a few seamless motions, like a cartoon Tarzan swinging from vine to vine. But even though it really is a jungle out there, swapping apartments rarely happens so smoothly, especially if you’re short on downpayment funds.

A perfect scenario could unfold like this: "Sell your apartment, live in a flex lease rental until you close on the new apartment, then move in. But there are so many factors involved that can make that scenario not happen,” says real estate agent Brad Bateman of Stribling & Associates. 

Among the reasons why wrapping up the sale of your first place might not make sense for you:  You haven't found a buyer, there is a time constraint (like moving out of your studio before the twins are born), or maybe there is a deal too good to pass up.

When you already own an apartment, your first challenge is likely scraping together the downpayment. Then you'll need to get approved by the board (mostly a co-op issue) and get approved for financing if you're taking out a mortgage.

This $995k two-bedroom Park Slope condo has a home office, second bathroom, washer-dryer and extremely low carrying charges.

It was a Brooklyn weekend again.

Homes in the city's most populous borough—from Brooklyn Heights to Prospect Heights—dominated the latest Open House Scorecard, which ranks the ten open houses most frequently saved on StreetEasy this past weekend.

Brooklyn prices on this weekend's Scorecard ranged from $599k for both a two-bedroom Clinton Hill condo and a two-bedroom Prospect Heights co-op, to $995k for the two-bedroom Park Slope condo pictured at left.

The $995k Park Slope condo, at 27 Saint John's Place, has two bedrooms plus a guest suite and two bathrooms, ductless a/c system, washer/dryer, balcony--and incredibly low carrying costs of around $300/month. 

This East 9^th Street, garden-level, $17K per month rental has nearly 3,500 square feet, 3-beds, 2.5-baths and an incredible two-story wall of windows leading to a private courtyard just off the kitchen/dining area. 

Even if you’re trapped inside during the April showers, you can still feel like you’re enjoying the great outdoors!

It might be time to invest in a few Adirondack chairs and animal pelts (faux, of course) because with the rustic wood ceiling beams and exposed brick, this place feels more like a mountain lodge than an apartment in the East Village....

Real Estate Want is a weekly column featuring New York City apartment details we're coveting right now.

Yukie Ohta, founder of The SoHo Memory Project, was born in SoHo in the1960s and currently lives in the same building where she grew up. The loft she lives in (owned by her family) is one floor up from the once she grew up in and has been split into two living spaces for her family and her sister's family. It is one of six units in a four-story cast iron building on Mercer Street built in 1898. 

Being the true New Yorker that she is, Ohta went to the SoHo community playgroup, P.S. 3, I.S. 70, Stuyvesant High School before enrolling in Barnard College.

She has lived all over the city, from Greenwich VIllage to the Upper West Side and as far out as Brooklyn--but has always considered SoHo her home and says she will probably never leave. 

Launched in 2011, The SoHo Memory Project covers the history of Soho from the 1960s to today--including the art scene as well as the diverse community of SoHo, including the families, businesses, community groups and basically all creative activity (photographs, sound recordings, video, etc.).

Ohta hopes that the blog will be a record of the lost community of SoHo comprised of myriad memories and experiences.