Skip to main content
Fulltext search
FILTER RESULTS BY:
RECOMMENDED IN RENT
Moving to NYC after college? Here's how to find a rental apartment
RECOMMENDED IN BUY
How buying real estate in NYC is unlike anywhere else
RECOMMENDED IN SELL
A guide to using a no-fee renovation loan from a NYC real estate firm
RECOMMENDED IN IMPROVE
How to make your NYC renovation more pet-friendly
BEST REAL ESTATE WEBSITE!
National Association of Real Estate Editors
BEST REAL ESTATE WEBSITE! National Association of Real Estate Editors
Brick Underground
Social Links
follow:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flipboard
  • search
Brick Underground
☰ Brick Underground
Brick Underground
Brick Underground
☰
Brick Underground
  • Buy
    • Buy
    • The Market
    • Investing
    • New Construction + Condos
    • Affordable Housing
    • Co-ops
    • Negotiating + Financing
    • How to Buy in NYC Guide
    Haley and JP move to Prospect Lefferts Gardens
    New Construction + Condos
    From Prospect Heights to Prospect Lefferts Garden: We wanted three bedrooms so we could each have a home office
    An image of the top of a brick New York City apartment building, including its parapet.
    Design + Architecture
    Parapet inspections: What NYC boards and building owners need to know about Local Law 126
    one-bedroom condo at 702 Hancock Street
    The Search
    7 reasons why ground-floor apartments are desirable—instead of dealbreakers
  • Rent
    • Rent
    • Affordable Housing
    • Roommates + Landlords
    • The Market
    • The Search
    • How to Rent in NYC Guide
    Midtown Manhattan seen from Roosevelt Island tramway
    The Market
    Manhattan median rent spiked 6 percent to $4,500 in April
    Tenant protest outside Rent Guidelines Board preliminary vote
    Affordable Housing
    Rent Guidelines Board intends to raise stabilized rents for a fourth time
    A beautiful pink flowering cherry tree next to an old brick residential building with a fire escape in Astoria Queens New York during spring
    The Search
    A wet, hot, broker fee-free summer? A major change to rental broker fees is supposed to start in June
  • Sell
    • Sell
    • Staging + Open Houses
    • Negotiations + Closings
    • Getting Ready
    • How to Sell in NYC Guide
    Madison avenue and East 67th Street, Manhattan, New York City
    Sell
    Median sales price for Manhattan co-ops and condos jumps to $1,165,000
    new condo building and older co-op buildings in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
    Sell
    Brooklyn median price nears $1 million but the spring market is a question mark
    View of NYC condo buildings from New Jersey
    Sell
    Private listings: What NYC sellers and buyers need to know about the off-market controversy
  • Live
    • Live
    • Neighbors
    • Kids + Pets
    • Neighborhood Intel
    • Products + Test-drives
    • Troubleshooting
    FlatRate moving brick underground
    Live
    How to troubleshoot your move in advance
    Sponsored By flatrate
    big apple moving NYC
    Troubleshooting
    How can I save money when hiring a moving company in NYC?
    Sponsored By Big Apple Moving
    Houses and apartment buildings in Queens, NYC
    Troubleshooting
    Mayor Adams is bringing the tax lien sale back. Here’s how to get your property off the list
  • Improve
    • Improve
    • Small Spaces
    • Small Projects + DIY
    • Renovations
    • Design + Architecture
    • Products + Services
    • How to Renovate in NYC Guide
    An image of the top of a brick New York City apartment building, including its parapet.
    Design + Architecture
    Parapet inspections: What NYC boards and building owners need to know about Local Law 126
    solar panels on a small house roof
    Design + Architecture
    Simple Yet Powerful Steps To Turn Your Apartment Eco-Friendly
    Sponsored By Ecoflow
    This is a photograph of a street in the Upper West Side in NYC viewed from the Summit in Central Park through bare tree branches.
    Renovation
    Fewer buyers, steeper rents, and costlier renovations: How tariffs could impact NYC real estate
  • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards
    • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Property Management
    • Structure & Systems
    • Sustainability
    Burned and Boarded Up Windows
    When should your board hire a public adjuster?
    Manhattan GM
    What should we consider when renewing insurance for our building?
    Facade of NYC buildings
    How much is insurance on a NYC co-op or condo building?
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with us
    • Sponsored Content
    • Experts
    FlatRate moving brick underground
    Live
    How to troubleshoot your move in advance
    Sponsored By flatrate
    Apartment buildings at Grand and Crosby streets in Soho, Manhattan
    Affordable Housing
    Ask Altagracia: My mom is moving out of our rent-stabilized apartment. How do I take over the lease?
    Sponsored By Outerbridge Law P.C.
    big apple moving NYC
    Troubleshooting
    How can I save money when hiring a moving company in NYC?
    Sponsored By Big Apple Moving
  • Brick Report
  • About Us
  • About Us
Email Address
Fulltext search
FILTER RESULTS BY:
New Main menu
  • Buy
    • Buy
    • The Market
    • Investing
    • New Construction + Condos
    • Affordable Housing
    • Co-ops
    • Negotiating + Financing
    • How to Buy in NYC Guide
  • Rent
    • Rent
    • Affordable Housing
    • Roommates + Landlords
    • The Market
    • The Search
    • How to Rent in NYC Guide
  • Sell
    • Sell
    • Staging + Open Houses
    • Negotiations + Closings
    • Getting Ready
    • How to Sell in NYC Guide
  • Live
    • Live
    • Neighbors
    • Kids + Pets
    • Neighborhood Intel
    • Products + Test-drives
    • Troubleshooting
  • Improve
    • Improve
    • Small Spaces
    • Small Projects + DIY
    • Renovations
    • Design + Architecture
    • Products + Services
    • How to Renovate in NYC Guide
  • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards
    • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Property Management
    • Structure & Systems
    • Sustainability
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with us
    • Sponsored Content
    • Experts
  • Brick Report
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertise
  • About Us
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER →
Social Links Footer
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Search
Ask a Broker [ SPONSORED ]

Nikki's Notes: We want to downsize. Is it better to sell our place before we start apartment hunting?

  • The first step is to determine whether you can afford to buy a new place before selling your current home
  • Carrying two properties can significantly impact the debt-to-income ratio used by lenders and co-op boards
By Nikki Beauchamp  | January 23, 2025 - 12:30PM
NYC residential buildings

Bringing down the share of your income spent on housing can dramatically improve how a board views your finances.

iStock

SHARE:
Share to Facebook
Share to Twitter
Print
More...

We want to downsize. Is it better to sell our place before we start apartment hunting?

It ultimately depends on your financial portfolio, which will frame all subsequent decisions. The key objective is determining whether you can afford to buy a new apartment before selling your current place.

Will you need the proceeds from the sale for the down payment? If you still have a mortgage, you may also need to sell before qualifying for a new mortgage or being approved by a co-op or condo board.

The best place to begin is by accounting for all assets and debts, including the estimated value of your current home. 

"I tend to use REBNY’s financial statement to guide this initial conversation," says Nikki Beauchamp, a broker at Sotheby's International Realty with over two decades of experience representing buyers and sellers in New York City. This disclosure form by the Real Estate Board of New York is generally required when submitting an offer on a co-op and more recently other types of properties.

Be sure to consider any upcoming financial commitments, such as a big vacation or a family wedding, in the overall equation.

Why you may want to sell first, even if you don't have to 

"If the numbers show that you don't have to sell, it makes things less complicated—you can act without having your offer be contingent on selling, and you won't be in flux while waiting for the proceeds from the sale," Beauchamp says.

Sometimes, the numbers are not so clear-cut. In these cases, Beauchamp pulls from REBNY’s statement to create a purchase cost analysis. "This allows us to play with different scenarios to quickly see how selling your apartment impacts your post-closing liquidity, which is very important when buying a co-op," she says.

For example, you may be able to buy a more expensive place—especially if you have your eye on a luxe new-construction condo with all the desirable amenities. 

Likewise, when purchasing a co-op, keeping your existing property will impact the all-important debt-to-income ratio, which can be a dealbreaker—especially if your current co-op doesn't allow subletting.

"That could be a sticky wicket in that you would be carrying two mortgages and maintenance fees and not have the potential rental income to help offset those costs," Beauchamp says. 

Beauchamp also points to a recent situation in which clients were paying cash for a small one-bedroom co-op. "The board got very granular about their debt-to-income ratio, even though they had no mortgages on their other properties, had about $40 million in assets, and the rental income covered the tax liabilities" she explains.

While this is an extreme example, it shows how unpredictable co-op boards can be and the importance of being prepared to explain your broader financial picture. 

Finally, bringing down the share of your income spent on housing can dramatically improve how a board views your financial picture, especially if your downscaling mode is tied to a potential retirement.

What if you must sell before buying?

Then, the timeline becomes the key issue. The first step is to prepare your current place for listing, and ideally, you can use this prep time to get reacquainted with the market.

"Once you've decided to put your place on the market, you should start thinking seriously about what you want to buy to minimize the time spent in an interim rental, or we may be able to daisy-chain the transactions so you can move directly into the new place," Beauchamp says.

Let's say you are lucky enough to have two strong offers, but buyer A wants to close right away, while buyer B is more flexible or open to post-closing occupancy. All things being equal, you are likely to go with buyer B.

If buyer A makes a substantially higher offer, however, that's a different conversation—it would be worth living in a hotel or short-term rental for a month or so.

"This is why it's so important to start the second part of the process sooner rather than later," Beauchamp says. She typically suggests spending at least one or two days viewing listings (preferably in person) to understand what's available.

What if you don't see anything you like on the market? 

"I tell people all the time it's okay to fall back in love with your home and decide not to move, but I would appreciate it if you would decide this before we start bringing in the associated professionals—photographer, videographer, etc.—and paying to create the marketing collateral," Beauchamp says. "Going deep into the numbers early on allows us to have these conversations continually." 
 
She also encourages exploring what is driving your desire to downsize. Will you only be in the city for a few months each year? A pied-à-terre may be a feasible solution. Is this an intermediate step to moving into an independent living community? Maybe renting is an easier alternative. Or perhaps you'd rather age in place and find an apartment with a separate bedroom for future live-in care.

"All these conversations resemble the ones we had when we were young and buying for the first time," Beauchamp says. "And they all come down to the numbers."


Nikki Beauchamp is a multilingual real estate advisor at Sotheby’s International Realty with over two decades of experience representing buyers and sellers in New York City and globally. Known for her data-driven approach and market expertise, she provides clients with valuable insights to make informed decisions. Beauchamp is an active member of the Real Estate Board of New York, currently serving as co-chair of the New York Residential Specialist executive committee. To submit a question for this column click here. To reach Nikki call (212) 606-4152 or contact her via her website. 

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.

topics:

Ask a Broker boards buying
SHARE
TWEET
BRICK’S PICKS
Historic brick facades of NYC apartment buildings
Getting overcharged by a landlord? Here’s how the Tenant Protection Unit helps rent-stabilized tenants
Apartment buildings in Soho
New Rent Guidelines Board report justifies a rent freeze, tenant advocates claim
Brooklyn apartment buildings
Understanding net effective rent: Here's how to calculate your real monthly rent
image
How much should you renovate your NYC apartment or house before selling?
Council Member Shahana Hanif hold press conference before the City Council vote on Arrow Linen spot rezoning.
City Council signs off on 10-story towers for Arrow Linen site
couple standing close, only jeans-clad legs showing
Can my boyfriend claim ownership of my condo if we break up?
Follow Brick on Instagram
@brickunderground | #brickunderground
Brick UndergroundBRICK UNDERGROUNDREAL LIFE. REAL ESTATE. REAL NEW YORK.
Social Links Footer
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Search
Main menu footer
  • Buy
    • The Market
    • Investing
    • New Construction + Condos
    • Affordable Housing
    • Co-ops
    • Negotiating + Financing
    • How to Buy in NYC Guide
  • Rent
    • Affordable Housing
    • Roommates + Landlords
    • The Market
    • The Search
    • How to Rent in NYC Guide
  • Sell
    • Staging + Open Houses
    • Negotiations + Closings
    • Getting Ready
    • How to Sell in NYC Guide
  • Live
    • Neighbors
    • Kids + Pets
    • Neighborhood Intel
    • Products + Test-drives
    • Troubleshooting
  • Improve
    • Small Spaces
    • Small Projects + DIY
    • Renovations
    • Design + Architecture
    • Products + Services
    • How to Renovate in NYC Guide

Get more news you can actually use...

The subscription service is currently unavailable. Please check again later.

Delivered to your inbox weekly - for free.

*By signing up you agree to receive occasional emails on behalf of our sponsors

Footer Menu
  • About Us
  • Advertise

Copyright 2009-2024 by BND Ventures Inc | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Ad Choices | Login