Cooperative apartments (“coops”) differ from condominiums (“condos”) in several ways.  When you buy a coop, you buy stock in the corporation that owns the apartment building.  The building then “leases” the coop to the buyer under a long-term proprietary lease.  Coop owners pay monthly maintenance to the building corporation for items such as the expenses of maintaining and operating the building property, property taxes and the underlying mortgage on the building (if any).

When you buy a condo, you buy an individual parcel of real property, like a house or townhouse.  The condo building is divided into individual condos and a common area.  A condo owner owns its apartment and an undivided interest in the common area and is responsible to pay its own real estate taxes and its share of the common charges for the expenses to maintain and operate the common areas.  Unlike a coop building, there is no underlying mortgage on a condo building.

Generally, a condo has a higher value than a comparably sized coop; however, a condo buyer has additional closing costs for title insurance and mortgage recording taxes.  Depending on the coop building, the tax deductibility percentage of the monthly maintenance charges may differ.

Consider us as your New York condo attorney or coop lawyer.  Call us or contact us today using the form on the right.   We can guide you through the home buying and selling process — from helping you with your broker to preparing or reviewing the contract of sale, advising you about financing and title insurance, answering your legal and tax questions, and arranging for the documents necessary to complete the purchase.