Real Estate in Manhattan. How to buy in Manhattan.
Some of you live here, rent or bought, others are passing, others will think and live in France or elsewhere, but do not really know how to go about buying a property in Manhattan … ?
So let me share with you my 14 years experience as a real estate agent in the residential market in Manhattan.
Several scenarios to consider:
– What type of property would you buy? Cooperative building or condominium building? One bedroom? Two bedroom? Three bedroom? Four bedroom? Townhouse?
– Do you buy 100% cash?
– If not, how much cash can you bring?
– What is your status in the US? US citizen? Green Card? Visa? Tourist?
– What is your Favorite neighborhood?
– Will you rent or occupy the property occasionally, or is it your future residence?
– Do you need to have easy access to the French High School on the Upper East Side or another school or university?
Your answers to these questions will then allow me to direct you to the correct corresponding professionals, for indeed, being real estate agent to serve you best I surrounded myself by various professionals all necessary for the proper development of your file purchase.
To simplify, let’s remain on the market of Condominiums apartments, for example, a one bedroom will cost about $ 1.5 million and a two bedroom will cost $ 2.5 million and a three bedroom will cost $ 3.5 million more …
From ther, my goal will be to introduce you to a lawyer (equivalent notary here) so he can explain the different possibilities for the structure of your acquisition, will you buy in your own name, or rather as an LLC or a C Corp. or Trust. Only a lawyer will be able to advise you in this area.
Once the legal structure is addressed, if necessary, we will deal with the implementation of your financing where again I will introduce you to the people concerned.
Armed with these elements, legal and financial, then we can go to the field to see the apartments
Luckily if you can come over Manhattan now is the best time of year to buy, namely the Fall and Winter, in fact when the weather is cold and rainy only the bravest go and thus you will be less exposed to the crowd that is there in fine weather, spring and summer to buy their apartment and therefore it is reasonable to think that you will have less competition for the same property at that time of the year.
I take the assumption that you do not know the residential market in Manhattan and you come from abroad, then know that all the goods for sale are shared among all agents in Manhattan, so your real estate agent will have access to all the properties on the market. We know when and for how much the property was purchased previously, everything is transparent, it is called the “sold history”.
Also another novelty for you, you must know that the total commission is always included in every purchase price, so if you were to buy “alone” a property without using an estate agent in your search and your worries were to make a gain on the saving of the commission of the real estate agent who represents you, it would unfortunately not work.
Finally be aware that unlike in France, very few apartments are sold by individuals themselves, the latter preferring to do it with the help of real estate agents to get maximum exposure through the sharing of all apartments between all agencies.
Very soon you will see that the logic “copy and paste” compared to what you know in France sometimes works, but often it does not work because the laws are different, the system is different, added to the psychology of sales and so each transaction is different and what is more Manhattan is its own market of its kind!
But if you are accompanied by a reputable real estate agent who knows and pass on his knowledge, then it will all become very easy and the obstacles placed here and there will soon be anticipated because together you form a team.
Once identified the category of buildings (Condominiums or Cooperatives) and with the help of your real estate agent when you have distinguished the apartment that corresponds to you, everything will go very fast (hence the importance of having anticipated the legal approach of your acquisition and the financing), at best you will have 2% to 3% reduction with respect to the asking price, you will often pay the asking price, or you will be asked to bid to win the apartment (bidding war), so in the end remember that we are in Manhattan, that in the entire planet, the largest concentration billionaires in the world live in Manhattan, added to that we are on an island and the population continues to increase, Manhattan has economic growth that would turn pale many countries!
Of course, I am at your free disposal to go into more details with you, each customer is different with its own objectives, to conclude, there are two types of purchases, you either buy from a promoter or buy the property of an individual and it has an impact on many levels both in the preparation of your purchase (purchase application or not) and its cost (this is called closing costs that change depending on the type of purchase).
