If you’re looking for a place to live in New York, you’ve likely heard about co-ops. If not, this term is short for cooperative housing. In this living situation, you and the other residents in a building are all equal owners. While cooperatives are great for some people, others aren’t a fan of these housing units. With that in mind, here are the pros and cons of cooperatives.
Advantages of cooperatives
One of the main reasons why cooperatives are so attractive is that they’re affordable, especially when compared to other options in popular cities. They’re also great housing options for people that don’t want to or can’t get a loan from a financial lender.
People also love co-ops because they don’t have to worry about property repairs and maintenance. In most cases, a company gets paid by the co-op as a whole to take care of property upkeep. Most co-ops also have a company that takes care of lawn maintenance, so you don’t have to worry about mowing.
Disadvantages of cooperatives
When comparing condominiums and cooperatives, you’re going to run into disadvantages of the latter. One of these disadvantages is that co-ops can be hard to get into. Before qualifying to live in a co-op, you’ll usually need to complete multiple interviews. You’ll also need tax returns from the past several years.
Depending on where you look, another disadvantage of co-ops is their sometimes costly maintenance fees. Having people take care of repairs and keep lawns mowed is great. But, make sure you can afford what a co-op charges you to keep it maintained.
As you can see, there are pros and cons of living in a co-op. If you’d like to find out more about co-ops, it might be wise to speak with a real estate attorney.