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ChrisFromLongIsland t1_ivzkx36 wrote

Reply to comment by NetQuarterLatte in New York City Is Failing Tenants. So They’re Getting Organized by ethnt

NYCs transaction costs are the highest in the country to buy real estate. This is a big disincentive to buying vs renting. The mortgage taxes are the highest, you have to use an attorney that costs $3,000 (many areas if the country the real estate agent draws up a standard contract), and many buildings have strick requirements that makes sense to some extent given that it's almost impossible to foreclose on someone in NYC. If someone could be foreclosed on quick the buildings would not worry as much as someone not being able to pay their monthly maintenance.

Plus for all of this cost you get the worst service in the country. In NYC it can take months to close. In every other part of the country the transactions all close in under 30 days.

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NetQuarterLatte t1_iw05nko wrote

I think part of giving a path to homeownership for people should include some form of lower transaction/tax costs for people buying their first home.

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According_Surround_7 t1_iw3013e wrote

The FHA home loan program reduces the downpayment on a mortgage from 10-20% to 3.5% which means savings of a couple thousand rather than tens to hundreds of thousands.

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Tarmaque t1_iw7ouas wrote

3.5% down on a $500,000 studio the size of a closet is still a lot more than “a few thousand”.

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According_Surround_7 t1_iw7v7jt wrote

Its still a significant boon to first time home buyers size of home irrelevant. $17,500 (3.5%) down is a couple months savings in NYC $100,000 (20%) is a couple years. Sure its a small studio, but it's a studio very close to work surrounded by amenities in a city where most people spend very little time at home. There is also crazy value in locking in cost of housing while costs around you rise and not having to own a car or insurance and maintenance for said car.

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PostPostMinimalist t1_iw00w5h wrote

But co-ops don’t have mortgage tax I believe? Unless over $1M. So co-op closing costs are actually very cheap.

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ChrisFromLongIsland t1_iw16hh5 wrote

You do save on the outrageous mortgage tax with coops. Though the mortgage restrictions are tough. Generally under 80% ltv plus a legal box of financial info to the board. It's much harder to be accepted by the board than to get the mortgage.

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ctindel t1_iw160k9 wrote

You still need a lawyer even if you're not paying the mortgage penalty tax like those of us non-coop owners.

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PostPostMinimalist t1_iw16aka wrote

Lawyer fee is like one month rent. It doesn’t make NYC transaction fees the highest in the country.

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GasDependent7862 t1_iw36rb4 wrote

All of these are valid concerns that housing “advocates” refuse to acknowledge. I’m all in favor of maintaining these restrictions and even increasing them for people purchasing their second property but for their first they should all be waived. Housing is the most stable form of investment so it robs all of our economy from actual investment and makes it even worse by artificially increasing values.

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