Real estate
NYC Building Types and How They Close
What changes between a co-op, a condo and everything in between is the law, not the address.
Why does the building type change how a NYC closing works?
Quick Answer
Which co-op types are there, and how do they differ?
- Standard co-opThe ordinary New York City cooperative: you buy shares in a corporation and receive a proprietary lease to occupy a specific apartment.
- HDFC co-opAn affordable cooperative formed under Article XI of the Private Housing Finance Law, with income caps on purchasers and usually a restricted resale price.
- Land-lease co-opA cooperative that owns its building but leases the ground beneath it from a separate landowner, on a lease with a reset schedule and an expiry date.
- Mitchell-Lama co-opA limited-equity cooperative in the State and City Mitchell-Lama program, sold from a waiting list at a formula price rather than on the open market.
- Sponsor co-op unitAn unsold share allocation still held by the building’s original sponsor, sold under the offering plan rather than through the ordinary board process.
Which condo types are there, and how do they differ?
- Standard condoA New York City condominium unit: real property conveyed by deed, recorded in ACRIS, with an undivided interest in the common elements.
- New-development condoA first sale from the sponsor of a newly built condominium, governed by an offering plan, often delivered on a temporary certificate of occupancy.
- Sponsor resale condo unitAn unsold condominium unit the sponsor still owns years after the building opened, sold under the original offering plan rather than as an ordinary resale.
- Condo in a converted buildingA condominium created by converting an existing rental building, where non-purchasing tenants, the reserve fund and building-wide conditions carry into the declaration.
- Townhouse and 1-4 family condo declarationA small building divided into condominium units, where outdoor space, party walls, multiple-dwelling registration and the certificate of occupancy do most of the work.
- Mixed-use condo with commercial unitsA condominium holding both residential and commercial units, where the declaration allocates common charges, voting rights and use restrictions between them.
- Investor and pied-a-terre condo purchaseA condominium bought to rent out or to keep as a second home, where sublet policy, entity ownership and non-resident tax questions drive the structure.
What is a hybrid building type?
What changes when you refinance rather than buy?
Which is faster to close, a co-op or a condo?
A condo, ordinarily. A condo board holds a right of first refusal it waives, while a co-op board reviews a full financial package and interviews the purchaser, which commonly adds three to eight weeks from a complete package. A package that is missing a document is the usual reason a co-op timeline slips.
Which building types cost more to close on?
Condos, at the same price, because a condo loan is a recorded mortgage carrying mortgage recording tax and an owner’s title policy, neither of which applies to a co-op. Against that, co-ops frequently charge a flip tax the contract may assign to either party, so the comparison is deal by deal.
Where should you go next?
- Co-op and condo closingsHow the firm handles board packages, offering plans and flip taxes.
- Real estate closingsPurchases, sales, refinances and commercial deals.
- The NYC closings glossaryEvery term these pages use, defined.
- Closing questions, answeredAnswer-first pages for what buyers and sellers ask.
- Title issues and how they are curedOne page per defect, with the cure and the cost.
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Legal Disclaimer: These pages are general information about New York practice. They are not legal advice, they do not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction, and reading them does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.