Building types in the Bronx
HDFC co-ops in the Bronx
The Bronx holds a dense band of HDFC buildings through Mott Haven, Highbridge, Morrisania and the Concourse, most of them formed out of the City’s in rem holdings.
What is different about buying an HDFC co-op in the Bronx?
Quick Answer
The Bronx holds one of the densest bands of HDFC buildings in the city, through Mott Haven, Highbridge, Morrisania and the Grand Concourse. Many of these corporations still carry City loans and tax exemptions, so the regulatory file, not the purchase contract, holds the terms that decide the deal.
Which co-op buildings of this kind are actually in the Bronx?
- Walk-up and small elevator buildings formed from City in rem holdings across the South Bronx and along the Grand Concourse
- Corporations in Highbridge, Morrisania and Mount Hope that came through tenant-interim-lease or community-sponsored conversions
- Buildings that later refinanced with City or State program loans layered on the original governing documents
- A stock where restricted prices sit closer to surrounding market prices than they do in Manhattan, which changes the resale calculation
What do board approval and financing look like in the Bronx?
- A City loan or a layered tax exemption can carry its own transfer conditions, and those sit in the regulatory file rather than in the offering plan
- Lender appetite is thin: the combination of an income cap, a resale formula and an older building narrows the list of institutions that will write the share loan
- The Private Housing Finance Law 576 formula and the area median income ceiling above it are regional figures, so a Bronx purchaser is measured against the same numbers as a Manhattan purchaser
- Boards verify income from tax returns before approving, and a purchaser whose income rises between contract and closing can fall out of eligibility
Which taxes and recording steps apply in the Bronx?
- No mortgage recording tax and no recorded purchase instrument, the same as any co-op
- New York State transfer tax and the New York City real property transfer tax apply to the share transfer
- A flip tax payable to the corporation is common and is usually the seller’s largest closing figure
- Judgment and lien searches run against Bronx County records, and the corporation is searched alongside the seller
What pattern does a purchaser meet in the Bronx?
- Building condition drives more Bronx HDFC deals than price does: boiler, roof and facade histories predict the assessments a purchaser will meet
- Open Department of Buildings items and OATH (formerly ECB) judgments against the building are common, and an OATH judgment runs with the property
- Because restricted prices sit nearer the surrounding market here, the resale restriction bites less than in Manhattan but the flip tax bites just as hard
- Several corporations have regulatory agreements approaching their stated end date, which is a question about the next owner as much as this one
Does a City loan change a Bronx HDFC purchase?
It can. A City or State program loan layered on the original governing documents may carry its own conditions on transfer, on refinancing and on how sale proceeds are applied. Those conditions live in the regulatory file held by the corporation and the agency, not in ACRIS, so they have to be requested.
Is the income cap different in the Bronx?
The cap comes from each building’s governing documents. Private Housing Finance Law 576 measures it against that apartment’s own maintenance and utilities, under a ceiling of 165 percent of area median income for the metropolitan region rather than for the borough. What differs between buildings is the maintenance figure, and any lower limit the deed or a regulatory agreement sets.
What else should you read before closing on one of these?
In the glossary
- Flip taxA transfer fee charged by a co-op or, less often, a condominium when a unit changes hands. It is a creature of the building's governing documents, ...
- CovenantA recorded promise or restriction that runs with the land and binds future owners. Restrictive covenants limit what the property may be used for or...
- OATH Hearings DivisionThe City tribunal, OATH (formerly ECB), that adjudicates summonses from most New York City enforcement agencies. Unpaid or defaulted summonses beco...
- Violation (cited against the premises)An agency record that a condition at a property does not comply with a code or rule. It attaches to the premises and follows the property through a...
- Assessment (co-op or condo)A charge levied by a co-op or condominium board beyond ordinary maintenance or common charges, typically to pay for a capital project. It is disclo...
Questions this raises
- What are HDFC co-op income caps?HDFC co-ops cap purchaser household income under the Private Housing Finance Law, against an area median income ceiling. How the cap is measured an...
- Can you resell an HDFC co-op at market price?HDFC resale is limited by the building’s own documents: a purchaser income cap, a flip tax to the corporation and, where one exists, a resale price...
- Who pays a co-op or condo assessment at closing?A NYC co-op or condo assessment is allocated by the contract of sale, not by custom. How installments and lump sums get split between seller and pu...
Building types
- HDFC co-opAn affordable cooperative formed under Article XI of the Private Housing Finance Law, with an income cap on purchasers and a flip tax that runs to ...
- Standard co-opThe ordinary New York City cooperative: you buy shares in a corporation and receive a proprietary lease to occupy a specific apartment.
- 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.
This building type, borough by borough
- HDFC co-ops in ManhattanManhattan’s HDFC stock came out of the City taking title to abandoned buildings north of 96th Street and on the Lower East Side, then selling them ...
- HDFC co-ops in BrooklynBrooklyn’s HDFC buildings sit in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Clinton Hill and Bushwick, and many of them are small enough that the board is ...
- Standard co-ops in the BronxBronx co-ops cluster in the Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil belt, alongside large complexes elsewhere in the borough where underlying mortgages drive ...
- Mitchell-Lama co-ops in the BronxThe Bronx holds the largest cooperative development in the country, along with other limited-profit developments, and it remains in the Mitchell-La...
- Sponsor co-op units in the BronxBronx sponsor units sit mostly in Riverdale and Grand Concourse conversions, where the sponsor’s reserve funding record predicts the assessments a ...
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