Standard co-ops in Queens

Which co-op buildings of this kind are actually in Queens?

• Garden apartment complexes in Jackson Heights and Sunnyside Gardens, built in the 1920s around shared interior courtyards and later converted to cooperatives
• Large elevator co-op complexes in Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens and Bay Terrace, many converted in the 1980s
• Attached two-story co-op rows in Bayside and Whitestone that read as houses but transfer as shares
• A significant number of buildings where the original sponsor still holds and rents unsold shares decades after the conversion

What do board approval and financing look like in Queens?

• Boards in the garden complexes are frequently made up of long-tenured shareholders, and the package requirements have not changed in years
• A large remaining sponsor holding affects lender underwriting, because a high percentage of rented units narrows which lenders will write the share loan
• Some complexes limit financing or require a larger down payment than a lender would demand, and the limit is in the building documents rather than the offering plan
• Where a complex is made up of many separate corporations sharing one managing agent, the criteria differ building to building even inside the same courtyard

Which taxes and recording steps apply in Queens?

• No mortgage recording tax and no recorded instrument, the same as any co-op purchase
• New York State transfer tax and the New York City real property transfer tax apply to the share transfer
• The mansion tax is reached on comparatively few Queens co-op sales, so the transfer taxes and the flip tax are usually the larger closing lines
• Judgment and lien searches run against Queens County records, and the sponsor entity is searched as well where a sponsor unit is involved

What pattern does a purchaser meet in Queens?

• Flip taxes in the garden complexes are commonly stated per share, which produces very different results between two apartments at the same price
• The Jackson Heights and Sunnyside Gardens historic districts bring Landmarks review into window, door and facade work, including work a prior shareholder did without approval
• Garden complexes frequently have no elevator, no doorman and shared laundry, and the house rules on courtyards, gardens and storage are specific enough to read before contract
• Parking is often assigned by an internal waiting list rather than sold with the apartment, and a waiting-list place does not transfer with the shares

What else should you read before closing on one of these?