3BR, UWS or UES - Rent or Buy?

If I may ask, how much are you paying for that 1100 sqft, and is it on the UWS?

Where on UWS, and what are your parameters?
1) Geographic boundaries
2) Pre/postwar
3) Doorman/not
4) School zone

1) btw 59 and 88ish
2) post or renovated pre
3) doorman
4) not sure, but good school district a definite plus if buying (less critical if renting - DS is 5 months)

Gaongaon - ~5500, close to murray hill

MD...as a point of reference I've seen several classic 6s (roughly 1600-1700+) recently in decent UWS locations for rent.....you'll spend around $6500-$7000 per month depending on doorman, size etc.
Purchase these days same size seems like $1.4MM to $1.6MM and falling. For a 1900 sq ft true 3bdr just add another $100-200K to the buy and maybe $500/month to the rent.

As usual, the rent vs buy decision depends a lot on your time horizon and willingness to take on resale risk....the longer you plan on staying, the more attractive buying becomes....even if you don't quite time the bottom exactly.

You are paying a lot for Murray Hill (maybe your building is ultra-luxe?). You can certainly get large 2br, 2ba postwar doorman on UWS for 5500, and I pointed out to Rhino, you can get convertible 3br dman with your criteria for less than 5500.

Trump buildings have a large selection of rentals as well.

Okay, here's what would tilt me towards buying on the UWS right now, if I'd been a renter thus far. If I wanted to have a renovated prewar classic 6+ apt, prices have come down far enough with estate/"motivated seller" sales that I would bide my time and wait for one of those. I would then renovate very carefully, living in the space if possible with the "measure twice, cut once" attitude.

Ah, and also assuming 10yr+ horizon of living in NYC, having an extended network of family/friends. As in NYC would be your bolthole anyway.

If you want a renovated prewar apt. 10023, an estate sale is the last place you should be looking. I've seen plenty of estate classic sixes, sevens, and even some eights, and they all need MAJOR work.

An estate sale is the FIRST place you should look at in a buyer's market. I'm assuming that the original poster wants the best bang for his/her dollar. Renovation costs to bring it up to the standard of a "mint" apt that is not to your taste plus the cost of the wreck are generally far less than what "mint" apts are fetching. I refer you to the UWS comp thread and the reno thread.

and the reason for the discount is because doing the renovations is a pain the ass, especially as many snobby buildings only let you do renovations in the summer. And in most cases, the renovations typically cost MORE than the amount you anticipated, so I would have to question whether the savings is really that significant or just a drop in the bucket. Based on what I've heard, anyone who renovates should expect to pay 15% more than the aniticipated amount.

I think the monthly arithmetic still favors renting; but the gap may have narrowed to the point where you can make a plausible case for buying. If you prefer post-war, I'd probably say rent. If you prefer updated pre-war, I tip toward buying, just because the pre-war stock available for rent isn't great.

MD2009,

What's your timeline? If it's less than 5 years, I would rent.

Exactly, W81. Renovated prewar is hard to come by. Gap between closed unrenovated estate sales in the last month & mint condition prewar apts seems big enough that I would look for this category.

> What's your timeline? If it's less than 5 years, I would rent.

If your timelines is less than 100 years, I would rent. OK, if more than 100, I'd still probably rent.

Renting still seems the way to go for UWS. Rent a 3bd for 5750/mo or buy for 9376 mo + 20% (~$310K) down:

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/414054-coop-11-riverside-drive-upper-west-side-new-york

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/rental/544503-coop-11-riverside-drive-upper-west-side-new-york

not even close.