sponsor unit

No, just the advantage of avoiding the board (the rest is the same, some concern, if any, may be the poor condition of the apartment, but same can be the case if buying from the owner), just do regular check through your lawyer.

thank you

Well the downside is higher closing costs.

The buyer pays the seller's attorney cost and the transfer taxes on a sponsor unit.

Sponsor Unit. I hear the term but I really don't understand it. Anyone? Definition plus pros & cons? Thanx.

sponsor unit means you are the first to have bought that unitYou bought it from the developer as opposed to a previous owner. Only eneral downside I can think of is that you pay higher closing costs as stated by #4 and #5.There may be case by case downsides but your lawyer will advise you. Pros are that you don't need to go through the board, and sometimes (tho I don't know if this is till true) you are not bound by as stringent rules. I remember at least some years back there were several coops where the "original owners" could sublet their units as often as they liked while other owners in the buildin were restricted.

that is the case in my coop, orginal owners have many of them sevaral units that they rent year after year, and enw owners are not alloed to rent. I wonder why new owners put up with that

I wonder why the buyer pays the seller's closing costs. Yes, there may be perks & no board is a big one, but is there also a more favorable selling price?

Be aware that some banks won't lend if your bulding has a large proportion of sponsor units.

Although in some buildings sponsor units may not have to abide by as stringent rules, this may have a negative impact on the rest of the shareholders. For example, I know of a building that had one sponsor who was exempt from subletting rules and it caused problems because the sublet tenants were not cooperative, other shareholders complained and it became a real pain for the board to try to evict them.

A broker told me today that I wouldn't pay the sponsor's lawyer's fee, but I would pay the transfer tax. He said it is 2% for units $500K and up and 1.5% for those under $500K.

The other downside: You may pay a premium price for a sponsor unit for the very reason you don't have to be approved by the board.