What is the risk?

The risk is you'll have to hang out with some lowly renters, not well heeled buyers and that may lower your social ranking among your friends, snobby relatives, potential mates, employers (depending on the industry you work in.) Face it, you'll have to live with stigma for years, basically your life is over.

If thats the only thing, then how would my friends know a renter from a buyer anyway? We all look the same , in fact after we buy we might be poorer than when we are renting!

Seriously is there an issue other than social acceptance?

O my, a rental building.

Living with renters? Thats almost as bad as moving to Brooklyn or Queens.

I can tell a renter from a buyer. Renters are the ones who wait on my table at restaurants.

i guess this is down to profession snobs then.

There is a hope, you'll be typecast as a starving artist or struggling actor/actress..... people will teend to look down on you but still have sympathy and may still want to be your friend.... because who knows? Maybe you will make it one day.

Condos with a high percentage of renters are not considered as desirable as those where there are mostly owners in residence. I assume it's because one is apt to take better care of one's own property & that absentee landlords are often just cashing the checks and not taking as good care of the premises as they might if they lived there. It does seem like an odd situation. You'll own a unit but who will own the other units which are rentals? I'd look into that. Actually a good real estate attorney should have an answer to your question.

Is the building 230 Riverside?

i'm a renter and made over 400,000 last year.

There are lots of renters in the city that make millions of dollars. I also looked at a building on the UWS that was converting to condos. Half the tenants were staying because of rent regulations and half of the units were being sold as condo. We were told that over time the remaining units would be converted to condo as the tenants lost there rental protection either through economics or death. During our visit to the building we rode the elevator with a couple renters who remarked in an extremely rude manner that we shouldn't move there because our infant son "was too loud for this building." The agent was obviously mortified and spent the next 15 minutes trying to rectify the situation. Her explanation came down to the fact that the remaining renters were livid that they were being pressured to leave and were unhappy that a bunch of more well off people were moving into the building. She also told us to not worry because the new owners would get to decide everything in the building (e.g. what to do with the garden, whether to add an exercise room, etc.), which made it sound even more uncomfortable for us. Just things to consider.

the building is not 230 riverside

Thanks for comments #12. I guess if a building is anything like the one I am in now, you hardly ever see the neighbours anyway. The decision process is interesting. Say a building has a part time doorman does it mean that the change to other type of doorman would be made by the owners? I am concerned that the monthly maintenance which is now a good price would suddenly escalate as people who do own want a fulltime doorman. How does that work? does everyone who owns vote?

It depends on the building and its bylaws/agreements. Those typically detail what actions require a vote of the owners. In practice, most board will ask owners to vote on major decisions, even if they are not required to do so.

Making a change from part-time to full-time staff, for example, probably would not require a vote of the owners, but there would likely be a significant increase in operational costs, and a commensurate increase in maintenance/common charges and they would want owners to approve that in advance.

#12 here. I think you really need to pin the broker/developer down on the questions you have. Get copies of the by-laws etc. and have a good attorney review them. You should also find out what percentage of the bldg. is going condo and what percentage is staying rental. We felt uncomfortable with the notion of spending a ton of money to move into a bldg that seemed to have a lot of unhappy people - who could blame them, getting kicked out your apartment or told you have no say in the bldg. must be no fun. You also need to look long term for when you sell the place. People like bldgs. where more units are owner-occupied for many reasons. I also could not grasp the concept that the bldg would be selling/renovating units for many years to come, as opposed to doing it all at once. It is a strange process to say the least.

Thanks for bylaws comment. I will take a look.
Also comment #12 is spot on. The risk is that even though I may find the situation fine, it is real to others and may affect buyers when I go to sell.

If the building has not yet the approval for the conversion is there a risk they will not get it through?

#6---are you kidding? Where are you from?
There are $30,000 monthly rentals in this city? Are you really that ignorant?
I just had a high end rental and almost all of the prospective tenants had incomes
of $1,000,000 +.

#19 - escort agencies dont count..... because of the Patriot Act its harder for some people to get a mortgage.

#20 I don't know where you are from but there are plenty of people in this city who make a lot of money and rent. The prospects I was referring to were hedge fund managers. Do you know what the traders and brokers are earning?

#20 is just a troll who trying to get a reaction...