2010 Manhattan Foreclosures

"(2) coop boards in Manhattan typically have weeded out weak buyers to begin with."

This is true.

However, much of this "new" wave of foreclosures involves not people who bought more apartment than they could afford, but rather those people who bought responsibly but who lost their jobs and had no income for more than a year, exhausting their savings, and being no longer able to pay their mortgages.

In fact, one of those people right now is currently living with ME.

coops will be less prone to this then condos. most require 20% down and at this point they would be walking away losing their down payment only.

What source would you recommend for foreclosure listings in Manhattan? There are several available - all charging a monthly fee. I was wondering if one has any advantages over another.

This website does a good job of explaining foreclosures, particularly for NY.

http://www.nyforeclosures.com/mastering/process_overview.html

So coops being less prone, does it follow that less Manhattan coops will be on the market and prices for those properties are less likely to decrease (supply/demand not as out of whack as say, condos)?

it would mean that there would be less foreclosures of coops. if the people need to sell, they'll just price it right (20% below peak) and it will most likely sell quickly. noone wants to have a short sale or foreclosure on their record.

"coops will be less prone to this then condos. most require 20% down and at this point they would be walking away losing their down payment only."

Provided they didn't max out their home equity lines of credit.

"So coops being less prone, does it follow that less Manhattan coops will be on the market and prices for those properties are less likely to decrease (supply/demand not as out of whack as say, condos)?"

If all other things were equal, yes, but thats not the case.

Yes, the lower likelihood of foreclosure will have less of an effect here than elsewhere, of course.

But you can't assume its the only factor. Its simply not. We had massive declines before foreclosures really hit.

We have very high unemployment (higher than much of the country)
We have our main industries reeling
We had more inflated prices to begin with.

So, yes, the foreclosure effect could very much be less, but its just one of many factors.