Riverhouse help please

Sounds borderline to me.....at a minimum you should get 30 days and I would say at least 30 BUSINESS days. It is, however, possible to get a mortgage letter it that time frame. If you really love the place and are willing to sacrifice some grey hairs.....also, make sure you look at the offering plan to make sure the ground rent is stable as the years go by. BPC is known for ground rent increases as the area is on a land lease. The chances are that the CCs you see now are much lower than the 'real' number. It's a condo but you do not own the land...good luck!

I would say it's tight, very tight. couple of points, ask your bank how long they anticipate it takes to get a mortgage when all goes perfect, then add on a few days. Use a bank that understands a land lease, or better yet a person familiar with BPC, that will save you a few days.
I have to ask, have you looked at the Visionaire, seems like less issues and more accomidating (not to mention gorgeous apartments). I just read about another lawsuit at the RH.
Whatever you do, best of luck and enjoy BPC- it's amazing!

The sponsor has been selling these units for how many years now? And after all this time they're now flying off the shelves so fast that they're only willing to give 21 days' contingency for a mortgage in an area with well-known mortgage problems due to land lease issues? I would TELL them it's 60 days for the contingency and they should be grateful enough for the offer to thank you. Either that or move on.

Read the Curbed.com report on how the developer got ousted as manager of the building because of money misappropriation. Lehman was involved too.

so what happens if 21 days goes by and you dont have a mortgage yet ?

Thanks all for your responses. I am glad that you all agree with me that 21 days is really short especially in this market. RE2009, would you know more details on the lawsuit on the building?

it was in the WSJ this weekend. Owner(s) are suing because it does not live up to gold cert of being green. May sound funny, but more bad press and from what i can understand the apartments are not properly heated in the winter. I will confess I did not read the article very carefully but take a look at the article before you move ahead.

21 days is very short. Is this 21 days to close or 21 days to get a mortgage commitment? Im not sure what you mean by "condition is that I cannot get a loan with 5.5% rate." Although a 30 day closing is certainly possible, it can take 45 days or so for a closing in a condo. sunny.hong@bankofamerica.com

I wouldn't buy in this building....horrendous future costs due to horrible land lease with Battery Park City Authority.
Best landlease (for new green buildings in BPC) is the Millennium at 30 West Street next to the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

prada, what about other new buildings in the area? do you know of other good land lease arrangements?

It sounds like your short contingency is tied to your needed low interest rate, not to the fact that you need financing. It might be possible to negotiate a longer financing contingency is you can raised the rate you can tolerate to, say, 6%.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

rengerfan....the best new one is the Millennium...with the lowest land lease.

Older buildings that have the lowest land leases are Liberty House (377 Rector Place), which is the lowest in BPC.
Liberty Terrance (380 Rector Place) and Liberty Court (200 Rector Place).

If you want to wait a while and see what the new Milstein buildings offer...they might have very good land leases.
They're on the north end of BPC near the ballfields....Liberty Green and Liberty Luxe.

sorry....rangersfan!!

What do you mean by the best land lease? How would you evaluate a lease other than the period of the lease. Would you know when Millennium lease gets expired? I would think as long as a property is leased, the cost gets transferred to the CC which is the case to all BPC area with no exception. Am I making a mistake? thanks

thanks, prada. what do you think of visionaire's land lease?

I actually did not sign the contract at the riverhouse because they do not put any contingency that would include the period, rate, and down payment. They would only include the time period of 30 days for committment letter. This would save me if banks go bankrup and couldn't give me ANY loan, but woudl not protect me from rates meaning that if any bank gave me a mortgage with ANY interest rate, I should have gone with that. I have a pre-approval/committment letter from a bank, but still did not sign because who knows what woudl happen in this market.
My question, is not including the contingency (time period, rate, and down payment) typical for ALL new developments? Does what the riverhouse do mean that they are only looking for cash buyers. I need help and appreciate your help.

That's very strange that they wouldn't give you a contingency. I bought at the RH a year ago and was able to get a clean contingency. Too bad to hear that they're pushing away potential owners.

I think a contingency on rate, period and down payment is an excessive ask. Its not their issue what your rate and form of mortgage is. Thats what commitment letters and rate locks are for. Having bought in RH, and maybe buying an additional unit there, both times we locked at the bank simultaneously with having the negotiation with the sponsor.

Stlblufan - what was the form of your contingency when you say it was 'clean'? I also think Sheldrake in their waning days was being extremely accomodating but the new sponsor seems more disciplined (but actually cares about the building)

My husband and I too are looking to buy in the Riverhouse. Right now they are not giving us a contingency. We are not taking out a mortgage that is beyond our means; however, we are a young married couple and I feel strongly that even the smallest risk is too much. Based on this thread, it seems as though I can indeed negotiate for a contingency. Has anyone actually gotten a contingency with a fair timeline?

30 days for the commitment letter is a little quick; I as an agent would rather my clients get 45, although the banks are processing faster now that the first-time homebuyer credit has expired.

However, if you can deal with 30 days, you ought to be able to negotiate one in. As Lorenzo mentioned, no one is going to protect you on rates; that's an unrealistic expectation. If you can't afford a rate movement of about three-quarters of a point -- which is probably a reasonable guess as to the level of risk you'll see during the process -- you probably shouldn't buy.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

CJD please contact me offline regarding your question about the mortgage contingency.
I can be reached at 917-251-8378.