Maintenance

I'd say $1.50 is average. $2.00 is the high end of the range. Beyond that you are in pretty extreme territory. This is my impression for GV area.

Mine is 175 per sq ft....bldg seems well managed with great services BUT we are on park avenue .....only 60 units and we are getting hit with high tax increases, labor increases and insurance increases which seem will only keep increasing every year since its all driven by nyc tax increases and labor union increases.....so how do you stop the increases or is it basically something that cant be changed......

You wait until it's time to add to the mix the fuel price increases and the water rate increases, not to mention the terrible effect that gravity and oxidation and the like have on your building, and you watch your maintenance go up up up.

You can't stop the type of increases you outline. A significant portion is likely mortgage and you can explore refinancing, but that has probably been done. There are few other options. The building needs revenue and it comes from shareholders through maintenance, assessments for capital projects, or other revenue sources. The latter include fees for storage lockers, bike storage, use of amenities, commercial rentals if such exist in the building. With those things tapped out, you either increase maintenance or cut services. But at $1.75, you are not outside the acceptable range of what's out their for the type of building/location you describe.

was late. meant "there" not "their"

Thanks kyle......but in 2 yrs it will prob be $2 per sq ft etc etc....but i guess the range will keep changing for everyone

Chelapt: I find it helpful to look at the annual financials to see if there is anything that can be cut. In most cases, you will find that fixed costs are the bulk of mtce, and yes, it goes up inexorably every year.

It doesn't help you now, in your current building, but for those of you looking to keep mtce down, a few things to look for in a building:

1) Significant commercial income - there used to be a limitation as to how much income a building could get from rents, but no longer.
2) Taxes - look for a building that has a low assessment, while taxes will rise, you start at a much lower point (and no, I'm NOT talking about abatements). Bldgs known for low taxes include the Mercantile & Ansonia (both condos).
3) Pools, playrooms, gyms are nice, but they usually add to mtce.

Yes, the average range for maintenance constantly shifts up. 20 years ago $1/sq ft was average and $1.50 would have sent buyers running. Now $1.50 is completely expected in many, many buildings. $2.00 per sq ft may be high, but it doesn't really alarms in high end buildings...it is just the top of the range of "normal."

When calculating maintenance per square foot, do people use actual measured square feet or broker square feet?

Trying to figure out whether ours is $1.40 or $1.60... either way, it's high for a walkup with no amenities, but it's all mortgage, taxes, and insurance, and there ain't much we can do about any of those. We are thankfully refinancing into a fully amortizing loan to try to reduce our overall debt load (with a balloon loan, the refinance costs eat up all the principal paid over 10 years) and have decent reserves.

Over 25 years, maintenance has changed by very little because mortgage rates kept decreasing while other expenses have gone up. An apartment in the building with $900 in maintenance in 1986 has about $1,275 in maintenance now -- that's not even 1.5% annualized increase. Effectively no principal has been paid, though. The board recently decided that the run of good luck with interest rates is probably coming to an end and locked in a 15-year self-amortizing loan, which I think is a wise move.

The building can challenge the re tax assessment by having a lawyer file a tax certiorari petition with NYC Dept of finance. If successful, the RE tax assessment will be lowered, thus lowering the RE tax.

"labor union increases"...

i read an article wayyyy back about a co-op in Queens (BK?) where union workers (maintenance/landscapers) demanded subsidized (ie minimal contributory health care families for their entire families at low rates to them)...

the board had 2 options..

1) increase maintenance significantly to accommodate union demands

or

2) find cheaper/non-union landscapers (and maintenance to a lesser extent) to do the work..

they did the latter and maintenance held for the next several years and took the "savings" to the reserve fund..

is it a law in NYC where a co-op MUST use UNION laborers??

i mean i understand say the elevator union guy who makes a decent 6 figure wage as it requires SOME technical knowledge..

but re: landscapers for instance, why don't more co-op boards hire from market who'd love their business and won't demand the co-op to pay for their health benefits and continual wage increases YOY??

competition for services..is that such a foreign idea or are archaic co-op boards so used to the routine?

to play devil's advocate with my question.. of course there are situations where board members accept kickbacks from union laborers to keep the relationship going..

co-op ponzi schemes aside, the question remains..