Anyone know why Mtce is so low in this building?

Here is the building
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/building/123-west-74-street-new_york

Their tiny underlying mortgage from 1998 of $450,000 appears to have been paid off by 2004.

That, along with a staff of maybe two guys instead of six or eight, would account for a lot of it.

i wonder how many coops in nyc have underlying mortgages...seems like most coops never pay down the principal and just keep refinancing and paying interest......would it be wise to have a big assessment and have shareholders pay their share of the mortgage ....in the long run, this would lower mtce and probably increase prices substantially. Also, in a white glove building like this with no doorman....it seems it works nicely not to have doormen either.....to be honest, its nice to have someone protecting the building but other than that, i dont need for someone toopen a door for me...wonder what % of coops in manhattan dont have doormen either....people think not having doormen lowers price but i believe since mtce is lower you end up getting a higher sales price....

If it's a 'white glove' building it has a doorman :-)

It's funny, you have the same writing style and interests as the departed mhillqt/chelapt. But anyway....

There's a whole range of underlying mortgages. Some co-ops have none, some have huge ones.

Those with none bit the bullet and paid them off. The huge ones are often due to a land-lease co-op buying its land, as with 301 E 63rd and Two Fifth.

Most I see are a few million, so the mortgage-per-apartment, and the corresponding effect on maintenance, is pretty trivial. Part of that's just a function of timing: many co-ops were formed in the 1970s and 1980s, so what would've been more significant then has became much less so due to inflation and the bubble.

Here's a previous discussion about underlying mortgages: http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/21214-coop-mortgage

oh snap nwt. wonder whose side YOU are on in the good fight. cuz that side dominates.

So i would assume that the majority of the lower mtce in this building is due to having a staff of 1.....interesting.

My building's maintenance is 26% labor, so cutting down from eight guys to two would save me $450 per month. Not that it matters, as it's worth it to me as long as I don't think about it, and that kind of change doesn't happen. Couldn't happen, in fact, as the building is 20% tenants and their services can't be reduced.

You couldn't run a building with 50-100 apartments with just a super, so two is as few as you can go.

Other building in the area with similar services and about the same size (w/ 6es) - 125w76, 160w77, 314w77.

Slightly larger 6es - 114W71, 59W71, 24/6/8W69.

Larger bldg -120w71.

Compare the mtce - 123W74 has the lowest mtce.