building at 40 West 72nd Street

Very high maintenance costs + assessment. Mortgage "paid off" in 7 years? Can this be guraranteed? What will the maintenance realistically be going forward? Looking at the current asking prices for units in this building, the jury seems to be leaning towards continued high monthlies. Tread carefully.

The apartments vary a lot in size/floorplan because originally all of the units were Studios, 1BRs, and 2BRs, but since then a number have been combined to make larger apartments of various types. At one time the building operated as a hotel; went coop in the mid-80s. The units also vary considerably in terms of views and light based on elevation and whether they face north or south.

The mortgage is 20-year fully-amortizing and matures in about 6.5 years now. This is one reason the maintenance is quite high. The building has had to spend a lot of money in recent years for renovations to the exterior, a new boiler, and roof repairs.

The sponsor still owns ~30-35% of the units. A large proportion of these are free-market rentals compared to what one would normally expect. If you click on the rentals tab it reveals that the vast majority are sponsor units. Occasionally the sponsor renovates and sells an apartment but the pace of this has been slow.

Excellent location close to the park, B/C and 123. Recently re-zoned from 199 to PS-87. Biggest issue is the maintenance. No reason to think mtce will come down in the near-term, but in the longer-terms it may normalize a bit relative to other similar buildings if it can continue to pay down the mortage.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/building/40-west-72-street-new_york

Another one that was a hotel in prior years. I preface that because I have always felt that those hotel conversions have a high mainenance from day one. The sponsors were very savvy back in the day and did quite well with alot of those along W 72nd Street. Another thing is that the converted hotels were built as, hotels. Kind of bland interiors for a prewar. Look around and see what else is available. Just my two cents.

"Kind of bland interiors for a prewar."

There is a lobby renovation scheduled for later this year. Some of the apartments have nice original floors, but otherwise not loads of prewar details to your point. Beamed ceilings, 9+ feet.

Sound too...make sure you check out if you can hear the toilet flush next door..it's a good test...I saw that building..thin, thin, interiors...if that doesn't matter to you then don't worry about it. Happens a lot with rental conversions too. Pre-War usually has that sound proof effect going for it. I think you have kids right? I do...before kids I hated hearing all the commotion at the place I lived...after I had kids and moved to a pre-war wonderfully built place I so appreciated not being able to hear my neighbors and I think they appreciated not being able to hear my kids every move. I certainly love not having to tell them shush all the time. Just every day life convienences.

Thanks so much for your comments!!

uws: In response to one of the comments above, I used to live in the building and never had any problems with noise or thin walls. The construction seems very solid throughout.

Have tried to respond to your specific questions rather than generalize, but I will say the overall experience there was great. And as mentioned the prices have always tended to factor in the maintenance.

Maybe it depends on which apartment you are looking at? If you didn't have any noise problems maybe the one I looked at (newly done at the time) was noisy. Don't need dead silence but, with conversions you really have to check out the unit you're interested in.