What is the difference between a Co-op and Condo

If you have been there a long time you really want your building to be a Coop not a condo but if you are a brand new buyer today then you could have very different things in mind than worrying about your neighbors in the building and maybe prefer either one.

See http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_buying_a_co-op_apartment_vs._a_condominium or you might even want to read a book: http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Co-op-Bible-Everything/dp/0312340753

(When you tell your friends they can practice that Marie Dressler double-take from Dinner at Eight.)

Your broker was probably referring to most condos' requirement of a minimum six-month or one-year lease.

DEMOND:
You can have your friends/relatives stay at your condo when you go out of town.
For as often and as long as you like.

investing in a coop is like buying a cup of tea and being told when you can drink it and at what temperature,
where as in a condo you can do what ever you want with your cup of tea and long as your neighbors can't hear you slurp.

Yes, investing in a place to live for 3-30 years is just like drinking a cup of tea that takes 3 minutes.

"DEMOND:
You can have your friends/relatives stay at your condo when you go out of town.
For as often and as long as you like."

True. Also, your neighbors can rent their units to meth addicts, lap dancers, 100 europeans a year who stay for 2 nights each, a club kid who comes home with 10 friends every night and who plays music until 5am or college kids who decide to share the studio with 5 other students.

There ain't no free lunch. Each ownership form has distinct advantages and draw backs. Depends upon your own preferences, needs and intentions for the apartment.

What's your issue with lap dancers?

There is no protection for considerate neighbors. There are rules in all coops and condos, and it is NYC law, that you cannot legally rent a residence for short periods. Does it happen? Yes, so you need to research the building. And any board could sanction an offending owner, if someone is really disruptive in how they are using an apartment. I think it's a better investment to own real property rather than a shareholder and leasehold interest, but to each their own.

@ Hunters: I don't like that scented stripper oil they leave on you.

Prior and during the revolutionary war New Yorkers were required to quarter lap dancers in their homes.

Wait, I think that was red coats.

You are thinking of Dirty Santa.

as to the question at hand,
Coop = old fogy church ladies out to interfear with your personal happiness.
Condo = endless dance party (excuse me neighbor, could I borrow a mirror ball?)
free standing house = keeping the problem 13 feet away

Good fences make good neighbors.

Though there's something to be said for someone living 2 1/2 hours away in Columbia County.

Bravo

"There is no protection for considerate neighbors. There are rules in all coops and condos, and it is NYC law, that you cannot legally rent a residence for short periods. Does it happen? Yes, so you need to research the building. And any board could sanction an offending owner, if someone is really disruptive in how they are using an apartment. I think it's a better investment to own real property rather than a shareholder and leasehold interest, but to each their own."

But only a CO-OP board has the muscle to *evict* an offending tenant.

Agree kyle.
Was just adding that info.
I heard that a former unit owner in my condo was renting his apt out as a "bed and breakfast".
One morning the doorman was greeted by a "guest" who wanted to know when breakfast was served.
The guest didn't speak enough english to get the drift of the doorman's answer.
So he buzzed down on the intercom a few more times.

huntersburg: Riversider should have added "every day", after "buying a cup of tea".

PMG said:
>it is NYC law, that you cannot legally rent a residence for short periods.

I wonder how some bldgs. get around this stipulation... Aren't there condos that openly allow their units to be used as hotels? I think 1600 Broadway is actually marketing itself as being "short-term rental friendly." Do they have an exempt status for some reason, or are they just openly disregarding the law?

ClintonBuyer:
I don't know, but if the building is marketing that way I think the unit owners must have voted an amendment into the bylaws to allow it.

>I think 1600 Broadway is actually marketing itself as being "short-term rental friendly."

If they aren't answering to the tax man currently, they better prepare. The city and state don't like sellers of loosies let alone roll your own's: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/nyregion/roll-your-own-cigarette-shops-sued-by-new-york-city-in-tax-dispute.html

some land lease "owners" consider themselves the proprietor of the appts. seriously?indebted servitude is a more appropriate term.(loan on the land, the llc, and the apt)
coop "owners" consider themselves propietors as well: seriously? with a mortgage on the building and their own shares? I call it piggy back loans like in the worst days of subprime. I won't mention the power trip of "board members" (those who can't make it to be board members of companies, become board members of coops:lol. like asking TSA employees to dictate the rules).
condo "owners" are employed by the banks, lending money at interest that only existed as credit on a falsified balance sheet.
coops are never to be touched.

condo is the world. coop a subsegment of NY (and only for its peculiar tax structure and undercover racism).