building at 212 East 48th Street

Full disclosure - I own in this building, i do not have a unit on the market.

The property is a dream to live in, the staff is friendly and reliable.
Building is very well maintained.
Managment is less than perfect but are not too obtrusive.
The building financials are in very good condition with low debt and a very large capital reserve.
Good access to transportation and you are walking distance to anything that you might want.

Maintenance is high due to the fact it is a smaller building with a fiscally conservative management and 24 hour full time doormen (I believe thaat we have 5 Doormen, a Super and a Porter which are all union)

I believe in the last audit we ran an operating surplus in the 4-5 figures.

I have never seen a seperate assesment be charged for a spcific item, and I have never seen a unscheduled service distruption (heat/water/elevator/etc).

As for the variable SF that is more an issue with the brokers, with the exception of the ground and PH the floor plates are exactly the same.

Thanks Seth. The building does look nice. I was surprised that the maintenance went up so much in the past 5 years. Is due to RE taxes? $2100+ in maintenance for a one bedroom seems high. And these are last year's figures. How much did maintenance increase this year? Is it possible to reduce the service in this building if enough residents vote on that (5 doormen and a porter seems a lot for a small coop). Do you know if the 5D and 9D that were on the market for more than a year eventually sold?
Thank you,
David

Another quick question. What do you mean by " fiscally conservative management". Did you mean financially or fiscally? Thank you for your comments!

Jd1234,
Some more specific answers for your follow up questions:
- Increases have averaged 2-3% every other year.
- RE Taxes are a major portion of the maintenance (the maintenance is approx. 40% tax-deductible.
- I doubt that the Co-op would be amiable to a service reduction (just my feeling from the group). I would expect that if we got organized we could significantly reduce the expenses on the property. I doubt that the residents want to deal with the consequences of reducing the level of service or have the time/will to actually go through the service contracts.
- Staff have been around for a long time, are all union and the residents have developed relationships with them so it is not as easy as you might think to trim down the staff.
- 5D did sell; I am not sure about 9D. As it is a small building there are not going to be too many units in the building available at the same time, but there are usually a few units every year that come to market.
- What I mean by "fiscally conservative management" is that the management is not really willing to allocate funds towards investing in the building (making it more efficient in small ways) and would rather have a huge reserve account for potential improvements down the line (such as preparing for major capital improvements without needing to borrow $ or waiting to fund an assessment).

Thanks Seth, this is helpful.

what is included in the common charges

Would love to buy a [non-1st-floor] C-line apartment! Anyone interested in selling?