Financial Info to Buyer Agent During Offers

At minimum, the sellers will want to see a snapshot of your financials: income statement (current salary + bonus, if any) and balance sheet (assets, especially liquidity, and liabilities). They need to determine that you are financially capable of carrying the unit and getting approval from the board.

Welcome to NYC. Different beast. Be prepared to reveal absolutely everything about your financials. People here though think it is perfectly normal. When in Rome...

Despy13: The requirement may seem unreasonable, but it is standard - especially in hot market sectors where sellers have their choice of aggressive bids.

The simplest way to reduce the hassle is just to keep an Excel version of the REBNY financial disclosure form, and update it monthly so you have it ready to accompany an offer. Your agent probably has a blank version you can use. If not, I can send you one.

By the way, you may not need to disclose all of your holdings when presenting an offer. Your agent can advise you on how much you need to show in order to qualify for a particular property, and whether you will encounter trouble later if your Board package shows more assets than the initial submission.

Look at it from the POV of the co-op owners: It is taking a very specific, and slightly scary, risk to invite someone who you don't know to live next door to you, with the caveat that if that person doesn't pay his/her bills, then you will.

The request for financial disclosure is therefore self-protective, but it also measures a kind of ... willingness to work with the process.

So if you want to buy a co-op, expect to make full financial disclosure. If you are so famous that you are mentioned on Page Six all the time, then maybe you can skip showing some of your holdings, but if you are just run-of-the-mill rich, and trying not to show a few million dollars to protect your privacy, it is a recipe for a turndown.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Hard to add to everyone else's posts. They've summed it up.

What I do suggest and don't count on others to do, magic marker out the last couple digits of account numbers or social security # on every page you submit from your statements or tax returns.
It is not essential for them to have yet a recipe for ID theft disaster.

Even my buyer's broker, a dear friend, had my board package floating around the office for 2 days. He originally laughed at me for being paranoid, he understood after. Those without substancial assets tend to not understand the importance of protecting others'.

You can also do that digitally for your PDF docs, using free PDF editing software readily available online. Just change the color of the highlighter from yellow to black.

Airborne SSNs are much worse for you than asbestos dust. One exposure can be deadly.

I disagree that you need to disclose actual financials with the offer. I would simply state your job, years of experience and pre qualification letter from the bank. If the seller likes your offer, they will come back for more info. In that case, be willing to provide this info after your broker has some assurance that seller will accept the offer if financials are strong.

good luck. terrible advice. no one will take you seriously.

C0lumbiaC0unty, always helpful.

http://www.columbiacounty.com/