Has anyone ever heard of this??? Very odd

here's the link to the article
http://gawker.com/that-rich-22-year-old-s-250-000-apartment-actually-cos-1372429961

unsure: uh, actually:
what you read in the NY Observer should not be taken as fact, in the usual RE seller/purchaser situations.
Even though it was a "starter" apartment.

The co-op would go broke pretty quickly, throwing money at departing shareholders, just to inflate recorded sale prices.

Maybe it was a $x-per-share sort of flip tax, charged to the seller but paid to the buyer. Or maybe they got the lawyer who filed the transfer-tax return with the city to perjure herself. None of it makes any sense.

If true, though, it's good for us taxpayers, as transfer taxes were paid on the larger amount.

It's http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/699433-coop-54-east-8th-street-greenwich-village-new-york

05/02/2005 Previous Sale recorded for $320,000.
08/04/2012 Listed by Douglas Elliman at $335,000.
03/19/2013 Listing entered contract.
06/04/2013 Sale recorded for $345,000.

NWT: It makes no sense because it was a poorly researched, passed-the-editor article.
The Editor had to B.S. double-time to make it sound right.

I think you're right. The story needed to be "I bought in the Village with a #250K budget!" so she wrote it to fit.

There'd be too much liability for everyone involved if it was true.

How true, NWT.

Okay. So I'm not crazy. The idea of a coop board giving a buyer a high five figure rebate sounded insane. I'd also assume that a bank would not extend a mortgage under those terms. Presumably the editor of the NEW YORK Observer lives in New York? How could he not have a basic understanding of coops and land leases. And, if not, I'm really surprised he didn't do a bit of research before giving that answer. It's just so far fetched and illogical.

Sometimes a buyer receives a "renovation check" back at closing. As oppose to lowering the sales price due to condition, etc of the unit. The sale will be recorded for a higher amount, so it won't affect building comps and at closing they receive the "renovation" check. I understand that this is done with estate sales sometimes. Maybe this is the case. It also avoids a board turn-down for a too low sales price.

Maybe C0C0 knows. His life and career have revolved around fraud, so he might have insight. Though I guess we can't be sure he would tell us the truth.

Once again, nothing new.

and, of course, you are wrong.

but, of course, you don't care.

I care. I'm not cold hearted.

Maybe. But that's a pretty big "renovation" check. Plus, the editor says the (ninety some odd thousand dollar) rebate was given by the coop board to "compensate" the new buyer for the years on the land lease that she wasn't able to live there. And he claims that's how it works when you buy a land lease apartment. I'm convince that guy is losing his job tomorrow.

what about your family?

do you care about it?

unsure: That editor may or may not "be losing his job tomorrow".
Do you really believe that this streeteasy discussion comments thread will be on the Publisher's
"To Do" list?

Maybe the coop bought from the new shareholder the alcove that's missing from the floorplan, but quite prominently present in the apartment description.

Wait, time out: $345k x 20% = 69,000 downpayment. Regardless of the back story about the $95k credit, which I'm entirely calling bullshit on, she still would have required minimum, $100k of liquid assets to qualify for a loan and even approved by the coop. I'll use my 2nd grade math skills for this one. $100,000 cash - $69k downpayment leaves $31,000 which accounts for 2 years of maintenance and mortgage. $50k gift from parents? Where did the other $50k come from? $95k refund for a "land lease"? Bullshit. Never heard of such a situation. Family member co-signed the loan, so it was a co-purchase? Therefore justifying the documentation require to qualify for the board? Does she have a job paying $80k+ at age 22? Definitely a "everybody can do it too story"! Sounds like princess needed a "New York" moment and a family member made a call to The Observer and considering this 22 year likely has a large group of idiot friends entirely detached from reality she thought possibly this story could stick, but then something happened, the few remaining smart New Yorkers, ahhh forget it.....

Oh man. Just read the actual article. I didn't make it more than possibly 30 words in before this: "Before the purchase, I was shelling out over $2,000 a month for a four flight walk-up, a glorified attic in the not-yet-chic part of Alphabet City" So does that ipsofacto mean she is a pioneer of some unknown region of white influence in the East Village? Would that make me Christopher Columbus in that case? I did park the Santa Maria on Ave A in 1993 when I arrived.

Last comment. It's all a lie. I just got through the remainder of the story. Unless of course we have a perfect trifecta of morons here -- I entirely admit this is possible -- that listing agent didn't qualify the buyer until the application was to be submitted? Polly just "blew off" the request to document more assets and the board approved this!? Zero dollars in the bank at age 22?

Truth: No, I'm not suggesting streeteasy threads are the final word on job sustainment in publishing. This whole controversy is on a website that covers media and publishing. That's where I first read about it and that's where I'd imagine the trouble would come from. If, indeed, that sort of egregious-fact-checking is frowned upon at the New York Observer. Who knows?

Nah: I looked up her rental in the not-chic-part of "Alphabet City". She was at 11th street and Ave B. Which, to my mind, is pretty prime East Village. So....I'm doubting that claim too.

It looks like the grandmother kicked in a ton of money and made the purchase possible.

Still, if she was renting for $2000 per month, then presumably she has a very high income -- $80k per year or something close.

If she were, say, even 27 or 28 instead of 22, and had been saving money from that handsome salary for a number of years, it would be much more reasonable that she'd have the $69k down payment and the ~$30k for future maintenance/mortgage. Couldn't they have found someone like that and still spun things as "look, people in their 20s can buy in Manhattan"?

She works in marketing, so $80K is possible, though it seems unlikely.

The part I call BS on is the level of age discrimination she says she faced. I've certainly helped 22-year-olds buy co-ops, and if a 22-year-old who had gone to college in New York City showed up with a job and a co-signer, you can bet brokers from every agency in town would be all over her to help her realize her dreams.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

$80K seems unlikely for this specific individual, but not generally for starting salaries of some graduates of better colleges (assuming fairly broad distribution of numbers within a particular class):
http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/full-list-of-schools

Especially graduates of military colleges. Things that make you go hmmm.

The bottom line is that she had help in purchasing her apartment which makes her very much like many other 20-somethings that purchase in NYC. That is totally fine and she can be credited with being a fiscally responsible 22 yo but lets be honest, without her family there is no way she could purchase. Additionally, I call BS on the aforementioned "credit for the land lease".

so the whole article is BS. she must have mistyped the price or discounted the apartment price by $85K that grandma gave.

she did put her self out and may cause issues for herself in the future as anyone who will google her will see how much of an idiot she is and that she gets everywhere by having people help her.

unsure: "If", indeed.
websites that cover media and publishing are about as threatening to the editor's job as is this streeteasy discussion.
Most B.S. article exposure just gets schmeared-around at the next Editorial meeting. Editors come and go at a high rate
in the newspaper business, so the next editor may be on the way in at any time. It's all about the publication's advertisers.

Ali R:
My first job on Wall Street in 1997 at her age was $35k plus bonus, which turned out to be $10k. There isn't a chance in hell that at 22, even present day working in marketing, she is making $80k or more.

And I agree, just out of college (I.e. 22 year old) buyers with parental help (preferably co-purchase) are actually ideal buyers. And I agree, 99% of experienced brokers would jump for these customers. They're generally single, decisive and frankly, would rather be doing something else other than looking at apartments. It's usually the showing 10 apts, pick one, call dad, ask for tax returns and its a done deal more or less. For a broker, these are bread and butter deals. You wait all year for that $5mm + deal, but selling a bunch of $400k-$500k Jr 1's to people like this is good business. So yeah, calling BS that no one would work with her is correct. Sounds like she has some issues and what I'm thinking is that she's on the lower end of the 1% scale. I've seen this exact scenario in the past. $100 says her family has a net worth more than $2mm or $3mm (probably more), but I'm figuring the circle of people she is around have net worths of $10mm + and she's projecting an image of hardship that she doesn't have what they have so she had to go out and do it on her own with whatever little resources she had available all the while she's still better off than 98% of Americans. Fine. That's not a problem. The problem is that she actually thinks she might be normal or "poor." Sorry for a little Dr. Drew, but I'll wager $100 I'm right on the money with this one.

Nah: So, is that two wagers at 100 bucks each?
I agree with your comment. If anybody takes you up on the wager(s), how you ever 'gonna get paid?

Hijack: Nah, I'm a decade older than you. My first (and last) job on Wall Street was in the late '80s.

I agree with you that for a broker these are bread-and-butter deals, but they're also lead-generating, because as an agent, you take care of the kid, and then you sell the parents a pied-a-terre ten-fifteen years later.

ali