Co-op Application Process

first service residential has on line application and its really good

RED, what neighborhood is this in?

RED, what neighborhood is this in?

The amount of paperwork for my new coop was mind boggling. The buyer and seller brokera reviewed it and tweaked it for over a week. However, once submitted, approval only took a month.

The current electronic portals can be pretty confusing, though I think a step in the right direction. We have completed a number of them. We use ADOBE PRO to securely, efficiently process "paper" board applications. Digitize all documents and make them writable, use passwords when sending completed pdfs and sensitive docs. Essentially We Prepare The Entire package, Then Meet the clients to get signatures. Once you have a system in place it's not that difficult.

Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group

I'm going to say "thumbs down" on electronic applications, because they don't allow for any variability. It's one thing (and fine) for a board to want a completed application scanned and submitted as a PDF, or -- the way Keith B. does it -- assembled in Acrobat Pro and then submitted as a PDF. If the management company wants to see the package on a thumb drive, no problem. But to ask for an application through a portal that goes document by document deprives applicants of the art of assembling a board package -- substituting documents, making highlights, and writing notes to guide the board through an application that can be 300 pages long. It's a disservice to any buyer who isn't cookie-cutter perfect.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Thanks for all of the comments. In regards to substituting documents, where (which sections/types of documents) do you generally see this? I assumed most applicants would be following the board application as requested rather than making their own edits.

let's see, RED -- I had a client who had recently retired, so in the application, in addition to providing historical financials, and supplementing documentation for those, we provided a pro forma financial for what retirement income would look like, and supplementary documentation for that. I had another client who had a reference letter that was provided on letterhead from a referrer who had since changed her phone number, so I had to annotate that. I had another time where the Aztechs had to get reprocessed since the middle name of the purchaser had been omitted, and the legal name didn't match the driver's license. I represented a landlord who used his co-op sublet application, but we swapped out the boilerplate lease offered by the co-op for our own lease, and then both sides kept adding riders at the last minute.

Those are all examples I can think of from the past couple of months. None of these were $5 million deals, just everyday business in neighborhoods from Chelsea to Midtown to Hudson Heights, but each one needed that little bit of customization to get across the finish line.

FYI: The PDF is for the listing agent/broker to review. The managing agent receives copies or what ever format they request. I hear you on the electronic portal, sort of cumbersome uploading all the documents. We wind up spending a lot of time with the buyers, sellers and other agent (if they have not done it before). If the docs are not entered correctly it wont allow you to continue. If the seller has not entered their information correctly it prevents us from entering ours. Far from perfect.

Keith Burkhardt
TBG