Price range

What neighborhood(s) are you considering?
How old are you?
How many adults and how many children in the residence?

Family of four. School aged kids. Will have around $650k in cash for some combination of down payment, liquid assets after closing and renovation costs (figuring we may fare better with a fixer upper if we find one). We have roots in the UWS so want to stay. Thinking we're likely in the convertible (not real) 3 range.

Take a look @ 342 W 85th. 3bdr2ba for $2M just listed. I don't own it but owner is in RE biz, purchased as investment/flip.

You can go into a mortgage calculator (the SE one works fine) and put in numbers such that you input your anticipated cash up front (leave yourself 3-4 years maint/mtg) and a DTI of 20-25% for your HHI. What you can afford in purchase price will depend on maint obviously.

Thank you. All helpful. Question I always had on DTI ratio, are boards looking pre or post-tax. Huge difference of course. Are most boards really looking for 3-4 years mortgage plus maintenance now? I was hoping still more like two. Obviously we won't be in white glove buildings anyway. Thanks again.

Most boards look at pre-tax income when evaluating DTI and require at least 24 months mortgage + maintenance. If you have other fixed liabilities (such as car payments or second home carrying costs), those will also be looked at for these calculations.

Dan Gotlieb
Digs Realty Group
www.digsrealtynyc.com

Or look for a no-board-approval apartment, where there's only the bank to satisfy. A couple of these have either a dining room or maid's room to use as the third bedroom: http://streeteasy.com/coops/uws/status:open%7Cbeds%3E=2%7Csale_type:S