buying a condo in a brownstone - help?

You have to check the financials of the building. Check out the engineering report in the prospectus. Also find out if the other condo owner will have more voting power than you. If this is the case, then I would not want to buy into this building.
Ellen Silverman
Licensed real estate broker since 1987
Licensed mortgage broker since 1990

This unit would have 53% majority. What should I look for in the engineering report?

I wouldn't do it. Too risky. If the other owner defaults you'd be stuck holding the bag. Also may be hard to get a bank loan.

It can be risky but it can be rewarding depending on the type of property you are seeking. If you are buying in a small building you definitely need a great NYC real estate attorney as well as a solid inspector/engineer to evaluate the risks. If you are financing you also may have some challenges. I have done quite a few deals in small buildings/brownstones please feel free to contact me directly if you have questions. Nicole Elyse Paikoff/Licensed Associate Broker/Corcoran 212-937-1642 /npaikoff@corcoran.com

You want to know about boiler, roof, HVAC, pests, and electrical code -- but I would be most concerned about foundation stability - you have homes on either side of you, and if those owners have done anything to jeopardize their foundations (say, by excavating down) your home may not be on solid footing.

The classic signs of foundation trouble in a single-family house are sloped stairs, cracked foundation walls, and drainage problems around the edge of the home.... I'm sure an engineer who is familiar with brownstones can come up with more.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

You may find difficulty when you go to sell it because in market turndowns it can be hard to find a lending institution who will lend on a Coop/Condo with less than 6 units. Also, you will have to spend more time self managing the building than you are used to: I'm pretty sure a 2 unit Condo is not going to hire a managing agent and if you do it will cost an awful lot per unit as compared to a larger building.

Run a thorough background check on the other owner - all family members. When you move in, install fiber optic cameras in the hallways to keep records and keep the snippets of anything you see wrong, like you are a producer of Big Brother or Survivor, and save those for the future. In addition, start keeping a journal of problems, and make up all sorts of problems but record them in your journal so if you ever need to prove they are a problem eg to the police or to the courts etc, you have contemporaneous "evidence". If you never have to use any of this, wonderful, but if something goes wrong with them during your ownership or at the time you or they are trying to sell, this will make all the difference. You are welcome. Check out the movie Pacific Heights starring one of the two good movie Batman guys.