make offer contingent on sale of my coop?

It depends. If you are bidding against someone who doesn't need to sell and all else being equal, seller will not pick you. If you are bidding more and/or have better financials, you could prevail. It also depends on how quickly the seller needs to sell. My friend won a bid against an all cash offer with on sale contingency even though his offer was contingent upon the sale of his current property and involved financing (although not contingent on financing) because his offer was higher and the extra $ were worth the wait to the seller.

An offer with a Hubbard (i.e. sale) Contingency is definitely less attractive, especially depending on how long the contingency is for (https://www.hauseit.com/hubbard-contingency-clause-nyc/ good article on the topic).

It's certainly possible especially if you are offering to pay meaningfully more, but I believe in most cases the seller would go with the more certain offer. After all, the seller has even less info on your personal home sale, not much to go on!

I agree, it's a tough situation for a lot of home owners who don't have the free cash to buy a second place outright. Very difficult, almost like a 1031 in terms of timing.

Though I've seen a lot of home owners make it work with residential leaseback agreements, basically the owner staying post closing and paying the new buyer something reasonable to make the timing work.

Also, you could try waiving your mortgage contingency, but discuss that with your lawyer for sure, if it's worth doing that to make your offer more attractive!

How are you planning to go about selling / buying by the way? Broker? Hauseit? FSBO? Flat fee? Craigslist?

Have you looked into bridge financing?

I've only heard of people considering bridge financing when they're very desperate, as in they blew past their mortgage contingency and now need to get a loan, fast, or lose their deposit. Too expensive for most people on problems such as this, which aren't an emergency imo.

I think if you really want this place you'd probably have to bid aggressively, and hope that the seller is flexible on when she needs to move. Have you considered getting a rebate through guys like Hauseit? They have some good brokers in Harlem I've heard. You'll need someone with 1031 experience, or at least experience buying/selling at same time for the same client.

Have you considered selling and pocketing the money, renting for 1 yr and then starting your search when you already have cash in hand?

NYC's market is hyper competitive. It's hard enough to win a property with a mortgage contingency let alone a sale contingency!

Is bridge financing more expensive than paying an extra 5% to 10% on the purchase price in order to be bidding aggressively enough to get this type of contingency? I don't think so. Yes, it will cost you money - just like everything else. The question is which is the least costly option.

Why not list your coop for sale and start bidding once you have a contract? In the meantime, look around and understand the market for what you want.

Thanks for your responses.

We would not be seeking financing for the new place - only the sale contingency. So it would be a cash offer contingent on the sale of our current apartment. Our current coop is huge with 2-3 three apartments exactly the same as mine in contract at any one time. A seller would be able to easily see how quickly my apartment would be likely to sell.

I wish we could rent - but I cannot afford NYC rent. I am semi-retired and bridge financing is unpalatable at this stage of my financial life.

I think bidding after we are in contract is the best approach. How common is a rent back in NYC if we need to stay in our current place for a month or so to complete the sale on a new place?

I also qualify for the HDFCs with high income limits - would those places be more accepting of a contingent offer or are they a bad investment and not to be considered?

Agree you don't want a hard money loan / bridge financing if you're retired. In terms of renting back, it's fairly common. You just need to get a https://www.hauseit.com/nyc-residential-leaseback-agreement-template/ executed.

Obviously you'll need to agree on terms, such as how much the new owner will be receiving in "rent." Usually it's the carrying costs, such as common charges, mortgage, home ins. etc. but is negotiable.

Lucky you on qualifying for a HDFC!

By the way, how "huge" is your co-op? What's the address may we ask?

If you really have multiple identical lines in contract, then pricing should be very transparent for you. Have you considered just doing a flat fee RLS listing and selling it yourself?

My coop is at 345 W 145th st. Almost all of the apartments are one bedrooms and they all sell for about the same price and spend roughly the same amount of time on the market and in contract. I think a seller could be confident that my sale would go through.

I'm thinking now that I will have to buy a place with a flaw in order to be successful with a sale contingency. I just have to figure out what kind of flaw I'm willing to live with.

What did you end up deciding to do, just curious? Flat fee RLS? FSBO? Traditional 6%?

dubiousraves, if you are still looking for a coop with flaws, take a look at a few leaseholds e.g. 420 East 51st where sellers seem to be very willing to deal because of the ridiculously high monthly maintenance.

Hi dubiousraves,

I live in Hamilton Heights and focus my business mostly north of 96th st on the West Side- through upper Washington Heights. I think others have laid out your options well, as the market on desireable properties won't give you proper considerations of needing to sell at the same. Up here it is far more common to see mortgage contingencies than you woulld in prime Manhattan- but even still most of the buyers are putting hefty down payments to be competitve. Yes, Hillview Towers are a rather predictable sale pattern- but when sellers have all cash offers or buyers financing but putting 50% down, sellers are generally ok with that. Add in a sale contingency...not so much. HDFC's are another beast altogeher. I actually teach a course to other agents throughout my firm on them. I have found HDFC's to be far more dfficult on the whole vs a market rate apartment at the same price point (obviously there will be a difference in size) due to not just the income restrictions, but also the addditional complications (flip taxes, financial state of he building, financability, interview prior to contracts, etc). They are far riskier than most people understand. That said, there are some well run HDFC's that can be a great deal- but understand it's not as simple as just meetting the income restriction to purchase.