Co-op board at 55 E 76th

We applied to buy an estate-sale condition apartment at 55 E 76th that had been on the market for nearly 3 years. The apartment is shaped roughly like a bowling alley, one that can be configured as 3 tiny bedrooms and an oddly shaped living room. It is listed at $1.299M, we were in contract at $1.25MM. The sellers (estate sale) could not have been lovelier--very sane, rational, eager to transact.... [more]

We applied to buy an estate-sale condition apartment at 55 E 76th that had been on the market for nearly 3 years. The apartment is shaped roughly like a bowling alley, one that can be configured as 3 tiny bedrooms and an oddly shaped living room. It is listed at $1.299M, we were in contract at $1.25MM. The sellers (estate sale) could not have been lovelier--very sane, rational, eager to transact. We filled out the 100+ page coop board application, 6 personal reference letters, $1500+ background search fee and waited...and waited. Mind you, this co-op had been listed for 2+ years and had already had a sale rejected from an all-cash buyer with (supposedly $10MM+ cash on hand) so we were hopeful that as local NYC buyers with $2MM plus cash post closing we would qualify. After 3 months, $2500 in application fees and waiting (and missing the market!!) we were rejected. My strident advice is not to waste your time with this building. If you do your digging, the coop board is run by civil servants including a long-time Fed Reserve employee (no job insecurity there!) and a bunch of old bitties who think this is an architectural gem whose long-term value must be "protected" by inhibiting the sale of apartments to the "unworthy." That means that apartments for sale here often linger for years on end which is hard for the seller--can be miserable if they are in arrears as is often the case. The coop hinks this building is the cat's pajamas and while we certainly saw the charm, the apartments don't lay out well for any use other than pied-a-terre. My advice is pass on this building due to the co-op board's delusions of grandeur. And if you are, like us, convinced that somehow their arcane rules won't apply to you, then I would encourage you to speak to the seller on the 4th floor. (If yor read the meeting minutes, you will see this particular owner has been trying to renovate for years and is at her wit's end because the co-op board puts every obstacle in the way.) At any rate, we were thankfully rejected, and in the end bought a condo in Tribeca for 2x the price and are thrilled not to have to contend with the archaic and value-inhibiting institution that runs this building. It's very sad because the building is lovely, but we're happy because we averted a financial catastrophe in getting entangled in a building that would reject 2 very liquid buyers over 3 years and leave the estate-sale seller holding the bag on an unsaleable, overpriced, unrenovated apartment hemmoraghing $4k+ per month. That sad sack could be you... Run away from this apartment. Run away from this building. [less]