this apt looks to cheap for what you get...

More than $2,700 in common charges seems like a lot.

With only five apartments in the building, $2,700 is probably not too high. My concern would concern the "owner" carrying some of the common charges for three years. If by owner they mean the developer, this might be ok. But if this is a resale, I would be wary of that. You could end up in some protracted litigation.

I had the same thought. 2700$ is about what I pay in rent right now - there is no way I can carry a million dollar mortgage on top of that.

the question really is: why are they so fucking desperate?

What are you talking about???? This apartment is WAY overpriced - um, it is over 1k/square foot, not new and $2700 in common charges? This apt. is not moving for a LONG LONG LONG time at that price.

Way overpriced? Almost 1400 sft with a 500+ sft south facing terrace. I'm not so sure. The common charges do sound high and seller paying parts of first 3 years will not help when you have to sell. I have heard a rule of thumb that CC & Tax should be no more than $1.50/sft. Which equates to $2100 in this case. Extra $600/month is equal to $120K in purchase price.

when maintenance is that high it is usually a sign that the building is having financial troubles. There could be extra assessments due to a law suit, significant structural problems, etc. This guy is looking to get out by paying part of the maintenance. I would be very wary about this one.

It's a 5 unit building that looks newly renovated. High maintenance might be perfectly OK. If you include the extra 500 SFT in the total square footage the maintenance starts to sound right.

If its one of the events posited above, than that would be temporary and maybe the fact that the seller is covering the maint. for 3 years would take you through the end of the assessment period. Bottom line - you need facts not guesses to assess this.

there are apts going for more than 7M that have lower MT fees,
trust me i live in one

... and there are apartments that are going for less than $1MM that have higher MT fees. But what exactly does that have to do with anything?

The MT costs and the purchase price are corelated. If you had 2 IDENTICAL apartments: one with $1000/mo in MT and one with $2000/mo in MT - which is more valuable? The apartment with a lower MT cost should be less expensive. And the math to solve for the exact price differential is simple.

PV = d / (r - g)

where d is the difference in annual maintenance