Category: Guides

International students’ parents buy Manhattan NYC Condos

International students’ parents buy Manhattan NYC Condos

Many of our foreign buyers are parents of International students from Europe, Asia, Canada,Latin America and other countries. Other than many career and investment opportunities, Manhattan New York has many distinguish universities and colleges that offers many international students undergraduate and graduate degrees. We helped many parents of international students from New York university, Parsons school of Art and Design, School of Visual Arts (SVA), Columbia University, the Jillard school, Cooper Union and other academic institutions.

Here are some options for international students and the parents to consider: School dormitory: If the student is very young and new to New York, the first year or first 6 months they usually stay in the dormitory so they can familiarize themselves with the city. This option is usually more expensive than renting an non-dorm apartment in the school surrounding areas.

Renting an non-dorm apartment:

This option costs slightly less than dormitory, although as an International student or foreigner, majority landlords requires extra security deposit sometimes up to 6 months of rent upfront to 12 months rent to establish relationship and security. If the student or parents do not have United States social security number, nor US credit history, the parents usually have to pay for one year upfront to obtain an rental apartment.

Buying a Manhattan New York condo or building:

This is often the option for most of the international parents chose. In today’s market, there are well priced Manhattan New York condos for international students and parents to choose from.  The important thing is to establish the location, the price range and the time frame to maximize the Manhattan New York condo search.

Buying a Manhattan New York Condo as parents buying for children, you should plan ahead, and speak with all the parties involved (not you and your child but rather the right mortgage consultant/banker, accountant and a knowledgeable Manhattan Real Estate attorney.)

Mortgage consultant:

If you are planning to buy the condo all cash, that is always desirable when presenting offers to condo sellers. Keep in mind that you should have enough equity in case there is an increase in monthly carrying charge for this condo or other building upgrades. If you are planning on financing this investment, be sure to speak to a local Manhattan lender that is familiarize with the market, the lending rules, and the mortgage products that may be suitable for you and your son/daughter.

Accountant:

If you are planning to co-purchase the condo with your child, be sure to discuss the possible tax complication you may have with your accountant. Speak to your accountant prior to your purchase can be very helpful.

Manhattan Real Estate Attorney:

In addition, speak to a local Real Estate attorney will be helpful as well since the local Manhattan Real Estate can also advise you what is the best way to structure the purchase and think about who/how should take the title of the deed.

Looking to buy a condo for your son or daughter? And not sure where to start, give us a call (917)837-8869, let us help you.

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Mortgage is Not All About You

So what are we talking about when we say Getting a Mortgage is Not All About You? We often hear the buyers say, “Oh don’t worry about it, I can easily get a mortgage.

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Can I get more discount as an All Cash Buyer

Can I get more discount as an All Cash Buyer in New York city?

Many of our buyers are all cash buyers from local market or international buyers. Manhattan is very competitive market place and it is a city full very successful professionals and high income producing entrepreneurs of many industries such as finance, fashion, culinary and etc.

In today’s market place, we are seeing many sales are all cash in all price range.
A good percentage of our buyers are out of town parents buying for their son or daughter all cash one/two bedroom units at $1M-$2M range to international or foreign investor buyers investing over $8M all in cash.

To get a better idea, about 80% of our buyers are all cash with no financing needed, serious and motivated buyers. All cash buyers prefer to work with us because we are experienced and can negotiate ideal price or terms for our buyers in this highly competitive Real Estate market.

A fair question that asked a lot by the buyers are How much discount can they get since they are paying all cash? To be specific, here are several factors determined the amount (%) of discount a cash buyer can receive.

Ideal Condo neighborhood & location: We have many buyers interested in high demand and popular neighborhoods such as near Central Park, Union Square, TriBeCa, West Village or convenient locations that is easy to commute or travel to universities. These neighborhoods are internationally well known neighborhoods in Manhattan, therefore, there are many other buyers also on the market seeking the perfect home in those neighborhoods, there will always be more buyers than housing inventory in these specific neighborhood.  When and if a fair priced condo comes up on the market and it is in move in condition, there is a good chance that there will be multiple offers in place and other all cash offers, therefore, the seller will entertain and accept likely the highest price offer if all offers are cash.

Closing time frame: If this condo is a brand new construction and it is completed ready to move in, then the condo can close within 10 days if all parties are available. If the condo is a resale condo, with an all cash offer, the closing can take place 30-45 days. If the seller is motivated, they will be looking to close as soon as possible, this means if you are all cash, and your funds are ready, then there is a good chance of negotiating with seller an ideal price since it is an all cash and can close as soon as possible.

Terms of the offer: This sometimes apply to some new construction condos. Some new construction condos in Manhattan sometimes will offer buyers’ incentives. Some of the buyer incentives perhaps are giving buyer a gift card to a home decorating store or other form of gift cards, some will offer paying off part of the closing cost, this all depends on how the new construction condo is selling, if they are selling well, then most likely there will not be any incentive. With these incentives, they also count as part of the ‘discount’, even if the discount is not directly off the sales price, it is still a good way to receive some perks if the developer is motivated.
On the other hand, if you are flexible on your neighborhood preference, we do have a list of condos that have very motivated sellers that would be willing to entertain and negotiate with reasonable All cash offers. As of current day of market place, we are seeing many sellers are open to negotiation when it comes to all cash without mortgage contingency offers.

Many all cash buyers work with us because we are able to protect our buyers’ interests and negotiate many favorable terms for our buyer, our all cash buyers are always delighted with our savvy negotiation skills and refer their friends and families to us.

If you are an all cash buyer and would like to discuss how we can maximize your all cash offer, call (917)837-8869.

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Use Local Experts for your NYC condo purchase

Use Local Experts for your NYC condo purchase

Manhattan New York is an international city, we work with both buyers and sellers are from another state or country. In a typical Manhattan Real Estate transaction, there are many parties involved in a transaction: 2 or more attorneys, 2 Real Estate agents, Buyers and sellers, Title company, Mortgage professionals, and etc. At the closing table, often there are almost 10 people attending one closing.

In many occasions, our sellers or buyers often have previous work or business contacts that they prefer to use from another part of the world, country or even state (sometimes, it is a family relative, friend, or someone referred by someone they know.)

CAUTION! Every local Real Estate market has its own rules, laws and policies, by using the local experts, it will benefit you as the buyer or seller to have the most smooth transaction without stress or unexpected obstacles.

In a Real Estate transaction in Manhattan New York, below two are the key experts that you absolutely should use an local expert.

Attorney

PLEASE use a Manhattan New York based REAL ESTATE attorney (this means not just any attorney can do the job, Real Estate attorney that is currently practice in New York is a must) that is familiarize with the type of property you are purchasing. Whether is condo or co-op or townhouse, be sure they have a stellar reputation and track record in representing clients. Many buyers use the amount of fee the attorney charge as a way to chose the attorney, it is good to be frugal, but their track record should be the most important thing and not the fee they charge. A good attorney can minimize your risk in the transaction, protect you from many unknown.

Mortgage Consultants

Buying in Manhattan New York is unique and very different than buying in any other state, county, or country. Mortgage consultants who has experiences working in Manhattan New York market will know how to navigate through the co-op or condo management to obtain the information they need in order to push your application through. They will also have a keen sense of the deadline in the contract and work with the Real Estate agents to get the coop or condo board package together.

Real Estate agents

As Active and full time Real Estate agents, we pride ourselves in working efficiently with our buyers and sellers to maximize their Manhattan investment. When working with buyers, we discuss the overall goals and timeframe, explaining the different housing inventory and expected price range, recommend appropriate mortgage consultant, accountant, attorneys(if needed), select the best suited property, negotiate essential terms for the buyer, facilitate the contract signing, working on condo/coop application, final walk through checklist, and eventual success sale. When working with sellers, our interest is always to maximize the seller’s profit in the most current market, set the price ahead of the market, creative and aggressively market the property, qualify buyers and negotiate favorable terms for the seller and facilitate the sale to closing table. To benefit your purchase or sale of your property, call us at 917 837 8869 so we can discuss strategies in detail.

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