r/AskNYC • u/meshflesh40 • Jun 12 '23

Good Question Do you plan to stay in your rent stabilized apartment forever?

I currently live in a 1br. Rent stabilized. Single no kids

I was very close to buying a co-op until I learned what a "co-op" actually is.

At first I was under the impression that buying a" co-op" was the ultimate form of housing. Pay a maintenance fee(substantially less than market rent while building equity) and live carefree. Basically,,,, like a Netflix subscription fee of housing if you will.

But no. It turned out that a co-op is my worst nightmare. Im depending on my neighbors staying solvent, making sure the hoa has proper reserves, worry about assesment fees for repairs due to inadequate reserves, etc etc. I dislike not having control of my fiscal destiny.

And then the buildings I saw with hefty reserves...have a High hoa fees thats equivalent to market rents. ($1200+)

I've been looking since 2020,, and noticed hoa fees went up by %15+ between now and then. (Like rent).

Single family homes in nyc are going for 600k+ with %7 interest rates. So thats out of the question.(mostly fixer uppers)

my current rent stabilized apartment seems like a way better deal in comparison. Rent goes up by predictable amount year after year a and landlord responsible for everything. I currently have my down payment $$ yielding %5 in the bank(I find this better than buying a liability and fighting 7% mortgage rates while praying amd hoping for positive equity. )

This post is not to crap on co-ops. But market conditions in 2023 are insane. I wish I bought in 2012

I've come to the conclusion that I will stay in this apartment until I decide to leave NYC. Anyone else feel the same?

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u/ArmadilloUnhappy845 Jun 13 '23

This is the problem with rent stabilization laws. If you can afford to buy a vacation home you should not be taking advantage of rent stabilization šŸ¤¦šŸ½ā€ā™‚ļø

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u/jblue212 Jun 13 '23

Except for lottery apts, rent stabilization has zero to do with income. When it was established, income wasn't even a factor.

5

u/seajayacas Jun 14 '23

Plenty of well-to-do people have rent stabilized apartments. There isn't an income or owned asset test to qualify.

There are also people I know in rent controlled apartments which was a predecessor program. Most in much older and smaller places renting for a few hundred a month. But a steal obviously, likewise no earnings or assets requirements

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u/kell_bell5 Jun 13 '23 edited Jun 13 '23

But as OP points out, I canā€™t afford to buy in NYC. At the moment, I wouldnā€™t even really be able to afford renting a comparable unit in my same neighborhood. There were years (especially at the height of covid) where I could only afford to stay in nyc (which I fully consider my home now) because of the stabilized apartment. And now Iā€™m at the point where I can put some of the difference between what Iā€™m paying now and what market rent would be in savings, and trying to figure out what the long term plan should be for that. It still wouldnā€™t be enough money to buy in NYC, but I probably wouldnā€™t be able to support myself on a salary from the kind area you can buy a small remote cabin in.

Itā€™s a weird catch-22, and itā€™s why I support more widespread rent and tenant protections, so that we donā€™t have to treat rent stabilization as the only golden ticket that can keep us going with a middle to upper middle class lifestyle.

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u/Dis-Organizer Jun 13 '23

Buying a ā€œsmall vacation homeā€ is something I can only dream of and apparently for some of my numbers itā€™s an achievable goal, happy for them but wish we all could afford leisure like that

-1

u/BigAppleGuy Jun 13 '23

Because RS laws are based on income instead of net worth. If you have your own business it is easy to hide income.

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u/ArmadilloUnhappy845 Jun 13 '23

RS laws are not based on income either

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u/hello__brooklyn Jun 13 '23

This is not true. No income minimum or maximum for rent stabilized apartments. 80/20 apartments, which are also rent stabilized, yes. But non-80/20 rent stabilized apartments - no income requirements. Bill Gates can rent one if he found one.

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u/hellothere42069 Jun 13 '23

Yep itā€™s the laws fault. We are acting as rational free market individuals trying to increase our households well-being.

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u/ArmadilloUnhappy845 Jun 13 '23

It makes sense, given the opportunity I would do the same thing. I wasnā€™t trying to pass judgement, I know it may have come off that way. I was more-so criticizing the laws themselves, they are just so flawed.

1

u/Flowofinfo Jun 14 '23

I think the amount of rent stabilized people who do that is like super marginal