In Manhattan the board matters as much as the budget. What they look at, in what order, and how to present yourself honestly.
The Manhattan co-op board has a reputation for arbitrariness that it does not entirely deserve. Boards are conservative, slow and occasionally rude, but they are rarely random. They are protecting the building’s balance sheet.
What they are actually looking at
Liquidity after closing, first and foremost. A buyer with the full price and nothing left afterwards is a worse applicant than one who borrows and retains reserves. Then income stability, then the reference letters, then, some way down, the interview itself.
Preparing the package
The application is a document, and documents can be made good. We assemble it with you: the statements ordered and tabbed, the letters from people who can actually describe you, the explanation for anything unusual written plainly rather than buried.
Most rejections we have seen were avoidable. They came from a package that raised a question and did not answer it.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to get the most recent blog articles in your email every week.
