The typical timeline for an apartment purchase in NYC will be about 3-6 months and will depend on some factors like the type of apartment (Condo or Co-op) and whether or not the buyer will be needing bank financing or not.
This is the typical process assuming the buyer has a lender in place and has found an apartment they would like to place an offer on.
1- An Offer- The buyer will propose an offer to purchase including price and terms.
2- Contracts -If the offer is accepted (typically within a few days of submittal). The seller’s attorney will draft a contract and send it to the buyer’s attorney. Before the buyer signs, they typically will have a due diligence period to review documents such as financials and offering plans and or have an inspection of the apartment. If both sides are still in agreement, the buyer will sign the contract, leave a good faith deposit (usually 5-10% of the purchase price) and have their attorney return it back to the seller’s side. This typically could take 1-2 weeks
3- Application/financing- After a contract is fully executed the buyer will then be preparing an application which is required by either a board of managers ( Condos) or a Co-op board for their review, if the buyer is seeking financing then their lender is also working on underwriting the loan for final approval. Typically speaking a board will require a loan commitment letter to be included in the application packet. The commitment letter basically means the bank has reviewed the buyer(s) and the property and is ready to commit to lending. A bank underwriting process could take 45-60 days. * if the buyer is using all cash, this in theory could reduce the overall time.
4- Review of application/buyer – After the application is complete it is then forwarded to the board of either the Condo or Co-op. Generally speaking, this review process could take 1-4 weeks However, Co-op reviews tend to be more strict, they may request additional documents which could take extra time. A co-op board will also require an in-person interview, which scheduling can vary dependent on the in-person availability of all the board members. Because of this, the complete co-op review process may take 1-3 months.
5- Closing- Assuming all hoops have been successfully jumped through including the approval from the prospective board, the attorneys and all parties of interest will schedule a closing to transfer ownership to the new owners. This typically takes 2-4 weeks after board approval.
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