Ponder this: of all the people you know, it's up to me to measure the worth of your life.
Well...sort of.
Part of my job is explaining to buyers that even though they may have enough money to buy the apartment, they still may not have enough money to be allowed to buy the apartment.
Welcome to the wonderful world of co-op boards.
If you've ever applied to buy into a co-op, you've probably experienced the financial equivalent of a full-body MRI (cue the soundtrack: tap, tap, tap... taptaptap... TAP, TAP... sh'varim... tap... T'KIYAH... T'KIYAH G'DOLAH!).
Tax returns. Bank statements. Investment accounts. Retirement funds. Liabilities. Income. Assets. More assets. Then, just when you think you've reached the end of the paperwork, someone asks for another statement from an account you forgot existed. Or about the savings bond your grandmother's best friend gave you for your Bar Mitzvah.
The irony is that after all of this, no one will tell you exactly what the board is looking for.
How much post-closing liquidity is enough? One year of carrying costs? Two? Five? Ten? Is a concentrated stock portfolio viewed differently than municipal bonds? Is a trust as good as cash?
Nobody knows.
Every building has standards. Many are unwritten. Nearly all are closely guarded.
As brokers, we tiptoe through this process with our buyers. We try to decipher each building's unwritten expectations, translate those mysteries into practical advice, and somehow guess whether our clients' financial picture will satisfy requirements that no one is willing to define.
It's like taking a test where the teacher won't tell you what grade you need to pass.
But after enough paperwork, enough questions, and enough mystery, it's easy to feel as though they're evaluating your worth.
In front of the co-op gods, you may seem worthless, measly, and, yes, lower-than-life. And some may say you are.
But not me.
If you're one of the lucky people working with me or anyone in the Brad Lippitz Group, you're already in.
We don't measure clients by post-closing liquidity, debt-to-income ratios, or how many years of carrying costs sit in a brokerage account.
We measure them by whether we enjoy having them in our car and going out for sushi with them.
Fortunately, that's a much easier test to pass.
Even if we should be focusing on condos or single-family homes.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Brad
