[Sca-cooks] apartments

[A. F. Murphy]

When I was a kid, most of us rented. We call it an apartment, whatever the
ownership system is, just as you call it a house, whoever owns it.

These days, rather to my own astonishment, I own a co-op. I'm actually in
the process of inheriting it, it had originally belonged to my grandmother.
This means I own shares in a corporation which entitle me to use a certain
apartment at cost. The corporation is owned entirely by residents, and the
board therefore has certain powers to allow or prohibit certain
activities.(Which is one reason inheritance is a long drawn out process -
they have approval over new owners. Have the right to be sure you are
financially stable, and a good neighbor.)

 This is different from a condominium, where you actually own your
apartment to the inside walls, and can do anything to it you want, but rent
the use of the hallway, stairs, heating unit... I was in a rental that
converted to condo, and the company that owned the common areas didn't
always bother with minor details like fixing the furnace...  Luckily, I
hadn't bought, because I didn't want to own pipes that I already knew
leaked! Here, we all jointly own the leaking pipes, so the corporation
fixes them, and someday (obligatory kitchen content) the corporation will
get around to fixing my kitchen ceiling... I should add that this place was
built in the 1920's. It's well and solidly built, but parts are getting
old.

Anne

> [Original Message]
>
>
> If I remember the Manhattan real estate market correctly, there are
> regular apartments you rent, there are regular houses you can either
> rent or buy, and there are condos (ditto) and co-ops (memory is
> fuzzy: sort of buyable but there's also a regular building- and common-
> area-maintenance payment, so it's sort of renting as well). But co-ops
> are rare.
> Most other places, near as I can tell, have houses and condos, rentable
> and ownable, and apartments, rentable, none of this co-op stuff.
>
> Alban, house owner and glad of it
>