I looked at a co-op with high maintenance. What’s in maintenance, anyway?
I did a posting on this theme on Wired New York.
Co-op maintenance is four things:
1) Your share of the building’s property taxes (in a condo, you pay your share of property taxes separately — that’s the line advertised as RET — but in a co-op, it’s rolled into maintenance);
2) Your share of the building’s underlying mortgage (some buildings have rental income from stores that helps defray these payments, but a building can’t take in too high a proportion of rental income, or it starts to have problems with its co-op status;
3) Labor costs (for doormen, porter, super, etc.)
4) Maintenance of the building’s physical plant (boiler replacement, roof work, hallway renovation, repointing to meet the demands of Local Law 11).
That’s it — if you look at a building’s financials, it’s not that hard to determine what your maintenance is paying for and why.