Rare is the first-time buyer who avoids surprise

Karen S. Sonn

The New York City housing market is so unlike any other that first-time buyers are bound to be taken aback by the process. Even experienced ones often end up dealing with surprise.

At the top of list of surprises is the board application that buyers must complete to purchase a co-op and, frequently, a condo.

As I have previously written, that package is peerless for its depth, intrusiveness and length. (It is way longer than the forms I had to complete in my former careers to obtain top secret clearance.)

In a post on BrickUnderground, lawyer Karen S. Sonn details most of the surprises that face buyers, among them:

Pending rules aim to hold lenders to their word

A form that everyone in the real estate world knows as a HUD-1 details every cost to the seller and buyer at settlement.

The law requires that the lender furnish the form at least a day prior to closing, but there is no penalty for their failure to comply.

In most jurisdictions, lenders struggle to provide the form in time and almost invariably do so.  In Manhattan, however, the law is overwhelmingly more honored in the breach than in the observance of its requirements.

Around a closing table last week,