Guest: Co-op owner in the Village hits a brick wall

Flickr photo by Joriel "Joz" Jimenez

The resident of a co-op in Greenwich Village, Naomi Fein has had something more sinister than an educational experience.  It has turned into acrimony between her and the building’s majority shareholder, a bitter lawsuit and revelations about real estate brokers whose self-serving manipulation of a sale enrage her.  To follow her sad saga as it continues, visit her Web site.

By Naomi Fein

My residence is in a small 160-year-old townhouse in West Greenwich Village. It has been a co-op since 1988, when I purchased my beautiful studio apartment for $36,000.

In the 1990s, the original sponsors, two guys from Florida, began to buy back the apartments that they didn’t already own. (There are six studios and a charming garden duplex.)  When they offered to buy me out for enough money so that I could easily purchase an ample West Village closet, I declined—graciously, in my opinion.

Then, one of the guys died,