Envy Apartment

Space is a precious commodity in New York City, particularly for the parents of young children, and as families grow it can be a major hurdle to find (and afford) the room to accommodate them. Samantha (whose name we've changed to protect her privacy) and her husband, the parents of a four-year-old and a one-year-old, currently own a two-bedroom, one-bath co-op on the Upper East Side , and are wondering whether it's time to move to a larger home.  "We are unsure about the prospect of our next move and whether it would be worth it to move to a rental or buy again, considering the increase in space we need," Samantha says. The couple would ideally like to find a three- bedroom apartment close to a park, in a building with a live-in super or doorman, though a two-bedroom with a separate dining room could work, too. Because of their children, they prefer a building with an elevator, or a first-floor apartment; transit-wise, they're looking for a commute to their job...

The New York City housing market is truly a beast of its own. We are living in a world where you can't simply buy a house, white picket fence , and start planting the seeds of your American Dream. Instead, our homes are divided into a series of different housing types. For those of you looking to buy, or simply for those of you looking to understand more about the housing industry in the city, here is a breakdown of the most popular forms of home ownership in New York City: Cooperative Roughly 75 percent of the Manhattan housing inventory is comprised of co-ops. Unlike a condo, co-ops are are owned by a corporation. This means, when you buy an apartment that is in a co-op building, you are not actually buying real property (like you would in a condo). You are in fact, buying shares of the corporation. These shares entitle you to a proprietary lease, which relates your relationship to the building close to that of an investor, rather than a condo building, where you are the outr...