No one can truly answer such a general question. These fees vary dramatically from complex to complex and can include a variety of things. If you are just starting to look and are not ready to consult a buyer's agent, you can contact me for access to listing book where you can look up listings and get a large portion of that information from the on-line service. Everyone seems to LOVE it and its a great way to familiarize yourself with our market.

Things to be aware of:
For coops your maintenance includes TAXES. They are usually between 40-60% of that fee - which means that portion of that fee is tax deductible .

The listing will not include the STAR savings which differs from community to community.

This fee usually includes heat and hot water and SOMETIMES electricity. But other complexes include cable access - it can vary a great deal.

Hope this helps - vague though it may be.

Hi Rachel,

If you have a few moments, please let me extend an invitation to visit our offices in Scarsdale and our estate agents will be happy to show you specific examples for buildings that you may have an interest in.

At Engel & Voelkers our strength is based on the in-depth training of our employees, on constantly updated information and on continuous knowledge transfer within our company.

We are located at 300 Weaver Street - Scarsdale, NY (at the five corners)

best regards,

Jonathan Lerner

Hi Rachel,
The common charges on coops in include maintenence charges in the building such as hallway cleaning, repairs etc, payment on the building’s underlying mortgage and payment of real estate taxes on the property. The portion of the maintenance that is designated to interest on the mortgage and real estate taxes is tax deductible (if you itemized deductions.)
So if you are paying $200 month maintenance with lets say 50% that is apportioned to real estate taxes and underlying mortgage interest you would get to deduct $100 on your taxes. In the 30% tax bracket that would save you $30 dollars in taxes.
In this way your $200 payment is really costing you out of pocket only $170.
Each building has its own set of circumstances and has differing taxes, mortgage and maintenance.
Thanks
Joan Penn
Prudential Centennial Realty
Scarsdale/Larchmont
914 600 6022

Hi Rachel, These figures will vary from building to building. Common charges are for condos and they usually include maintenence of the grounds/common areas and help with any amenities for the condo association. Note that with a condo will also pay property taxes as well as common charges. You own the unit and are responsible for anything inside of it. As for a coop, you don't own the unit. You own shares in a corporation. This entitles you to a stock certificate and proprietary lease. Here you only pay maintenence, and because you don't own the unit your pro-rata share of the the taxes are included in the maintenence. As well as the cost to care for the building. You can write off anywhere from 45%to 55% of the yearly maintenence on your taxes, the percentage varies from building to building. I hope this helps.

Sincerely,

ChristopherPagli
Associate Broker
Legends Realty Group
914.406.9023