Hi All, I may be moving to New York and looking at apartments to buy I notice some have really high Common Charges or Maintenance. What does this include? Along similar lines, is monthly tax deductible or what. Also seems high in a lot of cases. How do people afford a mortgage PLUS CC PLUS taxes??

The simple answer is that there are a lot of people in New York who make a lot of money. The average cost of a one-bedroom apt. in Manhattan is $1.2+ million. I don't know what the average maintenance is, but I'd guess it's around $1,000 a month. You should browse some of the realty web sites.

One thing to be careful about is the difference between coops and condominiums. In a coop, the monthly charges include property taxes. In a condo, you pay taxes separately. That can account for a pretty substantial difference in fees.

As for deductibility, the only potentially deductible part is property taxes, if you get to deduct them, that is.

As already stated, the common charges for a condominium do not include real estate tax because you own you apartment as opposed to a cooperative apartment where you own shares in the cooperative corporation. For a cooperative, there will be a tax deduction for your share of the the real estate taxes on the whole building and the interest on the "underlying" mortgage on the building, that is, the mortgage on the entire building as opposed to your mortgage on you apartment. In a condominium, the only tax deduction will be the interest on the underlying mortgage, if there is one.

Hey, thanks for that, I appreciate your answers. Sounds complicated, I must say.

Hi All. I closed on my condo 2 months ago but all the amenities are not yet completed yet Im paying full common changes. As a resident do I have any recourse in a discounted common charge until all amenities are completed? The building management company claim there is nothing they could do in reducing the charge since the majority of the charge goes to the doorman's salary.

It's a condo, so you're the owner (along with your neighbors) and the management company charges what you owners direct them to charge. Take it up with the Board.