Mysterious Coop Situation-- anyone know what's going on here?
Hi all,
Longtime reader and lover of Reddit-- have never felt the need to post anything until now.
My husband and I are apartment hunting in hopes to get a little extra space in our beloved East Village. We've been here for 7 years now and are ready for an upgrade. My method is to scour the internet, Street easy, Craigslist, and every other fathomable apartment app / website for those one of a kind NYC gems, with stabilized rent, a little garden, crown molding (imagine if you came across all three in one place!)
Well, I kinda did. A couple weeks ago, I found this perfect triplex apartment on a quiet little Alphabet City block. Still only one bathroom but the space was expansive and there was even a separate kitchen, multiple living areas, and rooftop access (!!!)
The ad was on Craigslist and I found it a week after it was posted. It said that there would be an open house three days of the week the previous weekend. It mentioned that it's a coop and that interviewing with the board was required. It said that the apartment could come furnished or unfurnished. The photos looked amazing. I was ready to commit fully! I sent an email to the Craigslist ad and waited a week. (I sent two more in the interim as well.) I heard nothing back. Maybe it was already rented? It'd be nice to be told if that's what happened...but the listing stayed up. The listing is still there. Even after I escalated things further.
I wanted this place so badly (the price was unreal, though not clickbait-unreal if you know what I mean), that I made sure it existed by taking a walk to the place, just ten minutes from our current apartment. It's a ground floor apartment, and I found it easily. I even peaked in the windows (don't judge!), and all the furniture and layout matched the photos exactly. This place was real, and it looked like it had never been lived in.
I decided to take to the NYC public records to learn more about the owners and coop in this building. I found the owners online and from their very public personal website, I learned that they were bi-coastal, living in LA and NYC, both part time. Progress! They must be wanting to rent full time if they're not here often enough. I also planned to email co op management (this one is an org called "Daisy") to at least get my chance at submitting an application. I found some emails, and sent a inquiry to them about the craigslist ad.
They responded! And quickly too. They said they weren't sure if the unit was available but they would reach out to the owners and get back to me. What luck! No one shut me down by saying "it's not available" or "it's been rented." I checked in with the coop rep every couple days, and she said each time that they hadn't responded yet. Eventually, she cc'd me in an email to them with an inquiry about the listing.
Something like 10 days later, we finally heard back from the owners. Except, weirdly, the owners only responded to me. In their email, they addressed both me and the coop rep in their greeting, but the coop's rep email was not in the receiver's line...I checked. Could've been a BCC but that would be weird...? They knew that I already knew the rep's email, so why hide it? On the other hand, why would they want to hide the fact that they're not renting the apartment from the rep? It's all very confusing.
Here's what the owner's reply was, and I quote: "We’re not renting our place out anymore and are living there. We’ll take down ad ASAP. Best of luck in finding a place."
It's been 5 days and the ad is still up. I have since wandered by the apartment (I know, I know!) and it still looks like a short term rental...no one is ever there and everything in the place looks untouched.
It's all very perplexing to me...I realize that I have become borderline-obsessed with this place and that's fair-- though if you've lived in the NYC for any amount of time, you know what a dog-eat-dog game it is to find the right apartment so try to see where I'm coming from. Maybe I just need to take the L (as in the loss, not the train!) and admit defeat, except that something feels really off about all this.
Could it be that they're trying to rent their place under the radar, without dealing with the co op? Then again, if so, why would the listing say "subject to co op approval"? Is it possible that I totally blew up their spot by reaching out to the co op reps and they now, sadly, want nothing to do with me and will rent their home to someone else? Also why would they change their mind about a listing they put up just weeks ago? "We're living there now"? Just like that? Feels off...There's also been lots of news about Mamdani's pied-a-terre property tax, could that be affecting them and they're trying to pivot somehow in a sneaky way...?? What am I missing here? And HOW do I get myself a chance to move into this place?! The listing is STILL UP!
Thanks for reading and sharing your knowledge, theories, and suspicions!