How to Pass A Board Interview As a Renter or a Buyer

The Weekly Recap

Good morning and happy Friday! There are 11 potential renters for every one rental unit available in NYC. NYC got to hit with a flash flood and some of the videos from those in the subway were absolutely wild. Andrew Cuomo is the gift that keeps on giving as he plans to stay in the mayoral race, Trump isn’t planning to fire J Pow, the US Treasury ran a surplus for the first time in 20 years thanks to tariffs and if you’re upset that coffee is becoming more expensive you can place 80% of your blame on hedge funds.

If you missed last weeks newsletter on What Is the Future of Interest Rates?, you can read that through the link.

How to Pass A Board Interview As a Renter and Buyer

One of the more challenging aspects of New York City real estate is dealing with the uncertainty of how a CO-OP Board will react to you during the interview portion of the application process. Last week, Livvy Dunne, an influencer, gymnast and the girlfriend of MLB phenom Paul Skenes was rejected from her all cash purchase application for a CO-OP apartment on the Upper West Side. While we may not all be public figures, any buyer or renter can be rejected by a CO-OP board for any reason and without any sort of justification. Here are a few tips on how to get past the board interview.

Appearance: Take the CO-OP interview as seriously as you would a job interview, dress in a clean, professional, and slightly conservative style, think business casual or above. Greet each board member with courtesy, maintain eye contact, and use calm, confident body language. Sit upright, avoid fidgeting, and stay engaged. You want to come across as composed, approachable, and respectful.

Flash vs. Ease: Do not let the prospect of the interview make you feel like you need to be overly impressive. Boards prefer easy going than those who are incredibly eccentric and flashy. They want to know you wont be a problem shareholder and will be a value add to the community.

“Drunk Conversation”: I always advise clients that when they are at a board interview, to avoid conversations that you wouldn’t want to have drunk with your friends such as those that revolve around politics or religion. Even if a board member says something so egregious that you feel like your skin is crawling, smile and nod, and move on. Once you move into the building you can work to vote them off the board if you’d like.

Do You Have Any Questions?: No, the answer is always no. Even if you have questions about the alteration agreement for renovations, uses of the common areas, the days when garbage is collected, you always finish the interview with “Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me/us today, we can’t describe how excited we are to become apart of this incredible community you cultivated here.” Once you are approved, ask the board a million questions a day.

I once had an agent whose client asked the board when they would be installing solar panels on the building. Probably, the only thing the board thought about with that question was “this is going to cost us a ton of money in assessments, no one wants that in this building and we are going to reject this person.” Do not give people a reason to reject you.

Market Performance

Here are how some other indexes and asset classes have performed as of this morning’s opening bell.

NYC Market Update

Here is a view of NYC market activity over the past week.

Mortgage Rate Update

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked up again this week for the second straight week. The lack of movement for rates over the past several months of any real dramatic concern continues to bring certainty to buyers even as long term economic policy effects still bring uncertainty to some.

News You Can Use

• US Banks Say Consumers Are Healthy Despite Economic Uncertainty Financial Times

• US Home Prices Are Losing Steam With Most Big Markets Below Peak Bloomberg

• Here Is How Many Renters Compete for 1 NYC Apartment NY Post

• Homebuilders Are Slashing Prices At the Highest Rates in 3 Years CNBC

• Foreign Buyers Sank $56 Billion Into US Real Estate Last Year NY Post

• Can Wall Street Help Solve the US Housing Crisis? Bloomberg

• US Retail Sales Surge Past Estimates Bloomberg

• Why Stock Markets at Record High’s Are A Good Time to Buy Axios

• Wholesale Inflation Measure Was Unchanged in June CNBC

• US Core CPI Rises Less Than Expected Again Despite Tariff Impact Bloomberg

• Bitcoin Rally Seems to Be Driven More By Institutional Demand Than Speculation Yahoo Finance

• Trump Says He’s ‘Not Planning’ On Firing Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Yahoo Finance

• Treasury Posts Unexpected Surplus In June as Tariff Receipts Surge CNBC

• US Tariff Revenue Climbs to Fresh Record for Single Fiscal Year Bloomberg

• Andrew Cuomo Will Run In NYC’s Mayoral General Election As an Independent Wall Street Journal

• Tri-State Area Faced Flash Flood Warnings Bloomberg

• Hedgefunds Responsible for 80% of Coffee Price Increases Hedgeweek

The Deep Insight

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