Buying Your First Home

First-Time
Buyers.

Buying your first home in Manhattan is one of the most significant financial decisions you will ever make — and one of the most disorienting. The market has its own vocabulary. The buildings have their own personalities. The board approval process has rules that nobody tells you in advance.

The Ruth Reffkin Team has spent four decades guiding first-time buyers through this market with patience, honest counsel, and a long-term view of the relationship — not the transaction.

“ Mission Before Commission. ”
Beautifully styled modern Manhattan apartment
What We Do

Patient Counsel for
Your First Move.

First-time buyers in Manhattan face a learning curve that is steeper than almost anywhere else in the country. Co-ops, condos, condops, townhouses, new development, sponsor units — each carries different financial requirements, different ownership structures, different rules about what you can do with the property, and different consequences when you eventually sell.

Buildings vary enormously in their financial strength, board strictness, sublet policies, and personality. Two apartments at the same price in adjacent buildings can produce very different ownership experiences.

Our job is to make sure you understand what you are buying before you buy it.

We approach first-time buyers as the start of a long-term relationship, not a single transaction. Many of our current clients first came to us as first-time buyers fifteen, twenty, even thirty years ago. They have come back through every move since — the upsize when the family grew, the relocation, the eventual downsize. The trust we build at the first purchase is what sustains the relationship through the moves that follow.

Ruth's hands-on experience renovating multiple homes adds a particular dimension for first-time buyers tempted by properties that need work. When she tells a first-time buyer whether a renovation is realistic on their timeline and budget, she is speaking from experience. That perspective regularly saves first-time buyers from the most expensive lessons in real estate.

How We Work

Our
Process.

First-time buying in New York has more steps than most buyers expect. Our process is designed to take the surprise out of the experience — and to make sure each step is taken with the right information.

Consultation and education conversation
Phase 01

Education First, Search Second

We start with an unhurried conversation about how the New York market actually works — co-ops vs. condos, what board approval really requires, how financial requirements translate into real-dollar terms, what monthly carrying costs look like beyond the purchase price. Many first-time buyers tell us this conversation alone changes how they approach the search. The best first move is usually a more informed second one, not a faster first one.

Reviewing financial requirements and documents
Phase 02

Honest Financial Preparation

We help you understand what you actually need — not just the down payment, but the post-closing reserves, the closing costs, the monthly carrying costs, and the financial picture the building will look at when it evaluates you. We connect you with mortgage professionals who specialize in New York transactions, and we do not start touring properties until the financial picture is real.

Scouting neighborhoods and touring properties
Phase 03

The Smart Search

We help you build a clear picture of the buildings and neighborhoods that fit your situation, set up smart searches, and tour properties with a critical eye. We do not push you toward any particular outcome. We tour the right number of properties to give you confidence in your choice — sometimes that is five, sometimes it is fifteen, sometimes more.

Reviewing building financials and diligence
Phase 04

Diligence and the Offer

When you find the right property, we do the work most first-time buyers do not know to do — building financials, board reputation, comparable sales, condition issues, sublet rules, planned assessments. We help you structure an offer that gives you the best chance of success without overpaying for the privilege.

Keys handed over at closing
Phase 05

From Contract to Closing

We negotiate on your behalf, manage the contract and the board approval process, prepare you thoroughly for the board interview itself, and coordinate with your attorney and lender. Most of our first-time buyers are approved on their first board attempt, in part because of how thoroughly we prepare them.

Why This Team

Why This Team for
Your First Home.

Your first purchase in New York shapes whether you look back on it with confidence or regret. The team you work with for that purchase matters more than most first-time buyers realize.

01

Education-First, No-Pressure Approach

We treat first-time buyers as the start of a long-term relationship, not a single transaction. Most of our first-time buyer conversations start with education — what the market is, how it works, what you actually need — before any property is in play. Buyers consistently tell us they leave their first conversation with us feeling more informed and less pressured than after meetings with other agents. That difference compounds across the rest of the process.

02

Renovation Insight That Protects You From Expensive Lessons

Many first-time buyers are tempted by properties that need work — they look like value, they look like opportunities to add to the apartment over time. Sometimes they are. Often they are not. Ruth has personally renovated multiple homes herself, and her perspective on what a particular property's renovation will actually cost — in dollars and in time — is grounded in lived experience, not contractor estimates. That perspective routinely saves first-time buyers from the most expensive mistake of their lives.

03

Building-by-Building Knowledge

Manhattan buildings vary enormously in financial requirements, board strictness, sublet rules, flip taxes, and personality. Forty years of combined experience means we know which buildings will approve which kinds of buyers, which buildings have known issues, which buildings will be a fit for your situation, and which to avoid. That granular knowledge does not appear in any listing or any database. It comes from decades of doing this work in the same market.

The Inquiries

Frequently Asked Questions

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More than the down payment alone. Most Manhattan co-ops require 20-25% down (some require 40-50%), plus post-closing reserves of 12-24 months of carrying costs in liquid assets, plus closing costs of roughly 2-4% of the purchase price. Condos are more flexible on financing but typically more expensive per square foot. We help first-time buyers see the full financial picture — what the building will require, what the lender will require, what your monthly cost will actually be — before any property is in play.

Co-ops are corporations where you own shares allocated to a unit; the building approves you through a board interview process and sets the financial requirements. Condos are real property; you own your unit outright and the purchase process is simpler. Co-ops are typically less expensive at comparable square footage but harder to qualify for, less flexible (sublet rules, financing limits, pied-à-terre restrictions), and harder to sell to certain buyer profiles. Condos are more expensive but more flexible and easier to resell internationally or to investors. The right choice depends on your situation, your timeline, and what you intend to do with the property over the next decade. We walk every first-time buyer through the tradeoffs in detail.

Most co-ops require an interview after the board has reviewed your financial application. Boards typically ask about your career, your finances, your reasons for buying, your plans for the apartment, and how you fit with the building's culture. The interview is not a test you can fail through preparation, but it is one you can fail through unfamiliarity. We prepare every first-time buyer thoroughly — what to bring, what to wear, what to say, what not to say, what specific things this particular board cares about. The board approval rate for buyers we represent is significantly higher than the market average.

Expert representation is more critical than ever. In today's market, who pays the professional fee is a negotiable term of the deal - just like the price or closing date. What shouldn't be negotiable is having an advocate to handle the hyper-local analysis, board packages, and diligence required in NYC. On a first purchase, the risk of an unforeseen building issue or a poor negotiation can cost significantly more than the price of a proven expert.

Most first-time buyers move from the first conversation to closing in three to six months — roughly a few weeks of education and search, then an offer and contract, then 4-6 months for board approval and closing depending on the building and lender. Faster is possible when the right property appears quickly and the buyer is fully prepared; slower is normal when the search is more selective. We plan around your actual timeline, not an artificial one.

New York City skyline
Start The Conversation

Let’s Talk About
Your Family’s Next Move.

Whether you are starting to think about a senior transition or already navigating one, we welcome a confidential conversation. There is no obligation. The first conversation often clarifies the path forward — even when the move itself is months or years away.

Schedule To Schedule Consultation
Phone 516-903-9097
Email ruth.reffkin@compass.com
susan.hirschorn@compass.com
Office 110 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Hours 8am to 9pm, seven days a week
Compass Real Estate · New York City