Steps to Buying a House in NYC
Back to the NYC Real Estate Blog
The steps to buying a house are the same everywhere until the paperwork starts: check your budget, get a mortgage pre-approval, hire an agent, make an offer. In New York City, you then add a real estate attorney, a signed contract with a 10% deposit, and often a co-op board. Closing takes 60 to 90 days.
We’ve represented New York buyers since 2017, and handed back more than $11 million in commission rebates, about $22,000 a closing. So we’ve watched this from the buyer’s side of the table a few hundred times.
Most guides to buying a house are written for the whole country. They stop being useful the moment your deal turns into a New York contract. This page is the version for the city you’re actually buying in, and it links down to 17 shorter guides for each step.
| Phase | What happens | Rough timing |
|---|---|---|
| Get ready | Budget, credit, savings, mortgage pre-approval | Before you tour anything |
| Search | Hire a buyer’s agent, sign a buyer agreement, see apartments | Weeks to months |
| Offer | Submit price and terms, negotiate, get an accepted offer | Days |
| Contract | Attorneys trade the contract, you sign and wire 10% | 1 to 2 weeks after the offer |
| Financing | Full mortgage application, appraisal, commitment letter | 30 to 45 days |
| Board | Co-op or condo package, then a board interview for a co-op | 3 to 6 weeks, co-ops only |
| Close | Final walk-through, sign, wire the balance, get keys | 60 to 90 days from the accepted offer |
Every row in that table can go sideways, which is why the rest of this page exists.
The steps to buying a house in NYC, in order
Here’s the whole home buying process for NYC in one pass.
Get your finances in order first. Pull your credit and total your savings. Work out what you can carry monthly once maintenance sits on top of the mortgage. Then get a real mortgage pre-approval, not a pre-qualification, so your offers are taken seriously.
Next, hire a buyer’s agent and sign a buyer agreement. Since January 2025, a REBNY member can’t show you an apartment without one. Learn the vocabulary while you look: our real estate glossary covers the terms, and our take on real estate agent versus broker explains who you’re dealing with.
Then you tour, you house hunt, you find one, and you make an offer. Once it’s accepted, the two attorneys trade the contract. You sign, you wire 10%, you apply for the mortgage in full, and if it’s a co-op you assemble the board package. Everyone meets at the closing table 60 to 90 days later.
The fax machine, the internet and a co-op board have all had a turn at this process, and it still runs on paper.
What you need before you start looking
The honest answer to “what do I need to buy a house” in New York is: more cash than the down payment, and proof of it. A condo purchase generally wants 10% to 20% down. A co-op often wants 20% down or more, plus post-closing liquidity. That means cash left over after closing worth one to two years of mortgage and maintenance.
You also need a mortgage pre-approval that a lender will put in writing. That’s the number your bank will actually stand behind, in writing, not the one you told your friends. A written pre-approval letter is what makes a co-op board and a seller take your offer seriously.
If you’re weighing whether to buy at all, our guide to renting versus buying in NYC runs the math. If you’re a first-time buyer, half our clients are, and the paperwork is the part that surprises them, not the search. Before you tour, price your own deal with the rebate in it so you know your real cash to close.
Co-op vs condo: the fork that changes everything
Most apartments for sale in NYC are co-ops. Buying one is a different process from buying a condo, and the difference is the board.
| Condo | Co-op | |
|---|---|---|
| What you own | Real property, a deed | Shares in a corporation, plus a lease |
| Board’s power over your purchase | Right of first refusal, rarely used | Approves or rejects you, no reason required |
| Application | Light | Full financial disclosure, tax returns, reference letters |
| Interview | No | Yes |
| Financing limits | Lender’s rules | The building can cap how much you borrow |
| Typical minimum down | 10% to 20% | 20% or more, plus liquidity |
| Closing costs | Higher (mansion tax, title, mortgage tax) | Lower (no title insurance, no mortgage recording tax) |
A condo asks your lawyer a few questions. A co-op asks your accountant, your employer and your last three landlords. Neither is better.
A co-op is usually cheaper to buy and cheaper to close, and it trades that for a board that can turn you down. The 8 essential tips for buying in NYC go deeper on the choice.
New construction is a third path. Buying a new development means the sponsor sets the contract and the buyer often absorbs the transfer taxes. Older and stranger housing has its own rules, from a mixed-use building to a historic home to a small boutique walk-up.
How long does it take to buy a house in NYC
From accepted offer to keys, plan on 60 to 90 days. A condo or a townhouse can close in about 45 if the financing is clean. A co-op runs longer, because the board package and the interview add three to six weeks that no one can rush.
The search itself is the wild card. Some buyers find the apartment in a weekend, others look for a year. Once you’re in contract, though, the clock is fairly predictable: one to two weeks to sign, 30 to 45 days for the mortgage commitment, then the board, then closing. It’s long enough to develop opinions about your managing agent.
The offer, the contract, and why “accepted” is not done
This is where New York stops looking like the guides. In most of the country, an accepted offer puts you “under contract.” Here, an accepted offer is a handshake with homework. Nothing is binding until both sides sign the contract and your deposit clears.
After the seller accepts, their attorney sends a contract. Your attorney reviews the offering plan, the building’s financials, the board minutes and the contract itself, then negotiates the terms. When you sign, you wire 10% of the price into the seller’s attorney’s escrow account. That deposit sits there until closing, and once the contract is fully signed, it’s at risk if you walk without a contingency.
New York runs on real estate attorneys, not agents, for this part. Nicole’s own view, as a lawyer who doesn’t practice: “It’s someone who only does real estate deals on a daily basis.” Our guide to when to hire a real estate attorney covers what they do, and the REBNY rules on buyer representation explain the buyer agreement you signed earlier.
The contract also carries your contingencies. A financing contingency lets you exit and recover the deposit if your mortgage falls through. Skipping it, common in a bidding war, means the 10% is gone if the loan dies. Our list of mistakes buyers make has more of these.
Closing costs, taxes and the mansion tax
Budget 2% to 5% of the price for buyer closing costs, higher on a condo, lower on a co-op. The buyer pays the mansion tax. It starts at 1% on a purchase of $1,000,000 or more and rises in brackets above that, under New York State tax law. On new construction, the buyer often also pays the state and city transfer taxes that a resale seller would normally cover.
A co-op has no title insurance and no mortgage recording tax, which is the closest thing to good news in this section. A condo or a house has both. Our closing costs hub breaks every line item down, and the closing cost calculators let you run your specific deal.
Then there’s the commission. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, the buyer’s agent fee is negotiated in the open rather than baked into the listing. That’s the opening for a commission rebate, where the buyer’s agent hands part of the fee back to the buyer at closing.
What we see on our own closings
NestApple started with a fourth apartment. Georges had bought three at full price, then asked Nicole, a practicing attorney at the time and allowed to earn a commission, to place the offer on the fourth. It was accepted while they were at the airport.
She rebated the whole commission to the next few buyers who asked. She got a Macy’s gift card and a brunch invitation in return. That turned into a business plan.
The arithmetic Georges uses is blunt. On a $1 million deal at 3% to the buyer’s side, “from those 30k we keep 10, we give back 20.” That’s the roughly $22,000 average, more than $11 million since 2017.
It isn’t a discount on a service. It’s a share of a commission the market has kept high, returned to the person who did the searching. If you want a broker on your side and a rebate you can see on the closing statement, that’s what we do.
Where the 17 guides below fit
Every step above has its own page. Pick the one that matches the mess you’re currently in.
Getting ready and deciding: first-time buyer tips, rent vs buy, 8 essential tips for buying in NYC, downsizing to a smaller home, buying a second home.
Searching and choosing: house hunting tips, the real estate glossary, agent vs broker, judging an agent’s personality, floor area ratio for buyers.
The offer and the contract: when to hire an attorney, REBNY buyer representation rules, mistakes buyers make.
Property types: new development, mixed-use building, historic home, boutique building.
Common questions
What are the steps to buying a house in NYC? First, get your money ready: budget, credit, savings, and a mortgage pre-approval. Then hire a buyer’s agent and a real estate attorney. You tour, make an offer, sign a contract with a 10% deposit, finish the mortgage, and pass the co-op or condo board. Closing is 60 to 90 days after the offer is accepted.
How much money do I need to buy an apartment in NYC? Beyond the down payment, budget 2% to 5% of the price for closing costs. A co-op also wants post-closing liquidity worth one to two years of payments. A co-op often wants 20% or more down; a condo generally 10% to 20%.
Do I need a real estate attorney to buy in New York? In practice, yes. New York deals are done by attorneys, who draft and negotiate the contract, review the building’s financials, and handle the closing. Agents don’t do this part in New York.
What is the mansion tax and who pays it? The buyer pays it. It starts at 1% on a home priced at $1,000,000 or more and rises in brackets above that. It’s set by New York State law and is not negotiable.
Is an accepted offer binding in NYC? No. Nothing is binding until both parties sign the contract and the buyer’s 10% deposit is in escrow. Until then, either side can walk away.
Nicole Fishman Benoliel co-founded NestApple in 2017. She's a lawyer admitted to the New York bar - her law degree is from La Escuela Libre de Derecho in Costa Rica, with further study at IE Business School in Madrid and an LLM from Fordham in New York. She does not act in a legal capacity at NestApple; every client is referred to an attorney who handles real estate deals full time.
