Tips on buying your very first NYC apartment

Our First-Time Buyers theme week launched last month, and based on the ensuing flood of responses and questions, we got the message loud and clear: Scores of renters in the city are hungry to make the move to ownership, but not totally sure where to start. 

So much so we thought it'd be helpful to sit down in our studio and walk Brick readers and listeners through the process—this is New York City so, yes, it can be its own specific and singular headache—and give you all some podcast love. 

It's especially pressing now that spring is finally here, bringing the sales market out of its cyclical winter hibernation (even if it was still pretty busy, though not in the super-luxe categories) and sellers and competing buyers to open houses. Should you go condo or co-op? What's the landscape right now? Do you need a broker? And should you even buy right now in the first place?

Listen below:

Also, do check out our How to Buy guide, a step-by-step instruction manual of sorts for both first-time buyers and those who are re-entering the market after a prolonged absence. And find out what other first-time buyers who are now on the other side of the process say are their biggest mistakes—and what you can learn from them. Besides, for many New Yorkers, buying might not be the best way to go. 

This podcast was produced by Jhoanna Robledo and Jenny Falcon, who also edits the show. Thanks to our senior editor, Virginia Smith, and Lucy Blatter Cohen, our senior contributing editor, for sharing their wisdom.

And thanks to all of you for listening in, and for your story suggestions. Please subscribe via iTunes and Stitcher so you can automatically get new episodes, and please consider leaving a review. (We love feedback!)

Got questions or stories about navigating NYC's maze of a real estate market, or something that's changing your building or neighborhood, or care to share your advice on buying for the first time in NYC? Holler at us by commenting on this post below or email us at: [email protected].

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