“My agent said it is unusual to hire an Inspector for an apartment.” The fact is, the inspection of apartments has increased dramatically over the past decade, enough that roughly half of the inspections we perform are for condominiums and cooperatives. This can be attributed to the skyrocketing price of apartments throughout the New York Metropolitan area. It has become increasingly more important to know the overall condition of a building. With this knowledge, we can determine if the building’s financial reserves are adequate to maintain itself. Otherwise, the monthly maintenance fees can increase or an assessment may be right around the corner. A boiler or roof for a four family condo/co-op can be more expensive than that of a private home. If the building doesn’t have enough in its reserve, an assessment or an increase in your monthly maintenance fee is sure to come.
The inspection of an apartment is extremely similar to the inspection of a townhouse, only on a larger scale. It is important that your Real Estate Agent make contact with the building’s superintendent or management agency to request access to the cellar, the mechanical rooms and the roof. Sometimes this is simply impossible. In rare cases, due to “insurance restrictions,” viewing of the mechanical rooms and roof may not be permitted. In these cases, we typically interview the superintendent or management agency with regard to all inaccessible areas. When we feel we have an adequate understanding of the condition of the inaccessible items, we proceed to the apartment and discuss the information we obtained through the interview with you. We follow up with a comprehensive inspection of the apartment.