Wondering about Westview

I just bought there and am very happy so far! It has legacy renters, but is now selling newly renovated units and no longer renting to new renters. Happy to answer any questions you have.

Hi! I’m looking to buy in Westview- how are you liking it? Have there been any major issues?

We're really enjoying it! They did a renovation of the lobby that really improved the aesthetic, and the pool which they redid before we moved in remains great. Management has been reasonably responsive on appliance issues or whatever. Happy to answer any questions!

Hi! Sorry to resurrect a long dead convo, but: Looking to buy at Westview and thought you might have experience with the following Q’s — did you have any issues securing a mortgage given the whole land lease situation and/or the fact that Westview is technically structured as a co-op? There were no co-op approval things right? And was the price negotiable or do they really try to stick to what they’ve listed? Does it seem like there’s routinely availability of units or are they few and far between in a “jump on it asap when available” way? Thanks and sorry for deluge of questions!! Hope to hear from you!

No problem! Yeah, mortgage was a touch complicated - the agents who work for the building have 2 banks they work with who understand and do it easily, but I happened to engage a broker (before realizing the issue( who got me a mortgage with a major national bank after a lot of effort on his part. No approval process that stood out beyond making the offer Not a lot of negotiation - a touch, but the position was the top line price was really fixed. I think they gave me some money in the form of a signing credit or something like that. I think the scarcity is kind of real - essentially, units are only renovated and put up for sale when a tenant gives up a rent controlled pre-renovation unit. So there's a limited number at a time and hard to know when something will be available again. For what it's worth, I'm very glad I bought when I did, since I haven't seen a unit like what I got get listed since. Happy to answer more questions - again, really happy with the building and with my decision to buy.

Thanks so much!

Of course! Let me know if you wind up joining the building!

I was reading through the publicly filed offering plan and it seems that there is a 10% down payment minimum at signing, and financing being capped at 80 LTV. Am I reading that correctly? (I can likely make that work, but for a few reasons I was exploring the possibility of a 97 or 95 LTV loan with a lender, so now I’m wondering if that whole conversation is a waste of time with the lender…). So like — Did you end up needing to pay 10% down at signing + ultimately only permitted to finance 80% of the purchase price overall?

I don't recall that one way or the other - I don't think it came up for us, so I'm not sure how strict they'd be about it.

Westview has no more rental options. The existing rentals there are on the Mitchell-Lama affordability program now. The renovated units (all the for-sale ones) are nice, but be aware of the water quality!

Thank you! What does that mean? The pipes are old and the water is not great from the taps? Are you living there too?

Well, in the WIRE buildings (Westview, Island House, Rivercross, Eastwood), our buildings’ pipes are all since 1975 (their construction period). The renovated units get new pipes internally, but system-wide, there is lead and contaminants. We have water tests and 311 submissions to prove it. Other than the water problem, the units at Westview are nicely done & got them expensive appliances.

Do you filter your water or buy bottled water then?

Sorry, just saw this! I have a 9x filter under my sink and I filter my shower heads and bathroom sinks.

super nice building. one of the WIRE buildings as someone previously posted.