Abcdefghijk etc...you seem to really, really,really want to confirm that it's much cheaper to live in a walk-up, and that these low maintenance figures I and another person are citing must be misleading. No, in fact, there have been just a few assessments--two or three-in the six years we have been here--totaling (over six years) maybe $2000 tops, when something came up that needed some extra funding--and it was not anything related to the elevator, which is serviced and maintained via the maintenance fees. The $650 maintenance figure includes a portion that goes directly to the reserve fund every month. They key is that these buildings never had an underlying mortgage (they were coops from day 1) and we do not employ a management company or a professional staff. We have a super who gets a free apartment in exchange for cleaning duties mostly--and the management we do ourselves. It's a thrifty model that so far has worked out well for us. No big assessments, no big expenses, and the maintenance has gone up just once (by $50) in the six years we have lived here. We came from a building in Manhattan with hundreds of apartments and a full staff--so maintenance there was around $1300. We saved a lot by moving to JH and into one of the small garden coops. And we chose one that does have an elevator.
