First steps for buying a New York City apartment

1. Figuring out your budget to buy a New York City apartment. 

Needless to say, buying a New York City apartment is not cheap. If you're planning on taking out a mortgage to buy your New York City apartment, you will still probably need to pay at least 20% of the apartment's price as a down payment. And your monthly mortgage payments will be determined by the interest rates under which you signed.

A lower interest rate can save you thousands of dollars over the term of your loan, so it's important to do your research before signing your mortgage. That said, no matter what the current housing market is like here in New York City, or in rest of the country, to buy a New York City apartment—especially if you're looking at Manhattan apartments for sale—is to purchase an investment that, usually short-term but definitely long-term, will only go up.

2. How do the prices of New York City apartments for sale compare to the rest of the country? 

According to the 2009 Forbes magazine report on America's most expensive zip codes--a ranking determined by the median asking price of homes on the market--if you buy a New York City apartment in zip code 10014, which includes most of the West Village up through the Meatpacking district, you're moving into the nation's #3 most expensive neighborhood. And this despite a drop in the area of 24% from last year's prices.

Two Upper East Side zip codes, 10065 and 10075, are the 9th and the 16^th most expensive places in the country, respectively, with Tribeca (10013, #18), and Soho (10012, #24) also making the Top 25. This means that buying a New York City apartment can be expensive. It also means, of course, that selling an apartment here gives you a nice return. 

3. Choosing where to buy a New York City apartment. 

There are New York City apartments for sale in every neighborhood in town, from the bustling, family-friendly areas on the Upper West Side, to the leafier enclaves of Battery Park City, to the edgier, open-all-night blocks of downtown.

Finding your ideal location for buying a New York City apartment is a matter of knowing what you're looking for, and then knowing where to find it. If you want some suggestions on where to start looking for your ideal New York City apartment for sale, look over our comprehensive Urban Edge Neighborhood Guide.

After you've done a budget, and decided on a few neighborhoods in which to start your search, you now need to understand the difference between purchasing a condominium in New York City, and an apartment in a building that's structured as a co-operative, or, the difference between a NYC condo and a NYC co-op. For that, please our New York City Condo vs. Co-op Guide, here.