The Real Deal New York

From the January issue: Some popular beliefs about co-ops: They’re found in prewar buildings; they cost less than condos of the same size; and they don’t usually throw open their doors to foreigners. If those overseas owners were to ever miss monthly maintenance payments, the thinking goes, boards would be hard-pressed to track down their cash reserves. But that last bit of conventional wisdom may be outdated or flat-out wrong, since foreigners are buying in co-ops now more than ever, according to some brokers, attorneys and buyers. Part of this, market experts admitted, may be because more Europeans, Asians and South Americans are in the market than ever before, taking advantage of a weakened dollar, rather than reflecting any fundamental shift in co-op policy based on a potentially softening market.