About the author: Daniel Gershburg, Esq., is a real estate attorney with offices in Tribeca and southern Brooklyn. He blogs for his own website, DanielGershburg.com; has been featured in the New York Times, Inc.com, and the Wall Street Journal Online edition; and guest lectures at New York Law School. If he’s not in the office, he’s buying way too much coffee at Kaffe 1668.

Tribeca, like many neighborhoods in New York City, has seen its share of new construction developments over the past ten years. Beautiful new buildings with floor-to-ceiling windows, concierges on call to get you tickets to Book of Mormon and receive your midnight delivery from Fresh Direct (who orders delivery for that time?). You’re buying a unit that no one has lived in before—no weird wallpaper, no odd creaks in the floor, no stench of cats (don’t ask).

If your new construction condo is similar to many others out there, however, you’ll likely be asked to pay New York City and New York State transfer taxes. This tax, which the seller is typically responsible for, accounts for approximately 2% of the overall purchase price. And you pay this at the closing in addition to the purchase price itself, along with some other fees.

When the market was super amazing back in the early 2000s (how weird does that sound?) the sponsor would insist the purchaser pick up that cost. It was akin to paying above the sticker price for a new model car with limited availability. A few years later, when everyone went bankrupt and people were dying to sell, the sponsors caved, telling potential purchasers that they would cover the taxes that, just a few years prior, were being foisted on the purchaser. Fast-forward to present day: Who pays what now depends on the developer; sometimes the sponsor gives—saving you tens of thousands of dollars—and sometimes it doesn’t. Many times, you’ll meet halfway, and you’ll still save a large amount of money—and that’s why it’s something that should always be brought up.

There’s also the sponsor’s lawyer fee. Lawyers love getting paid. We love it. We apparently also enjoy when purchasers pay the sellers’ fees in new construction deals. Why are you supposed to pay for the other guy’s lawyer? I have no idea. I still can’t figure it out. The offering plan (i.e., the bible of every new construction condo) will state that you’re paying the fee for the preparation of the documents that you’re now signing. But if you’re buying a car, you’re paying for the car—you’re not also slipping Doug, the designer of the car, $100 because he designed the cool taillights. That’s why we always try to get rid of that fee as well, and so should most New York real estate attorneys. The thing with new construction is that you’re really getting saddled with a bunch of fees at closing that you typically wouldn’t have to face if you were buying a co-op, or even a home… in New Jersey. With a few simple tweaks to the contract and some decent negotiation, you can save a ton of cash when you finally get the keys to your new place—which will come in handy when you go to buy furniture from the shops in this neck of the woods.

[Note: The image at top is a rendering of 11 N. Moore, a .k.a. 20 Varick, which may or may not be handling the taxes and fees as described here—it’s simply the first new development that came to mind. —Ed.]