Condos: What sold on Long Island, how many are on the market, what agents advise to buyers

If a client asked listing agent Jo Ann Boettcher to find a condo to buy for less than $400,000, she would search their budget over a wide area, she said.

"They'll find a few, but not a lot," said Boettcher, of Douglas Elliman. "And when you find something for that price range, usually it's not updated."

Finding a condo on a budget comes with the standard challenges of a high-demand, low-inventory market. New construction is out of the question at the sub-$400,000 price point, Boettcher added; a co-op might be an option instead.

Last month, the median sales price for a condo in Suffolk County was $520,000, according to OneKey MLS data. There were 79 closed condo sales that month, the report showed. In Nassau County, where OneKey reported 41 closed condo sales in February, the median sales price was $920,000 — an increase from the 12-month median of $815,000.

Compared with the number of single-family homes sold on Long Island, there are relatively few condos sold each month. This means that data is based on a small sample size and may not offer a full representation of the state of the market.

Local agents agree that options are more limited on lower budgets; at the $400,000 price point and above, there are more options, said listing agent Jennifer Lenzo, of Island Advantage Realty.

Recently, Lenzo sold a condo in the Artist Lake condominium complex in Middle Island for $324,900, she confirmed. At a slightly higher price point, a buyer could look into other options in the area.

"If you're in the 400 range, you'd probably look into other communities that offer more amenities," Lenzo said. "Like one has an indoor pool and a fitness center, and they're probably about 15 minutes away."

Matthew Levin, of Keller Williams Realty Elite, tells buyers they can have two of three criteria. A prospective buyer can prioritize the price, location or specifications of the home — detached single-family, condo, condition, size.

"You only get to choose two," Levin said. "The two you choose are going to determine the third."

When price is the determining factor, Levin said co-ops tend to sit at a lower price point than condos. The dynamics of a co-op purchase, though, are more complicated because the purchaser is not buying the property, they are buying shares in the building.

"Condos are fairly easy, it's real estate," Levin said. "You'd probably find more pitfalls with the co-op market."

For example, he said, a co-op may not allow pets, or limit or prohibit renting out the property to someone else. 

Levin said he discusses criteria with his clients, then sends them every possible option. 

"If they're not seeing what they really want within their price point, we then have to have that talk about, 'well, you might need to increase your budget,' or, you know, 'we're going to keep looking here, but we have to stay at lower taxes,'" Levin said.