Let’s Hear It for Co-Ops

Regarding “Overview of Condo/Co-Op Buying Is Short on Depth” by Robert J. Bruss, Feb. 4: Cooperative housing quality of life is better than condominium living. Most cooperatives both require owner-occupancy and prohibit renting (except only for short time periods for hardship), with the board preapproving new members and their ability to pay for monthly assessments. These restrictions maintain the long-term pride and beauty of homeownership without problems sometimes caused by uncaring renters and sustain the high ownership percentages necessary to obtain purchase money, loans and refinancing.

The National Cooperative Bank offers mortgages at rates comparable to those of other condo lenders to the multitude of expensive cooperatives that line Wilshire Boulevard and the beaches as well as to the low- and moderate-income buildings and mobile home parks that preserve affordable housing stock in Southern California.

LOTTIE COHEN

Los Angeles

The writer is an attorney.

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