By Hillel Fried, Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker (NY license 10301213249), founder of The Hillel Team at Compass. Updated November 2026.
Quick answer
A co-op board package is the full application you submit to a co-op's board of directors after you sign the contract. It shows the board who you are, what you earn, what you own and what you owe, and it's the main thing they judge you on. The interview, if there is one, comes after.
In a co-op you're buying shares in the corporation that owns the building. That's why the board gets to see this much of your life.
Every building has its own form and order. These are the pieces you'll see in most of them.
Document | What it tells the board | Our tip |
|---|---|---|
The building's application forms | Basic details, and your consent to checks | Fill in every box. Blank fields come back to you |
Financial statement | Your assets, debts, income and monthly costs in one summary | Every figure should tie to a statement in the package |
Tax returns | Income over time, not just this year | Use the full returns the building asks for, with all schedules |
Bank and investment statements | That the money on your financial statement is real | Use the most recent ones, and explain any large deposit |
Employment or income letter | That your income is steady | On company letterhead, with your salary and start date |
Loan commitment letter | That the bank has approved your mortgage | Only if you're financing. Check it matches the contract price |
Signed contract of sale | The price and terms you agreed | Your attorney provides the final signed copy |
Personal and professional reference letters | What you're like to live with and work with | Short, specific, and signed. Ask early |
Landlord reference | That you pay rent on time and keep a home well | If you rent now, ask your current landlord |
Credit and background check authorization | Permission for the building to run checks | Sign it, and expect a fee |
REBNY, the Real Estate Board of New York, lists a "Financial Statement Worksheet" among its forms. If the building gives you its own form, use that one.
Any one of them can mean a round of questions and another week of waiting.
If the building allows one, yes. Keep it to a page: who you are, why this building, and a sentence of context for anything in the package that might raise a question, like a recent job change or family help with the down payment. Plain and warm works better than polished.
The managing agent checks that the package is complete and passes it to the board. The board reviews it, sometimes sends questions back, and then usually asks to meet you. Our guide to the co-op board interview covers that meeting. Once you're approved, you schedule the closing.
Our Buy page puts it simply: "We help you create your purchase application and work with management companies to ensure a swift process." It's also the part of the job our buyers bring up when they write about the co-op process.
We've worked in New York since 2014, across 800+ transactions and $1.3 billion in sales, and we've been named the #1 Team at LGF Compass eight times. Hillel represents buyers about three times as often as sellers.
What our buyers say about the paperwork:
"Hill hustled and worked endlessly to ensure I got through the COOP process. His follow-up was thorough and kept me on top of what I needed to do in a timely fashion." First-time buyer, 2015 (Zillow review)
"He was reachable at all times of day or night and kept tabs on every little detail of the process." Amarto Rajaram, first-time buyer, Gramercy, 2019 (Zillow review)
The application you send a co-op board after signing the contract. It covers your finances, your references and the building's own forms.
A financial statement, tax returns, bank and investment statements, proof of income, reference letters, the signed contract, a loan commitment if you're financing, and the building's forms.
A summary of your assets, debts and income. REBNY lists a Financial Statement Worksheet among its forms. If the building has its own form, use that one.
It depends on how fast you can collect statements and letters. Start the day your offer is accepted.
It goes to the building's managing agent. We put it together with you and work with the managing agent until it's complete.
Yes. The package is the main thing the board decides on, which is why every number in it should check out.
The building's instructions say whether you need them, how many, and from whom.
Buying a co-op in Manhattan? Call us when you start looking, not after your offer is accepted. The package goes faster when it's started early.