New York real estate experts-Advice for the noob

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Seeking advice on some property in Manhattan. (Will be moving there next month-job transfer) Would really appreciate it if someone can post some solid and sound advice. Not particularly familiar with the real estate market, I’ve only bought land twice. (Old house & new condo) The old house was to live in after being refurbished; the condo was an investment, very fortunate to have made a nice profit after the flip.

This time I plan to purchase a condo to live in for the next 3 years. I’m seeking a place that is fairly modern and easy to re-sell. Size is not that important as I have a limited budget. Plan to put only 100k as down payment. Thinking about buying a place that is approximately 400k, (25% down)

I hope some posters can lead me in the direction as to what the best options are. Interest rates, location, what questions to ask, what to look for, which banks to deal with, best way of going about this, current market, good time or bad time now? As you can see, these are fairly newb questions. 100k is a lot of money to me, I want to be very careful not to make a bad investment.

I know there are many details that I am leaving out. Please let me know what other details I need to post. My realtor seems like a decent guy, he has many clients and I’m too small time for. (I get that feeling for some reason)

I’ve posted on a couple real estate forums but response was scarce. Other suggestions/forums? Thanks in advance.