Page 20 - CooperatorNews New York Expo May 2022

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Inc. 64-20 Laurel Hill Blvd. Woodside NY 11377 • 718-205-8580 • Fax 718-205-4590 Email: alevitt@bigapplesprinkler.com = Big Apple Fire Sprinkler_Oct2011.qxp:Layout 1 9/20/11 2:07 PM Page 1 Contact us today to request a proposal. 520 8th Avenue, Suite 2004 New York, NY 10018 (646) 736-0699 oandsassociates.com • Local Law Compliance – FISP (11), 87 & 84 • NYS Parking Garage Law Inspections • Building Envelope Design & Restoration • Architectural & Interior Design • Structural & Civil Engineering Ensuring your building is compliant, energy efficient & safe for all tenants • Parking Garage Design & Restoration • Historic & Landmark Building Restoration • MEP Design & Energy Audits • NYC Special Inspections • Qualified Exterior Wall Inspectors (QEWI) See us at Booth 218 See us at Booth 225, 227 board. As managers, we are proactive in our serve as bullhorns for users, and everyone to- communications with shareholders and unit day wants to be heard and praised at an am- owners. Not everyone in our buildings uses plifi ed level. If you go to a restaurant, or buy social media, and we do not currently use a product online, you will always be asked to social media as one of our communication leave a review.” methods to residents—but that could change in the future.” In the writer’s own building, a 54-unit co- op in upper Manhattan with a large commu- nity garden in back of the building, commu- nications are even more basic. We have an will use social media platforms to complain. old-fashioned cork bulletin board in the hall- way leading out to the garden. If anyone has tive. And that’s a problem, because it’s unfair, a message about anything for our neighbors, and the sponsor is unable to respond or re- including using the backyard for a private act.” event, we leave it prominently posted there in bright, bold, magic marker. Zachary Kestenbaum is CEO of Building- Link, a company that provides many forms dog-eared paper torn from your kid’s note- of computer and cell phone-based commu- nity and management apps for co-op and condo properties in the tri-state area and around the coun- try. He says he has come across com- munities that have tried common social media platforms like Facebook and Insta- gram, but that such eff orts usually take the form of private Facebook groups, and their success is pretty limited. “Th ey don’t work for several reasons,” says Kestenbaum. “First of all, it’s a sep- arate platform that’s not integrated into the digital access to. Th ey can post items there— life of the community, so there’s little engage- ment: a low level of participation and com- munity penetration. Second, these forums by the building’s managing agent for appro- are freeform and unmoderated, so anything priate behavior and content. One interesting can get posted—and that’s a minefi eld that thing that occurred during COVID was that devolves quickly into a complaint situation in many buildings, residents used the bulletin and infi ghting. Communities can’t control board to help each other out with things like the complaining, and factions form within doing grocery runs for high-risk neighbors, the community that can cause confl ict, or or collecting funds for sick staff members. make existing confl ict even worse. It’s just not Some who had moved out to second homes representative of the community, and people during the initial wave of the pandemic of- get turned off .” The Venn Diagram of Real Estate & Social Media So where do the worlds of real estate and social media interact? Josh Schuster, founder and managing principal of Silverback Devel- opment, a New York-based property devel- oper of residential and mixed-use properties in New York, Connecticut, and Florida, has had considerable experience trying to inte- grate the two in his business. “Social media is a broad term,” he says. “For many, three brands come to mind when one mentions social media: Facebook, Ins- tagram, and TikTok. But we also have social media in terms of commentary. We live in an age of storytelling. Today, everyone thinks their opinion is important. Yelp, Google, and Tripadvisor are good examples of this. Th ey But in the world of residential real estate, Schuster explains, no one buys into a condo and goes onto a commentary platform and says, ‘Th is building is amazing.’ But “if folks are unsatisfi ed with the place,” he says, “they So most of the time, the commentary is nega- Viable Alternatives So is there something in between scathing personal attacks and handwritten notes on book and stuck to a corkboard? Yes. Kestenbaum explains that companies such as his have al- ternatives to com- mercial social me- dia platforms that provide communi- ties with a way to communicate elec- tronically. “We have a module with these features for com- munity building and many buildings are using it,” he says. “It’s a part of Build- ingLink’s product and has multiple features. Th ere’s a bulletin board that every resident has say they’re looking for a babysitter, or selling a couch, for example—and it’s fully moderated fered their apartment to neighbors for quar- antining.” BuildingLink’s services also include email and newsletters, which supplement the bul- letin board with general news and updates. Newsletters are usually sent monthly, while the bulletin board is more real-time. In terms of community building, there’s also a calen- dar where the property manager can post upcoming social events for residents to see and RSVP for attendance. “Th ese platforms short-circuit the nastiness social media is so well known for,” says Kestenbaum. CO-OPS, CONDOS... continued from page 1 “Th ere must be a marketplace to post items for sale and a space for community events. It should be monitored and must never turn into a gripe board.” —Neil Golub continued on page 22