Spring has arrived, which is good news after what has felt to many like a particularly hostile winter. In a community association or multifamily building, spring also brings a number of seasonal maintenance and sprucing-up projects that can…

One of the biggest perks of modern multifamily living is the all-inclusive, amenity-rich building or HOA. Depending on your own building’s offerings, you can go to the gym, swim, have a spa treatment, entertain your kids in the community pl…

Like people, buildings age. Even under the best of circumstances, weather – particularly water, in the form of rain, snow, and ice – followed by or combined with extremes in temperature can do permanent damage to facades, cornices, parapets…

Whether a community is surrounded by suburbs or big-city high-rises, a little greenery can go a long way in adding visual appeal – and value. In fact, given the lack of space and the challenge of keeping plants healthy and thriving, urban g…

When it comes to energy, conservation is the watchword – not just as pertains to usage (although definitely that!) but also to cost. This may be especially true for New York City's condominium and co-op buildings, in which volunteer boards …

As your dad probably has joked at least once, the elevator business is up-and-down (sorry!) - but with the advent of new technologies and advances in engineering, we've come a long way from the days of creaky, slow lifts and unpredictable s…

Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) co-ops are an important and unique segment of the New York housing market that many fellow co-op shareholders are unaware of. Those who do know of the program are often familiar with it only from …

If you're not fortunate enough to have a washer/dryer in your apartment, the next best thing is a communal laundry room -- and those facilities have come a very long way since the days of bleak, fluorescent-lit basement spaces with a couple…

‘Jumbo loans.’  It’s a term we hear frequently and see advertised regularly.  But what exactly is a jumbo loan, and how did ‘jumbos’ come to be? Origins The world of home loans -- including co-op and condo mortgages -- has changed and evo…

It's tax season, and homeowners in some states are apparently getting hit harder than others due to   President Trump’s revised tax legislation.  During a press conference in early February, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo argued that t…