If you think about it, a multifamily building isn’t that much different than the human body. Both house important complex operating systems and organ-like pieces of vital equipment, both take in fuel and produce waste, and both require regu…

Q.  “We live in a condominium development of 130 units. One investor own 48 of these units. He’s taken two seats on the board since 1986. No one votes for him, I suspect he always votes for himself and gets on the board. Can this be possib…

It only makes good business sense that if something goes wrong and needs fixing at a condo or co-op, the board or managing agent is going to do some due diligence to choose the correct contractor, and this is normally done by gathering bids…

What happens when people begin to notice that their next door neighbors are having difficulty with their mobility, are suddenly at risk of falling or have fallen, are confused about where they are and begin to exhibit this and other types o…

Companies that provide energy to the public—that is, to households and businesses—have a unique corporate social responsibility; and that responsibility isn’t just to deliver gas and electricity. It’s to teach customers and clients how to u…

Murray Hill, a respectable traditional neighborhood in Midtown  Manhattan, started as a small farming community but soon became a playground for the wealthy with industrialists like J.P. Morgan and John Jacob Astor building their townhouses…

Amenities can be a major selling point for any co-op or condo. You don't have to be Jillian Michaels these days to have a spa or full gym at home. Naturally, they add to the property value of the building as a whole, as well as to the indiv…

In the context of multifamily communities, there are two kinds of budgets: a capital, or reserve budget, and an operating budget. Capital budgets apply to long-term, big-ticket projects like new roofs or an HVAC overhaul. By contrast, the o…

Donald Trump makes it look so easy. “You’re fired,” he declares firmly, terminating an aspiring apprentice from the popular reality TV series, who will never be seen from again.  In reality (and reality TV is not reality), the issue of ter…

When finances get tight—the last recession period comes to mind—boards and managing agents often look for ways to increase revenues or decrease expenditures. In some cases, the answer is a flip tax, a “transfer fee” that is paid to the co-o…