There's no question about it: economically speaking, it's been a very weird couple of years here in Gotham. While the outright market collapse so many feared seems to have been largely avoided, sellers who have seen double-digit declin…

 Finally, the big day has arrived: it's The Cooperator's 23rd annual Co-op & Condo Expo. Yale Robbins, Inc. and The Cooperator welcome you again to the  Hilton New York for the biggest, most all-inclusive trade show of the year.  Since it'…

Q I'm having an ongoing problem with the water pressure in my co-op apartment and the board's response (or lack thereof) to it. I'm on the top floor of a 25-story building, and water pressure became an issue after I did a full bathr…

Q What do you do when a board/board member rejects you as a prospective buyer for self-serving gain? My husband and I were in contract on an apartment where we were paying in cash, had no mortgage, could easily pay the maintenance ev…

Energy efficiency and green improvements to existing buildings have often received less public attention and political play than “sexier” green initiatives such as renewable energy generation with solar panels and windmills or LEED-cert…

With the economy struggling and thousands of unemployed Americans looking high and low for work, you might wonder why anyone should care about something like dryer lint. Fair enough—but here’s why: According to the U.S. Fire A…

Concrete is the most prevalent building material in existence today, though most people probably don’t notice how widely used the material is until it begins to break up in front of their homes, or falls off of their buildings, roads an…

 We all have needs. Wants, too. In a co-op or condominium, the significant needs  or wants of the shareholders and unit owners usually have to be routed through  the board or management company.    In theory—and, by and large, in pr…

Time was, when you had a big construction or renovation job, you hired a general contractor, and if the job was big enough, that contractor hired subcontractors. But in recent decades, a new player has entered into the process…

Spring has officially sprung, and with it comes The Cooperator's 23rd annual Co-op & Condo Expo. This year's show will be presented on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hilton New York, 1335 Avenue of the Americas at 53…