Q Do co-op shareholders have any rights when it comes to the selection of a management company for their building? And if they can’t directly choose which company will manage their co-op, can they attend the interviews with the poten…

Q Can the president of the co-op board be in business with the managing agent company’s owner without divulging it to the shareholders or other board members? The board members were recently notified that the owner is one of the boar…

Q Our management company just changed hands. The building records were shipped to the co-op, placed in a room across from the laundry and the rumor is that only the superintendent has the key. The other night when the new manager cam…

Q The board of our HDFC co-op is not fulfilling the needs of the building or maintaining its upkeep. The building structure is deteriorating, and the intercom system has not been working for over a year. Since the death of our last …

New York is often called a “vertical” city because its finite borders impose strict limits on expansion. In Manhattan particularly, the only way to build is up. This verticality goes both ways, however—for all the towering skyscrapers a…

Lee Iacocca once said that if you want a sound company, “You start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.” Id…

At first glance, concrete obviously seems like a very dense material. In reality however, it absorbs water, behaving more like a sponge. This can easily be observed on a summer day. Pour water on a sidewalk, and you can actually watch th…

 As of November 2, new lending guidelines from HUD mean that FHA loan  requirements will be significantly tightened for condominium sales.    The new requirements could have a profoundly negative effect on the ability to  sell or bu…

 “So you think hip-hop had its start out in Queensbridge?”         According to seminal rap artist and South Bronx native KRS-One, you are  mistaken. In fact, according to his aptly titled 1986 track, “If you popped that junk up in t…

 In today’s harsh economic times, maintaining a healthy reserve fund is more important  than ever. A co-op or condo’s reserve fund can be used to cover any number of emergency expenses from sudden  repairs to legal costs. In addition, a re…