Q I live in a Mitchell Lama co-op which is starting the process of privatization. We have a very large mortgage that has many years to go until it is paid off. We also have a large reserve fund for various contingencies. At a meeting r…

Q Our condo gives out gifts (in monetary form) to the employees of the building. The gifts go through the president of the board first. The president has created a separate bank account for employee gifts. Is this breaking any laws? Shoul…

New Yorkers are obsessed with real estate development. We all pause to stare at the listings in our local real estate office window, and everybody knows the average price of an apartment in Manhattan (currently $1.7 million). Citywide, m…

New Yorkers live in an ever-changing city that’s been building and rebuilding continuously since its inception. Today, throughout the five boroughs, according to the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB), there are more than 950,00…

Keeping your property free of rats and mice is a perpetual problem for home and property owners. New York City recently put noted rodentologist Bobby Corrigan on the payroll fulltime to combat its burgeoning rat problem. Heading a beefed-up…

The “Green Movement” has quickly gone from fad to trend to global initiative. In the U.S., corporations as well as commercial and residential property owners are being challenged to find ways to embrace ‘Green Initiatives’ in response to…

With more and more people hanging out shingles as either interior design professionals—thanks partly to the popularity of television shows like Design on a Dime, Extreme Home Makeover and Trading Spaces—knowing who to hire for a job in y…

Nothing says luxury and elegance quite like acres of polished marble— particularly in the lobby of an upscale co-op or condo building. Marble has been used in palaces, temples, and homes for thousands of years, and is prized for its beauty,…

A good redesign of an outdated, obsolete, or run-down common area in your co-op or condo building can be a thing of beauty. Spiffing up a lobby, hallway or elevator can not only inspire residents to take more pride in where they live, bu…

Living in a community sometimes requires a bit of flexibility, and that’s especially true when a large construction project is happening. Usually, whether it’s a facade restoration, lobby redesign, or a heating/ventilation upgrade, most …