Most people would rather not talk about divorce or death. Unpleasant as they are however, they're both facts of life—facts that any apartment owner must face up to and plan for. In the case a co-op or condo apartment, a thorough, legal…
Most co-op buildings carry an underlying mortgage—the cost of which is paid for each month by shareholders as part of their maintenance fees. Quite often, a co-op corporation will seek to finance a major project or building improvement b…
Consider the story of Dave. He was the treasurer for his co-op, and served the board for just over four years. Dave felt that he'd done a tremendous job—not that anyone ever noticed, much less bothered to thank him. As far as Dave w…
In the early 1990s, thousands of New Yorkers purchased apartments in newly converted co-op buildings; in the early 1990s, thousands of New Yorkers also watched their investments collapse. The co-op market was tanking, equity was at risk …
Cons and hustles are as old as civilization itself. For as long as there have been goods and currency to collect and divide, there have been unscrupulous individuals who are ready to relieve the unwary consumer of their holdings. Banking…
As every board member knows, a realistic budget is essential to the financial health of their co-op or condo. Creating a workable budget is not an easy task: while you can use the current year's budget as a jumping off point, many expens…
Q We have a two-building, 146-unit cooperative that has a five-hundred-square-foot ground floor of commercial rental space. It has been vacant for about a month now. We, the board of directors, would like to know: Can this space be con…
Q We’ve had problems with a corrupt management in the past. I’m suspicious of our current management and several board members receiving kickbacks from vendors. Are there any steps that I can take to find out if this is repetition of ou…
Q In the event that a shareholder has a “dispute” with another shareholder—and claims that many other residents of the building have complained regarding the same issue—but refuses to provide the names of other complainants—how should th…
Q Some members of my co-op board want to change our transfer fees upon sale to assign a lower per share fee for those shareholders who purchased after the year 2000. Their reasoning is that real estate values decreased after 2000. Othe…