New York is an expensive town–on that point there can be little debate. Regardless of your means, sometimes it can feel as though everybody from the waitress at your favorite coffee shop to the person who sacks your groceries is trying to g…

The side of your residential building is a windowless plane of painted brick that stands ten stories higher than the adjacent co-op, clearly visible from the well-trafficked Queensboro Bridge. The side of the building has deteriorated a bit…

When Irwin Cohen, president of Manhattan’s A. Michael Tyler Realty came on board in 1997 to manage a ten-unit co-op on the Upper East Side, the building was on the verge of bankruptcy. In addition to depleting their reserve fund to pay for …

Jersey City knows something about bouncing back. With property values rising, a steady influx of retail stores, trendy restaurants and the arrival of some of the corporate world’s heaviest heavyweights, Jersey City has become a magnet for f…

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, much has been said about the massive recovery effort and the grievous loss of life. While work crews continue to toil around the clock to recover and clean up, a lesser crisis has been pla…

In the wake of the World Trade Center attack, many boards are re-assessing their building’s security needs and taking steps to insure that their residents and residents’ property are well looked-after. Clearly, a building’s most valuable co…

Here in New York, where real estate values have risen to unprecedented levels, limited equity co-ops created under the Mitchell-Lama program are presented with the choice of either embracing their own dizzying market value by removing the r…

When your board hires a professional, you’re looking for someone they can trust to do good work on behalf of your building. This goal is doubly important when it comes to hiring and interacting with a lawyer for your co-op or condo building…

Anyone who’s lived in a co-op or condo building for a number of years usually has at least a passing understanding of what happens when their building’s lobby needs repainting, or when the board meets to decide what style of new wainscoting…

Most co-op and condo dwellers are well aware of the responsibilities held and services provided by their building’s top-tier contractors–otherwise known as the managing agent, the accountant and the attorney. Working as a team, this group o…