The following article is an excerpt from The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling Co-ops and Condos in New York City, a book I wrote that was designed to be the ultimate guide: a good overview of what you need to know about buying and selli…

Beyond collecting monthly maintenance payments, co-ops and condos are always searching for creative methods of generating discretionary income. Renting out excess parking areas and installing storage lockers for rental are two ways to boost…

There will always be those who insist that if they can’t live in Manhattan, they would rather not live in New York City at all. They feel that Manhattan is the one true New York and that the outer boroughs are remote hinterlands barely fit …

Is the entryway of your building looking less than inviting these days? Perhaps the lobby isn’t as cozy and welcoming as residents might like, or maybe it’s the mailroom that needs some work. If it’s been years since the last time your comm…

"It’s very special to have outdoor space in Manhattan. It’s so valuable," says Madelyn Simon, CEO of Madelyn Simon Associates, that specializes in interior and exterior plantscapes. Simon’s past projects have included landscaping the butter…

It’s not that your lobby looks bad. It’s just that the mirrored light fixtures and orange trim that seemed so stylish in the (original) days of Abba and flared slacks feels rather dated now. A renovation appears inevitable. How should your …

Going solo, doing it your own way, the right way. That’s what the three principals of Impact Real Estate Management decided to do. When the three met five years ago, they all had the same idea. They agreed many in the management business we…

We all live and work in co-ops or condos; most of us have lived through some form of havoc wreaked by a board member. This person may be earnest and well intentioned, but projects an argumentative and contentious demeanor that is disrupt…

"When my building at 15th Street and Seventh Avenue was built in 1980," says Jarvis Irving, a Chelsea resident for the past 23 years, "it was marketed as ‘Greenwich Village North.’ Nowadays, people wouldn’t miss the opportunity of saying th…

When Dick Koral, created "Los Sures" in the early ‘90s, the seed was planted for the Superintendents Club of New York, a technical society to serve New York’s multifamily building maintenance personnel. Los Sures (translated "the south…