You don’t need a calendar to know that the holiday season is almost upon us–just look around: from elaborate window displays in department stores to the subtle decorations like wreaths and lights, it’s hard to ignore the various decorations…
It’s happened twice recently. In the summer of 1994, 72 New York property managers were convicted of taking kickbacks from contractors and extorting payoffs. This resulted in a $4 million restitution fund. Then, just last summer, 21 corpora…
You are about to read tales of greed and corruption, costly incompetence and outright thievery. There is even a little sex and gambling thrown into the mix. Stories from television soap operas? No, these are the days of our lives in the New…
Early in the 20th Century, and until the 1950s, the oil industry as we know it today did not exist. Homes were heated with coal, and some readers who wish to date themselves may still remember cleaning the ashes and soot out of a furnace or…
The reputable full-service real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens has its roots in residential and commercial real estate appraisal. It was at the forefront of management and sales during the early 1920s and 1930s when the original grand co-…
English author Samuel Johnson once claimed that when a man tires of London, he is tired of life. The same could be said of SoHo. Nestled alongside Greenwich Village, Little Italy and Tribeca, SoHo has long held a reputation as New York’s ar…
As parents we strive to create the perfect home for our children. A place of solitude, refuge–a place to call home. A place where our children can play freely in the backyard; a place where they can socialize and grow with other children; a…
It’s the beginning of another meeting in your building and even though signs were posted throughout the lobby and on bulletin boards, the crowd is sparse. To make matters worse, the few owners or shareholders who are in attendance have only…
Who would visit a medical office that did not have running water? Many would question whether the office was sanitary. This occurred to a doctor who used a Forest Hills co-op unit as his office. Management placed a notice under residents’ d…
Not entirely satisfied with the performance of your management company? Chances are your board hasn’t sought a new agent because they were frightened of the transition. Such is the case with many of the buildings that have interviewed Ronni…