All board members should be involved in the budgeting process of their building. However, board members come from a wide array of professional backgrounds, and often lack experience managing large budgets and do not know how to effectively …

The numerous, rapid conversions of the 1980s resulted in many cases of sponsor default in the early ‘90s. But as the number of building conversions slowed in the ‘90s, it seems that potential conflict between shareholders and the sponsor ma…

A good treasurer is crucial to the well-being of any co-op or condo. Unfortunately, the position is, without a doubt, one of the most challenging offices to hold. Carl M. Cesarano, CPA, a partner with Cesarano & Khan PC in Rego Park, Queens…

While the real estate market today is going strong, there are still buildings facing financial troubles. Many of these are victims of the collapsed real estate market of the late 1980s and early ‘90s. The market may have dropped after the c…

The Argo Corporation began its operations in 1951, when Henry Moskowitz, father of the firm’s current president and chief executive officer Mark, began purchasing properties on the Upper West Side by forming syndications with other real est…

Call a real estate consultant a "know-it-all" and he or she will probably just smile wisely. For a consultant, that term is far from insulting. It’s simply a statement of fact. These "Jacks-and-Janes-of all trades" serve a diverse clie…

From the outside, it’s impossible to tell a co-op from a condo–there’s no physical difference between the two. However, as more and more are considering the concept of co-op to condo conversion, real questions about its possible benefits an…

The following is the text of a speech Adrienne Albert, president of Manhattan real estate brokerage firm The Marketing Directors, gave at the monthly luncheon meeting of Associated Builders and Owners this past September. I was aske…

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…