What a time to be shopping for a new underlying mortgage! Interest rates are again nearing a 30-year bottom and several dozen lenders are scrambling to fill their portfolios. Spreadsthe incremental amount that a lender adds to an index (s…
Co-ops and condos operate on significant budgets, usually in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes well into the millions, and it falls to those who serve on these properties' boards to control all that money. One way they do it…
You live in a condo, and the building has come of age. The facade needs a little work here and there, and the windows should be replaced. Up until recently you would have had only three optionsall of which were sure to be unpopular with u…
As the year draws to a close, many Americans are still trying to grasp all the revisions in the tax law that went into effect last summer as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. One of the changes that has the most impact on homeowner…
New Yorkers love to brag about having the best-tasting drinking water in the country, although residents of high-rise buildings may not realize that their water makes an extra stop on its way from the reservoir. When high-rise residents t…
In June 1996 the New York State legislature addressed the long-acknowledged inequity in real estate taxation between co-ops and condos and single-family homes when it passed a bill authorizing tax abatements for eligible New York City own…
You've been working with a real estate broker and finallyafter seeing a dizzying array of apart- mentsyou've narrowed down your search to two beautiful co-ops in two very different but equally fabulous neighborhoods. You and your husband …
It doesn't matter what type of building you live in or where it is located, eventually it will need some capital improvements. Unfortunately, there's more to it than deciding that the work has to be done and finding a contractor to do the…
Your roof terrace leaked and the neighbor below you sued for damages. Do you have any recourse? The heating system in your apartment failed to work and the managing agent sent you the bill for its repair. Do you have to pay? You bought a …
As the resale value and demand for cooperative apartments increase and the supply of available units decreases, purchasers are facing denials for admission to co-op buildings in record number. There was a time when many co-op boards concl…