Closings are interesting and emotional transactions. As an attorney who has handled many of them, I can tell you that each one is different. From a legal point of view, they are not especially complex. From an emotional point of view, th…

Owning your own home is a huge commitment, but imagine being accountable for your neighbors’ homes as well. It’s a commitment hundreds of individuals throughout New York’s condo and co-op community make each year as members of their buildin…

The recent onslaught of millennium madness has made Y2K a household term. Once just the concern of computer aficionados and a select few with technological foresight, Y2K is now a universal problem. In fact, Y2K has become such a prevalent …

Successfully combining her talents as an artist, architectural and interior designer, Rebecca Alston, president of Rebecca Alston Inc., a design firm in Manhattan, recently renovated a 3,600-square-foot loft condo in Tribeca. Her clients, a…

Electric deregulation is fast becoming a reality in New York. Adhering to the historic 1996 decision of the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), utility companies throughout the state such as Con Edison, LILCO, Central Hudson and…

After Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau handed down indictments against dozens of New York property managers in 1994 for taking kickbacks from contractors, New Yorkers, including the D.A.'s office, thought there would be at l…

When the clock strikes 12 on January 1 of next year, what will happen? Many warn of impending chaos as microchips failing to recognize the date bring us back to the beginning of the century. If you're overwhelmed by Y2K gloom and doom, it m…

Imagine this. Your contractor has finally completed the renovations to your bathroom - taking three months rather than the three weeks he promised. The wallpaper, special order wall and flooring tile match perfectly, and although you excee…

They say that April showers bring May flowers. For the New York area's aging brick buildings, spring sprinkles and summer storms can bring much worse. From interior leaks to the liability nightmare of a crumbling and falling facade, the eff…

There was a time not long ago when New Yorkers could throw just about anything away and not give it a second thought. But in the late 1980s, the federal government enacted strong environmental legislation, including the closure of many land…