Annual shareholders’ meetings are in our midst. It takes a lot for a board to prepare for the spring occasion, but if thoughtfully planned by a building’s board and managing agent, it can become a successful forum for board elections, the d…
It’s three o’clock in the morning and your building’s boiler has just broken down. Your property manager is woken from his sleep by a phone call from the superintendent telling him that there’s a catastrophe at hand. You’re left shivering i…
Peculiar as it may sound, the union of a building and management company can be likened to a marriage: the mate that suits you best might be incompatible with your friend. Likewise, a management company that works well for one building migh…
New York City is in a constant state of flux. At no time was this better illustrated than during the recent New Year’s Eve celebrations. Photographs of Times Square celebrations past were constantly flashed across television screens, but wh…
So, it’s the holiday season again and everyone is feeling generous, even you. You seem to have gotten past your Scrooge-stage and feel like splurging on someone else for a change. You don’t mind going the extra mile for your neighbor or run…
Nearly 100 percent of New York City co-ops have an underlying mortgage of anywhere from a few thousand dollars to millions of dollars. If you own a co-op, having an additional multi-million dollar mortgage hanging over your head might sound…
The board of a co-op is required to perform an ongoing balancing act, weighing both the needs of the individual shareholders and the good of the whole. Nowhere is this more apparent than the controversial issue of subletting. While owners f…
To paraphrase Sy Syms, "an educated board member is a lender’s best borrower!" That concept underlies all of the articles I have written about co-op financing. Since my last article for The Cooperator ("Dial ‘M’ for Mortgage," December/Janu…
About ten years ago, Doug Anderson, the board president of 1125 Park Avenue, and some of his fellow board members walked though their building’s basement and saw a wall which, according to Anderson, "didn’t make sense." The inquisitive coop…
Barbara Corcoran, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of The Corcoran Group, Manhattan’s largest privately owned real estate firm, is on top of her game as she continues to do what she does best: invent ways to market Manhattan’s …