Co-op and condo board members are generally volunteers who live in their building and give of their time and expertise to help make sure their home is well-run, and their investment protected. In a perfect world, new board members are a…
For the majority of co-op or condo owners, their apartment is their largest asset. That apartment should be viewed as an investment and one that makes fiscal sense. But that approach is impossible if unit owners are missing important p…
Being on a committee is not always an easy task. In fact, sometimes it can be downright frustrating. A three-month commitment can stretch into six months; meetings can go on forever; committee members may drift off topic; and precious,…
We all have needs. Wants, too. In a co-op or condominium, the significant needs or wants of the shareholders and unit owners usually have to be routed through the board or management company. In theory—and, by and large, in pr…
Every co-op and condo community has a board of directors in charge of governing the community’s finances, physical maintenance and other day-to-day business. Part of the board’s responsibility also is to keep the community fiscally soun…
Just take a walk around the streets and parks of the city, and it’s easy to see that New Yorkers love their pets. But not everyone loves animals, of course—and this can be problematic when it comes to a board deciding if pets should be …
New York is often called a “vertical” city because its finite borders impose strict limits on expansion. In Manhattan particularly, the only way to build is up. This verticality goes both ways, however—for all the towering skyscrapers a…
Lee Iacocca once said that if you want a sound company, “You start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.” Id…
At first glance, concrete obviously seems like a very dense material. In reality however, it absorbs water, behaving more like a sponge. This can easily be observed on a summer day. Pour water on a sidewalk, and you can actually watch th…
As of November 2, new lending guidelines from HUD mean that FHA loan requirements will be significantly tightened for condominium sales. The new requirements could have a profoundly negative effect on the ability to sell or bu…