When it comes to the things that people value most, personal safety and security rank right at the top of the list. That's especially true in a day and age filled with ongoing anxiety over everything from identity theft to car jackings t…
In 2004, a NewsChannel 4 helicopter corkscrewed and slammed onto the roof of a Brooklyn apartment building, shattering into pieces. In July 2006, Dr. Nicholas Bartha blew up his Upper East Side townhouse that he was about to lose in a divor…
It's a nightmare scenario. From the 1970s-era disaster movie The Towering Infernoto the very real nightmare of 9/11, the idea of being trapped by a raging fire hundreds of feet in the air is nothing anybody wants to contemplate. High-r…
As we sit in our buildings all over the city, we'd like to think that we're protected from emergencies by our sprinkler systems, electronic alarm systems and staff. However much we don't want to think about it, an emergency situation can ha…
When a client hires a general contractor to build or renovate property, that company is legally responsible for completing all of that work. The contractor may go out and hire different companies or subcontractors to help execute that wo…
One of the most confusing subjects of property management is maintenance. Engineers make it such with fancy names to various types of maintenance, such as "Reliability Maintenance," "Routine Maintenance," "Predictive Maintenance" and "To…
You know that old adage, "It's not what you know but who you know that makes the difference." By joining trade organizations, you have an opportunity to get to know more people and network, and you can become an invaluable source of info…
Say that you and your neighbors have been living a quiet, peaceful life on your tree-lined city block for years and years. Suddenly, you see construction workers digging in that vacant lot next to your condo or co-op building. So you go dow…
Every property manager has a horror story or two—or three, or four, or forty-seven—about the sub-zero winter night when the boiler in a 400-unit high-rise went kaput, or what happened when the sprinkler system decided to turn on for no disc…
A few generations ago, even the largest residential buildings had basic electrical needs, such as lighting the building and running some washing machines. Residents back then generally only had a TV, a radio, some lamps and a few kitchen ap…