Category: Building Operations

Management experts and others in the real estate industry are always cautioning their co-op and condo clients to keep an eye on the water consumption in their buildings. The water and sewage bill received quarterly from the New York City …

The increase in the number of co-ops and condos in New York City has changed the way many New Yorkers live. Renters who have purchased a co-op apartment have become owners of stock while condo owners posses a block and lot. The traditional …

Even the best working relationships between co-op and condo boards and their management com- panies can eventually come to an end, forcing a switch from one company to another. The transition can be lengthy and complex in the best of circ…

Like any body of individuals charged with overseeing the operation of a corporation, it is necessary for co-op and condo board members to meet on a regular basis. But just coming together at a set time and place does not guarantee an effe…

For most visitors to New York City, it is a mystery as to why garbage disposers (the popular term disposal derives from the GE brand name Disposall) have not been allowed in most neighborhoods. Despite the fact that these hardy kitchen ap…

For many New Yorkers one of the high points of city living is the urban vista they enjoy from their building's communal rooftop deck. Even when the view's not the greatest, just being able to enjoy the outdoors in a relatively private s…

There's no question that human beings respond to light. Its absence can affect our sense of well-being, and this may be why bright, sunny apartments tend to be the easiest to sell. Whether you have an interior designer map out a detailed li…

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…