Nothing lasts forever, even with good maintenance—including most building components. Exterior elements are perhaps most subject to wear and tear in any climate. Their construction and material type dictate their maintenance needs and repai…
Car owners know that in order to operate their vehicle legally, they must have it professionally inspected every year. An older car might need some relatively minor repairs or adjustments to bring it into compliance with state emissions req…
When the topic of exterior maintenance comes up, it’s important to keep in mind that when it comes to multifamily properties, even projects that focus on a building’s ‘envelope’ are by no means limited to just the façade or roof. Projects l…
In the eight months since the deadly collapse at Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, many states and municipalities are reviewing their policies around reserve funds, inspections, and maintenance projects for high rise apartment bu…
Many cooperatives and condominiums in New York have long benefitted from a tax abatement program under Real Property Tax Law 467-a. In September of 2021, Governor Kathy Hochul put new eligibility requirements into this law that go into ef…
The coronavirus crisis has forced many unwelcome changes on households around the world—but it has also allowed or inspired some to make lifestyle choices that were impractical or otherwise out of reach before. One such choice has been to a…
Co-op and condo communities come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations. They range from three-unit, wood-frame houses to high-rise apartment buildings containing hundreds of units, to sprawling townhouse communities in park-like settings…
Like just about every other occupation on the planet, property management has been profoundly altered by the coronavirus pandemic and the changes it’s brought to society at large, with many of the challenges and stressors we’ve all had to f…
There are elements of board service that can vex even the most committed, most intrepid volunteer—and negotiating a building’s management contract is probably at the top of that list. Vexing or not, however, the extent and quality of servic…
It’s often said that good people are hard to find. That may be true, but for residential communities like co-ops and condos, finding good people—and then hiring and retaining them—is a major key to success. Doing so can be a roundabout proc…