Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes—these are just a few of the devastating disasters that have made headlines already in 2011 and the emergency situations that resulted many never thought possible. As the past year’s calamitous …
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the recent recession was the sudden evaporation of credit from major banks and lending institutions. The logic behind it was understandable: too much easy credit had led, in part, to the col…
Despite some admissions of error from the city, and a temporary cap on increases in assessed valuations, co-op officers and elected officials from Eastern Queens who in recent weeks have declared a “tax revolt” aren’t backing down. …
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…
Given recent headlines, cooperative and condominium associations could be forgiven for thinking they need to put an armed guard and razor wire around the petty cash box. A wave of fraud appears to be hitting properties from New York to…
Not everybody on a co-op or condo's board is an accountant (or can even balance their own checkbook, for that matter.) Handling the money for an entire building is a big responsibility, however, and residents rely upon their board to ma…
Tighter lending requirements for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgages for condos have put financial and administrative pressure on condos all over the country at a time when many are ill prepared for any new challenges…
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg presented a Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Executive Budget and an updated four-year financial plan for New York City that calls for $62.9 billion in spending. While the mayor’s attempt to balance the city’s budget res…
Few things can be as upsetting as discovering that the funds that fuel a co-op or condo have been mishandled—or worse yet, stolen. For residents, fraud undermines their sense of trust in the men and women who oversee and manage the plac…