The economic crisis has affected many individuals, businesses and markets—the real estate and job markets, to name just two particularly nasty examples. Until now, one of the few industries that didn’t seem as deeply impacted was the ins…
Part of the process of bidding and hiring a contractor to work in your building is verifying their insurance coverage. Uninsured or inadequately insured contractors pose a serious threat to a co-op or condo community’s finances and can …
Unlike individual apartment owners’ insurance coverage, most co-op and condo buildings’ insurance policies are pretty standard—they include homeowners’ insurance, liability, and umbrella coverage. Usually, the common areas such as the ha…
Most co-op and condo residents understand that there is a board protecting the interests of their building community and individual owners—they’ve probably taken part in numerous board elections, or even served on committees, or volunte…
Inefficiently-run board meetings are time-wasters that can make even the most enthusiastic board member cringe at the thought of an upcoming session. By contrast, a well-run board meeting can be a productive hour or two that benefits t…
Though often responsible for millions of dollars in property and charged with the oversight of complex building functions, few co-op/condo board members are real estate professionals. Board members are resident volunteers who come from …
While the grid of streets and avenues may remain rigid and unchanging as the years go by, New York City’s neighborhoods are organic entities, constantly shifting and evolving as new features emerge and old ones fade away. Nowhere is thi…
Many directors serving on the boards of co-ops and condominium communities assume that once they have secured the appropriate coverage for their properties, their problems are largely over. Unfortunately, problems in the insurance mark…
Q “A number of shareholders have raised questions about the management of the our co-op corporation. The board has been largely in place for 10 years, the managing agent for 20, and the board retains an attorney, who also served the …
Q Our cooperative board has approved a buyer for one of our units. The seller and prospective buyer have already gone to contract. There are presently a number of board members who have second thoughts about approving the buyer and w…