Page 16 - CooperatorNews New York January 2022

16 COOPERATORNEWS — JANUARY 2022 COOPERATORNEWS.COM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND GREAT PLANNING FOR OVER 30 YEARS MARBROSE REALTY INC. Our property management fi rm is here to help you and your business. From operations, accounting and compliance to planning for your capital improvements, we are here to help achieve your goals. BUILDING SERVICES | ACCOUNTING COMPLIANCE | PLANNING Call now to fi nd out how: 212-769-3706 43 West 75th Street, Suite C | New York, NY, 10023 WWW.MARBROSE.COM 1441 Broadway, Suite 5078 • New York, NY 10018 (646) 569-5574 • info@crystalrmi.com Crystal Real Estate Management Inc., is a full-service residential real estate organization that offers a full menu of services, including cooperative and condominium property management, consulting, project management, and brokerage. We are an experienced group of professionals with a core philosophy that each client deserves to be treated as a unique entity, never just a number. Developing client relationship that inspire confidence is what Crystal Real Estate Management is all about. The company’s executives, managers, and support staff has been personally interviewed and handpicked, with an eye toward professional competency, personal integrity and caring attitude. Our “hands on approach” to property management differentiates us from any other property management company. We pride ourselves on our personal approach to property management. www. crystalrmi .com Let us show you how personal attention can serve you ment or be uncertain about what to look for in new management. This issue is also a central concern for self-managed co-ops and condos, which don’t have the educational el- ement offered by any management company relationship. Technology may offer a solution to at least part of this challenge. Parapet, a Brooklyn-based startup, is developing soft- ware that integrates with a building’s bank account, analyzes the building’s financial data, and suggests ways for the co-owners to save money and improve the building. The platform is slated to launch in the com- ing months, initially targeting self-managed condos and co-ops in NYC. “We have talked to many condo and co-op owners across New York, and it’s clear many are struggling to understand their building’s financial situ- ation and take concrete steps to improve it,” says Nate Krinsky, Parapet’s co-founder and CEO. “The software provides transparency into the building’s finances for treasurers, board members, and co-owners alike and makes it easy to complete money-saving tasks such as filing the NYC condo-co-op tax abatement that can save buildings thousands \\\[of dollars\\\] each year. Parapet’s solution will eventually be offered to buildings that em- ploy management companies as well, as a tool to keep the board and residents in tune with the building’s financial trajectory.” With so much of management and main- tenance—physical, financial, and even rela- tional—going virtual, it may be that the size and scope of management firms will level out as more services can be handled remotely or online. For now, the choice of a manag- ing agent rests more on what your commu- nity needs rather than what the public im- age of the potential managing agent is. Size doesn’t matter; approach does. When seek- ing a managing agent, give thought to what makes your community unique, and what its unique needs are. Then look very carefully at what company can fill those needs and work as your partner. n A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for Co- operatorNews, and a published author. He can be reached at alan@yrinc.com. WHAT SIZE... continued from page 15 tering) before any animal can reside on the property, including pets, ESAs, and service animals. Along with the surge in requests (legiti- mate or not) for ESAs, housing professionals say they’ve also noticed a misconception cir- culating among owners once their requests are approved: many seem to think the established rules about pets in their building or commu- nity don’t apply to them and their ESAs. “There have been issues with people not realizing that their service \\\[or emotional sup- port\\\] animals still have to abide by the pet policies in the building,” says Alison Phillips, CMCA, AMS, CAM, vice president of mul- tifamily and commercial real estate at First- Service Residential based in Massachusetts. “If somebody is going to have an emotional service animal, they have to fully understand what’s expected of them. They have every right to get one, but they do have the respon- sibility that comes with it as well.” Pets Can Make Great Neighbors It may be that the rise in ESA accom- modation requests may eventually plateau, since buildings and communities throughout the country are increasingly pet friendly. For some that may mean amending rules to al- low animals that were previously forbidden, while for others it may include adding pet- specific amenities to their offerings. There are a number of reasons for this reconsideration. For one thing, many building owners and op- erators understand that there is an underlying economic incentive to allowing pets; the Na- tional Association of Realtors® (NAR) found that pet-friendly properties are more profit- able for investors, and a three-year study by real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller of New York-Based Miller Samuel found that as of September 2015, the average sale price of an apartment in a pet-friendly building in New York is $2.18 million, versus $1.03 million for no-pets buildings, and $830,000 for buildings barring dogs. (He notes, however, that the price differentials could be attributed to other factors, such as the size, type, and location of buildings with more liberal pet policies). Statistics from the following year attributed PANDEMIC PETS continued from page 8