Page 6 - NY Cooperator May 2019

6 THE COOPERATOR — MAY 2019 COOPERATOR.COM COOPERATOR.COM U nless it wants to face the wrath of the law (i.e., a fine of up to several hundred dollars), every residential building in New York City must recycle. While the bar for doing the bare minimum is quite easy to clear, dedication to and quality of recycling programs vary. For every board that promotes composting and tends to a green roof, there’s another that allows the various bins in the recycling room to pile high with all sorts of miscellaneous and non-reusable garbage. The Cooperator spoke with Jacqueline Ottman, Chair of the non-profit organization Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, to discuss how a co-op or condo building can take a more proactive approach to recycling. The Cooperator: What’s your general take on the overall status of recycling programs in high-rise and multi-family housing? Jacqueline Ottman: Here’s the deal: high-rise recycling participation lags behind that of single-family homes. The reasons behind this are fairly intuitive and obvious. There will always be outliers in a multi-family building who simply do not care about recycling, and there’s great opportunity for anonymity in a 17-floor building when you’re just sending rubbish down a shoot. And once a recycling area starts getting sloppy, those residents who have been swayed to make an effort may quickly lose their ambition. Exactly. There’s also a transitive nature in these buildings, where new people are coming in or out, so you really need to stay on top of the education. And then you have the subletters…renters just don’t tend to care as much as the owners. What has worked in your experience to rally neighbors behind a recycling or compost- ing initiative? There’s a very simple piece of logic that I used to convince my Upper East Side building to adopt an organics program. A lot of co-ops are scared of collecting food scraps within the building; they see that as a magnet for rats. But the truth is, it’s exactly the opposite. We were already pretty good recyclers, so I got the board to un- Cooperator.com From W hen it comes to energy, conservation is the watchword – not just as pertains to us- age (although definitely that!) but also to cost. This may be especially true for New York City’s condominium and co-op buildings, in which volunteer boards must take multiple considerations into account when figuring out an energy plan that’s right for the property. As solutions like co-generation and solar paneling begin to overtake less efficient fossil fuels, it can be tough for an association to navigate this growing field. Bright Power, an energy and water management service provider out of New York City and Oakland, California, has shaken things up of late via the introduction of the Resilient Power Hub (RPH) – a micro-grid system that combines cogeneration, solar PV, and reserve battery storage. As the company recently installed the city’s first RPH for residential use in the Bronx – with additional ones in Brooklyn and Queens on the way – The Cooperator s poke with James Han- nah, Vice President of Client Services at Bright Power, to discuss how this hybrid technology might be utilized by community associations going forward. The Cooperator: How do you see RPH becoming increasingly viable as an energy option for condo and co-op properties going forward? James Hannah: They’re likely looking for flexibility, both in terms of physical space con- straints and of benefits to be obtained. When we were designing the RPH, we considered the combination of technology that would deliver utility bill savings for the 99.9 percent of the time when a grid was functional, while also providing backup power in a way that’s cost effective. When you think about the tech – solar panels that produce electricity; co-generation, which is basically a small engine in the building that produces electricity and heat that runs on natural gas; and battery storage – you’re talking about technologies that are increasingly scaleable in terms of generation and storage capacity. How would the installation and layout go in a typical city residential building? If it’s a building where solar makes sense – which does not describe every condo or co-op in the city – that typically means a building with unobstructed southern exposure. You’d also want a roof with some open space, that’s not all bulkheads or mechanical equipment. Panels would go on the roof, and then a co-generation system would typically go close to the domestic hot water Visit Cooperator.com for related news, articles and videos. Save Your Energy A Look at the Resilient Power Hub BY MIKE ODENTHAL J umbo loans. It’s a term we hear frequently and see advertised regularly. But what exactly is a jumbo loan, and how did ‘jumbos’ come to be? Origins The world of home loans—including co-op and condo mortgages—has changed and evolved in the past few decades. Prior to the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, home loans were originated by banks and held ‘in portfolio,’ as an asset. That meant if you took a loan with, say, the New York Community Bank, Apple Bank, or Citibank, the mortgage was held and administered by that bank until such time as it was paid off through either the sale of the property or the loan’s final amortizing payment. The Savings and Loan crisis changed all that. Out of the ashes of that traditional lending infrastructure arose the practice of mass securitization—the origination, packaging and sale of blocks of loans on what’s known as the secondary market. One of the main purchasers of these loans is the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, a.k.a., Fannie Mae). Founded during the Great Depression, FNMA does not originate loans or provide loans to borrowers. Rather, it acts as a marketplace for the sale of previously originated loans, which helps member banks maintain liquidity and continue lending. Characteristics The main distinguishing factor of a jumbo loan, explains Robbie Gendels, a senior loan of- ficer at National Cooperative Bank (NCB)— a national lender on both individual co-op and condo units, and of underlying permanent mortgages for co-op buildings—is its size. “A jumbo doesn’t meet FNMA guidelines with respect to size. It exceeds FNMA’s limits. It can’t be pur- chased, guaranteed, or securitized by FNMA.” The dollar limit for a mortgage to be accepted by FNMA stands at $626,525. So are jumbo mortgages treated differently than conventional loans? Not substantially, ex- plains Gendels. “Terms and underwriting may vary from bank to bank,” she says. “Credit score requirements are usually a little higher, in the 700-750 range, and down payment requirements may be slightly higher as well. It depends on the bank, some may ask for 10 percent down, oth- ers 20 percent. Terms such as the length of the loan, interest rate, and amortization schedules, tend to be consistent with smaller loans that qualify for FNMA purchase.” What’s available in terms of loan structure will also depend on what product the particular bank offers, fixed rate, Everything You Wanted to Know About Jumbo Loans How Are They Different From Conventional Loans? BY AJ SIDRANSKY continued on page 16 Recycling Better An Expert Discusses What Condos and Co-ops Can Do BY MIKE ODENTHAL continued on page 16 continued on page 7