Page 9 - New York Cooperator January 2020

COOPERATOR.COM THE COOPERATOR — JANUARY 2020 9 Avoiding Trouble—and When to Walk Away A financial pitfall can be dodged if with them.” Halper says that while man- caught early enough, before the dol- lar amounts involved creep too high for insurance, there’s still liability, and most the individual shareholders or owners to firms will part company with a truly dys- handle. “Completing a regularly sched- uled reserve study, and maintaining both able for the board’s mismanagement. the reserves required therein and com- pleting the work required as scheduled, out that the management business can be will avoid the possibility of the property stressful enough as it is—managing even becoming distressed,” says Ruccolo. Halper agrees, and adds that “The add to that stress and can take time away key is to keep up with both financial and from other properties in one’s portfolio. maintenance needs. Raise maintenance “You don’t find firms that only handle annually to keep up with increases in op- erating expenses and other costs. Cheap- ness is at the heart of the problem.” And sometimes, a board’s inability— or unwillingness—to handle its business known as the company whose portfolio forces their management company to cut of properties is riddled with problems, ties and leave the community to its own lurching from one crisis to the next. “It’s a devices. To illustrate his point, Halper re- lates a real-life crisis from a former client other,” he says. “You have to be careful of community. “We had a situation where a your reputation.” board employed a non-union super at a very low wage,” he says. “Eventually they fired him, but it wasn’t done properly, and he filed a wage claim against them. \\\[The board\\\] refused to listen to any of our advice, and we left shortly thereafter because the situation became untenable. We didn’t want to face possible liability agement firms carry errors and omission functional board before they become li- Both Ruccolo and Halper also point one chronically distressed property can distressed properties,” says Ruccolo. Partly for the reasons already mentioned, but furthermore, Halper continues, it’s a matter of reputation. Nobody wants to be small business, and everyone knows each n A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for Th e Cooperator, and a published novelist. during the summer, now people fire off emails while sitting at the pool sipping a piña colada. People can contact you all the time from wherever they are.” Scott Wolf, a managing partner with Brigs, LLC, a New England-based real es- tate management firm, concurs. “I’d like to get rid of email,” he says. “Everyone’s expectation is an instant answer—but there’s something to be said for actually picking up a phone and speaking with people. With direct contact it may be eas- ier to resolve an issue a little faster and more easily.” “The internet has changed the focus of how we communicate with people,” says Wollman. “Fewer people use the phone or talk face-to-face. Where I used to get 10 calls, I now get 30 emails. The thing is that in our business, there are many times when a problem is better handled in a more personal way than email pro- vides for.” On the Other Hand… While advances in communication technologies have changed the way man- agers work and allot their time, they do see benefits in it as well. “With the advent of the internet and online communica- tions, one can accomplish things more quickly, even though more people are contacting you,” says Wollman. “It’s also less stressful. You don’t have people an- gry at you all the time,” he adds, with a chuckle. “It’s also easier to deliver bad news!” While email does offer some re- move from direct confrontation, it can also make some feel entitled to be much harsher than they might be face-to-face— and it can often flatten out nuance and tone, which makes misunderstandings and accidental offense not uncommon. Wolf says, “Ultimately, electronic com- munication provides you with more time to do other things, which means that you do get more done, but you also work more, because of the actual time involved in answering email. There’s always more email.” In the end, electronic communication may be a mixed bag for managers, but one they will continue to use even if it means more hours in front of the com- puter screen or on their smartphones. And speaking of smartphones...the next logical step in electronic communica- tions may not sit so well with manage- THE EVOLUTION... continued from page 1 continued on page 10