Category: Community Living

A short distance away from this writer’s “regular,” non-Cooperator job in Downtown Brooklyn is a large, empty edifice, a former industrial building. A year or so ago, the conversion of this building to condos was a big deal—a sales offi…

 There was a time when Long Island City’s waterfront area wasn’t exactly a hot residential neighborhood. With its looming industrial buildings  with a few small residential buildings thrown together near the East River, the  area was more …

Q We are a small co-op building of 28 units in Jackson Heights, Queens. We would like to know if during an interview of the prospective buyer a seller is allowed to be present, where he/she might intervene during the process favoring…

 As a neighborhood, the South Bronx has struggled for nearly three decades under  the negative connotations of its name as a flash point for violent crime,  drugs, and unchecked urban decay. For many of those who live there, life is  bound…

On the infamous evening of September 11, 2001, Battery Park City resident Hank Wisner was unable to go home to his smoke- and ash-filled apartment across the street from the World Trade Center. As he watched the day’s events play over a…

 Your roof terrace leaked and the neighbor below you sued for damages. The  heating system in your apartment failed to work and the managing agent sent you  the bill for its repair. You bought a dog for your child, and six months later  th…

 While not everyone who serves on his or her co-op or condo board needs to be an  attorney or have an encyclopedic knowledge of the law, it never hurts to be  aware of the important, often precedent-setting legal decisions being handed  do…

It’s amazing how good building owners and managers are at increasing and garnering revenue from residential tenants while at the same time leaving themselves to the will and whim of laundry room operators who impose contracts lasting fo…

 The realities of a depressed real estate market have finally settled upon New  York City. We’ve seen a significant drop in sale prices over just the past few months. This  has been coupled with a rapid increase in inventory levels as unit…

 Mechanic’s liens are one of the topics I am most often consulted about. This is  especially true at the present time with the state of the economy. It is not  that the economy brings new kinds of issues, there are just a lot more of the  …