Windows can dramatically change any space, from transforming a tiny kitchen into a front row seat to a glorious skyline to morphing a standard upstairs bedroom into a perfect perch for an ocean view. Windows bring vast life and light to an…
Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and fellow council members reached agreement June 19, 2014 on an on-time and balanced city budget for Fiscal Year 2015—marking one of the earliest budget handshakes …
One of the biggest problems that can cause the downfall of any co-op or condo is a lack of funds, or more specifically, not enough money to keep operations running smoothly and to make the necessary repairs to keep everything up to par. …
As the 2012 federal legislative fiasco over the debt ceiling—as well as any number of other spending bills proposed since then—demonstrated, balancing a budget can be like pulling teeth. Balancing a condo or HOA community's budget can some…
Preparing the annual budget is by no means an easy task. Those charged with preparing cooperative, condominium or HOA budgets will soon begin reviewing costs, gathering data and projecting expenses for the coming year. Communities, busines…
Matters of finance are difficult enough without the added stress of worrying about whether that deal you thought might be too good to be true is—in fact—too good to be true. With the onset of the recession and the revelations surrounding l…
Think back to when you were younger and got your first job. You worked your hours—perhaps flipping burgers, taking orders or cutting the grass—and then earned your first paycheck. You went to the bank, signed the back and had it cashed and…
Even before the economic meltdown and the media storm swirling around the thievery of money men like Bernie Madoff, financial mismanagement and fraud have been destructive problems for many co-op and condo owners. A co-op or condo is…
You always want to feel safe in your home, but as the past few years have proven, you never know when a major calamity or weather disaster is going to strike. While most of New York City proper wasn’t hit as hard by Superstorm Sandy as som…
If you own a co-op or a condo, it goes without saying that you want to make sure you get all the tax credits and abatements available to you. One of the most important of those is the New York State School Tax Relief Exemption—more commonl…