Category: Finance

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…

Running a co-op, condo or HOA is a business, and like most businesses, proper budgeting is the key to financial health. Just like businesses, associations usually have two separate yet vitally important budgets. The first budget is the day…

With natural disasters causing catastrophic property damages becoming more common, associations must be prepared for unexpected expenses, such as a major roof repair, or the installation of a new heating and cooling system. These major cap…

 These days, just about everyone is cutting back on spending, either to make ends  meet, saving for something special or a rainy day, paying off debt or funding  their retirement. Consumers are cutting coupons, looking for deals and keepin…

 When you were a child, you probably tuned into the PBS show Mister Rogers  Neighborhood, where a homespun sweater-clad Fred Rogers often sang “Won’t you be my neighbor?”  Mr. Rogers might be singing a different tune today if he wer…

 After nearly twelve years in office Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is poised to  leave office on December 31st of this year. One of his last acts as mayor of  immediate and possible long-term impact is adoption of a final budget for the  upco…

 If you want to find out about the history of a town, region or country, head to  a museum or look it up on the Internet. If you want to find out about your  family’s history, look at your photo album, whether it’s in a book or online. And…