During the real estate boom of the last decades, many new condo buildings used to use extravagant amenities as a tool for new buyers. Marble-top counters, exercise rooms, Jacuzzis, free cars for buyers, childrens' playrooms, computer lo…
As the recession has lingered on since 2008, co-op and condo buildings throughout the city—from luxurious downtown buildings to middle-income and lower-income walkups—have found more of their residents in arrears with their monthly fees.…
The day-to-day costs of running a multifamily residential building are significant. There’s the fuel oil, electric, cleaning supplies, equipment maintenance and service calls for repair and upkeep. Then there are the insurance costs, la…
Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes—these are just a few of the devastating disasters that have made headlines already in 2011 and the emergency situations that resulted many never thought possible. As the past year’s calamitous …
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the recent recession was the sudden evaporation of credit from major banks and lending institutions. The logic behind it was understandable: too much easy credit had led, in part, to the col…
Despite some admissions of error from the city, and a temporary cap on increases in assessed valuations, co-op officers and elected officials from Eastern Queens who in recent weeks have declared a “tax revolt” aren’t backing down. …
For the majority of co-op or condo owners, their apartment is their largest asset. That apartment should be viewed as an investment and one that makes fiscal sense. But that approach is impossible if unit owners are missing important p…
Given recent headlines, cooperative and condominium associations could be forgiven for thinking they need to put an armed guard and razor wire around the petty cash box. A wave of fraud appears to be hitting properties from New York to…
Not everybody on a co-op or condo's board is an accountant (or can even balance their own checkbook, for that matter.) Handling the money for an entire building is a big responsibility, however, and residents rely upon their board to ma…