Category: Finance

Updated December 27, 2017 New York property owners could get some tax relief from the state following the passage of the sweeping new Republican-backed tax law in Washington. Last Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an emergen…

(Updated on 12/22/17 to reflect that President Trump signed the new tax bill into law) On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law  a major $1.5 trillion tax plan  that Congress had earlier passed, the first re-writing of o…

It was not a good year generally for Trump-branded condos during the first full year of Donald Trump's presidency, according to a real estate website's report. Bloomberg reported that the average sales price and average price per squ…

Homeownership in New York City is about to get easier for first-time homebuyers, while existing yet struggling homeowners are getting help in fixing their homes This past Monday, the city announced two new initiatives , Open Door …

Maintaining a residential cooperative or condo association does not come cheap. Shareholders and unit owners contribute regular maintenance payments, to be sure, but that only covers so much. What happens in the event of a rainy day? Well, …

Just a few months ago, according to various media reports, property manager Steven Dym of the Queens-based Gabriel Management Corp., was facing a lawsuit for allegedly taking approximately $22,000 from a client. The ultimate result from thi…

Creating and adhering to an operating budget is a delicate financial balancing act that boards, management, and staff do every year in buildings and associations all across the country. The object is to predict expenses, balance cash inflow…

For the board members and managers handling the successful operation of a co-op or condo community, one of their biggest responsibilities revolves around their fiduciary duties. They are, after all, dealing with people’s biggest assets: the…

Lawsuits are expensive endeavors, period. But what about everyday legal costs - contract vetting, sending documents back and forth, assessing prospective purchasers' information, and so forth? How can boards keep a lid on those expendit…

A proposed agreement drafted by New York City’s Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) department has caused Mayor Bill de Blasio some grief recently, as regulatory measures affecting buildings in the Housing Development Fund Corporatio…