Historically, co-op buildings have had the market cornered on board-mandated restrictions, strict bylaws, and procedural red tape, while condos have been more black-and-white: co-op shareholders own shares, and condo owners own real estate.…
Back in 1955, when the flight to the suburbs was going full blast and many city neighborhoods were deteriorating from lack of money and municipal attention, the Mitchell-Lama bill, named after State Sen. McNeil Mitchell and New York Assembl…
In New York City, many co-ops and condos use a practice called a "flip tax" in order to boost building revenue. As most co-op and condo owners know, a flip tax is a fee paid to the building, either by the purchaser or seller, each time an a…
Today's economy is one, which has economists using words such as "perplexing" and "conundrum." Making predictions as to what the economy will do next week is difficult--trying to predict what will happen six months or a year down the road i…
While there's certainly no shortage of affluent co-op and condo buildings in New York City, it's a fact that a significant proportion of buildings are home to residents of more modest means--buildings for whom large capital improvement proj…
Everybody complains about money. It doesn't matter if you're a millionaire or just getting by from paycheck to paycheck--everyone is on the lookout for money saving possibilities. The same holds true for co-op and condo owners and share…
Any transfer of ownership of a cooperative unit will require the cooperative corporation to cancel the old stock certificate and issue a new one. Many see this step as a simple clerical task, and often it is the managing agents that keep th…
As a financial professional who has served metropolitan New York's cooperative community for over 25 years, I must say that this is probably the most challenging time in recent history. Everywhere we turn, rapidly escalating costs coupled w…