2011 December
Focus on... Safety & Security

 A few years ago, when I lived in the East Village—in a one-bedroom, fifth-floor walk-up—I had a creepy experience when the cable guy came to hook up our service. He arrived in a beat-up windowless van that looked like it had been boosted …

 Recent nationwide crime statistics show that New York City and its outlying  suburbs has become one of the safest cities of its size in the past 15 years.  Nevertheless, in a sprawling metropolitan area encompassing New York and New  Jers…

 Your co-op or condo unit houses more than your material possessions. The  management office also typically contains detailed information about you—including your social security number, credit card number, emergency  information, phone nu…

 The days when an apartment building's 'security system' consisted of a tricky  front door lock and the landlord's ill-tempered dog are long past. Today,  security measures range from old-style deadbolts to high-tech biometric  screening e…

Typically the sources of terror in horror movies come from ghouls and zombies. Victims in these films find themselves trapped in an abandoned warehouse or haunted mansion with no chance of escape or survival. These films leave the audi…

While the economy sputters along and unemployment rates remain steady at more than nine percent, there doesn't seem to be much call for celebration—but all is not gloom and doom. The real estate market has been one of the most notable c…

 It’s been a long time since cable modems were the gold standard in Internet  connectivity—or at least it seems like it’s been a long time. Telecommunications as a field has been developing at a  dizzying pace, and multifamily buildings—bo…

 Organizing and keeping a co-op or condo’s books and other records is, on the surface, not that different than keeping a  budget for one’s home.    But there are many important differences—filing deadlines, tax requirements, reports…

 The last few years have been stressful and uncertain for many in the real estate  game—developers have had to adjust projections and expectations for certain projects.  Likewise, sellers and brokers have had to acclimate to a market that,…

 In today’s turbulent economic times as so many of us try to regain our financial footing,  the question of how to balance the bottom line and still take care of all that  needs to be done in a co-op and condo building remains a difficult …

 Fire in the home can be an absolutely terrifying and life-altering occurrence.  In 2010 alone, there were 1,331,500 fires reported within the United States,  causing more than 3,000 civilian deaths, 17,720 injuries, and $11.6 billion in  …

 Today’s SoHo is synonymous with world class dining, prestigious art galleries, chic  clothing stores, luxury boutique hotels, trendy lounges, picturesque cobble  stone streets and stunning cast iron architecture.    The Lower Manha…

 Not so long ago, having a security system required drilling through the walls of  your cooperative or condominium building and involved installing many spools of  wire attached directly to a bulky keypad.    Sophisticated and Secur…

 Charged with managing their properties’ expenses, boards of co-ops and condo complexes place a high priority on  controlling energy consumption. In some regions, multi-family properties are  being aided by local utilities and incentive pr…

Q At a general meeting of our condominium, a proposal for a flip tax/transfer fee on the sale of a unit failed to get enough votes. Subsequently, the board of managers decided to impose a transfer fee of five months maintenance charg…

Q I am a shareholder in a Lower East Side tenement co-op. The building was originally 6 floors with 4 apartments on each floor. In 1985, we formed a corporation and purchased the building from the landlord who had us purchase a money m…