Are you looking for a new management company or financial advisor? Does your lobby need an extra splash of color? Is your co-op looking for replacement windows or facade repairs due to Local Law 11 work? Help is available at T…
2012 February
Focus on... Board/Shareholder Relations
Every co-op and condo association has its own house rules—rules and regulations (hopefully) based on common sense and aimed at protecting residents' safety and quality of life without undue disruption or inconvenience. Most un…
In an urban environment, people can feel isolated, though they live close to each other. While high-rise residential buildings put families near one another, living close doesn’t turn a group of neighbors into a community and that’s und…
Last December, The William Beaver House, located at the heart of New York’s Financial District, sat with 209 of its 320 units unsold—units priced from $900,000 to well over $2 million each. Unfortunately, while sales had gone well for th…
For most people, few things are as stressful—or exciting—as buying a new home. That can be especially true for buyers and residential unit owners who sign up to be among the first residents in a newly renovated or constructed condo or c…
Construction and renovation projects are necessary, but often troublesome—especially when they're occurring next door. For many residents and building owners adjacent to an ongoing project, noise, debris and construction zones diminish …
According to the most recent U.S. Census in 2010, an estimated 2.5 million people—or roughly 13.5 percent—of New York’s population is over the age of 65. Older New Yorkers, especially in New York City live in longtime neighborhoods or i…
Today’s Harlem has a celebrity chef whipping up gourmet cornbread for President Barack Obama, a new Starwood Hotel featuring loft-style rooms geared toward an urban tech-savvy clientele, a newly opened 174,000-square-foot Target big-box…
Unless you live in the perfectly utopian condo or co-op (in which case please disclose where), conflict is virtually inevitable. Whether is it a noise complaint or larger issue of governance, disputes between neighbors and board member…
With spring around the corner, many co-op and condo boards and HOAs start thinking about giving their landscaping design a fresh new look but they want to keep it within their budgets. How can this be accomplished? Some common sense qu…
During the Second World War, the United States and its allies invested a fortune in research to understand why so many people in the Axis nations seemed willing to believe the unbelievable, do the undoable, and follow leaders who seemed…
Q Is it ethical for board members or immediate family members to choose to do a job that would normally be something the community would get together to do for free (i.e. spreading out mulch in the park, pressure-washing the gazebo or …
Q I am a co-op owner. A renovation plan for my apartment was approved by the building, the board and the city. Con Edison added a new power line to the building at no cost because the building was at its capacity for the existing electr…