While co-op boards have an enormous amount of influence over who is - and is not - allowed to purchase shares and call their building home, condo boards have far less power in that regard. While co-op boards can (and usually do) reject bu…
The NYC Department of Finance Office of the NYC Comptroller recently released a report detailing options for the city to secure new sources of funding for services. Among these are two that seek to achieve more equitable taxation of real pr…
With limited space, neighbors on all sides, and no back (or front) yards, apartment living has always been about the amenities. The newest must-have? Quiet rooms. A direct outgrowth of pandemic-related limitations and peoples’ desperate ne…
While occasional annoyances and interpersonal friction are simply part of the cost of communal living, some behaviors cross the line from minor nuisance into legitimate harassment. Knowing the difference is important—but it can be tricky to…
A current bill working its way through Congress would correct a gap in the way the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) delivers recovery assistance in the wake of natural disasters. Sponsored by Reps. David Rouzer (R-N.C.), Jerrold N…
Local Law 97 (LL97), intended to make New York City a carbon neutral oasis by 2050, is both an ambitious and commendable attempt to bring a city born in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into the twenty-second. It also places a substan…
Both the New York State Senate and Assembly have passed provisions to update the famous (sometimes infamous) J-51 property tax abatement and exemption program. It now awaits Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature. The new incarnation of the law …
According to a June 14 press release , the National Housing Conference (NHC) in partnership with the Black Homeownership Collaborative has developed a free mortgage affordability calculator to help all home-seekers - particularly those f…
Another new bill - known as INT 914 - with the intention of increasing the pace and administrative transparency of co-op share transfers is currently before the New York City Council. What’s In It INT 914 would require the boards of co-o…
As has been widely reported lately, Fannie Mae, which is under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has developed a secret blacklist of condominiums, HOAs and co-ops that are ineligible for “conventional financin…