2010 Jan
2010 January Vol. 8, No.1
Focus on...Management/Board Relations
The New Jersey Cooperator's Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo
The New Jersey Cooperator magazine and Yale Robbins, Inc. are pleased to invite
all property managers, HOA board members, and unit owners to the 3rd annual New
Jersey Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo, a one-day trade show event on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 from 11:30
a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The 2010 Expo will again take over the Meadowlands Exposition
Center at 355 Plaza Drive in Secaucus with booths, seminars, and demonstrations
all day long.
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Make My Day
There’s a scene in the classic film Dirty Harry in which the eponymous detective,
played iconically by Clint Eastwood, is called off the main case in order to
stop a would-be suicide from jumping from a tall building. After this
successful digression, we learn how he earned his nickname—he does the department’s dirty work.
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I Said Order!
Ever feel like your board meetings last longer than Wagner's Ring Cycle operas?
They certainly don’t last nine hours, but even three hours can be a long time to sit in a chair,
especially when the score doesn’t include the Flight of the Valkyries, and there’s no intermission to get a soda and chips.
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To Be Managed - or Self-Managed?
While the majority of condo and HOA communities in New Jersey hire professional
management firms to handle their day-to-day operations, many others choose to
go the self-managed route, which can include hiring on-site staff or having
residents handle the tasks usually carried out by hired help. Their reasons for
doing so are as varied as the buildings themselves, but ultimately, it’s about finding the best fit for unit owners and boards alike.
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Boom Busted
From 2002 to 2007 and beyond, condo construction in New Jersey reached heights
never seen before. Much of it was in the “Gold Coast,” in towns like Hoboken and Jersey City and up into Bergen County. Indeed, a New
York Times article by Antoinette Martin from July 31, 2009, stated that condos
make up about 80 percent of Hudson County housing stock, and parts of the state
also saw accelerated development.
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Distress Signals
When realtor Sean Carroll went out looking at homes with a prospective buyer not
so many months ago, it didn't take long to find a property that fit exactly
what the buyer was looking for. When Carroll put his client's offer in however,
he was told by the listing agent it was a “distressed property,” known in real estate parlance these days as a short sale.
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Building Back Up
In early 2009 at the urging of President Barack Obama, Congress passed the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) with a view toward easing the
blow dealt to the economy by what some are calling the Great Recession. The
ARRA had a tall order to fill: create new jobs while saving existing ones,
cultivate economic activity in both the short- and long-term —and in the words of the official Recovery.gov website, do it all with “unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending.” Read More
Q&A: Appropriate Fine Schedules
What is an appropriate fine schedule? Although we have had fine schedules, someone (new board members, residents, new managers) always seems to begin a debate on this topic which leaves the board in a quandary and not knowing exactly how to proceed. Unfortunately, the same people opening the debate fail to provide a workable solution or provide a solution that is totally subjective. Fines need to have a scale/schedule and be appropriate for the infraction. Any advice? Read More
Q&A: Reasonable Accommodations?
A residential tenant needs to have a chair rail installed so she can access her second floor apartment in our condo building, built in the 1950's. Who pays for the chair rail and the installation, the tenant or the condo association? Read More
