2011 February
2011 February Vol. 9, No.2
Focus on...Board/Owner Relations
The New Jersey Cooperator's Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo
The New Jersey Cooperator’s 2011 Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo is preparing to welcome the Garden State’s property managers, board members and unit owners to an event that is fast
becoming the region’s premier trade show for community associations.
Read More
Duty vs. Neighbors
Getting elected to the board of one's co-op or condo building is usually a very
positive thing: it gives a person the chance to play a part in the preservation
of their community, and also gives them the opportunity to leave it in better
shape than when they started. But great power comes with great responsibility
that must be utilized properly. Board members can suddenly find themselves in
tough spots when figuring out how to balance their status and fiduciary duty
with relationships that may predate their position of authority.
Read More
How to Get Heard
As a condo owner, you’ve got a gripe. Whether it’s about Mrs. Smith’s poodle barking all day, the neighbor’s teenaged son, who blasts his heavy metal music full-volume when his parents
aren’t home, or a long-coveted parking space that hasn’t materialized after years of waiting, you want someone to listen—and of course, do something about your complaint.
Read More
Snow on the Roof
The winter months bring us a more heightened awareness of what a major snowstorm
can do to our commute to school or work and, our voicemails if we are a
property manager. However, with the heavy snow comes a very real potential for structural failure
of a condo association’s roof system that may have tragic results.
Read More
Handling Home Based Businesses
According to U.S. Small Business Administration statistics, over half of all
small businesses begun in the last decade have been home-based—that's more than 24 million in real numbers—with a new home-based business being launched every 11 seconds.
Read More
Pets Allowed?
Even as condos and co-ops around the Northeast have loosened pet restrictions to
increase marketability during the recession, not all New Jersey buildings and
HOAs have jumped on the bandwagon.
Read More
Managing People
The responsibilities of property managers include a wide array of tasks, from
the physical to the administrative. While many of these jobs involve concrete
things—like sending out monthly bills, filing paperwork, or going to meetings—equally important is managing the people involved with the building. That
includes everyone from the building’s staff, to the residents to those on the board and committees.
Read More
Getting Out the Vote
While the election format in a condominium community is pretty much the same as
for any other club or organization, property managers and board members are
looking to make the process easier and increase unit owner participation. Unit
owner participation, in particular, can be a challenge as some condos find it
hard to get enough members for a quorum at their annual meetings.
Read More
Q&A: Creating a Condo Assocition
I live in Newark and I just bought a two-family home in a condo. However, when the developer built these, he was the actual association and then along the years with all the mortgage defaults, things got a little off and the condo has been a mess ever since. One person has “self-proclaimed” herself as the “president” and tries to run the association and collect fees but the only thing that I know is that I pay my fees and seemingly nothing is done. The streets are always dirty, garbage gets thrown everywhere by the garbage collectors, grass is dead or unkempt. It just doesn’t make any sense. Read More
