2012 January 
2012 January Vol. 10, No.1
Focus on...Management/Board Relations
Come Prepared to Learn!
With the New Year underway, The New Jersey Cooperator’s 2012 Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo is quietly taking shape as this spring’s must-attend event for the Garden State’s property managers, board members, trustees and unit owners.
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Revenue vs. Reductions
Budgeting is never easy, not for a family of four and certainly not for a co-op
or condo community of hundreds. That fact is made all the more difficult by the
lingering effects of the recession, which continues to wreak havoc with our
confidence as well as the bottom line. For many boards, trying to balance a
budget these days requires making difficult choices. If the budget is falling
short, what is the solution? Raise more revenue by raising fees? Or reduce
costs by cutting back on services and amenities? For residents, neither option
is likely to win a popularity contest.
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A Day in the Life of a Property Manager
No matter what the size of their portfolio, a property manager must wear a great
many professional hats: human resources pro, administrator, mediator,
organizer, social director, project manager, sounding board—sometimes even therapist. An on-site manager has more than his or her share of
responsibilities. Read More
Friend Us on Facebook
With smartphones dominating the cellular market, people now have Internet access
anywhere and everywhere they go. While shopping and “googling” are leading reasons to use the Internet, the rise of social media has changed
the way in which people interact with one another, and with businesses.
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Management Style
Every condo, co-op, and HOA community is different—each has its own distinctive character, attitude, and expectations. The same is
obviously true for the individual people who manage these communities and help
them run their day-to-day business.
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Managing Properties in Tough Times
The economy cratered—to use a term in popular parlance at that time—in September, 2008, with the collapse of too-big-to-fail Lehman Brothers. While the measures undertaken by the federal government and the Federal Reserve
averted complete financial meltdown—it never reached the point where we had to transport the necessary dollars to
buy a loaf of bread in a wheelbarrow, as happened in Italy a few decades ago—the last few years have been a litany of ominous economic indicators. Unemployment: in the double digits. Consumer confidence: an oxymoron. The Dow: mostly down. Property values: a fraction of what they were a few years ago. Foreclosures: way up. About the only positive is the interest rates, which hover near all-time lows. Mix in the mounting deficit, the Moody’s downgrade of U.S. T-bills in mid-2011, and a growing populist uprising
centered around income inequality (and camped out across the river in Lower
Manhattan’s Zucotti Park), and it’s not a boon time for much of anything to do with real estate—in New Jersey or much of anywhere else.
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Aging in Place
Citizens over the age of 65 comprise nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population—just under 40 million seniors. By 2030, it is estimated that 72 million
Americans will be over the age of 65, nearly doubling those numbers. Where this
volume of seniors will live and how, is a question facing not only the
individual seniors but also many boards and property managers who are seeing an
increased population of older residents. It is to be expected that this group will dramatically change the face of aging
and retirement.
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RIP Fannie & Freddie?
One of the biggest issues in the real estate industry over the past year has
been the speculation that government-sponsored mortgage programs Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac will be ending. For the past 70 years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
have helped countless Americans secure long-term, fixed-rate mortgages, by
purchasing them from lenders and securitizing them, all with the unofficial
guarantee of the federal government backing them up.
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Shiny and New
For most people, few things are as stressful—or exciting—as buying a new home. That can be especially true for buyers and shareholders
who sign up to be among the first residents in a newly renovated or constructed
condo or co-op complex. There is the smell of the fresh paint, the shiny new
stainless steel appliances, the untouched bath tiles and pristine hardwood
floors—nothing quite beats that feeling of knowing that such a beautiful space is ours.
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Q&A: Missing Money
Q I belong to a small self-managed condo of six units. However, there are 2 serious concerns: 1) Recently, I discovered that two of the board members used fund money to repair their boilers so they could pass inspection. They led us to believe that all the boilers had failed inspection but there is no documentation to back this up. I have made some inquiries with the inspector and the plumber and have their report, which clearly shows only 2 boilers were in need of repairs to pass inspection. 2) Since I have my suspicions, I looked back several months and noted various checks paid to board members for "waiting around" for service and repairmen, as well as large "reimbursements" ($500-$750). I don't have actual proof of any impropriety. But, do you have any suggestions as to any legal course of action? Does this seem to be illegal? Isn’t this embezzlement? Can one individual in the board have the power to bring charges against them if they refuse to put the money back? Read More
