2013 February
Focus on... Board/Owner Relations

Owner Relations Neighbor to Neighbor
2013 February Neighbor to Neighbor

 When someone moves into a community, they often look for the friendliness and  camaraderie that living in an association brings. But with many personalities  often butting heads on everyday living situations, it can often get tense and  t…

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Owner Relations Taming Transient Turmoil
2013 February Taming Transient Turmoil

 As housing markets in many parts of the country—including New Jersey—have foundered, many developers have opted to convert portions of communities  originally intended to be condominiums into rental properties.    When a developmen…

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Owner Relations Better, Stronger, Faster...
2013 February Better, Stronger, Faster...

 These days, there are few people who don’t have a business website, a Facebook account and even a Twitter handle. It’s the same for buildings.    As the rise of online social media invades nearly every aspect of our daily  life, co…

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Owner Relations Building a Better Board
2013 February Building a Better Board

 Working in groups can be a challenge. Working in groups when people’s homes—and possibly their life savings—are involved can be a far greater challenge. It’s one faced every day by those brave souls who volunteer to serve on their co-op  …

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Finance Letting it Slide...
2013 February Letting it Slide...

 It’s the same dilemma that single-family households across the U.S. are facing:  What bills need to be paid immediately and what bills can wait? And should we  stretch ourselves thin, taking more out of our bank accounts to pay for privat…

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Management Pet Peeves
2013 February Pet Peeves

 Time was, if you said that a co-op or condo building was 'going to the dogs,' it  was a bad thing. These days however, that's not always the case. According to  the American Pet Products Association, 39 percent of all U.S. households own …

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Maintenance When Winter Wanes
2013 February When Winter Wanes

 Snow, ice, freezing, thawing, refreezing all take such a toll on New Jersey properties that it’s practically a cliché—but it’s a cliché that condo and HOA board members and managers have to deal with every spring.    Harsh weather …

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Neighborhoods Atlantic City Weathers the Storm
2013 February Atlantic City Weathers the Storm

 Every news channel in the tri-state area, if not the entire U.S., aired  minute-by-minute accounts of Superstorm Sandy's brutal march up the Eastern  Seaboard. The accounts and pictures of the devastation were indelible.  Weathermen and n…

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Organizations The National Fire Protection Association
2013 February The National Fire Protection Association

 Fire in the home can be an absolutely terrifying and life-altering occurrence.  In 2011, there were 1,389,500 fires reported in the United States. These fires  caused 3,005 civilian deaths, 17,500 civilian injuries, and $11.7 billion in  …

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Q&A Q&A: Hurricane-Damaged
2013 February Q&A: Hurricane-Damaged

Q Our building was badly flooded by Hurricane Sandy, which “killed” our boilers and elevators, and the building is terribly short on funds at the  moment. Are FEMA loans applicable to condos? Is this something our management  company shou…

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