Real estate professionals, developers and builders are all reporting the same thing: today’s homebuyers who are looking for maximum value are asking for more than granite countertops and hardwood floors. They want energy savings and gre…
Though often responsible for millions of dollars in property and charged with the oversight of complex building functions, few co-op/condo board members are real estate professionals. Board members are resident volunteers who come from …
Fresh from hoisting up the banking and automobile sectors, a newly muscular Uncle Sam is now turning his attention to putting the skids on the real estate meltdown. Earlier this year, the Obama Administration rolled out two ma…
As recent events in the financial and insurance sectors of our economy have painfully demonstrated, oversight and accountability are vital components in any healthy business relationship -- and that holds true whether you’re talking abo…
Nearly every day, pieces of legislation are introduced, debated, or voted on—both in Trenton and in Washington—that impact the administration of New Jersey’s HOAs. Keeping track of what passes into law (and then must be complied with) is…
When you think about the most important person to a building or association, the superintendent should rank pretty high up on the list, if not right at the top. Let’s face it, an association or building’s super has a tremendous amount o…
While more space, cleaner air, and a more relaxed lifestyle may be upsides to suburban living, the ‘burbs are also often synonymous with sprawl—mile after mile of strip-malls, big-box stores, identical office parks, chain restaurants, a…
Few things illustrate the fragility of modern civilization more clearly than plumbing problems. A broken pipe, a backed-up toilet, a flooded bathroom—any one of these can quickly go from annoyance to emergency, and the longer a plumbing…
Common sense notwithstanding, a lot of co-op and condo owners don’t have the adequate liability and property insurance they should have. Too often they assume that their building association has insurance coverage that will automaticall…
For the uninitiated, tax filing for something as complicated as a community association can seem a daunting task. Fortunately, there are multiple options for homeowners associations, and with a little background knowledge, you can take t…