After almost a decade of explosive housing activity thanks to home loans requiring only ten, five or zero percent down, just about the entire country was faced with financial setbacks in the housing market. Subprime mortgage loans shot u…
In today's litigious society, it seems like almost anybody can be sued for almost anything. Co-ops and condos are no different. And no matter what side of the legal battle you're on, knowing the role of your community's manager is vital …
Like concierges or travel agents, professional residential managers provide a service to their customers—building managers operate in the service industry, after all. And as in all quadrants of the service industry, some companies perfor…
It's not always easy for an HOA resident to know if a troubling situation calls for contacting the association's management company, especially during non-business hours. But you'd think it would be pretty clear that a Christmas Day call…
Remember those old TV variety shows from the 1950s where someone spins a dozen plates while juggling and riding a unicycle? Sometimes being a property manager can be a bit like that, especially when handling multiple clients and dealing …
Sobering studies have recently been published by organizations like the International Energy Association and the National Petroleum Council suggesting that the planet's supply of traditional energy sources may not meet demand by as soon …
Running a successful co-op or condo—whether you're a shareholder or a manager—requires a lot of outside help. There are landscapers to contract, attorneys to query, owners to deal with and hundreds of other tasks each day that require in…
When Bob Madison, a unit owner on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, tried to contact a board member to talk to them about an ongoing problem he had in the building, he was told "board members don't give out their e-mail addresses." He wa…
The homeowners association is, in theory if not always in practice, democracy in action. Once elected via popular vote by the members of the association, the board members—again, in theory, if not always in practice—represent the organiz…
Whenever an HOA resident has a burning question about policy, rules or procedure in their association community, chances are the answer doesn't lie in some obscure legal document or under lock and key somewhere in the depths of the assoc…