Cooperator - Articles - Finance

New Rules for Co-ops and Condos

no@spam.com (Rich Koller) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:51:45 EDT

In the last two years, Fannie Mae has amended it’s guidelines for selling and serving mortgages on condominiums, cooperatives, and planned unit developments three times. Why should service providers, cooperative corporations and community association managers care about what the mortgage giant does?

Energy Audit Legislation Aimed at Co-ops & Condos

no@spam.com (Bob Friedrich) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:50:37 EDT

Proposed legislation by the New York City Council to require energy audits, while a nice idea, is extremely cost-prohibitive especially in today’s economy. The bottom line is that the spending proposed in this bill (Intro 967) will be taken straight out of the operating budgets of co-ops and condos and not the city coffers.

Keeping it Healthy in Today's Tough Economy

no@spam.com (Stephanie Mannino) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:49:46 EDT

In today’s harsh economic times, maintaining a healthy reserve fund is more important than ever. A co-op or condo’s reserve fund can be used to cover any number of emergency expenses from sudden repairs to legal costs. In addition, a reserve fund can be used for ongoing maintenance projects or for anticipated future repairs.

Feds Seek to Boost Homeowners and Buyers

no@spam.com (Jim Douglass) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:46:51 EDT

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.

Sidestepping Bank Foreclosures and Defaults

no@spam.com (Meryl Feiner) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:45:19 EDT

Unemployment is up and apartment sales are down. That’s the trend of headline news lately. But, so far, New York City co-ops and condominiums seem to be weathering the storm in reasonably good shape. According to those close to the situation, boards have not seen significant increases in shareholder or owner defaults on monthly maintenance payments or any bank foreclosures.

Struggling to Strike a Balance

no@spam.com (Raanan Geberer) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:44:05 EDT

When you walk down many large commercial thoroughfares in New York, whether it’s Fifth or Madison Aevnue in Manhattan, Kings Highway in Brooklyn or Main Street in Flushing, you’re sure to notice many more empty stores than usual—living proof of the current recession. You’ll see them on the side streets, too. Many of these stores are on the ground floor of old rental apartment buildings or in one- or two-story “taxpayers.” But others are on the ground floors of condo and co-op buildings.

Shoring Up What Lies Beneath

no@spam.com (Greg Olear) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:41:53 EDT

Not so very long ago, pretty much any individual or corporate entity could get a loan quickly and easily, with only some cursory paperwork separating borrower from lender. The so-called subprime mortgage crisis put a stop to all that, and banks great and small suddenly threw on the brakes and heeded the advice of Polonius: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

Low Reserves and Defaults Challenge Boards

no@spam.com (Hillary Pember) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:40:39 EDT

Even in the best of economic times, preparing a co-op or condo’s annual budget can be a tiresome task, fraught with uncertainty, estimations and shifting numbers. Factor in one of the most harrowing economic downturns in a century, with cash-strapped owners sometimes “skipping” their monthly maintenance fees—or even winding up in foreclosure—and you have a downright daunting task.

Back From the Brink of Disaster:

no@spam.com (Barbara Dershowitz) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:42:04 EDT

Co-op and condo boards, together with their professional managers, are responsible for their properties' financial well-being. Every financially-challenged property faces the same perils: an inability to meet ongoing expenses, the consequences of unattended capital improvements, the danger of plummeting sales prices and even the dire possibility of foreclosure. When a property is in financial jeopardy, it falls to the board and management to do everything possible to pull it out of the red and into the black. Here are the inspiring profiles of three properties that stood on the brink of disaster and turned that situation around. Here, also, is expert advice on how to ensure your own property's financial success.

Increasing Revenue Without Increasing Maintenance Fees

no@spam.com (Stephanie Mannino) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:12:38 EDT

In today’s economic climate, many of the city’s co-ops and condos have begun to feel the pinch as they struggle to pay their bills. Often, buildings are forced to raise maintenance fees to make ends meet. And while maintenance fees or special assessments might be the most common methods of increasing available funds, they are certainly not the only ways to do it. And when the most common options are not doable, some boards are getting creative.