2000 Dec/Jan
2000 Dec/Jan Vol. 20, No. 1
Focus on...Building Wide Financial Stategies
Digital Digs
Never before have there been so many ways to become "wired" in The Big Apple. Innovative companies are readying New York City’s co-ops and condos for the new millennium by making state-of-the-art electronic amenities a mere click away from realization. These "bundled services" provide co-op and condo residents packages of high-tech building features, such as local and long distance phone service, multiple TV channels, video conferencing and internet service that zooms to your computer screen in the blink of an eye. According to Howard Slavin, asset manager of the New York real estate investment firm, Allied Partners, "No sophisticated buyer today would move into a building that didn’t have some type of satellite and high-speed internet access." Read More
Save On Utility Costs
So, it’s the holiday season again and everyone is feeling generous, even you. You seem to have gotten past your Scrooge-stage and feel like splurging on someone else for a change. You don’t mind going the extra mile for your neighbor or running some errands for a friend. But when it comes to picking up the tab for utility charges that aren’t your own, you suddenly aren’t feeling so generous. However, odds are that you are paying for unfair charges on your utility bills, not only in the winter, but all year round. Due to increased awareness that estimated billing often contains a high percentage of error, many boards and property owners have turned to utility monitoring to alleviate the problem of overpaying for their utilities. And because most utility monitoring companies can obtain credit for such mistakes, dating back up to six years, an inquiry into your own utility usage via utility monitoring may be a very appropriate holiday gift to yourself. Read More
Brokers & Bankers
Nearly 100 percent of New York City co-ops have an underlying mortgage of anywhere from a few thousand dollars to millions of dollars. If you own a co-op, having an additional multi-million dollar mortgage hanging over your head might sound like an alarming prospect. You might be surprised to learn that while homeowners generally pay off their own mortgages in 30 years or less, very few co-ops have paid off their underlying mortgage. Because so few buildings have actually paid off their underlying mortgage, they are forced to refinance when the term of their current loan comes to an end. Co-op board members looking to refinance will then turn either to a mortgage broker or a mortgage banker (or lender) to lead them through the process and obtain the financing they need. Read More
Subletting Pros and Cons
The board of a co-op is required to perform an ongoing balancing act, weighing both the needs of the individual shareholders and the good of the whole. Nowhere is this more apparent than the controversial issue of subletting. While owners feel entitled to rent out their property as need dictates, the board must be concerned with the financial well-being of the building, questions of community, and quality of life. While a "no sublet" policy may create hardship for unit owners, too much undermines the building’s financial viability, establishing and enforcing a fair sublet policy can be crucial to keeping the peace. Read More
A Mortgage Primer
To paraphrase Sy Syms, "an educated board member is a lender’s best borrower!" That concept underlies all of the articles I have written about co-op financing. Since my last article for The Cooperator ("Dial ‘M’ for Mortgage," December/January 1997), however, much has changed in the mortgage market. Refinancing an underlying mortgage is the most important decision that a board will make. This one decision will not only affect the monthly maintenance of every shareholder, but also the market value of every apartment in the building. It is a decision that warrants thorough planning, careful analysis, and diligent execution by every member of the board’s professional team. No board should attempt a refinancing on its own. It is absolutely essential that the board involve every one of its professional advisors in this critical decision from the very beginning. Read More
From Storage to Stairmaster
About ten years ago, Doug Anderson, the board president of 1125 Park Avenue, and some of his fellow board members walked though their building’s basement and saw a wall which, according to Anderson, "didn’t make sense." The inquisitive cooperators asked the building superintendent what was behind the wall and when he replied he hadn’t a clue, the board gave instructions to bang a hole through it. Anderson describes finding a large, cavernous space with 27-foot-high ceilings which turned out to be a coal storage bin from the days when the grand pre-war building had furnaces heated by coal. This 4,000 square feet of unused space was enough room to create, as Anderson remembers, "an amenity for everyone in the building." With a healthy reserve and a board that wanted to improve the sense of community, 1125 Park Avenue built a gym, a children’s room and a basketball court. Gyms and other amenities created from basement space are now "de rigeur" in New York City. Read More
The Corcoran Group
Barbara Corcoran, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of The Corcoran Group, Manhattan’s largest privately owned real estate firm, is on top of her game as she continues to do what she does best: invent ways to market Manhattan’s hottest, high-end properties. Often referred to as the "Queen of New York Real Estate," this innovator knows that the key to success is in the people she chooses to work with her. "I’ve always had enormous ‘good people’ fortune. I’ve had the most gifted people since day one. They are the strongest sales people in town." Esther Kaplan, president of The Corcoran Group, has been with the firm for over 22 years. "Barbara and I have a kind of left-brain/right-brain relationship. Her gift, special talent, is marketing. I’m on the other side of the firm, the operating side." Read More
