2005 Jul
2005 Jul Vol. 25, No. 7
Focus on...Budget&Finance
Board Hurdles
As a financial professional who has served metropolitan New York's cooperative community for over 25 years, I must say that this is probably the most challenging time in recent history. Everywhere we turn, rapidly escalating costs coupled with increased regulatory requirements result in never-ending work for board members. Read More
Who's in Charge?
Any transfer of ownership of a cooperative unit will require the cooperative corporation to cancel the old stock certificate and issue a new one. Many see this step as a simple clerical task, and often it is the managing agents that keep the stock book and perform this mechanical task for the cooperative corporation. The act of canceling the certificate caries great legal significance and has the potential to cause liability for the cooperative corporation. If the managing agent does this job for the cooperative corporation, then it is acting as transfer agent, and in that role has the same risk of liability as does the cooperative corporation. Read More
A Penny Saved
Everybody complains about money. It doesn't matter if you're a millionaire or just getting by from paycheck to paycheck--everyone is on the lookout for money saving possibilities. Read More
Thinking Outside the Box
While there's certainly no shortage of affluent co-op and condo buildings in New York City, it's a fact that a significant proportion of buildings are home to residents of more modest means--buildings for whom large capital improvement projects, emergency repairs, and major maintenance increases may constitute a significant financial hardship. For those buildings, price is definitely an object, and oftentimes board members and managing agents are hard-pressed to come up with creative ways to increase revenue. For those willing to do their homework and get creative, however, there are many methods by which middle- and lower-income buildings can increase their cash flow, build up their reserve fund, and stay solvent, no matter what the economic climate. Read More
Refinancing in Today's Market
Today's economy is one, which has economists using words such as "perplexing" and "conundrum." Making predictions as to what the economy will do next week is difficult--trying to predict what will happen six months or a year down the road is anyone's guess. But it's a fact that interest rates are at lows not seen since our parents were inking their first mortgages. Read More
Voting "Yes" to Flip Taxes
In New York City, many co-ops and condos use a practice called a "flip tax" in order to boost building revenue. As most co-op and condo owners know, a flip tax is a fee paid to the building, either by the purchaser or seller, each time an apartment is sold, or "flipped." Read More
The Mitchell-Lama Buyout Process
Back in 1955, when the flight to the suburbs was going full blast and many city neighborhoods were deteriorating from lack of money and municipal attention, the Mitchell-Lama bill, named after State Sen. McNeil Mitchell and New York Assemblyman Alfred Lama, was signed into law. Read More
More Power to Condo Boards
Historically, co-op buildings have had the market cornered on board-mandated restrictions, strict bylaws, and procedural red tape, while condos have been more black-and-white: co-op shareholders own shares, and condo owners own real estate. Co-op residents wishing to sell their shares faced the greater possibility of board interference in the sale process than condo owners, whose boards typically exert only the right of first refusal when it comes to who buys into the building. If exclusivity and "building character" is a priority for you, a co-op is probably the way to go. If liquidity and minimal board involvement is what you're after, you're likely a condo customer. Read More
