Board/Shareholder Relations

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How to Get Heard

By Lisa Iannucci

 As a shareholder or condo owner, you’ve got a gripe. Whether it’s about Mrs. Smith’s poodle barking all day, the neighbor’s teenaged son who blasts his heavy metal music full-volume when his parents  aren’t home, or a long-coveted parking space that hasn’t materialized after years of waiting, you want someone to listen—and of course, do something about your complaint. Read More

Board Members and Privacy

By Greg Olear

 As the leaders of a private corporation in which shareholders own stock that  entitles them to live in an apartment within the corporation’s building, residential co-op board members have a lot of responsibility. Along  with this responsibility comes questions about what can and cannot (as well as  what should and should not) be openly discussed among board members,  management, and non-board shareholders. Read More

Top Complaints of Board Members and Residents

By Liz Lent

Everyone loves a Top 10 list and the co-op and condo world is no different. Besides, if Letterman can do it, so can we. With that in mind, this month we’ve got the top ten things that drive board members crazy about their residents and the top ten things that make residents pull their hair and curl into the fetal position. More importantly, we’ve got suggestions on how to put all of those trifling items to rest and help board members and residents find a happy common ground. Read More

A Look at Archaic Bylaws

By Keith Loria

On a classic episode of the TV show The Simpsons, the town read its founding charter only to discover that the mayor of Springfield was supposed to get two pigs every year. Read More

Renters on the Rise

By Lisa Iannucci

 Last December, The William Beaver House, located at the heart of New York’s Financial District, sat with 209 of its 320 units unsold—units priced from $900,000 to well over $2 million each. Unfortunately, while  sales had gone well for the 47-story luxury building during the previous few  years, the recent economic troubles let to a somewhat desperate situation for  the owner of the lavish property. Read More

The Growth of Home Based Businesses

By Matthew Worley

 According to U.S. Small Business Administration statistics, over half of all  small businesses begun in the last decade have been home-based—that's more than 24 million in real numbers—with a new home-based business being launched every 11 seconds. And according to  U.S. Census figures, some 100,000 New Yorkers work from home, with more  switching all the time. Read More

Home Sweet Office

By Lisa Iannucci

 Ari Meisel lives in a 4,000-square foot loft in a four-family co-op building in  Soho—he also operates several green buildings, consulting and real estate businesses  from the comfort of his own unit. He has lived in this building for his entire  life, renovating the loft to accommodate his growing business. He holds  meetings and occasional gatherings there, like the speaker event he once had  with 30 guests. And in case you’re wondering, Meisel says his neighbors and the board don’t mind one bit. Read More

Bringing in a New Board

By Jonathan Barnes

In managing the affairs of a building or a community, all board members are far from equal in their abilities and skills. Some bring experience in construction or a background in law, finance, or other professions that can be helpful to the board. Some board members bring little insight or professionalism to the group, and are more concerned with personal vendettas, cronyism or other compromising pursuits. It’s an unfortunate fact of democracy that rule by the people means that sometimes the people ruling don’t do such a great job. Read More

The Spirit of Being Neighborly

By Lisa Iannucci

Lady Bird Johnson once said, "While the spirit of neighborliness was important on the frontier because neighbors were so few, it is even more important now because our neighbors are so many." Read More

Under the Microscope

By Debra A. Estock

Admission requirements for co-op buildings in New York City are typically pretty stringent. A board has the authority to require prospective purchasers to provide extensive financial documentation along with social and personal reference letters, to interview with the board and/or an admissions committee of the board, and in many cases, to undergo criminal and financial background checks.

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Building Traits of Successful Boards

By Liz Lent

 Working in groups can be a challenge. Working in groups when people’s homes—and possibly their life savings—are involved can be a far greater challenge. It’s one faced every day by those brave souls who volunteer to serve on their co-op  or condo board. While there is no sure-fire recipe for building a board that is  100 percent successful day in and day out, there are definitely traits and  tactics that the most well-run and effective boards share. Read More

Shiny & New

By Liz Lent

 For most people, few things are as stressful—or exciting—as buying a new home. That can be especially true for buyers and residential  unit owners who sign up to be among the first residents in a newly renovated or  constructed condo or co-op complex. There is the smell of the fresh paint, the  shiny new stainless steel appliances, the untouched bath tiles and pristine  hardwood floors— nothing quite beats that feeling of knowing that such a beautiful space is  ours. Read More

Pets Allowed?

By Jim Douglass

 increase marketability during the recession, only a limited segment of New York  City buildings have jumped on the bandwagon. Read More

Board Elections

By Jonathan Barnes

 Every co-op and condo community has a board of directors in charge of governing  the community’s finances, physical maintenance and other day-to-day business. Part of the  board’s responsibility also is to keep the community fiscally sound, though not all  boards do a good job of this task. Given all that, it's easy to see why it’s important for residents to choose their community’s board members carefully.   Read More

A Look at Enforcing House Rules

By Greg Olear

It’s a time-worn pattern that plays out in workplaces, classrooms, and residential buildings everywhere: rules are set, and enforced strictly for awhile. Over time, enforcement wanes a little; the rules are bent, then broken—until such time as they’re being routinely ignored. Read More

Stop, Drop and Breathe

By Mary K. Fons

Whether it's demanding residents or unreasonable board members, maintenance headaches or a barely-under-control work schedule, a property manager is in a unique—and uniquely stressful—position. No one knows this better than the property managers themselves. What might surprise the managers, however, is that of all the items listed above, taking care of their own mental health and learning proper stress-deflation methods ought to be a priority as well. Read More

Co-ops and Condo as Movie Sets

By Ed Grant

They torched cars and set fires throughout the park and around our building in 50 mile-per-hour winds. And, yes, the fire spread to unprotected areas. Read More

Getting Out the Vote

By Lisa Iannucci

 Election season typically starts around Labor Day, when we start to be bombarded  with reminders to cast our ballots to choose who we want to be in charge of our  city, town, state and country. It ends on Election Day in November, when the  voting is completed, the tallying is done and a winner is announced. In a co-op  and condo association, a similar type of annual election process takes place—an election to choose a board of directors that will work with the building’s manager to make sure the community’s finances, physical maintenance and other day-to-day business remains solvent  and sound. Read More

Where the Dollars Are

By Liz Lent

 Few things can be as upsetting as discovering that the funds that fuel a co-op  or condo have been mishandled—or worse yet, stolen. For residents, fraud undermines their sense of trust in  the men and women who oversee and manage the place they call home. For managers  and board members, it can breach the trust that exists between each other,  wreaking havoc not only on the bottom line but on the very fiber of the  organization itself. Read More

Storage Units Benefit Both Owners and Building

By Keith Loria

Remember in Seinfeld how you would always see Jerry’s bicycle hanging from the ceiling in the background? Perhaps if his building had had a storage room or a bike rack in the basement, this cumbersome space-saving method that many New Yorkers employ wouldn’t have been necessary. Read More

The Industry's Biggest Trade Show Returns

By Hannah Fons

Spring means many things to many people—but for anyone involved in the tri-state area's residential real estate industry, The Cooperator's 21st Annual Co-op & Condo Expo—to be held this year on Tuesday, April 29th on three floors of the Hilton New York—is as much a part of the season as budding trees and warmer temperatures. Read More

Deploy the Welcome Wagon

By Lisa Buscani

Fifty years ago, residents new to a neighborhood might be greeted by a Welcome Wagon hostess in an A-line skirt and perfect matte lipstick bearing a basket full of goodies from local merchants. She'd give the homeowners the lowdown on who's who, what's what and leave the new neighbors with the warm and fuzzy feeling that their new community, especially the local merchants, really cared. Read More

Managing People

By Keith Loria

 The responsibilities of property managers include a wide array of tasks, from  the physical to the administrative. While many of these jobs involve concrete  things—like sending out monthly bills, filing paperwork, or going to meetings—equally important is managing the people involved with the building. That  includes everyone from the building’s staff, to the residents to those on the board and committees. Read More

Trickle-Down Effect on Buildings and Boards

By Raanan Geberer

Bear Stearns in Danger of Collapse… Dow Falls 400 in One Day… Big Three Automakers Seek Emergency Aid… Citigroup Shares Tumble Below $5 a Share… Dow drops below $8,000… Federal Regulators Shut Down Two California Thrifts… More Consumers Switch To Buying With Cash… Read More

Board Resource Guide: A Look at the Board Member Election Process

By Greg Olear

It is an annual rite of passage for owners of co-ops and condos. Once a year or thereabouts, they gather in a common area—in my co-op in Astoria it was the basement, right off the washers and dryers—and vote for next year’s board. Sometimes the elections are closely contested. Often, the same people stay on the board for decades. Sometimes—as was the case with my building—we owners were so desperate to not be on the board that we elected a president, who didn’t even live in the building. Read More

Rules and Problems

By Stephanie Mannino

Although many co-ops and condos in New York City might not like it, shareholders and unit owners often rent out their apartments to subletters. Board control over subletting can vary—from stringent in most co-ops, to giving the board the first right of refusal in condos. But sometimes, residents try to sidestep the board and allow a subletter to move in. And even with board approval, having a renter, or several renters, in the building could pose problems. Read More

Before You Sue — Read This

By Rebecca Fons

 Filing a lawsuit as any co-op or condo resident that’s been involved in one can attest, is not only very time-consuming and  expensive, but equally unnnerving and contentious. A much saner solution to  settle any acrimonious dispute is to consider settling the matter without  setting foot into the courtroom. That is where organizations like the American  Arbitration Association can help. Read More

Combining Comfort and Convenience

By W.B. King

A recent British survey found that the typical person spends an average of five years of their life in either their kitchen or their bathroom. That might not compare with the number of hours logged behind a desk or the wheel of a car, but it’s a significant chunk of time. With both time and space at a perpetual premium in New York City, homeowners seeking to maximize their enjoyment and comfort in these defining rooms really have their work cut out for them. Read More

Board Resource Guide: A Vital Board Tool, But Beware

By Jonathan J. Levin

Like it or not, e-mail is a permanent fixture of contemporary business communications. In real estate, board members and property managers use e-mail to discuss the most official and the most personal matters of their lives, from scheduling meetings to disseminating documents, to sharing a quirky video on YouTube. E-mail allows board members to discuss their concerns without having to call a meeting, work around everyone’s schedule, and find a place to physically meet. Read More

Astoria, Queens

By The Cooperator Staff

 Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of Queens that is as  diverse as the immigrants that settled there from places as far away as Greece,  Italy, Ireland, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. Read More

What Do You Do With Your "Greenie"?

By F.L. Andrew Padian

 Most of your buildings have a shareholder—or maybe two or three—who fit into a particular mold: you know, longer hair, Birkenstocks, vintage  Woodstock t-shirts; or maybe yours has the $5,000 suit, $1,000 shoes, and  starched attitude. They may look different, but both have the same agenda: “Green our building!” Read More

Small Town Ambiance in the Big City

By Alexis Wolff

A two-mile long sliver of land in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, Roosevelt Island sits a mere 700 feet from Manhattan’s East Side. Still, many New Yorkers know nothing about Roosevelt Island’s expansive green spaces and unrivaled city views, not to mention the distinctive small town ambiance of this planned community. Read More

Court Rules on Non-Judicial Foreclosure Sale

By Jarett L. Warner

 Given the state of the economy and the real estate market, a novel issue is  whether when a bank conducts a foreclosure sale on the shares relating to a  cooperative apartment (without a judgment of the court), the successful bidder is subject to the  approval of the cooperative’s Board of Directors and must otherwise comply with the cooperative’s governing documents. That was precisely the issue raised in LI Equity Network,  LLC v. Village in the Woods Owners Corp., 2010 N.Y. Slip. Op. 07514 (2d Dep’t October 19, 2010). Read More

Hot or Cold?

By Paul Jann

 No, it’s not the Katy Perry song, “first you’re hot and then you’re cold,” but treating a bedbug infestation can be just as opposing and confusing as the  romantic relationship in that popular song. Do I go with the pest control  company bedbug treatment that cooks ‘em alive or the company that freezes them into popsicles? Read More

Taking the Bait

By Greg Olear

Bugs, rodents, and other pests are always a potential problem in a city or densely populated suburban area—and even upscale, well-maintained buildings are not impervious to the occasional unwelcome interloper. Cockroaches invade kitchens, termites feast on foundations and walls, bees sting humans, and now bedbugs have hogged the press as the latest plague du jour. No two ways about it: if your property falls behind on the pest-control front, you’ve got yourself a menagerie. Read More

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