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Board/Shareholder Relations
How to Get Heard
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Read MoreBuilding Traits of Successful Boards
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
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?
increase marketability during the recession, only a limited segment of New York
City buildings have jumped on the bandwagon.
Read More
Board Elections
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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"?
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
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
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?
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
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
