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Real Estate Trends
Beautifying with Rooftop and Community Gardens
New York City is known for many things beautiful—architecture, a rainbow of diverse cultures, and its fabulous skyline, but let's face it, outside of Central and Prospect Parks, most people aren't aware of how much park land actually exists in the city. Read More
The Cooperator's Co-op & Condo Expo
As the trees start greening and the last dregs of winter ice and slush melt away, it's once more time to turn our collective attention to The Cooperator's annual Co-op & Condo Expo—to be held this year on Wednesday, April 25th on three floors of the Hilton New York. Read More
Staging for Success
No matter what real estate market we find ourselves in, we all know that it's never easy to sell a home. In the last several years, a new trend has emerged in the real estate arena that is said to help homeowners sell their houses or apartments faster and for more money. This practice—known as "home staging"—is widely recommended by real estate agents all over the nation. Read More
Problems with Persians, Parakeets and Pooches
Oh how we love our pets! From common household pets—dogs, cats, birds and fish to even rodents and reptiles, Americans looks to
their pets as a source of companionship and entertainment.
Read More
A Look at Green Roofs
It’s such a simple idea—covering your roof with plants—that it’s no surprise people have been doing it for millennia. From the hanging gardens
of ancient Babylon to the terraced farmsteads of the Andes, working greenery
into everyday architecture is a tradition that predates our modern “green” consciousness and repeats itself across cultures.
Read More
More than Just a Family Vacation
Timeshares have been around for decades, and these partial property ownership arrangements are more familiar to many people in part because of their increasing popularity. It’s easy to see why they are so popular: A family wants a vacation home, but rather than take out a new mortgage and buy a property outright, they pay to share an existing property with other investors. The fee they pay entitles them to use the property for a specified period of time at a certain time of the year. Read More
The Best and Worst of Life in New York City
The Big Apple. Paris has just as much romantic cachet. Rome is every bit as frenetic. London has excellent theater, too, and there are also esteemed financial institutions in Zurich and Hong Kong and Frankfurt. Tokyo and Mumbai and Jakarta have just as much population density, if not more. Berlin’s art scene is probably more robust. Kuala Lampur has tall skyscrapers as well. And the cabbies drive just as crazily in Naples. But no other city has all of those things, and more. As former Mayor Rudy Giuliani put it to David Letterman a few years ago, suggesting a new motto for New York: “We can kick your city’s…” Well, you can imagine. It was Rudy talking, after all. Read More
Alternative Energy Sources
Whether you consider yourself environmentally-minded or not, green is fast becoming the new black. Everywhere you look, from billboard ads to the Academy Awards, the nation is becoming preoccupied with renewable energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases. As gas-guzzling SUVs are eagerly traded in for gas/electric hybrid cars, the move to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil is also heating up the political arena, and when government incentives come to the table, money does all the talking. Read More
The Recession's Impact on Buildings' Borrowing
The mortgage crisis has been felt throughout the country, and markets and
individuals alike have moved from denial and bargaining to acceptance of the
recession and its attendant challenges. And while New York City’s co-op and condo market has not been affected in the same way as many other
areas of the country, it is most definitely experiencing the effects of a
deeply-troubled economy.
Read More
Without Breaking the Bank
Looking to save the planet—or just a few bucks—more and more New Yorkers are looking to “green” their lifestyles. Environmental watchdogs are quick to point fingers at gas
guzzling automobiles as prime contributors to climate change, but according to
the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration, residential buildings
account for 21 percent of all carbon emissions in the United States. That makes
housing almost as big a culprit as transportation, which surprisingly generates
only about 27 percent of the country’s harmful emissions.
Read More
No Typical Days Work
Ask Scott Stringer to describe a typical day in his job as Manhattan Borough President and he’ll answer that there’s no such thing—and that’s the way he likes it. Read More
Keeping Balconies Safe and Attractive
Ever since “Romeo and Juliet” made them famous, balconies have been popular additions to our homes and living
spaces. For co-op and condo communities, balconies can add an extra perk, a few
more feet of living space that allow us to enjoy the outdoors and some time in
the sun.
Read More
Education, Information and Invaluable Insights
For over two decades, The Cooperator’s annual Co-op & Condo Expo has been a perennial save-the-date for anyone and everyone associated with the tri-state area’s co-op and condo building communities. Since 1987, vendors, service providers, board members, building staff members and residents alike have been coming to the Expo to learn about new products and technologies, exchange information, network and improve how their buildings are run. Read More
Government on a Neighborly Basis
New York City’s governing structure is complex for a metropolis of 8.2 million residents—it takes a lot of people in a lot of departments and organizations to keep the city running smoothly. Some of those people (the mayor, for instance) are household names, while others are perhaps less well known. The members of the city’s community boards may fall into the second category, but the work they do for the city is no less important for being done largely behind-the-scenes. Read More
Decorating with Feng Shui
Ever wonder why you suddenly get a feeling of relaxation and tranquility upon entering certain spaces, and your blood goes cold in others? Why some homes just feel happy and harmonious the moment you cross the threshold, and others just don't? Read More
What to Do Before the Emergency
You’ve been notified of a cardiac (or other) medical emergency in your co-op or
condo building. Someone has called 911, someone else is administering cardio-pulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) and someone else is bringing the automatic external
defibrillator (AED).
Read More
From Amalgamated to Central Park West
Emma Lazarus perhaps said it best in her immortal poem in which she spoke about the wave of immigrants that were welcomed to American’s golden shores. Generation upon generation of newcomers have chosen to settle in New York City and its boroughs to find their piece of the American dream. They came from every country, economic class and social strata to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to Brooklyn and Queens, to places like Bushwick and Bensonhurst and many other neighborhoods, to start a new life in America. Between 1820 and 1860, a total of four million immigrants entered the United States, most coming through New York City. Read More
Automated Parking Makes its Debut
In a cramped city crawling with cars, a parking lot or garage is a gold-plated amenity for a New York City co-op or condo. Just as we need a place to lay our heads, we also need a place to stable our precious sedans and SUVs. Adequate parking is an important selling point to potential residents, a perk to current residents and a possible source of revenue for the building if extra spots are available. Read More
What You Need to Know About Mechanic's Liens
Mechanic’s liens are one of the topics I am most often consulted about. This is
especially true at the present time with the state of the economy. It is not
that the economy brings new kinds of issues, there are just a lot more of the
same kinds of issues. Contractors, subcontractors, architects and suppliers are
all worried about not being paid and what will happen if co-op and condominium
clients or individual shareholders and unit owners cannot pay their loans and
in turn, pay them. Similarly, co-ops and condominiums are worried about
foreclosures on those mechanic’s liens and how these issues will affect the building.
Read More
Visit The Cooperator's 21st Annual Co-op & Condo Expo
Yale Robbins, Inc. would like to warmly welcome our sponsors, exhibitors, and guests to The Cooperator’s 21st Annual Co-op & Condo Expo on April 29th at the Hilton New York. This year’s event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. will continue our long-standing tradition of information, education, and networking opportunities for those in the co-op and condo housing field. Read More
Smart Buying in New Construction
Everyone's heard the old saying about how "They don't make 'em like they used to" applied to everything from cars to appliances. But does the same hold true for residential buildings? A spirited debate surrounds the issue of whether today's glass-and-steel (or zinc, or titanium) condo towers are less well made than the stone-and-mortar edifices raised at the turn of the last century. Read More
A Green Lining in a Down Market
The realities of a depressed real estate market have finally settled upon New
York City. We’ve seen a significant drop in sale prices over just the past few months. This
has been coupled with a rapid increase in inventory levels as units stay on the
market longer, further exacerbating this downward spiral in price. While there
are many reasons for the slump in the housing market that can and have filled
many other articles and columns, the real question is what can a building do to
attract new buyers and to keep existing owners in their units in the future.
Green design and energy efficiency improvements provide an opportunity for
buildings to address demand for and price of their units on the market.
Read More
Industry Pros' Hopes for 2008
As one year ends and a new one begins, talk turns to New Years' resolutions—everybody has a wish or a plan for how they'd most like 2008 to unfold. For some, a happy New Year includes the fortitude to stick to a sensible diet (finally!). For others, it's going to the gym, quitting smoking, or finally telling great-aunt Mabel where to get off. Read More
What You Must Know
It’s amazing how good building owners and managers are at increasing and garnering
revenue from residential tenants while at the same time leaving themselves to
the will and whim of laundry room operators who impose contracts lasting for
decades with automatic renewals, rights of first refusal and other one-sided
provisions. The fault is with the owner and owner’s counsel for failing to exercise even rudimentary due diligence. This article
attempts to equip boards with the a few tools to negotiate a better and more
lucrative agreement.
Read More
Legal Cases Your Board Should Know
While not everyone who serves on his or her co-op or condo board needs to be an
attorney or have an encyclopedic knowledge of the law, it never hurts to be
aware of the important, often precedent-setting legal decisions being handed
down by the courts. Some of these cases offer useful insights to boards, while
others may ultimately have an impact on how buildings are run from day to day.
Over the past few months there have been several such decisions—here are a few that may provide building administrators with some helpful ideas
and information.
Read More
Answering the Day-to-Day Questions
Your roof terrace leaked and the neighbor below you sued for damages. The
heating system in your apartment failed to work and the managing agent sent you
the bill for its repair. You bought a dog for your child, and six months later
the board has demanded that the animal be removed from the building. What are
your options in these scenarios?
Read More
Training for Building Personnel
On the infamous evening of September 11, 2001, Battery Park City resident Hank
Wisner was unable to go home to his smoke- and ash-filled apartment across the
street from the World Trade Center. As he watched the day’s events play over and over on a friend’s TV, he realized that the average civilian is unprepared to handle an emergency
situation of that magnitude. In the months following 9/11, Wisner began
shopping around for a program his building community could implement to address
emergency rescue issues.
Read More
Knowing What You're Worth
For anyone getting a mortgage for a new apartment, a property appraisal is part of the cost of securing their new place. In fact, for existing apartment owners, it’s one of the most important things they can do for their property. An appraisal is usually necessary to insure a building or apartment, or to secure financing for a project or renovation. Before a lender will cut a check, they likely will have the property assessed by a professional appraiser to ascertain its current value. Read More
Sustainable South Bronx
As a neighborhood, the South Bronx has struggled for nearly three decades under
the negative connotations of its name as a flash point for violent crime,
drugs, and unchecked urban decay. For many of those who live there, life is
bounded on all sides by pollution and poverty.
Read More
Q&A: Is Seller Allowed at Prospective Buyer Interview?
We are a small co-op building of 28 units in Jackson Heights, Queens. We would like to know if during an interview of the prospective buyer a seller is allowed to be present, where he/she might intervene during the process favoring the prospective buyer and influencing shareholders, before and during the voting for approval of the buyer. Read More
