Accepting a board position for a homeowners association is no easy task- you can please some of the residents some of the time, but rarely if ever can you please everyone. For board members, serving the community they live in may seem like …
Americans today are moving toward a more well-developed awareness of their environment, and what it takes to protect and preserve earth’s natural resources. City dwellers and suburbanites alike typically recycle paper, plastic, and glass st…
Property insurance, by definition, is a guarantee of compensation for a specific loss or damage to physical property or equipment. Within that broad and simplified explanation there is room for multiple interpretations—and more than enough …
Winter in New York is a magical time, filled with walks through dirt, grime and slush, exorbitant weather-induced dry cleaning bills, and excessive clothing accessories…often enough to shame Ralphie from A Christmas Story. Upon sprin…
Southerners find it cold here…Midwesterners consider the winters mild…and Europeans are shocked by the humidity of a New York summer. Not unlike the city itself, the weather of New York offers almost everything, which the residential…
The concept of high-rise living—people on top of each other—or across a privacy fence in condo living, doesn’t automatically equate to a sense of community; in fact, the close proximity sometimes has opposite effect. The reality is, reside…
There is an old adage that claims, "The more things change, the more they stay the same," and that is not a happy thought for a board of directors or an association looking to change property management firms. The turmoil of replacing a ma…
Property managers know that whether they're running a small, contained walk-up building, a multi-unit high rise, or a sprawling condo development in the suburbs, materials, capital and personnel all fall under their administrative jurisdic…
It was January 1977 when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) first identified and isolated a previously unknown strain of bacteria found breeding in the cooling tower of a hotel air conditioning system. The bacteria, subsequently named L…
You can’t underestimate the value of insurance. In a simple analogy, operating a business—or the day-to-day business of a co-op or condo—without adequate insurance coverage is a lot like skydiving without a parachute. Needless to say, it’s…