Q I am the current board president of a 48-unit Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) co-op located in Manhattan. Recently, in an effort to bolster operating income, without increasing maintenance assessments, previous boards had…
Each year, our representatives in the New York State Legislature propose, debate, and ultimately pass or reject scores of laws and pieces of legislation. This issue of The Cooperator is devoted to the legal and legislative issue…
They say that two heads are better than one—but what about eight? It seems that when a group of people in the same line of work get together to discuss what they do and how they do it, they often come away with new information, fresh p…
If you’re one of the millions of people who have embraced this age of cell phones, BlackBerries, DSL and instant messaging, it’s hard to imagine life any differently. Access to information is instantaneous these days for most people — …
In its last meeting of 2005, the New York City Council enacted legislation to make the city a quieter, cleaner and more environmentally-friendly place to live. Perhaps one of the major initiatives sought by the mayor’s office was revis…
Every co-op shareholder knows that their board president is responsible for making decisions that affect the entire building community—but not as many grasp the amount of responsibility and decision-making that a person undertakes when t…
Six years ago, a scandal rocked the New York State real estate management industry for the second time in a decade. Thirty management company owners, agents and contractors were indicted for taking kickbacks for contract work at many New Y…
Every co-op or condo community in New York City has its own personality and character, from the tiny 20-unit brownstone co-ops of the West Village to the towering modern high-rises of the Upper East Side. The wide range of sizes, demograph…