Any time you have hundreds or even thousands of people living in close quarters – in a multifamily co-op or condo building, say – certain challenges inevitably will arise. One of the bigger ones is how to maintain the flow of fresh, hygieni…
Most of us rarely think twice before tossing a banana peel into the garbage can. Which is fine! Anything from a deflated bike to an old boot can usually be thrown in the trash without a second thought. But there are some items that must be …
Few people in the New York City area—be they renters, buyers, or even just commuters—have managed to navigate the daily grind without coming eye-to-eye or face-to-face with pests such as ants, bees, mice, rats or roaches. Stumbling upon the…
It starts innocently enough. The plumbing in your building has been giving the residents grief: toilets constantly running, inconsistent water pressure and sputtering faucets. The reserves are low and the three quotes you got from plumbing …
While nowhere near as prevalent as it was in the 1980s (when it seemed as if one couldn’t find a clean wall in the city), graffiti has never completely disappeared from New York...or any metro area, for that matter. It seems to have become…
Some of us will never forget the ultimate question posed by Paris Hilton on the reality show The Simple Life. The overly coiffed, highly-manicured Hilton was “roughing it” by bunking with a working-class family in middle America and when a…
There’s a reason that film directors, when making movies, first call for LIGHTS before CAMERA and ACTION. Lighting sets the tone for the entire picture. Soft lighting makes a pretty face even prettier (or a not-so pretty one, not half-bad)…
Nearly every neighborhood in New York City has had its fair share of ups and downs over the decades. Yesterday's demilitarized zone is today's luxury condo haven. Double-wide strollers wheel down sidewalks where yuppies once feared to tr…
Often given short-shrift in media coverage of the New York City real estate game, Staten Island is a historically rich borough which—contrary to what your Manhattan-centric friends may try to tell you—is not a four hour trek away. The …