Not so long ago, having a security system required drilling through the walls of your cooperative or condominium building and involved installing many spools of wire attached directly to a bulky keypad. Sophisticated and Secur…
It’s been a long time since cable modems were the gold standard in Internet connectivity—or at least it seems like it’s been a long time. Telecommunications as a field has been developing at a dizzying pace, and multifamily buildings—bo…
While the economy sputters along and unemployment rates remain steady at more than nine percent, there doesn't seem to be much call for celebration—but all is not gloom and doom. The real estate market has been one of the most notable c…
Typically the sources of terror in horror movies come from ghouls and zombies. Victims in these films find themselves trapped in an abandoned warehouse or haunted mansion with no chance of escape or survival. These films leave the audi…
The days when an apartment building's 'security system' consisted of a tricky front door lock and the landlord's ill-tempered dog are long past. Today, security measures range from old-style deadbolts to high-tech biometric screening e…
Your co-op or condo unit houses more than your material possessions. The management office also typically contains detailed information about you—including your social security number, credit card number, emergency information, phone nu…
Recent nationwide crime statistics show that New York City and its outlying suburbs has become one of the safest cities of its size in the past 15 years. Nevertheless, in a sprawling metropolitan area encompassing New York and New Jers…
A few years ago, when I lived in the East Village—in a one-bedroom, fifth-floor walk-up—I had a creepy experience when the cable guy came to hook up our service. He arrived in a beat-up windowless van that looked like it had been boosted …
Security systems are not just for homeowners in a suburban setting. With advances in wireless technology, security and life safety systems, the features found in the newest systems are a great appliance add-on to condo or co-op apartme…
A proposal to ban federal lenders from purchasing loans in co-ops that use flip tax fees or condos with deed-based transfer fees has housing community leaders worried the ruling would lead to diminished operating budgets and severely d…