Buying into a residential community like a co-op, condominium, or HOA can be a bit like selecting the political system you’d like to live under. Governance styles can range from an Athenian democracy where every member of the community is i…
With the focus on climate change and how to fight it constantly sharpening, residential communities are seeking ways to reduce their contribution to the problem, commonly known as their carbon footprint. Carbon reduction is necessary both t…
In early 2020, our firm was hired to prepare a reserve study for an unremarkable 136-unit, 12-story condominium in south Florida. It was the kind of association you could drive right by without noticing, not much different from all the othe…
Whether you’re a manager or a board member, running a condo, HOA, or co-op has never been an easy job. There’s always a capital project to fund, a contractor to hire, a dispute to resolve, a leak to repair...the list can feel endless. Add t…
A recent article on a real estate website posed a common question: What’s the best way for a condo board to collect unpaid common charges? The author of the article - presumably an attorney - gave some pretty good advice…and some not so g…
Q. We have a board member who has been locked out of meetings. According to that board member, the board has formed an executive committee that has, for all intents and purposes, shut them out. The board member is no longer able to view b…
So much of what we do and own these days is defined—often redefined—by technology, including our assets. Cryptocurrency is a prime example. While not really ‘money’ in the traditional sense of dollars or pounds or euros, and in no way simil…
Americans are a particularly litigious lot, believing as many of us do that we are endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty…and the pursuit of recompense for any slight or wrong done to us, real or perceived. This tendency is unf…
At the heart of co-op and condo living is the association or corporation board, that unique self-governing body that directs the community and carries out its mission to uphold quality of life and preserve the investment of its members. Boa…
The 347,000 planned communities in the United States—a number that includes cooperatives, condominiums, and homeowners associations—are generally governed by volunteer members of the building or community elected by their fellow unit owners…