As any manager, board president or building administrator rightly knows, protecting your building community against a man-made catastrophe, natural disaster, act of God, or just basic negligence, is not a trivial task. Property casualty in…

The Cooperator Expo Chicagoland  returns to the Navy Pier for its sixth consecutive year on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. bringing solutions that you can take home with you. Featuring nearly 300 exhibitors, a day…

Q. My condo complex has four buildings all told. The way we elect board members is based on the  highest number of votes from the four buildings. The problem is that the number of units in each building are not equal. For example one of t…

While it's pretty much impossible for a co-op or condo board or employee to commit fraud on the scale of a Bernie Madoff or any one of the herd of shysters who have tromped through the news in recent years, building boards and managers cert…

The first of the month rolls around and it’s time to pay the bills that keep your building operational. Repairs might need to be made, staff salaries paid, maintenance done to keep all the common elements running, and supplies reordered. Th…

Preparing the annual budget for a condo or HOA isn't quite like figuring out a budget for a couple, or even a large family. The board of a multifamily building or association has to consider all the angles—past, current, and future—when for…

Over a thousand board members, managers, building owners and exhibitors packed the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on Wednesday, May 18th for The Cooperator Expo-Chicagoland’s Spring Expo in Rosemont. The one-day event which ran from 1…

In this challenging economy, many co-op and condo buildings are struggling to pay their bills while planning for future needs. Still, most building boards and HOAs are loathe to raise maintenance fees or levy special assessments on their re…

Q:  We have a small condo association and it is difficult, as I assume it is for most, to get people to serve on our board. The idea we came up with is to have one person serve as the treasurer/secretary. In Illinois, is this legal? Is it …

Q: I live in an 18-year-old, 40-unit townhome association in the community of Des Plaines. It seems that, according to our declaration and bylaws, the association owns and maintains the entire shingle roof system including the skylights a…