Category: Association Operations

Home Sweet Home can become un-sweet very quickly when the physical environment you’ve worked hard to create becomes a source of environmental toxicity. Chemicals, smoke, pet dander, and mold—along with other allergens and irritants—can make…

No matter how well constructed and carefully maintained, no mechanical system lasts forever—and that goes for elevator cabs and equipment just as much as it applies to roofs or boilers. At some point, your building’s vertical transportation…

Some lucky Chicagoland residents can come home from work on a bitter winter’s night and warm their feet by a roaring fire while drinking a hot toddy. A working fireplace is a coveted amenity for many, adding a dash of vintage charm to prewa…

Amid moments of economic uncertainty, a condominium, cooperative, or homeowner’s association may instinctively want to pinch pennies when it can, especially in regard to maintenance projects. Should an association have a full-time, in-house…

The days of homogenized, antiseptic dwellings are behind us. Whether city or suburb, people are looking to live in alluring spaces within dynamically-designed residential properties. The last few years have seen aesthetic trends come and go…

Once upon a time, you usually greeted your neighbor in the hallway of your building as you're coming or going. But lately you haven’t seen or heard a peep from her in almost two months. You wonder if she is okay.   So you ask the super one…

Co-op, condo and HOA communities are a property manager’s bread and butter.  Ensuring that their client buildings and associations run smoothly everyday provides managers with both purpose and pay. Therefore, it stands to reason that a dedi…

Spring has arrived, which is good news after what has felt to many like a particularly hostile winter. In a community association or multifamily building, spring also brings a number of seasonal maintenance and sprucing-up projects that can…

Like people, buildings age. Even under the best of circumstances, weather – particularly water, in the form of rain, snow, and ice – followed by or combined with extremes in temperature can do permanent damage to facades, cornices, parapets…

Running a community association requires boards and managers to work with people from all walks of life, including those who have unique experiences, wants, needs, and challenges. That may also apply to people with behavioral or mental heal…