Since before recorded history, people have celebrated events, often decorating homes and public spaces to mark this or that special day or event. We still love to adorn our doors, windows, and other areas with festive décor at different tim…
Every co-op, condo, and HOA must elect a board of directors to oversee the community’s finances, physical maintenance, and other day-to- day operations. While board elections don't rise quite to the level of a state or even local election i…
Amenities come and go. In some places like New York and Miami though they can make or break a condo’s marketability, but in Chicago at least, it’s still a matter of the three cardinal rules of real estate, “location, location, location,” a…
Dana Greco, a therapist specializing in marriage counseling and divorce mediation lived in a comfortable two bedroom co-op on New York’s Upper West Side near Columbia University. Divorced herself and with grown children, her apartment was …
Although it may sometimes feel as if our pets have the run of the land, humans are still the masters of their own domains. In order to maintain this status quo—especially in a communal environment such as a condominium, cooperative or homeo…
It’s often tough to get co-op, condo, and HOA residents interested in joining their building or association’s board. No one wants to work a second job if they don’t have to—especially one that doesn’t pay—but regardless, there’s important w…
Despite the significant number of small condo and association communities that exist in Illinois, and in the Chicago area in particular, residents of these buildings would not be blamed if they felt a bit neglected with all of the attention…
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 Chicago...or any metro area, for that matter. In fact, the city’s sanit…
All you have to do is turn on the TV these days to know how popular kitchen and bathroom renovations have become. Backsplashes, stainless steel appliances, subway tiles, granite countertops, glass-enclosed showers, soaking tubs—the list of …
A fire breaks out in an apartment building; A broken water pipe floods several floors; A resident collapses with a heart attack on the tennis court; An intruder roams the premises with criminal intent; and the chilly winds whipping in off L…