We hear about them all the time. Whole movies are made about them. Those nosey, controlling, downright hostile neighbors who can make your life miserable. Having one down the hall or next door is bad enough—imagine what happens when they e…
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…
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…
The job of managing a multifamily property is hectic, and often stressful - but it’s rarely (and blessedly) ever deadly. A tragic exception to that unfolded on August 22 in Atlanta, Georgia, when according to local news outlets a local cond…
The continuing war in Ukraine and the accompanying sanctions imposed by the US, EU, and their allies reach into our own backyard. Many Russian oligarchs own luxury apartments and other real estate in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere in the …
There are elements of board service that can vex even the most committed, most intrepid volunteer—and negotiating a building’s management contract is probably at the top of that list. Vexing or not, however, the extent and quality of servic…
In most condo and co-op communities, the hope (if not the expectation) is that your neighbors are vested owners or shareholders whose units are their primary residence. To that end, the majority of co-ops forbid the renting out of units out…