Nestled just off the Long Island Sound halfway between New York City and Boston, Essex is a colonial hamlet resting on the banks of the Connecticut River. This diminutive town – population just over 6,700 –is actually composed …
The bulldozers are clanging and tradesmen are busy pounding away, but in a few short months peace and quiet will return to Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. All the noise is part of a $7.5 million expansion…
As today’s homeowners forego vacations – and long for a getaway without actually going away –the idea of creating that retreat outside the back door is gaining popularity. “People are looking for a place they can enjoy, and not feel that …
The trees that grace the outdoor spaces at most community properties provide untold value. But have your lovely spring-flowering pear trees lost branches this winter? Are those once-trim blue spruces suddenly blocking the entryway signs…
The most common method of maintaining a landscape has typically been: “mow, apply a generous and regular supply of man-made fertilizers and pesticides to prevent weeds, water and repeat.” But just because it’s the most widespread doesn’t…
Few capital improvements bolster property values as effectively as landscaping upgrades. “It’s astonishing what redoing the landscape will do to the sales and turnaround time at a condominium,” reports landscape designer Thomas Wilhelm,…
Q A resident needs to have a chair rail installed so she can access her second floor apartment in our condo building, built in the 1950s. Who pays for the chair rail and the installation, the resident or the condo association? — …
Q A few years back, the prior board passed a motion to charge all future unit owners with dogs a $50 fee per month because of an existing dog that would occasionally defecate in the building. There was no analysis conducted to determin…
Ah, the return of spring and our feathered friends who make this season so special! Time to break out another bag of seed and fill up the bird feeder as the year-round bird population is joined by the returning migrants. Or is it? If y…
Everyone agrees that condominiums need to be painted regularly. But ask what color should be used, and you could get as many answers as there are people living in the building. Aesthetic continuity can be extremely important to…