First dubbed “Eden” by settlers at the end of the eighteenth century, Bar Harbor, Maine has always sounded like the quintessential place to vacation. Even the original inhabitants, the Wabanaki Indians, called the area Ah-bays'auk or the…
Even while faced with massive deficits, the governors of each of the New England states have pledged not to raise taxes in their proposed fiscal year 2011 budgets. While this is good news for taxpayers in the short run, no new taxes in…
While it’s generally understood how to employ the first two people – to call the accountant when bills are due and at tax time and the property manager pretty much all the time – rules for engaging the condo’s lawyer remain somewhat vagu…
With New England condominiums still grappling with the recent economic downturn, it’s no accident that most new state condo legislation deals with money matters. From a proposed superlien law in New Hampshire that would put condos first…
The late 1990s saw a surge of nationwide smoking restrictions put into effect. State by state, smoking ban legislation was proposed, put to a vote and passed into law. No public dwelling seemed untouched, including the workplace, shops,…
They came to learn, to network, and to discover new solutions for managing their community associations. And they went home with stacks of information and minds brimming with ideas. Over a thousand board members, homeowners an…
Q I’m a board member of my condo in Massachusetts. We have one member of the board who is a real estate broker. Our condo owns a very small piece of land that is adjacent to another building near ours. The owner of the nearby building w…
Use Salem, Massachusetts, in a word-association assessment, and you’d undoubtedly get a word referencing the infamous Witch Trials of 1692. Less famous but even more formative is the rich maritime history that contributed to the buildin…
It’s a simple equation: Warm days plus more hours of sunshine equals an influx of residents to the community’s outdoor amenities. Suddenly, swarms of children appear at the playground, out-of-practice tennis players are getting in the s…
For community associations facing a world of economic uncertainty, the old notion of “strength in numbers” has never felt more relevant. Because when it comes to tough problems, the associations that are able to work together and sacrif…