If volunteering since September 11 has experienced a full-scale revival, why are so many condominiums still struggling to fill boards and organize events? The simple answer is the condominiums are not asking potential volunteers the …

It was a typical sunny July morning in New England. Hot cups of coffee and the big Sunday papers were being enjoyed in communities across the region: in Rhode Island, Charles was at the breakfast table on the tenth floor of his spacious …

Window replacement projects are a big proposition for any homeowner. Making an educated decision is critical, and any time spent in the planning phase is well worth the investment. This is particularly true if you are researching on beha…

W hen you read this title, did you think that I might be enjoying a little tequila as I wrote? If so, I'm sorry to say that that was not quite the case. But it's probably fair to say that I am drunk on Spain, where I recently spent two w…

You've hustled, sweated, and cajoled to get the pool open by Memorial Day. With all the hard work done, you can kick back and downshift to cruise control until the end of the swim season. Or can you? Unfortunately for property manage…

When Massachusetts lawmakers passed the state's 40B zoning law in 1969, their goal was to increase dramatically the quantity of affordable housing units in the state. Since that time, the legislation has been responsible for a massi…

At the outset, overplanted landscapes and gardens look great. They're lush and full from the get-go, and they make a wonderful first impression. But from that first day onward, an overplanted garden or landscape will evolve from a thing …

It's almost impossible these days to open the daily newspaper and not see an article on the rapid growth of green building, the technique of using sustainable design to build homes with renewable materials used prudently in an effort to …

While we were all busy with other things, LEED came mainstream. No less a source than the Harvard Business Review agreed that green building is good in a June 2006 article by Charles Lockwood, an environmental and real estate consultant.…

When most people hear the term green building, they often think of photovoltaic solar panels, cisterns, wind turbines, or straw bale homes. With these images in mind, it's no wonder that people think green building is a fringe alternativ…