The coronavirus crisis has forced many unwelcome changes on households around the world—but it has also allowed or inspired some to make lifestyle choices that were impractical or otherwise out of reach before. One such choice has been to a…

Co-op and condo communities come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations. They range from three-unit, wood-frame houses to high-rise apartment buildings containing hundreds of units, to sprawling townhouse communities in park-like settings…

Like just about every other occupation on the planet, property management has been profoundly altered by the coronavirus pandemic and the changes it’s brought to society at large, with many of the challenges and stressors we’ve all had to f…

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…

Q. The person who serves as the “maintenance guy” for our association is the brother of one of the board members. We feel he is doing a lousy job and have complained numerous times, to no effect. He apparently does not have a written cont…

Remember in 2020, when everyone was so excited for 2021, “when all of this instability and uncertainty will be over”? Right. Well, while there was some relief from pandemic pandemonium as Americans started to get vaccinated against COVID th…

It’s often said that good people are hard to find. That may be true, but for residential communities like co-ops and condos, finding good people—and then hiring and retaining them—is a major key to success. Doing so can be a roundabout proc…

Not so very long ago, acquiring goods and services required some physical effort on the part of consumers; a trip to a store, or restaurant, or other commercial establishment. Sure, you could phone or mail in an order from the Sears catalog…

Whether you live in a single-family home, an apartment building, or an HOA, home security is a major concern. Providing that security can range from installing a simple alarm system to equipping and training building staff members to use so…

Q. We are having a problem at our condominium, but I'm not sure whether board members — I'm kind of new at the post — should be taking action, or if there is even any action we can take. What can be done when the president of the condo bo…