While climate change may have reduced the frequency of multi-foot snowfalls in the New York metro, when we do get dumped on, the precipitation tends to be heavier and icier than the fluffy drifts of decades past. With that shift comes conce…
At the bedrock of a shared interest community, like a condo or co-op, is how and by whom the property is managed. While self-management may make the most economic sense for smaller communities, and there are certainly good examples of effec…
It’s a truism that nothing lasts forever—and that includes management contracts. Shared interest communities change management companies all the time, and for a variety of reasons. Those reasons can range from cost to effectiveness and ever…
In the world of owned residential communities like HOAs, condo associations, and co-ops, the issue of leased or sublet units is often the elephant in the corner of the communal room. Most owners choose to buy homes in shared-interest commun…
The proximity to neighbors that comes with living in a high-rise or townhome HOA can sometimes amplify situations that might seem less urgent in more spread-out communities. Along with things like noise and odors, residents’ behavior can al…
Humans have been grouping ourselves into communities for almost as long as we’ve been walking upright, from loosely organized kinship groups to planned subdivisions containing hundreds, even thousands of families. Condominium and homeowners…
Ideally, the board members of condominiums, co-ops, and HOAs are conscientious, level-headed folks committed to doing the job they were elected to do, treating everyone fairly and equitably, and not using their position to push a personal a…
Residential co-op, condo, and HOA board members volunteer to help manage day-to-day life in their building or community, allocating their time to actively participate in decisions that affect the place they call home. They oversee crucial a…
It’s just a fact: living in close quarters, whether vertically in a multifamily high-rise, or right next door in a suburban HOA, makes a certain amount of conflict inevitable. It can occur between residents, or between a resident and the bo…
Self-managed communities large and small can save a considerable amount of money by eschewing third-party management and handling their day-to-day business in-house. This means the board must assume the tasks and responsibilities that commu…