Category: Association Operations

From time to time, a co-op, condo or HOA community may have to hire a new management company. It may be that the current firm just isn’t working out or the community may have decided to transition from self-management to an outside firm. B…

Providing safety and security is important, but condominium security providers consider each location a unique challenge. Without caution, an attempt to provide security can backfire, producing anger and anxiety instead. Responsive managem…

One only needs to watch the news regularly to understand the devastation that a fire can have on a home or community whatever the time of year. The Lowell, Massachusetts, apartment fire last summer that killed four adults and three childre…

It’s often said that safety starts at home—and while many HOAs spend lots of money on sophisticated security and access control systems to protect residents and property, others opt for lower-tech solutions to neighborhood security and cri…

While the Boston Marathon bombing of April 2013 stands as the biggest catastrophe to befall the New England area in recent years, residents must be on guard for many potential disasters, be they fires, nor'easters, floods or building colla…

Protection against embezzlement, fraud, theft, computer crime, forgery and more are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crimes at community associations across the United States. During challenging economic times, crime goes up an…

A manager might have to coordinate operations with a single maintenance person or work with any number of doormen, porters, custodians and handypersons depending on the size and nature of the building. When well-trained and motivated, thes…

Though mostly unseen, a building’s plumbing and piping network is one of its most important systems—as anyone who has ever had to endure a freezing February shower, or who has come home to a flooded floor, can attest. Plumbing includes not…

The rarely stated—but all too well understood—Murphy’s Law for Boilers— asserts that if your boiler quits working, it will do so on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, or at 4:45 p.m. on the coldest day of the year. With some planning, though, th…

From the outside, the structure of a condo, co-op or townhouse building may appear to be monolithic; just pieces of brick, steel, vinyl or wood, punctuated with some glass here and there. That's an oversimplification, however. A multifamil…