On March 18, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a significant update to their project standards and property insurance requirements. These changes reflect the realities of today’s housing market and focus on the long-term financial sustainab…
New England may not produce as many headline-grabbing HOA lawsuits as say, Florida or California, but when disputes in its condo communities reach the courts, they tend to be very specific. From battles over free speech to the “right to dry…
Most U.S. municipalities have local laws on their books governing how exterior building façades must be inspected, maintained and repaired. While such legislation is occasionally enacted at the state level, generally these laws are a local …
Each and every multifamily community is different, with unique needs, expectations, and challenges. If you’re a regular reader of this publication, you’ve heard that refrain many times, across a broad range of contexts—including board gover…
Despite their sizable influence, and the fact that their members are residents of the communities they govern, condominium and co-op boards are often misunderstood. What can they do? What can’t they do? Can they approve a request from one r…
If you live in a condominium, cooperative or HOA, guess what? You’re part of a participatory mini-democracy run by an elected group of volunteers. As such, it’s to your benefit to get involved in how your community is governed in order to p…
Managing a residential building or association of any type is no small feat. Whether you're a trustee entrusted with fiduciary responsibility or a community manager tasked with keeping everything running smoothly, you’re doing it all: balan…
In a typical condo, co-op, or homeowners association, residents have a lot to say about how their building or community is or should be functioning … but few actually step up to run for and serve on the board that does the actual governing.…
The stability and value of a shared interest community hinges on a lot of things; financial solvency, good governance, and proactive physical maintenance, to name a few. But another key component, and one that may be less obvious to the eye…
It’s a constant refrain in multifamily governance and management: open, transparent communication between boards, managers, and residents is vital to running a building or HOA effectively and equitably. Unresponsive, disconnected leadership…