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Cover Story: TV and Internet Delivery Systems
When cable television became widespread in New York City around 1980, it revolutionized the way we watch TV by bringing a dizzying selection of programming to our living rooms. With seemingly endless choices, the terms "couch potato" and "channel surfing" were coined. Today, however, the TV-viewing public has even more choices to make as a result of the 1996 government deregulation of the telecommunications and cable TV markets. As more and more companies enter the market, and technology improves, residents have many new options for internet, telephone and television access. From cable to fiber optics to satellites, telecommunications delivery is moving quickly into the 21st century. This is the time for co-op and condo boards and their residents to become acquainted with their options. Read More
Taming Technology
Here we are, firmly in the 21st
century, and technology is everywhere. Who would have imagined half of the gadgets
and computer programs that we take for granted today 20 or 30 years ago? From
the Internet to hands-free cell phones to personal data assistants more powerful
than Captain Kirk’s tricorder, technology is quickly outpacing all our
previous visions of the future. These days, when it comes to futuristic gadgets
and tools, it seems the only thing missing is the jet-packs.
Read More
The Language of Cooperation
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg once said, “No city on earth can match New York’s rich ethnic diversity;
we’re truly the world’s second home.” Bloomberg’s comment
was right on the money, but not only is New York City a melting pot of ethnicities,
its millions of residents are just as culturally and economically diverse.
Read More
The Paperless Office
Are you one of those peoplewho have papers everywhere? You know, the bills and mail that you tell yourself
you are going to file away next week but just never seem to get to? Can you
imagine what those piles might look like if they weren't just your bills
and papers, but those of an entire co-op or condo building?
Read More
The Golden Age of Wireless
A few years ago, a commercial aired that featured a hip-looking fellow plugging away at his laptop—checking his e-mail, surfing the Web, downloading music. What was different about this guy was that he was on the roof of a skyscraper, and there were no wires connecting his computer to anything. Read More
Wireless Internet Connectivity
In this ever-changing, technology-driven society, the
importance of Internet connectivity is on a par with the importance of
electricity in the early 20th century. Electricity’s endless
applications made it an essential household utility—and like
electricity, the importance of the Internet has been reinforced by the
innovations that make use of it.
Read More
Tomorrow is Now
On-site health clubs as well equipped as any private
gym or spa. Playrooms for children, all-weather roof decks, and private
screening rooms. Remote-controlled fireplaces, climate-controlled wine
storage, 360-degree enclosed glass showers and disappearing kitchens. These
are just a few of the high-end residential building amenities mentioned in
the real estate section of any given edition of the Sunday Times, and they
illustrate the continuing trend past the merely convenient and into the
realm of the luxurious and futuristic.
Read More
How Does Your Board Measure Up?
Every co-op and condo building in the city is different, and every board is a unique blend of personalities. Two buildings located next door to each other may take very different approaches to identical daily challenges, and while certain legal aspects of the board’s activities are governed by the Business Corporation Law (BCL), there’s really no official handbook for boards to follow that covers the other stuff. The answers to questions like, “How personally engaged is your board with your shareholders?” for example, or “Does your board have a formal process for cultivating new board members?” are hard to quantify. Read More
Read All About It
Most people read a magazine or a newspaper every day, looking for the news and events that shape their world. Like a daily paper or monthly magazine, building newsletters are more than just a source of timely information, current events and pertinent business matters; they can also help foster a better sense of community among residents. But a good newsletter is more than just a Xeroxed flyer or piece of unread junk mail; it takes thought to make it relevant and readable. Read More
Getting Up to Speed
In today's fast-paced world, it seems technology is moving faster than it ever has. Just when you think you have the latest equipment for anything from telephones to televisions to computers, along comes something else designed to be better, quicker and more efficient. Read More
Mansions By Mouse-Click
In the past, if you were considering buying a co-op or condo apartment, you would have relied mostly upon the classified ads in the local newspapers and journals to find your broker and your new home - or perhaps you would have passed several real estate offices on your way to work or on your Sunday stroll and stopped to read the listings posted in the windows. Buyers, sellers and brokers now have another powerful tool at their fingertips"¦ their computers. As easy as it is to order pizza, groceries, or a new pair of pants, anyone anywhere in the city or around the world can visit brokerage firms online and see what listings they have to offer; all from home or office. Read More
Intelligent Buildings
Advances in technology are influencing virtually every area of our lives and for decades, condos and co-ops have taken advantage of technology to make their buildings run smoother. Things that are now commonplace - like intercom systems, video surveillance, or fire detectors - were once cutting-edge technology, so it's important for board members, management companies and employees to know what new technology is available now and recognize its potential value to shareholders. Read More
High-Tech Gadgetry Comes Home
With new technology often comes new terminology - and lists of parts and functions that seem lifted directly off the pages of a sci-fi novella. When many of us were kids, terms like "retinal scanner"¯ and "biometrics"¯ were strictly Star Trek stuff, if they existed at all. Today however, your bank may use retinal scans to allow access to vaults and other secure areas, biometric information may be encoded into the magnetic strip on the back of your ID, and - if you're lucky enough to inhabit one of the small but growing number of New York residential buildings incorporating high-tech gadgetry into their security strategy, the following brief glossary may help you figure out what you're looking at"¦or what's looking at you. Read More
Identity Theft
This year it is estimated that more than 10 million of us will lose an average of $5,000 apiece, but not on the stock market's swinging pendulum or because of a racetrack gamble. You'll lose it simply because someone else pretended to be you and used your own personal information to get their hands on your money or credit. In some cases, they may even use your identity to get out of a crime they committed - and you might not even know that all of this is happening until it's too late. Read More
Keeping Current
We've all heard the litany: "Management wasn't told about this."¯ "The board wasn't informed about that."¯ The residents know nothing of this or that, and it's all blamed on a total breakdown in communication and may result in an onslaught of nasty problems. Read More
Getting Wired
In restaurants. On the street. In taxicabs and elevators. Technology is everywhere and its presence seems to be growing with each passing day. It's everywhere, and it assists us with just about everything. As we become more reliant on its capabilities, its presence has become more of a necessity than a luxury in today's modern home. Read More
Web-Crawling
Most of us make some use of the Internet on a daily basis, whether we use it as part of our regular job, or to just make our everyday life easier by reading newspapers online, downloading driving instructions, shopping for a perfect gift, or pre-ordering movie tickets. For co-op and condo shareholders, unit owners and board members, the Web offers a host of services and information sources that can help with everything from deciphering the tax code to keeping up the good health of your building community. Read More
Staking Your Co-op's Claim on the Internet
Co-op and condo boards are charged with maximizing the value of their shareholders' and unit-owners' real estate investments. Year after year, these boards diligently replace aging equipment, refurbish lobbies, clear up code violations, and otherwise do everything that they can to protect and enhance the value of their real estate. They properly pay attention to all potential liabilities and act diligently to protect their legal interests in everything from landlord-tenant matters to real estate taxes to construction issues. Read More
Going Interactive
To paraphrase Neil Armstrong; one four-letter, top-level domain for the Internet, and one giant leap for cooperative organizations was inaugurated January 30, 2002, when co-op leaders from around the world gathered in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the addition of "dot-coop"¯ to the lexicon of global commerce and information. Read More
Rooftop Money-Makers
Beyond collecting monthly maintenance payments, co-ops and condos are always searching for creative methods of generating discretionary income. Renting out excess parking areas and installing storage lockers for rental are two ways to boost the reserve fund, but the proliferation of cell phones, broadband, paging, wireless web, and related technologies makes leasing rooftop space for antenna installation another highly profitable option. Read More
Online Communities
By now, it is evident that the Internet is to our generation what the West was to our founding fathers–a vast land of opportunity to explore and cultivate. The World Wide Web has already established itself as a place to obtain information, chat with a celebrity or write to a friend–all from the comfort of home. Thanks to the Internet you can shop for everything from stocks to shirts to an apartment without shedding your pajamas. You can read magazines, listen to music and play along with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Every day, different uses are being found for the Internet. It is truly the New Frontier, and among the most recent pioneers are real estate management companies and their clients, who are finding ways to use the web as a building and communications management tool. Read More
The Emergence of Technology
Back in 1995 I barely knew what the Internet was. No one knew that it would do more than anything to change homebuying process since the classified ad. Our little website experiment called corcoran.com has grown bigger than The Corcoran Group itself! Today, it is the largest global luxury homebuying site in existence. That makes The Corcoran Group just a subscriber, like the more than 200 other subscribers corcoran.com expects to have by the end of the year. I feel like a proud mother. Read More
Surviving Y2K
As the clock ticked down on December 31, 1999, the world could not help but watch with at least a little trepidation. But when the ball dropped in Times Square and the new year officially arrived, nothing happened except a huge celebration. Thankfully, the beast that was Y2K barely made itself heard. No cities went dark, few computers expired in a frenzy of confusion, the water systems pumped along smoothly. And few, if any, co-ops or condos reported problems with their systems. All was well. So why, given all the pre-event concerns, did everything go so smoothly? Read More
Cover Story: Digital "Digs"
Never before have there been so many ways to become "wired" in The Big Apple. Innovative companies are readying New York City’s co-ops and condos for the new millennium by making state-of-the-art electronic amenities a mere click away from realization. These "bundled services" provide co-op and condo residents packages of high-tech building features, such as local and long distance phone service, multiple TV channels, video conferencing and internet service that zooms to your computer screen in the blink of an eye. According to Howard Slavin, asset manager of the New York real estate investment firm, Allied Partners, "No sophisticated buyer today would move into a building that didn’t have some type of satellite and high-speed internet access." Read More
Don't Be Left In The Dark
The recent onslaught of millennium madness has made Y2K a household term. Once just the concern of computer aficionados and a select few with technological foresight, Y2K is now a universal problem. In fact, Y2K has become such a prevalent reference in popular culture that it has many people cringing at its mere mention. Yet, whether or not you have had your fill of Y2K hype, it is undeniable that the repercussions surrounding this very real issue are nothing to take lightly. Read More
