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Management
Local Law 10 Update
Local Law 10 of 1980 was enacted shortly after a piece of terra cotta masonry fell from the facade of an Upper Read More
Building Maintenance and Repair
The increase in the number of co-ops and condos in New York City has changed the way many New Yorkers live. Read More
The Roof Over Your Head
One of life's most basic necessities is to have a roof over one's head. In an apartment building, while the roof may be a dozen stories above your home, it is still one of the most fundamental parts of the building. If the roof is not properly maintained, it can lead to problems that affect dozens of apartments and even threaten the integrity of the entire building structure. If attention to detail is not paid in the early stages of a roof problem, legal problems can result, which may pose a threat to the financial stability of the building as well. Read More
Considering Self-Management?
A co-op or condo that embarks upon the road to self-management is committed to undertaking the supervision and administration of the building without the assistance of an outside full-service property management firm. There are, however, varying degrees of participation required on the part of board members and shareholders, depending upon the level of self-management the building chooses. At one end of the spectrum would be a building that hires onto its payroll its own property management staff reporting directly to the board. At the other end, all building tasks would be done using only board and shareholder volunteer labor, from billing and paying to hauling garbage. The middle of the self-management spectrum is probably the most typical: The board and volunteer shareholders take on some duties and contract with specialists to do the rest. Read More
Evaluating Management Performance
Professional residential management is a service industry, and some service providers perform better than others. To evaluate how your property's management measures up, it's necessary to assess both how the company functions as a whole and also how your individual managing agent is performing. To do that, it's important first to understand what professional management is supposed to do, and then to have a clear picture of what really good management looks like. Read More
Part of the Whole
They're inside your favorite restaurant and out in the streets. They stand inside doorways and behind desks. They're up in the sky and far below ground level. They're everywhere. From the classic diner waitress apron to the busboy's jacket to the bellboy's hat, uniforms help us recognize people and positions in our world. They define status, help us find people who can offer assistance in service or emergency situations and they provide (you guessed it) visual uniformity to a group of people with the same goals and purpose. Uniforms are used for a reason - they work. Read More
Leaders in Management
On February 8, 2001, The Cooperator presented its annual Leadership in Management Award to three managing agents who went "above and beyond the call of duty" in seeing to the needs of their buildings and residents over the last year. Read More
Education is Key
One of the major initiatives which will soon benefit
New York City’s co-op and condominium landscape is the ongoing effort
to certify the resident managers and superintendents that live and work in
city housing.
Read More
Managing to Manage
Even the best-run buildings have their bad days, and
minor (sometimes not-so-minor) emergencies. In times like these,
it’s vital to have a capable, experienced manager at the helm who can
handle problems efficiently and minimize their duration and severity.
Read More
A License to Build
One of the most important things that a co-op or condo
must take into consideration when hiring a contractor for a maintenance or
construction project is whether the service providers the building are
bringing in to do the work are properly licensed and insured. Contractors,
subcontractors, and project managers have are not only entrusted to get
their jobs done properly, but they have access to private property—so
it only makes sense to check the workers’ paperwork with as much
vigor as you check their references.
Read More
I Can Manage
Co-op and condo buildings don’t run themselves.
Their owners and shareholders rely on board members to make important
decisions about the buildings they live in, and board members count on
their management companies to provide them with the information needed to
make smart decisions.
Read More
Switching Management Companies
In a perfect world, the relationship between a
management company and the co-op or condo it serves would be harmonious,
with few—if any—bumps in the road. But this is New York City,
and if that vital relationship sours, your board could be faced with the
prospect of replacing your agent or finding a new management company.
Careful planning and thorough research will ensure that you make a smooth
transition from your former company to a new one.
Read More
Filling the Bill
For most boards, the fees charged by their management
firms are just a fact of doing business. Aside from signing the initial
contract, most board members probably do not give much thought to how those
fees were initially determined, beyond the usual comparison-shopping that
goes on when choosing a firm. Perhaps a bit more scrutiny is applied to
determining the annual increases within the contract, but still, the fee
formula may seem closer to a financial alchemy rather than an exact science
transparent to all.
Read More
A Thousand New York Stories
People love to tell stories about their jobs and the people who work in building management have plenty of good ones to share. That's probably because the industry revolves around people and something very important to them, their homes. Read More
The Bond Between Manager and Super
Peace of mind comes from knowing that not only do you have the right people doing the right job, but also knowing that those people work and respect each other personally and as a team. Read More
What's In a Name?
Lots of co-op and condo buildings in the city play host to one or more permanent guests on their ground floors; sometimes it's a mom-and-pop hardware store, or maybe a row of sleek, upscale boutique clothing stores. Humble or haute, commercial tenants can be a valuable source of income for residential buildings; but there's more to making a success of the arrangement than just hanging a "Store For Rent" sign in the window of your building's available space and waiting for prospective tenants to bite. This is not just a regular landlord-tenant relationship; you have a responsibility to residents and shareholders to determine how a commercial tenant might impact the value of your property. Read More
Come Together
For most co-op and condo owners, the question of whether or not their building's doorman or concierge or security guard is unionized is a non-issue - one that only comes up when lengthy contract negotiations loom on the horizon. The subtle differences between union and non-union staff, though, can play a large role in how a building is run, affecting everyone who lives and works within its walls. Understanding how a union and its membership work can help your board and management maintain a smooth co-op or condo operation. Read More
A Born Leader
They have to worry about everything from keeping track of financial reports to whether the masonry will survive another winter. They collect maintenance, track repairs, and soothe ruffled shareholder feathers. If they don't know how to handle something, they had better know someone who does. Part accountant, part contractor, part therapist, they are property managers, and they keep New York's apartment buildings habitable. Read More
Impact Real Estate Management
Going solo, doing it your own way, the right way. That’s what the three principals of Impact Real Estate Management decided to do. When the three met five years ago, they all had the same idea. They agreed many in the management business were providing consumers with inferior service; not to mention the indictments for corruption that had recently rocked the industry. Mismanagement was running rampant; they decided to do something about it. Read More
Keep an Eye Out
It’s happened twice recently. In the summer of 1994, 72 New York property managers were convicted of taking kickbacks from contractors and extorting payoffs. This resulted in a $4 million restitution fund. Then, just last summer, 21 corporations and 62 individuals, including managing agents, superintendents, vendors, contractors, architects, and even board members, were indicted for bid-rigging (coordinating false bids so that the "lowest bid" was inflated) and other fraudulent practices. Just what can boards do to protect their buildings in the face of such widespread fraudulent activity? Read More
True Stories of Fraud
You are about to read tales of greed and corruption, costly incompetence and outright thievery. There is even a little sex and gambling thrown into the mix. Stories from television soap operas? No, these are the days of our lives in the New York City real estate industry, where a series of indictments leveled at property managers, contractors and vendors last summer have rocked the professional community again. And for every name that you may have read in the papers, several more are under investigation. This is what it sometimes looks like when your hired hands have their fingers in the till. Read More
Hit the Ground Running
Not entirely satisfied with the performance of your management company? Chances are your board hasn’t sought a new agent because they were frightened of the transition. Such is the case with many of the buildings that have interviewed Ronni Lynn Arougheti, president of Heron, Ltd., a property management company in Manhattan. Arougheti says she has been told surprisingly often that a building will stay with the same firm for fear of the worst-case scenario. However, "it isn’t that bad!" she exclaims. "Some people said they were so worried and stayed so unhappy for so long–and then the transition was seamless." Read More
Team MGRE
Unlike most firms managing major co-op and condo properties in the metropolitan area, Mark Greenberg Real Estate (MGRE) is not located in Manhattan or another city borough, but is situated in the quaint Long Island town of Port Washington, a locale known for boating, water recreation and a pristine quality of life for its inhabitants. Directly across from the Port Washington railroad station, just a town or two past the well-known town of Great Neck, MGRE’s offices exude a constant cheerfulness. A receptionist greets with a smile and a tidbit of words. Staff passing by her desk are busy, but offer friendly greetings to each other. "We have a great working atmosphere," says Steven Greenbaum, director of management of the company’s 30 employees. Read More
Gumley-Haft
Daniel J. Wollman, chief executive officer and managing director of Gumley-Haft Real Estate, is not the executive one would expect to see as head of one of Manhattan’s premier residential real estate management firms. Casually dressed and sitting in front of a wall of framed Sports Illustrated covers and surrounded by photos of his four children, Wollman’s hands quickly move on a computer while he talks on a telephone headset. Words like "litigation," "keeps excellent records" and "as soon as I’m off, I’ll fax that to you" punctuate the conversation that Wollman is obviously having with a board president. Read More
Leaders in Management
In many co-ops and condos it is the managing agent's responsibility to work with the board, superintendent and maintenance staff, vendors and other building professionals to create a safe and satisfying living environment for shareholders. Many times this job demands actions that go above and beyond the mere call of duty. A skilled agent knows what it takes to operate a building successfully. He or she must be prepared at any time to take charge of a crisis situation by making responsible decisions under pressure. Read More
Switching Management Firms
Even the best working relationships between co-op and condo boards and their management com- Read More
The Board/Manager Team
Much has been written recently about the management industry indictments, the role of the Read More
Diversification
Co-op, condo and HOA (Home Owners Associa-tion) managing agents share common goals Read More
The Annual Meeting
If winter's here, can spring be far behind? This old adage is particularly meaningful in relation to Read More
Holders of Unsold Shares
This truth may not be self-evident, but in a co-op all shareholders are not created equal. Virtually Read More
Indoor Air Quality
It is well established that individuals in New York City spend 80 to 90 percent of their time indoors, either at the work Read More
Maintenance Should Not Be Neglected
It's Friday night and you've just arrived home from a long week at work. Picking up your mail, you head upstairs in anticipation of a cold drink and a hot bath. But when you enter the bathroom, you find a quarter inch of water covering the floor! A weekend plumbing leak--a building manager's nightmare! Read More
Garbage Removal Systems
emember when all your garbage was discarded into the refuse container, never to be seen again? Read More
Effective Board Meetings
Like any body of individuals charged with overseeing the operation of a corporation, it is necessary for co-op and Read More
Your New Management Company
Any major change takes some getting used to and hiring a new management company for your co-op or Read More
