March 10, 2010 — Co-op board members and condo association directors tend to encounter the same few shareholder/unit-owner issues over and over: The same misunderstandings and complaints crop up in each new generation of buyers. "I see them in all kinds of developments and among all kinds of owners," says attorney Janet Oulousian Aronson, a specialist in community-association law and a member of the New England chapter of the Community Associations Institute. And though it can sometimes feel hopeless, sometimes all it takes is explaining to residents, in a nice way, the basic facts of co-op and condo life.

But what do you say? How should you phrase it? Keeping emotion out of your conversations with co-op / condo owners, while not sounding uncaring and like you're just spouting talking points, isn't always easy, especially with your more contentious residents. That's why Aronson's five tips for what to say and how to say it can come in handy. A soft answer turneth away wrath — and Ruth and Ralph and most any other resident with one of these typical areas of complaint. Read More »

NYC: March 8, 2010 — Recent news of note for your co-op or condo board. The convicted child-rapist super is finally gone, a condo board prez embezzles, a Kremlin-like co-op board endorses ITSELF on the proxy notice (with little stars next to their names, comrade!), and the co-op and condo market is either bad or good, depending on who's talking. And just who's talking? Why, some of the most relevant newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs you should be reading. Oh, wait! That's what Habitat's weekly Monday News Roundup is for: We go through everything so you don't have to! Plus: permanent archival links, so if a link ever goes dead, you can still find it at WebCitation.org. Read More »

March 8, 2010 — A word from your sponsor can be a good thing. But here's a word to the wise: Some sponsors that double as co-op or condo property managers can drive a building into the ground when — ironically — the board is asleep at the wheel. It's easy to feel as if there's nothing you can do when the sponsor insists on running the co-op or condo like it's his or her rental property. But you really can escape their clutches ... just like the board of the Ferry Point Park Condominium. (Click on image to enlarge.) Read More »

March 5, 2010 — The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. The question: Is there a way to reduce our co-op or condo's energy bill in a green, Earth-friendly way?

Sure, you can install solar panels, and some intrepid co-ops and condos are experimenting with geothermal cooling and heating. As we wean ourselves away from coal and oil — and we've kind of got to; neither one of those will last forever — our electrical future will probably be a combination of those new technologies and others, including wind energy. And while you're doubtlessly envisioning those giant turbines generally placed out in bays or isolated fields, you've got realize those are just the first generation. Just as TV satellite dishes went from six-feet across to pizza-sized, so, too, are rooftop wind turbines. See for yourself — we're not just tilting at windmills. Read More »