What do some of you use as a building community website? We had bee using a Yahoo group + a gmail account for email and documents. We have moved to athome.net as a secure site with calendar, documents, emal, etc. It has all of the functionality but it has been difficult to use. I'm curious what other buildings are using to provide information and resources to owners and other residents.
> Join the conversation Comments (3)
what should the average Manhattan coop allow?
My friend's building somehow spends in excess of $10k a year and this seems all wrong to me.
Does a contract signed by both parts without the date is valid, it has legal power?
> Join the conversation Comments (3)I'm considering changing attorneys for our co-op. I have 3 attorneys to choose from but not sure how you decide which one to hire?
> Join the conversation Comments (2)My roof was not pitched correctly by the sponsor/developer and the board has taken numerous years to address this problem. I am patiently waiting to fix my ceiling which is a bit of an eye soar and I have a light fixture when it rains very hard I get water in the fixture. It's been over 5 years since I've addressed this to the board & management company and I've requested in writing after they decide on the engineer that I want a scope of services in writing indicating they repair my ceiling. I have had NO response about this from the managing agent or the board. Should I have a lawyer write a ltr on my behalf? Any suggestions?
> Join the conversation Comments (3)I live in a conversion Co-op. I have lived here as a rental and purchased my apartment as an insider. I was elected to serve on the the Board. Our sponsor currently owns 80% of the unsold units. They are also the owners of our Managemnt Company. Two sponser appointed board members are running our management office. One is the property Manager and the other is asst site Mgr. Recently I was approached by the outside hired Site Manager of impropieties that she has found between the two board members. She has witnessed payments of cash by vendors, Seen check registers of checks being written to deceased residents to "buyout their apts" . and witnessed padded invoices from vendors. which are being approved by the property Mgr. She recently approached the Property Manager with this information and was fired. What do I do as a board member who was given this information?
> Join the conversation Comments (1)
This came to us from Con Edison:
Re: Oil to Gas Conversions
If you previously heated with oil and are now planning to convert to natural gas we are taking this opportunity to remind you that gas acts as a scrubbing or cleaning agent on the oil residue left in your chimney.
Hence, for your system to operate safely and efficiently, we (Con Edison) recommends that you have your licensed gas heating contractor or a chimney cleaning specialist take the following safety measures:
1) The chimney flue should be thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom when new gas heating unit is installed.
2) Six months after the gas heating equipment has been installed an inspection of the chimney should be made to check for the flue soot accumulation and if required, arrangements should be made for its removal.
3) A second thorough cleaning of the chimney should be performed one (1) year after the installation of the heating equipment.
If you retained your oil boiler and installed a new gas burner, the boiler should have been thoroughly cleaned prior to the gas burner installation, and a second cleaning of the boiler should be performed one (1) year later to remove accumulated residue.
we have a corrupt Super who gives minsinfromaion to the Board. The bldg attorney wrote a shareholder a legal letter based on false info \(based on an incident with poor staff performance ) and then billed the shareholder for the letter despit the fact the shareholder had their lawyer send a letter correcting the facts sent to the \board askign for a proper investigagion. Is it legal to do this?? It does not seem right.
> Join the conversation Comments (2)In our 220 unit co-op-converted in 1984 by the sponsor, who still owns 10 apts. and is also the managing agent, asbestos was discovered when he was forced to do repairs by Housing Court for water intrusion into one of his apt. Under the wood floors, which are the sames ones that came with all the units in the building, black mastic glue was found which contains asbestos. The sponsor (is he still that?) told the Board about it, and has hired a licensed asbestos company to remove the mastic, but we don't know what to do about the rest of the apts. Many of us have renovated our floors, removed the wood, sanded and repaired parts of the parquest floors etc. unaware that there was asbestos that was un-friable, but sanding, scraping could have released airborne particles. Are we negligent as a Board for not requireing shareholders to have subfloors tested prior to renovations? Or is the sponsor negligent because he must have known what lay beneath the floors since he renovated many apts as part of the offering plan. Does the co-op now have an obligation to test for and remove any asbestos in the rest of the apts? Help! Thanks.
> Join the conversation Comments (2)
Toxic co-op:
Recently I discovered the site shown in this URL along with the “article” shown:
http://www.brickunderground.com/blog/2012/02/ask_an_expert_what_are_some_signs_of_a_bad_co_op
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Then I commented via this URL:
http://www.brickunderground.com/contact
With my notes below:
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The “original” list on the website:
• Financial statements that are not audited or are delivered more than four months after the end of the fiscal year
• A board that doesn't meet on a monthly basis or record minutes
• Negative cash flow
• A history of constant assessments
• Interest or penalties owed for unpaid taxes, or late fees to vendors or contractors
• Dirty public areas of the building
• Problems with mice, rats, and/or mold
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My inline list comments and additions (shown with “[++ ….”), which I believe are more practical and less altruistic than the above list:
• Financial statements that are not audited or are delivered more than four months after the end of the fiscal year [++We are always late as our accountants are busy with other work and we always file for an extension. Given that are financials are 100% perfect, we don’t have an issue.]
• A board that doesn't meet on a monthly basis or record minutes
• Negative cash flow [++ Good point, but needs to be recurring, year after year. Unfortunately, this is not always evident as long term financials are typically unavailable to a potential buyer.]
• A history of constant assessments [++ Totally incorrect perspective as assessments are better planned and prorated over time than applied in backbreaking burdens periodically. Why not have a small assessment every year for ten months of the year (tax purposes) that builds the capital reserves that are inevitably required as a building and its infrastructure ages?].
• Interest or penalties owed for unpaid taxes, or late fees to vendors or contractors [++ not always evident in annual reports.]
• Dirty public areas of the building [++Better view: are there areas that are damaged, unpainted, peeling paint, mechanically non-functioning, etc.]
• Problems with mice, rats, and/or mold [++ Hard to determine, but does coop have an exterminator service that replies to shareholder requests without any extra cost to shareholders.]
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My additions and comments to the above list are:
• A coop with a history of high turnover of presidents and board members, thus demonstrating an absence of management continuity for the coop corporation.
• Recurring refinancing of underlying mortgages without a plan to pay down mortgages
• Multiple mortgages because the Board lack financial planning acumen.
• Mortgages with payment plans that only include interest and minimal to nil principle payoff, (and perhaps a balloon payment) at term.
• Lack of an updated capital improvement / replacement program forecast schedule in accordance with AICPA recommendations, e.g.: Board is flying blind.
• Not having any assessment or a long term program means the Board does not plan for the future and that all financial events and requirements are ad hoc.
• For a coop corporation that is not self-managed, a persistent practice of replacing management firms showing a lack of direction and stability.
• If self-managed, is there a lack of longevity for employees?
• If the coop permits rentals, is the rental percent greater than 10%, giving rise to a transient non-caring population of residents.
• Does the sponsor still own a significant portion of the apartments (e.g: greater than 30%, giving rise to a transient population of residents?
• Does the sponsor have seats on the board? Given the voting percentages required per the proprietary lease, can the sponsor easily block programs to improve the coop. e.g.: voting down capital projects, assessments, maintenance increases, etc., thus creating a stagnant environment?
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As a managing agent, we've been using www.resident-net.com as a provider for building websites (disclaimer: I own that company and adapted it for outside of our client base). If you'd like to get in touch on this, you can e-mail me at mblevine@ebmg.com
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