I am awaiting our Board to move forward with accepting an invitation from a NYC, NYSERDA representative to make a presentation at our 247 unit co-op in Long Beach, L.I., N.Y. My understanding is that the Energy assessment fee is almost negated by the reimbursement from another agency's funding. I have met with complete refusal, by our Board president, but I keep on trying. Good luck to you also. I will post as matters change.

We did the consultant thing with a third party last year. NYSERDA paid in full for the FlexTech Benchmarking Pilot that we completed. Actually, the fee was slightly under the max $3000 NYSERDA amount available.
The consultant prepared the proposal to NYSERDA, got approval for the funding and we moved forward. Nothing out of pocket. They filed our benchmarketing data for 2010 and provided a building survey with recommendations.

Whoever you used for the benchmarking sounds like the company that everyone should be looking to. If you find a firm that can navigate and execute in manner that makes you think, "these guys have done this before," then they should be recommended to everyone.

For the record: My firm does NOT do benchmarking as a direct service. We leave that to the guys whose business model focuses entirely on this venture.

united spinal was eastern paralyzed veterans association. they know all the laws and ada requirement that new construction must have.They know exactly how long a ramp must be and the height of rails and the flat stop areas. probably know much better than anyone else, they have been around a long time.

The coop abatements are automatic, but you have to apply for STAR.
Application is available via the NYC.GOV website.

Do i have to be under/over certain age limit to fill out the Star Abatement form?
what are hidden impacts (loss/gain) if i sign up for Star Abatement. (being an owner of the co-op).

Deadline was March 15 for next year. You get a tax rebate which usually gets credited to your maintenance account. In general, it should be declared on your income taxes as income, being a reduction in taxes paid.
Various other credits are available for seniors and veterans, some tied to income levels. You can see the forms and get more info on the NYC.gov website, just search for 'star'. Info for all the credits will show up.

You need to be a resident of the apartment.

You need to declare the STAR portion, which they may wish not wish to reduce from their IRS tax return.

They are wealthy enough not to care to get money ahead of time.

They are ignorant.

Make your own reason. It does not affect the co-op as it has to pay the tax and STAR credit to residents no matter what!

AdC

Like yourself, they are probably unaware of it. There are no qualifications that I know of... you just have to be proactive and get the form, unless your management company has provided one for you. For the STAR abatement, shareholders have to submit their own applications. It's a simple form available on nyc.gov website (google STAR abatement NYC), but you have to include a copy of your entire 1040 from last year. The deadline this year is MARCH 15! Also, you can get additional Senior Citizens, or Veterans, etc. if you qualify in those categories.

We allow PayPal and the fee that PayPal charges to us gets added to the invoice once they inform us that they want to pay that way.

It's because of merchant fees that hardly any co-op or condo accepts charges. But if you were to it would only be fair to have the owner making the charge pay the fee.

Hi VVP,

I am a president of an 111 unit co-op in Manhattan. We like Blue Woods Management Group. One of their offices in near you in the Fashion District.

Good luck with your search!

I'm a regular contributor to this site as well as the owner of a management company, Excel Bradshaw Management Group, LLC, with a healthy portfolio in the city. (www.ebmg.com).

We'd be happy to talk to you.

mblevine@ebmg.com

We are an 1800 unit upscale co op complete with 18 hole golf course, tennis courts, country club,movie theater and lots of ofher "goodies" We have been using Charles Greenthal and can report that our Manager thinks he is Hitler reborn. He believes he has the final say on everything and unfortunately, he has convinced our board that he is correct. Some of the employees of the company are very nice, but it is the manager who sets the tone. I would be very careful before using this company.

Again, interesting, because we'd been considering them. I appreciate the advice!

We'll get in touch; I'll identify myself when we do. (It'll be awhile, next board meeting's not for a month.)

Thanks! Will call them.

They do not make an extra effort and they do not help with costs at all -

who doesn't make an effort or help with costs? that's 2 of the 3 things you pay them for, isn't it?

Good to know -- we'd been considering them. Thanks.

call John Belanich, or Eric Belanich and John Vetere at Bell Realty Management Co. 516-829-7300. I have been working with Bell since 1986 when they bought our building for conversion. Family operation, very straight up, very honest, very capable. They own property and manage quite a bit. almost all their relationships are very long term, for the right reasons.

Thanks! Will call them.

Becareful management company we had terminated leave us finance ruin.

Be careful because the management company we had left us financially ruined at Parsons Plaza.

Habitat Magazyne should have a website that talks about management companies that are corrupted or have selective force of rules and regulations; and have many complaints filed against them to the attorney general. By doing this, board members could have a right to choose a good management company not these companies that look good but steal peoples monies, lies, forged documents and leave buildings in financial ruins.

Call Impact Real Estate Management
718-898-0190 Ask for Stuart Halper he is an owner of the company
Great people

Thanks! Will call them.

I own Pronto Property Management, Inc.
We offer property management services to Condos and Coops in the NYC and Long Island areas.
We also provide cleaning services for commercial and residential clients, as well as, construction cleaning services.
Please contact me at 516-455-5831 to discuss any needs or questions that you may have for us. You can also visit our website at www.prontopropertymanagement.com

In my dealings with them, I have had to renew a few contracts with the looming possibility of FiOS coming into the picture within the timeframe of the lock. I've always been told by the TWC reps that they don't audit the building once they are signed up and if the usage dips below the contracted price, they really wouldn't know, since they don't audit.

Hope that helps.

Use the fact that FIOS is coming to the building to negotiate better terms and prices for those that commit on the bulk T/W deal. Insist that the shareholders sign an agreement of liability and obligation with the Coop if they pull before the contract term is finished. Your most valuable customers will be those who are buying 3X play packages. They hate losing those. Take the best deal offer from FIOS and demand equal or better from TW or you will switch.

i am a firm believer in letting the resident decide on who they want for their telco-broadband-tv service. you can get some pretty sweet deals by switching to cable now with no contract,
The price is locked in for a time frame, mine is a year, but then you check who has the best deal and the best service. I think it is common in the commo industry to not worry as much with a building that is locked in, they can't change. Notice how horrible the cellphone carriers are . They lure you in with a low price phone , lock you in for 2 or 3 years , and if you have bad service , tough nuggies. IMO it is a disgrace that the FCC lets them get away with this , but they are lobbied.
My cable broadband is faster than most fios in my area. i have boost,so my d/l speeds are 50 m. i am one on the very few people who test their speed and record it on broadband reports, the old DSLR reports , i cant find my old pw so i had to start a new account, but still looking, i have been testing my speeds since the days of DOS and 56k modems , and recording them on the board, where you can search by zip or the first 3 of your zip or zero it in to your block or building.
The biggest shame was in my case the building not changing the original building antenna to the digital antenna. I did without cable for 20 years plus, used the building antenna and had PIP on my monitor. The digital signal is supposed to be better than the analog. When i used the analog building antenna , i had a better signal then the people who paid for cable . not too many channels, bit the broadband took care of the rest. Hopefully broadband customers can get a service like prepaid phones. only pay for the channels you want , this way those of us who don't want the sports channels don't pay the always increasing fees for ESPN contracts. Even by going to prepaid t mobile, i saved about 400 a year, and that includes paying full price for my android phones. using wi-fi for everything. NYC is putting wi-fi in most of its parks if your service is optonline or partner service, about all metronorth stops have free wi-fi. Wish GCT would go optonline. These carriers using non sim card are a rip off. In europe they all have sim cards. You go top a different area. buy a sim and pay cheap rates. Let the consumer decide

I'd have to see your Prop Lease to see what the exact provisions, but the Board typically has the ability to fully control the subletting rules within the cooperative. If the sponsor currently holds more than 10% of the building, taking away the extra rental units in the building actually helps the building since banks frown upon buildings that have too high of a percentage of "investor units". This can upset the ability to obtain mortgages, refinancing for both the cooperative corporation and the shareholders if the investor ratio is too high.

The only way to change it is to elect a new Board next year and revert the House Rules back to their pre-moratorium state.

Hope that helps.

Read your plan. usually the subletting is controlled by the bylaws or proprietary lease therefore requiring a super-majority vote to change. House Rules are the day to day living regs that control how shareholders live together in a sensible and collegial community. The Board does not control this issue, the shareholders do. The Board cannot change the Proprietary Lease or Bylaws without a super majority vote unless they conned the shareholders into allowing them direct control over rewriting the Bylaws at will, which would have required a super-majority vote to obtain this power. while not impossible to obtain, I haven't heard of any Coops,except one, that was stupid enough to give over this authority to the Board, thereby obviating the only control a Shareholder Group has over a run-away Board.

ditto what the poster above says. The board cannot change the proprietary lease or by-laws without a special vote usually super majority and a special meeting , shareholders informed of meeting and what it is about . mailed out in the time frame specified in by-laws. The house rules do not cover subletting, but they can change the house rules, as long as they are not self dealing as the reason for the change or other improper board conduct. like try to get them a better parking space.
My BOD did illegally change the voting, and i am trying to find a co-op lawyer for that and about 20 other things they have done, against the proprietary lease and i would guess with the non prop lease subletting, about 40 years of unpaid sublease fees.
Also they lie when they sell units,stating it is 90% owner occupied, when it is around 50% or lower. i dont know since they refuse to abide by BCL 603? and provide me with a updated list of shareholders, another reason i need a lawyer. Worse they wont let me see the financials as allowed in the proprietary lease, and without a template of which court to file in, i am sol .
i figure they must be a lot of mortgage fraud since i don't think banks will refinance the bldg when it is 50% and buyers usually cannot get a mortgage. One recent sale was a foreclosure,so the bldg BOD and MC was involved in the sale.
i have a runaway board,illegal, and plenty y of other illegalities.

we need a agency in NYS for these co-op law violators, as i said in another post/rant it is a big scam with no oversight. The renters have much more juice on their side .


You are better off with a zero renters policy, however in this market and job market, if someone is underwater , they will easily walk away, the good news is , co-ops are better then condos in foreclosures. The co-op bldg gets made whole on back maintenance and fees first, bank is next