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NYS Registered Sex Offender Residing in Coop - Anonymous Feb 10, 2011


I'm a shareholder residing in a coop within Westchester County. I was made aware, through a friend in law enforcement, that a NYS registered sex offender is residing in the cooperative for some time now. This came as a complete shock to not only myself but to other shareholders in the building. What made it more surprising is that the mother of the offender is on the Board of Directors.

My question is does the Board have a LEGAL obligation to inform the shareholders that a NYS registered sex offender is residing in the building? If so, is there any recourse, by means of a shareholder vote, to determine if the offender is allowed to reside in the cooperative? Shouldn't the shareholders have been notified before he took residence in the coop? Any assistance or guidance from anyone is appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

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does he own an apartment or is he living with his mother. What level of sex offender? Was the crime one that involved children.
every state has different criteria for sex offender.
In many states, teenagers sexting their boyfriend /girlfriend would by law be considered sex offenders. A lot of FU laws out there with grave consequences.
The exact crime should be posted on a web database, a follow-up to the police station should answer any other unanswered questions.
more info is needed, it could be a legal liability, and moral.

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He's a level 2 registered sex offender; living with his mother, who is a board member. Not sure if it involved childern. I will follow up with the police station. The Board has mentioned NOTHING to the shareholders of his residence within the cooperative.

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I think you need to seek legal advice, rather than solicit comments here. Remember, even when you post "anonymously" the site registers your IP.

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It's about before-the-fact checking, rather than after-the-fact response, but it might have some helpful links/advice.

http://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/2010-October/Featured-Articles-from-Our-Print-Magazine/Performing-Background-Checks

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Was there an incident? But, if this was a shock to many, maybe this person was living without incident. How did it come to be that you and your cop friend were investigating people in the building?

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No Subject - escapefromyonkers Feb 09, 2011


anyone know whar ratio the banks will accept for co-op owner occupied for a mortgage?
it used to be around 80%. Our board has let it drop from 80% to around 50%. i don't know if they are falsifying records to the banks on the couple sales we had, or it is 50%

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Get others to serve on the board - Lee Feb 09, 2011


How do you recommend getting shareholders to become interested in serving on their board?

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They could easily become a victim of fraud, and lose their investment, and/or pay twice the normal fees.
the cooperator magazine which is free and also ha a on line version, has at least one article a month about co-op fraud perpetuated by a member of the BOD or managing company..

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Tax Credit Assessment - Mike Feb 09, 2011


Is it fair to charge shareholders the tax credit assessment when they are told that they do not qualify for the credit since they purchased from the sponsor? It just seems unfair to do so since the spirit of the assessment is that it's not supposed to be felt "out-of-pocket."

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It does not matter; although the sponsor does not qualify, it has to pay for taxes assessment just like any other shareholder. If you bought from the sponsor and the tax credit assessment was not announced until after the sale, you need to pay for it. Unfortunately, you did not know better and did not ask the sponsor to cover it prorate as part of the condition for the sale.


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Cause of action - Billy Joe Feb 06, 2011


I am a shareholder in a coop where the management and the sponsor are frauding financials and violating the proprietary lease by invoking fines to shareholders; raising maintenance without discussing it with the shareholders; raising the sublet fees without having a sublet shareholder on the board of directors. Also, the sponsor added a $300,000 mortgage to the underlying mortgage without the shareholders knowing about it. I need somedoby to tell me what actions to take to stop the corruption.

Thank you.

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Do you have proof of your allegations? Have you discussed your concerns with any other shareholders? Do you have a lawyer?

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You raise a number of issues here.

* The authority for fines and sublet fees must come from the Proprietary Lease. If these clauses do not exist in your lease, you should let your board and managing agent know why you are contesting these fees. Don't bother to mention that there's no "sublet shareholder on the board"; that's not relevant.

* The board has the authority to raise maintenance without shareholder approval. In fact, setting maintenance is one of their primary jobs. A good board will explain the reasons for any increase, but no shareholder discussion or vote is required.

* "The sponsor added a $300,000 mortgage": If the board approved this, that's well within their authority. Figuring out how to fund operations and projects is one of a board's primary duties. There may be improprieties in how the mortgage was obtained or used, but that's a separate issue.

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What do Resident Board of Managers do? - FS Feb 05, 2011


We are not a full board yet, but only 3 resident board members, what are our duties?

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Hi FS,

Congratulations on making the board! If you and your fellow board members are looking for some guidance, be sure to check out our February issue (in print or in the Digital Edition at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/habitat/201102/ ) for some of the basic responsibilities of the board.

Good luck!

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Govt Debt Ceiling and Co-op Investments - Steve-Inwood Feb 05, 2011


I am struggling with the topic of the U.S. Government Debt ceiling and my co-op’s investments. We currently invest in two funds: a short term (“ST”) treasury fund and a money market (“MM”) fund (Vanguard’s VSGBX / VSGDX & VMMXX, respectively). The ST bond fund is 100% invested in short term U.S. government bonds and earns about 1%. The MM fund is about 60% invested in the same only with a short duration and earns about 0.6%.

If Congress and the President can not agree on raising the debt ceiling, the ST bonds & bills would be affected first. Since both our Vanguard funds are ST in nature, they and funds like them, would also be impacted. I can only believe that the impact would be, if it happened at all, brief in nature but would impact the liquidity of our co-op’s funds (delaying our ability to access the funds), even to perhaps the breaking the buck of the MM funds.

So I am wrestling with what to do. The safe bet is to hold all of our reserve funds as cash (regular bank account, not in MM funds). The other option is to leave them as they are (knowing the risk of liquidity impairment). We have monthly cash needs from the reserve funds for capital projects and the like.

My fiscal responsibility side is leaning towards holding everything as cash.

What are other co-op and condo boards considering?

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I think that the debate about debt ceiling in Washington is just a political game that the GOP is playing with the Administration.

Not raising it would have catastrophic consequences on the country.

I am pretty sure we will have an 11th hour deal.

As for cash accounts, we maintain about 30% of our Reserves in cash and the rest with CD and MM.

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Thank you VP11104 for your response. For a lousy 1% investment return, there is too much risk - even if created by politics.

For me, I would rather forgo the $675 monthly earnings for a couple of months (1% on $810k) than to subject my shareholders on this even temporary risk. My Co-op is pulling out of our money market and short term treasury mutual funds today.

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Renters & Rent to Sell - FS Feb 04, 2011


The sponsor is refusing to answer the board's request to know if we have a rent to own policy implemented in our condo building

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thermostat - bob alexander Feb 04, 2011


We have several units w/o thermostats which are wasting fuel and electricity. Our discussion is to subsidize the installation costs with owners paying for the thermostat,others want the unit owners to pay for everything.
Remote op. thermostat have low installation costs.Question ? Do any of you have experience or comments as to what would be best to get the coop expenses down. 1266 units @ Horizon House with 3 to4K fan coiled units and maybe 50% with existing thermostats. Please advise Thank you

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Have you looked at NYSERDA's Multi Family Performance Program as a means to possibly fund a large portion of this and/or any other energy related projects? If your building can implement measures that reduce building wide energy consumption by 15% you could be eligible for a considerable amount of money. Wireless Energy Management Systems, Lighting and Separating DHW production from the buildings Heating system are key "target" measures for NYSERDA funding. There are also rebate programs out there for sub metering projects. If you have further questions let me know and I will provide a phone number.
Eric

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Bob,
I apologize, I just noticed your buildings are actually in New Jersey. There are several utility and possibly state sponsored rebate/incentive programs that should address your issues. When you are comfortable doing so let me know your utility company and I will look into their energy programs. Also, feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Eric

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Financial - Billy Joe Feb 03, 2011


Sponsor suppose file with more 12 units out of
building 47 unit have file financial annual?

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