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new condo - Phyllis Jun 30, 2010


Does anyone know what are the risk of a new construction condo where the contractor has the 51% majority? The building has no mortgage on it but because the majority of condo's have not been sold we cannot form a board. Help, before I buy. Thanks.


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refinance lawyer - JBM Jun 29, 2010


looking for an inexpensive lawyer (under $3,000) to handle a $275K refinancing of our underlying co-op mortgage with our current lender. Our lawyer wants to charge $3,800

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rent reduction coop - where to file? - Anonymous Jun 22, 2010


Does anyone know - do you file in housing court or small claims for a breach of the warrant?

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You can file in either one according to the results you want, monetarily or otherwise, for a breach you can also file in Supreme Court.

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All Area - bdsec Jun 19, 2010


Does anyone have anything to say about All Area Property Management? Are they Good. We are thinking of hiring them

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never heard of them, but try Eisenstein Realty ask for harry, they are really good.

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Stay away from All Area. We had them for two years and they never paid our payroll taxes. We discovered this when IRS sent us the bill

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Feel free to give us a call too! (or e-mail - mblevine@ebmg.com)

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Our experience was horrible - didn't pay property taxes on time and didn't pay withholding taxes and we got stuck with the bill

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As a resident of a coop and having to deal with Allarea, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THEM. Unprofessional, office staff not qualified, property manager had no idea about plumbing, electrical wires...let's say, he was no sparky. Tsao the president doesn't return phone calls and has no idea what his staff is doing.

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Try contacting Matthew Adam Properties, Inc., Ira Meiter (212) 699-8900 They are excellent in property management.

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Mike MacGowan, Resident Manager?

I always see you promoting Matthew Adams, is that the firm you work for?

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No I work for the Co-op, Matthew Adam Properties, Inc. manage the building. They are a very good company.

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We had take to court,plus they lied about certain facts,and kept our money we putting to special fund upkeep of the building. Parsons Plaza Condo.

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We had take to court,plus they lied about certain facts,and kept our money we putting to special fund upkeep of the building. Parsons Plaza Condo.

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You should look into Metropolitan Pacific Properties (www.metpacproperties.com). We would be happy to be of service.

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Wow, so a bunch of mgmt companies are comenting on All Area. Nice. Very credible.

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If you follow the thread the initial question was does anyone know of All area property mgt, so I am guessing most comments are in response to the question, are you with me. Something tells me you work for them.

MRM.

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There is no credibility in this business. You have a bunch of mgmt companies writing lies about us. Yes, I am one of the owners at All Area. I would never do 1% of what is going on here.

Thanks everyone for showing your true colors.

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And yes, one of my employees told me about this thread. Technically, this is for Board Members only.

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Actually, anyone can comment on this board. It's an open-Internet site. Apartment buyers and sellers are on here all the time. I do sympathize if untrue things are being said, but you can trace identities pretty well through the IP numbers that come up on each top item. Do a Google search to find out how.

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Thank You LeonardC. I know what you have mentioned. I do IT only, so I know all the tricks. I also know that most Cable, FIOS and DSL Subsribers on home plans use DHCP IP's and it would be very hard to track, so this would be very difficult. Our company uses a Static NAT'd IP so of course my comment can be traced back to me. But, I have nothing to hide.

My Recommendation would be not to allow this kind of talk, but I understand what Habitat is trying to do here. I know that an open forum like this can have its positives and negatives.

I was actually on this site yesterday, because we have not advertised with Habitat in over 10 years because our business grows via word of mouth and referals and not so much with advertising. Its just been that way lately.

I was just looking around and searched All Area to see how we come up in the Habitat. As I was doing that, a employee walked into my office and showed me a thread they saw weeks ago. Either way, I do hope people see through this. We have tripled in business since 2005 with no advertising whats so ever.

I do believe though that some advertising could be helpfull.

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I don't know about management companies but I live in a coop that All Area managed and they did not pay our total employee withholding taxes for a long time, and the IRS charged us - they paid bills very late including our RE taxes which cost us over $6,000 in interest, and of course other bills late and otherwise were very bad managers - to get anything done I would have to call 311

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If anyone is interested, there have been three responses to this thread in 2013. All of them were unsolicited replies to messages posted in 2010 and all of them were very uncomplimentary to All Area Property Management.

I will leave the drawing of any conclusions or conspiracy theories as an exercise for the reader... ;-)

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strench from Board Member Apt - mb Jun 17, 2010


We have a board member whose apt seems to be the source of a chronic stench of garbage and pet odor. It's the first apt. when you come into the building and it's terribly offensive. What can we do? He has been a chronic offender with pot smell and noise but has enough votes to get himself on the board. Does it matter if he is on the Board or not? Should we call the health department or demand an inspection? Thanks.

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In the real world board members are supposed to lead example (LOL). While it is easy to say sell and get the hell out of there it would serve no purpose. You have to ask yourself is it worth taking this person on?, Have others complained?

MRM




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I think you should handle it just like you would if it were another shareholder, have mangement send a letter and then wait for them to respond to the letter. It don't matter if he/she is on the board or not.

Good Luck.

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KITTY LITTER HAS BEEN KNOWN TO BE USED TO TRY AND COVER ODOR FROM DEAD BODY(ANIMAL/HUMAN). CONTACT BOARD OF HEALTH AND POLICE FOR IMMEDIATE RESULTS.
WORKED IN OUR BUILDING. SOURCE OF ODOR WAS DEAD CAT.

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I agree with Mike. Have mgmt send your BM a letter. Also check your Proprietay Lease. If the BM doesn't reply or won't let mgmt inspect the apt, it's very likely that your Lease allows entry without a SH's permission if unsanitary conditions are strongly suspected or known to exist.

Our Lease even says if apt windows are excessively dirty and the SH won't clean them, the coop has the right to go in and have them cleaned. Pot, beer, etc. are a SH's private business, but bad pet and garbage odors from an apt are something else.

Some people aren't very clean and don't throw out garbage, soiled cat litter, etc. as often as they should. But as another poster said, there could be a more serious problem in your BM's apt. I wouldn't waste time checking this out.

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offensive smells like garbage and kitty litter are one thing.
however if you have a personal issue against pot, well that is his own business, the same as someone having a beer of cocktail.
As the others have said , if it is that bad a source of offensive odor , everyone should man up and write the letter with your names. If the odor of mj was really that strong you might ask him to get a fan to blow sick it out the window and ask the super to put added draft control material on the bottom of the door or add sealer to the saddle if there is one.
i wouldn't put pot smell in the same category of rotten garbage and kitty litter which is a health/ vermin issue for the other residents.

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Regarding your response, I feel that there is a great difference between someone smoking pot and someone having a beer. Having managed many properties, I have received complaints regarding "pot odor" on particular hallways. Nobody has ever called me to say that Mr. Jones is drinking a budweiser in his apartment. Simply put, if I have a beer at night nobody knows. If I smoke pot the odour/smell, more than likely will be detected and someone will complain.

MRM

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Um, the building shouldn't have to put up with disgusting drug addicts. The smell (skunk weed) smells like the name and the pot smoker should make adjustments to his addiction. The managment has to send a letter siting Warrant of Habitability and that they are in default.
Just because some think it's o.k., look the other way or think it's someone elses problem, it's not. Get tough man!!! Stand up for your rights.

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Hi everyone! HabitatReporter here again, this time with a response from Elliot Meisel of the law firm of Brill & Meisel. He says,

"The first issue is whether the building in question is a co-op or a condo. Each has a very different way of dealing with such situations.

The most important issue here is that board members should be above reproach. They should not be guilty of anything that other shareholders should not be guilty of. It is the responsibility of the board to hold its members to a higher standard. The other board members can try to persuade the problematic board member of that responsibility. Failing that, he or she can be removed from the board either with or without cause by the other boardmembers or the shareholders, depending on the by-laws of the building.

If the building is a co-op, the Board should first check the proprietary lease as the offending board member can be found in default and afforded the chance to comply or be evicted. In a condo, there is no landlord/tenant relationship, and the by-laws are poor at enforcing non-monetary issues, but in addition to having the board member removed from the board the condo can go to court to seek an injunction against the offending conduct, but that is difficult, will take a long time and be expensive.

Calling the Board of Health is a possibility but is likely to result in the building receiving a violation, not the individual unit-owner, leaving the building, rather than the board member, with the responsiblity for rectifying the situation though the owner may be backcharged for the fine..

When litigating quality of life issues, such as noise, odors or vermin, several things are important. Have more than one complainant; have the complaints in writing, have them documented over a period of time and have the complainants willing to go to court to testify as the courts will respect a personal appearance over signed affidavits and letters. "

Hope this helps!

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Evaluating purchase application (HELP?) - Rick Gonzaga Jun 17, 2010


Our board is evaluating a co-op purchase application and many of us are new to this.

One thought is that we would like to see an income to housing ratio of no more than 28% with liquid assets after closing of, at least 1 and a half times yearly housing costs (mortgage and maintenance).

Is this a good yardstick?

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Elevator - RHW Jun 16, 2010


We are a five story co-op in Inwood and are planning an elevator re-hab. Our best bidder is El Tech. Has anyone worked with them and have any positive/negative feedback that might help us?

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I worked with El Tech numerous times and I think they're excellent. I managed a 6 story building on the Upper West Side where the elevator was 50 years old and they maintained it and when it came time to modernize it, they won the bid and came in a week ahead of schedule. They're back-office is very good and easy to deal with as well.

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Sponsor - Frustrated - DavidG Jun 16, 2010


Hi
I am writing to solicit this community’s thoughts, advice, and comments on our sponsor issue.
Our building converted in 1984 – today the sponsor still owns 55% of apartments and 60% of the voting rights. They have no motivation to sell because they are clearing good money in rent. The sponsor is also the managing agent. There are 5 seats on the board 3 residential board members – 2 sponsor members.
Many aspects of NYBL are not followed – meeting minutes are not recorded, records of shareholders are not current, apartments are transferred and there are no resolutions just an email here or there, infect there was a garage increase implemented – but no meeting minutes to record it and no resolution to adopt it…. Very suspect….
Forget about Capital planning and financial management – they don’t have the experience or contacts of making our building structurally and financially sound.
We actually have made some progress since my joining of the board least year – but when we push back things get murky – late night renovations – We now have college dorms in our co-op building. Additionally, we fail to meet NYC building code – think no need for an EPA certified contractor, Fire extinguishers that are updated, painting sprinklers – why bother – Months after asking for a copy of our elevator service agreement – the one I was given was from 1984 and signed by the sponsor….
We are at the boiling point as I don’t want to be associated with something that is breaking all the rules of the prop lease, NYBL, and the spirit of a residential co-op. And since the sponsor has no intention of selling apartments – we have to plan the next step.
If anyone has experience with the attorney general, or experienced lawyers who can assist us, please let me know – My email is public.
If you want to know more of the situation – please let me know, I was thinking of creating a working group to help brainstorm ideas etc. Something has to give --We have a beautiful building, and good people, but we are heading in a bad direction.
Thank You

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our original sponsor is still the managing agent, i always wondered how common this is.
27 year conversion here.
i see it as a no lose gravy train for the sponsor/managing company
if they still have a lot of units for the first 10/20 years after conversion, they don't do the required maintainance, because they want their cost kept down. By the time the problem is evident, the sponsor doesn't own anything, and are just collecting managing fee's, and now they are dealing with big $$ projects which can be padded very easily. The owners are tagged with assessments.
our roof had to be encapsulated doors replaced, a lot of work that would have been avoided with normal maintenance. Now it is a big job, since no agent did roof inspections in 27 years

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you gotta switch agents asap!!

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Two words: Jennifer Realty. Google it.

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Hello David,
You are part of the solution not the problem so hang-in there. Here are some suggestions:
1) Get a lawyer
2) Make sure you have personal liability insurance.
3) You may need to set-up a shadow Board.
4) You have got to find the leverage to unhinge them. I would suggest finding a way to alter the flow of funds.
Just some thoughts...


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Consult the corp attorny, call the Attorny General's office and inquiry about your rights. But be prepared for push back.

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Hourly Fees for Engineers Managing LL 11 Facade Work - newbie Jun 15, 2010


We've obtained a proposal for managing our LL 11 facade work (a project which will be in the mid-6-figures).

The rates proposed are $305/hour for the engineers and $235/hour for staff members.

Does anybody know how these rates compare with other engineering firms'?

Also, they want to reserve the right to increase their rates (over and above the $10/hour that will kick in on Jan. 1 of any year. Is this a usual and customary provision?

Also, the engineers want the right to veto arbitration in the event of a dispute between them and us. Is this common? Desirable?

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My engineers charge about 250/195 and typically would provide a flate rate quote on the report and only the construction project would incur the hourly rate.

Best
~AR

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unsold shares, owner rented to family for over 5 years, - escapefromyonkers Jun 14, 2010


been going over everything in the building,
an owner of unsold shares, somehow evicted the resident that was there at conversion, and moved her adult children in, They were there for well over 5 years.
i noticed it is still being carried as unsold shares, it is now rented to a non family member.

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