After the four walls of a given structure, the roof is sometimes referred to as  the “fifth plane”—and just like the walls that hold it up, the roof is an all-important structure  that can make or break a building’s performance. New Jerse…

 Managing or sitting on the board of a condo, HOA or co-op is certainly not an  easy task. The position can be downright challenging. There are vendors to  hire, budgets to balance and complaints to field. How do you find the right  profes…

Q Our building was badly flooded by Hurricane Sandy, which “killed” our boilers and elevators, and the building is terribly short on funds at the  moment. Are FEMA loans applicable to condos? Is this something our management  company shou…

 Fire in the home can be an absolutely terrifying and life-altering occurrence.  In 2011, there were 1,389,500 fires reported in the United States. These fires  caused 3,005 civilian deaths, 17,500 civilian injuries, and $11.7 billion in  …

 Every news channel in the tri-state area, if not the entire U.S., aired  minute-by-minute accounts of Superstorm Sandy's brutal march up the Eastern  Seaboard. The accounts and pictures of the devastation were indelible.  Weathermen and n…

 Snow, ice, freezing, thawing, refreezing all take such a toll on New Jersey properties that it’s practically a cliché—but it’s a cliché that condo and HOA board members and managers have to deal with every spring.    Harsh weather …

 Time was, if you said that a co-op or condo building was 'going to the dogs,' it  was a bad thing. These days however, that's not always the case. According to  the American Pet Products Association, 39 percent of all U.S. households own …

 It’s the same dilemma that single-family households across the U.S. are facing:  What bills need to be paid immediately and what bills can wait? And should we  stretch ourselves thin, taking more out of our bank accounts to pay for privat…

 Working in groups can be a challenge. Working in groups when people’s homes—and possibly their life savings—are involved can be a far greater challenge. It’s one faced every day by those brave souls who volunteer to serve on their co-op  …

 These days, there are few people who don’t have a business website, a Facebook account and even a Twitter handle. It’s the same for buildings.    As the rise of online social media invades nearly every aspect of our daily  life, co…