When it comes to running a building or community association, all board members are not created equal—at least not when it comes to administrative ability and skill. Some bring experience in construction or backgrounds in law, finance, …

Every co-op or condo has rules and regulations that have been put in place to define the board’s authority and limitations of power, as well as outline the rules for the community, residents or shareholders. And although the governing d…

Turn on daytime television and you might get a false impression that people like to go before a judge to work out their differences. There are so many cookie-cutter court shows like where they make the process look simple and quick. Th…

Failure to Distribute Minutes Q I was newly elected to the board of a small (32-unit), self-managed cooperative, where traditionally there has been little transparency between the board and shareholders. The board has been st…

Q Last year, a board member discovered other directors have allowed our association secretary to be 10 months delinquent in his assessments. No action was taken. Other unit owners have been in the collection process for the same violat…

Remember Stanley Roper from the 1970’s sitcom Three’s Company? To some, he might still be their idea of a property manager—the upstairs landlord or the guy you’d call when your plumbing’s on the fritz. And indeed, when the plumbing in you…

In a competitive industry, management companies must continuously find ways to retain current clients while honing an edge that makes them appealing to new customers. This is especially true in these tough economic times, as many indiv…

Building boards and their managing agents function best when they work together as a team. Ideally, the two parties collaborate to implement policy, carry out administrative duties, and make decisions about the efficient operation of th…

As anybody who’s ever been to an “all you can eat” sushi buffet can tell you, bigger isn’t always better, and if “more” is mediocre, sometimes you’d rather have less. The same applies when it comes to property management companies. Manag…

No matter what the job—be it flipping burgers at a chain restaurant or running a multinational investment firm—employees should be given periodic reviews of their performance to assess how they’re doing and identify both their strengths …