Technological applications to residential building life are becoming more prevalent, and in some cases, they’ve even become more affordable than in the past. An “intelligent” building is able to monitor its environmental, mechanical, and…
During the day, J.R. “Sankarasivam” Jeyaranjan works 40 hours a week as a bank risk manager. At night and on weekends, and during pretty much any spare time he has, Jeyaranjan is president of his Jersey City co-op’s board of directors, …
Q We are an adult community consisting of a complex of three separate buildings. Ten directors make up the officers and manage the community with each individual condo building managed by three trustees. The community has no Alternativ…
Conventional wisdom holds that if you have to have neighbors, you’re better off living next door to owners than renters. By definition, owners have a stake in their building, and are supposedly better neighbors. They are cleaner, quiete…
Sometimes, no matter how much it may pain us to do so, we all have to say or do unpleasant things. That can certainly be the case for co-op and condo board members, most of whom will one day face the dreary prospect of raising maintena…
It’s sometimes hard to grasp how fast technology has evolved in such a short time. Whether it’s finding cheap plane tickets or finding a date for Saturday night, the Internet can do it all. Technology has transformed the way we communic…
In any association of two or more parties, clear communication is essential to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship. In an HOA, there are interlocking relationships, such as between the board and the manager, and between the board…
Most co-op and condo boards that hire property managers, rather than manage themselves with in-house staff, are reasonably satisfied with them. After all, the managers are presumably trained and experienced professionals. But now and t…
Q Prior to 1995, all common expenses for our condo association were charged equally to all unit owners, as mandated by our master deed and the New Jersey Condominium Act. Since 1995, that portion of our condo association’s common expenses…
Q I am a condo owner living next to a building that is primarily rental units. There is a telephone pole in the back corner of the condo property and there are about a dozen wires coming from it to the neighboring building. Being that the…