As both a writer about and resident of high-rise residential buildings, I followed the June 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium with a hawk’s eye. I read about the people who perished and the loved ones left to carry on;…
Whether you're a manager or a board member, running a condo, HOA, or co-op has never been an easy job. There's always a capital project to fund, a contractor to hire, a dispute to resolve, a leak to repair...the list can feel endless. Add t…
Q. We have a member of the board of trustees of our co-op village who is a licensed realtor. Is he legally restricted from listing or selling units that are owned by the village, due to a conflict of interest? Also, is a board legally res…
Q. When I bought my house five years ago, I signed the HOA documents which forbade dogs over 50 pounds. Unfortunately, we forgot what we had signed. When my son started online school because of the pandemic, the new reality was very hard …
With hurricanes and other torrential storm events on the rise around the nation, the issue of flooding has come as something of a wake-up call for homeowners and local governments alike. The real-world effects of climate change are upon us,…
The idea that ‘form follows function’ is one of the basic concepts underlying nearly every design discipline—but function for whom? For many people living with disabilities, it often seems that ‘function’ covers a very narrow range of abili…
In multifamily properties, different households share in the use, visual enjoyment, and enhanced property value of landscaped outdoor elements. That means that a lot of consideration goes into deciding what and where to plant, how to mainta…
Design is what makes the difference between a space looking like a seductive boudoir… or the interior of a cardboard box. Neither may be appropriate for a co-op or condo lobby, but somewhere in between lies the comforting, welcoming common …
For many, birds are a particularly contentious class of animal. Some people are extremely fond of them—admiring their colorful plumage, their melodic calls, or their enviable ability to soar effortlessly above whatever mess we have going on…
Ever since the end of World War II—and the widespread prosperity that brought about a historic baby boom, a healthy middle class, and suburban sprawl—a vibrant, manicured lawn has been synonymous with the American domestic ideal. Even for t…