Attractiveness and so-called ‘curb appeal’ are both vital to a building or HOA’s sense of community pride and overall value. After all, it’s hard to attract prospective homebuyers if your association’s grounds are scattered with litter, the…

While many of the co-ops, condos, and HOAs that struggled to stay solvent during the Great Recession of the mid-aughts have largely recovered, the truth is that regardless of the overall economic climate, there will always be buildings and …

Cities and suburbs can be dirty places – and unfortunately, getting that dirt off the façade of a building takes more than just a scrub-brush and a bottle of Mr. Clean. How a building is cleaned depends on two factors: what materials the bu…

The sun stays up a little longer, the breezes are warmer, and the flowers begin to bloom. The signs all point to the arrival of spring, when we can cast off the dreary grayness of winter and look forward to blissful summer days. It is the p…

Along with the exterior appearance of buildings themselves, landscaping is the first point of contact for potential residents and visitors to a condo or HOA community. While it’s tough to quantify the effect of beautifully curated and maint…

When it comes to purchasing a unit in a condominium, co-op, or homeowners’ association, buyers tend to be (rightly) concerned with square footage, baths, beds, kitchen aesthetics – all of the fundamentals people look for in a new home. But …

Q. What can be done if a unit owner, who has not paid his or her maintenance for a year and owes the association $30,000, has now declared bankruptcy. How does the association get its money?                                 —Stuck With th…

Q. Can a board member vote on a rule change that will directly benefit him/her? For example, the board member is an investor with more than 10 units and needs more parking spaces for tenants, therefore s/he has moved to vote to change the…

The signs, they are everywhere. They give elegance and style to the names of our buildings and communities. They earn extra income for our buildings with advertisements, and they point out the location of our commercial tenants on the groun…

A residential property could have triple-reinforced titanium steel walls and it still wouldn’t be worth a darn without a sturdy roof. It’s through the latter that many problematic elements can enter a building, from wind to rain to ice to d…