City life can be hard—especially on plants. You laugh? Well, think about it. There’s limited room to grow, all kinds of pollution, sun-blocked settings…it’s no wonder plant life has to be extra-hardy to make it in city environments. And tha…
The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and First Republic have shaken public faith in the US banking industry, again. While not the disastrous level of bank failures that led to the Great Recession in 2008, recent…
By A. J. Sidransky The trend is clear: electric vehicles are the future. General Motors, for instance, announced last year that they intend to convert their entire fleet to electric by 2040. New York City has pledged a carbon-neutral footp…
It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child. It can take nearly that much to run a multifamily building as well, even a small one. Residential communities require the services of a wide array of employees and professionals, rang…
Over the last few decades, property technology, or 'proptech' has completely transformed how we live and work. Historically, the real estate industry has been slow to embrace technology - which means many co-op and HOA boards are missing ou…
While practical experience may be the best source of education for property managers, a little refresher in the classroom from time to time never hurts. Requirements for continuing property manager education vary from state to state, and ev…
Indoor plumbing is a minor miracle: clean water on demand, at the temperature one chooses, right out of the tap. What would have been the height of luxury just a couple of generations ago is now considered a bare necessity. Miraculous as it…
While many condominium associations and co-op corporations hire professional property managers or management firms to handle the routine (and not-so-routine) tasks involved in running a multifamily building or HOA, a significant number take…
In early 2020, our firm was hired to prepare a reserve study for an unremarkable 136-unit, 12-story condominium in south Florida. It was the kind of association you could drive right by without noticing, not much different from all the othe…
In our current environment of steeply rising costs, it’s more important than ever to safeguard your reserves to ensure that your association has sufficient funds available for immediate and future capital projects. Unfortunately, many assoc…