July 2, 2008 — If you've ever served on your board, you may, unfortunately, be no stranger to proxy skirmishes, proxy wars or in some cases even proxy apathy. Draconian proxy rules, unscrupulous board members, vicious lawsuits, too few or too many proxies — these are just some of the challenges board members have encountered at meetings that require voting.

We asked expert attorneys, managers and board members to relate their firsthand experiences dealing with the power of the proxy. Here are their stories. Read More »

July 4, 2008 — A scenario from the proxy wars: a very prestigious building, inhabited by some Very Important People. For some reason, their control of this co-op board became the most important thing in their lives. The campaign for office was brutal and the election meeting was intense and contentious. Unfortunately, it was all about personalities — and frequently in such cases, elections are so close that every vote counts. That's when proxies — a document authorizing a specified person to vote your corporate stock, generally because you cannot attend a meeting for some reason — can tip the balance. Read More »

If your building has unionized workers, you periodically have to undergo a union audit. It's perfectly normal, perfectly routine — and perfectly paralyzing to some boards and managing agents. "It's like getting a call from the IRS," explains veteran property manager Steve Greenbaum. "Even if you file properly and always keep your ducks in a row, you get nervous." Read More »

In Part I, we looked at Seacrest Towers in blue-collar Brooklyn, which fell into and climbed out of bankruptcy. Now we visit the upscale Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, where The Churchill soars like a cliff at East 40th Street and Second Avenue. Opened in 1967, this 586-unit building became a cooperative in 1991. And as huge as it is, and located on such a prime piece of real estate, the stakes are scarily high. All mistakes are big mistakes. Read More »

This is a tale of two co-ops, in two very different parts of the city, that fought their different problems in different ways but wound up in the same place of stability, solvency, even serenity.

The first, in blue-collar Brooklyn, had to fight a series of small battles as it clawed its way from bankruptcy. The second, in a thriving area of mid-Manhattan's East Side, developed an almost uncanny knack for keeping problems from becoming crises. It was never cheap or easy for either of these co-ops, but their journeys hold lessons for boards of all and sizes, in all corners of the city. Here's how they pulled it off. In Part I, we look at Seacrest Towers, in Sheepshead Bay. Read More »

The board members of the small Manhattan co-op were stunned when the accountant revealed that the managing agent hadn't paid the building's employee payroll taxes for the whole year. As a result, the co-op owed over $4,000 in back taxes and at least $2,000 in penalties. Then there was the self-managed Manhattan co-op that tried to refinance its mortgage. When the lender performed due diligence, it found dozens of unpaid bills and thousands of dollars in late fees in different areas. The treasurer admitted he had known about it, but never told the other directors.

You can't always blame the building manager when things go wrong. You need to recognize the warning signs before things reach a bad point. Here's how. Read More »

This is the dawning of the Age of Octogenarians.

"All those people who were 60 when their buildings converted in 1985 are now over 80," says attorney James Samson. "You have co-ops that are quasi-retirement communities." And as your building gets greyer, your board should be concerned — for humanitarian reasons, for liability questions and for safety's sake. On the one hand, a co-op or condo is a business concern designed to increase shareholder/real estate value. On the other, it's a community — or at least that's the rationale co-op boards have long used to exclude potential buyers, even those with impeccable finances. But you're not a community if you don't commune. Read More »

Warren Schreiber wanted information on termite control for the Bay Terrace Cooperative Section I, where he serves as board president. He could have gone online or to a phone book to find pest exterminators. Instead, he reached out to a group of other co-op and condo board presidents to get recommendations and learn from their experiences. Read More »

What an incredible learning experience…! As the long-time president of my cooperative's board of directors, hardly a week goes by when I am not faced with another issue, or find myself researching or communicating with those involved in our building's daily activities. I jokingly say to the newbies on the board: "Behind every door is another story."

And for me, it all started over 20 years ago with a loose window. Read More »

Insurance rates for buildings spiked after the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, as companies worried about the threat of further terrorism. Before that, insurers had been engaged in a price war, cutting premiums in order to pick up new business. That all changed following that fateful day, when insurance companies and reinsurance companies (which supply the bulk of the coverage to insurance firms) paid out millions of dollars. The reinsurance companies passed those costs on to the insurers, who passed them on to you and me. But now, bargain days may be here again. Read More »