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Selling Units While Board Litigation - gluegirl Jun 21, 2009


Our board has litigation going on with a shareholder that could go on for years, we're told. Some shareholders have asked me about whether they can sell their units while this is going on--the Corp has accrued massive legal fees due to this awful situation and if we lose, there will be large assessments levied on shareholders to pay the legal bills. We believe we will prevail, but how does litigation impact those shareholders who want to sell? Thanks

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First of all, I hope you have the proper insurance coverage in place and that the insurance company is aware of the litigation. Whatever the dispute, as long as the board is acting in good faith and within Business Law the insurance should protect the corporation and the directors against large assessments. If you do not have adequate coverage, get it.

That being said, there should be no legal reason to prevent anyone from selling during the litigation; however if this has been going on for some time, your legal fees would show up in the financial statements which a prospective purchaser would review prior to contract. Even if there is no legal obligation to reveal, in my opinion there is an ethical obligation.

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UNSOL D SHARES - ET Jun 21, 2009


iN OUR BUILDING THE SPONSOR DEFAULTED THE UNSOLD SHARES WERE AUCTIONED. NOW THERE IS AN INVESTOR WHO CLAIMS HE IS HOLDER OF UNSOLD SHARES WE DO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS,HE ONLY IDENTIFIES HIMSEL AS INITIAL LETTERS. CAN HE SELL WITHOUT THE NEW BOARD KNOW WHO HE IS .ARE WE ALLOW TO ASK FOR DOCUMENTS SHOWING HIS STATUS AND WHICH DOCUMENTS THESE WILL BE

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Co-op reverse mortgages - Richard Russell Jun 20, 2009


who does co-op reverse mortgages --under 417K

and what is the dollar limit on these loans !!

Richard Russell

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Backyard Storage - Anonymous Jun 18, 2009


We have a large backyard paved with concrete.
Are there any city regulations which would prevent us from installing one or two large sheds for shareholder storage? How about 20 smaller rubbermaid type personal storage units?

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CELL PHONE TOWER INFO - AB Jun 18, 2009


I am currently on the board of directors in a COOP in Brooklyn. If any one has information on companies that help with Cell Phone Towers and WIFI please post it. I have already contacted US Cellular and 3G solutions. I know this is great way to raise money for a CO-OP.

thanks

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In my experience it may not be worth the rent. I've been in 2 buildings with cell tower experience, in the first there was so much rancor that for the first time there were enough people to hold a special election and almost unseated the board when they had towers installed and the residents, especially on the top floors where not told or asked. In the second case the issue was just dropped for fears of the same happening. So before moving on this you should get buy in from at least the people on the top floor

That said there are cell tower brokers that know who is buying nad how to market you and get you the best price, and as I recall it wasn't that great

Try searching the archives here for cell tower

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We have a large roof space with excellent exposure; however last year we rejected offers from one of the major mobile providers. Even after refusing the first offer and having them redesign the unsightly antennae that they originally proposed, their subsequent offer was nowhere near enough to warrant the potential political rancor that Jack in Brooklyn also described.

There is a lot of misinformation out there about the effects of RF and having an engineering background, I am not particularly concerned. However, no matter what evidence you may present to the contrary, you are unlikely to convince those living on the top floor that they should not be concerned. I agree with Jack - it's not worth it.

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You haven't posted in a long while. Please don't say you've given up your blog. We need differetn voices!

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Sorry for being MIA for the past several weeks; however I have been devoting myself to some business interests. Good news is that I will be back on the blog in the next few days - thanks for asking!!

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Super & Porter gets OT pay working at 40hrs - POTP Jun 17, 2009


My Bronx 45-unit building recently went coop. We have 1 super and 1 porter. We just received the payroll report from our managing company, and notice the following pattern: Each week an employee call out sick. If the Super or Porter calls out sick or leave early due to sickness, the one that is still working, is paid that amount of hours in OT at time and a half. This employee is not working extra hours, they work their standard 8 hour day, and the one that went out sick is paid his sick pay. Isn't this double dipping?

The management company insist this is what 32bj contracted for their union members. Unless I'm misreading this contract, I have not located such nonsense.

I'm a union member, our has been in arbitration for 6 months, if 32bj Executives was able to negotiate a contract like that, my union needs them.


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If the porter calls in sick and the Superintendent has to perform his duties during the same time of work, he should not get OT. Same goes for the porter.
If the porter calls in sick say on a Sat. when the Superintendent is off and he performs the work then he is entitled to OT.

Resident Manager in Manhattan.

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This is trickery. If employees are alternatively calling in "sick" and you picked up on their pattern to gain OT pay. The co-op should have the right to fire.

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Chubby
Thanks for your response. The board is dealing with the chronic sick pattern between the two employees.
The management company will be responsible for creating this mess.

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Trick is to have a porter in a near by building who would like some extra pay at (regular salary of course). Some times a porter is looking for extra work, on his days off, if your porter calls in sick you may be able to call him.

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Pigeons - CDT Jun 16, 2009


Despite copious amounts of Bird-B-Gone anti-pigeon spikes on our windowsills, we're still getting complaints from shareholders about pigeon droppings. How have other buildings dealt with this problem? Is there some person or some company you would recommend as a consultant? We're interested in talking with a specialist who doesn't have a vested interest in selling us $5000 mechanical falcons with scare tactics that make pigeon droppings sound like nuclear waste. And at what point do you draw the line and say that you've done everything you plan to do about the problem?

By the way, our attorney has informed us that the Board has no legal obligation whatsoever to do anything about pigeons. They are outside the building and outside the Board's responsibility.

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CDT: We're in Manhattan but we also have an apt in a high-rise NJ condo. Every apt has a terrace and we've had trouble with pigeons landing on and messing up the terraces for years. We finally solved the problem!

We hired a company that put a dish of corn kernels injected with a chemical on every terrace. It doesn't kill or poison pigeons and it wears off. It disorients them so they decide (however they do that!) not to return to where they got the corn kernels. That was in spring 2008. We haven't had one pigeon on or even flying anywhere near any terrace in the building since then.

The company is Bird Doctor, Inc. (subsidiary of a large company called Bug Doctor, Inc.) They're in NJ but they work in the entire tri-state area. Their number is 201-599-1007 and their website is www.birddoctorinc.com. We tried many things but this is the only one that worked, and 100% effectively.

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BP, thanks for the enthusiastic response. Unfortunately, your description sounds like the bird-disorienting drug called Avitrol, which is no longer legal in New York, though it's fine in many other states.

Any other ideas? I'm very interested in hearing real-life war stories about how pigeon problems were handled, whether or not the results were successful. We'd love to banish pigeons from our building, but we don't want to throw away money on ineffective techniques.

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CDT:I don't know if Bird Doctor uses a product containing Avitrol. I was told they use various chemical and other things - mechanical systems, audio-visual devices, wire mesh, etc.

One coop installed small spikes 3" apart along the top of their terrace railings. It seems pigeons usually go on the railings before they go onto the terrace floor, and when their feet land on the spikes they don't like it and fly away. The coop told me this works much of the time but not all the time.

Another coop used "bird netting." It's taut and attached at the top of a terrace railing and at the edge of the terrace ceiling. It's sort of a screened-in porch effect. It's flexi-fiberglass and not a tight weave like wire mesh. The weave is wider but not enough for pigeons to squeeze in. It's clear color so it doesn't interfere with visibility or the look of the terrace, and it allows air to circulate freely.

This coop installed the netting from terrace floor to ceiling. I know people who live there. One has a dog and the other has two cats. They like the full-length netting because it creates an invisible blanket on all the railing posts as well as from the railing top up. They can let their dog and cats out onto their terraces without fear that they'd fall or jump off!

We tried scarecrows that look like hawks which go after pigeons. We tried a glue-y substance you squeeze along the top of the railing like toothpaste so pigeon feet stick to it. That worked briefly until the birds stopped landing there and went straight to the terrace floor. We tried windsocks, hanging plants. Someone suggested painting the railings a weird color to scare the pigeons. He owns 4 apts and tried lime green paint on his railings (without coop permission) which looked awful! The coop made him remove it. I don't even know if pigeons see colors, and if so maybe they like lime green because it seemed to attract even more of them.

As I said, I don't know if Bird Doctor uses Avitrol but if you have pigeon problems it may be worth contacting them for info. It's a large well-known company. "Bird netting" sounds like it might be worth checking to and I would think Bird Doctor would be familiar with it.

Hope something I wrote here is of some help. You should also tell residents not to throw any food/seed out windows or put it on window sills for pigeons or any birds. Some people like to feed the "dear little things" but once they territorialize your place it's very ifficult to get rid of them, and they can carry diseases.

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BP, thanks for all the additional details. In particular, the bird netting sounds less odious than anticipated. I'll talk with the rest of our Board about investigating this possibility. (And I promise we won't paint it lime green.)

By the way, although I've had no reports of our residents feeding the pigeons, we live next door to a hotel where pigeon feeding has been a problem in the past. Someone over there may be doing it again.

Thanks again.

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Pay Real Estate Tax Early? - Steve Jun 16, 2009


OK – I have a question for the forum;

From our annual Real Estate Tax notice (BBL 2171,012 Manhattan), it looks like we can save $2,596.16 on our property taxes if we pay in full on 7/1/2009 (or 1.5% of our Annual Property Tax of $173,078). This looks like a great opportunity for us as we can only purchase CD's at 3/6/9 months at .5%/.55%/1.0% annual rates from Vanguard. We would have earned approximately $500 in interest if we invested the amounts in these CDs (on three $43,270 quarterly payments) for a net gain of about $2,100.

Does anyone see any downside? We have ample reserves to cover and we would pay the monthly escrow payment to ourselves to replenish the reserves. NCB is our current mortgage holder.

Thanks!

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Steve, if you have the available cash, there is really no downside to paying early as long as you do not need to liquidate an investment paying a higher rate in order to do so. There is actually a sliding scale of savings - 1.5% if you pay in full by July 1, 1% if you pay the remaining due on October 1, and so on.

In our case we have not been able to take advantage of this discount because our quarterly taxes are over $600k and prepayment would require too large a cash outlay.

Go for it!

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renovations - AB Jun 16, 2009


Just wanted to know if any one can recommend a good, reliable, and affordable construction company that specalized in renovations for interiors of coop buildings. Our building is looking for some one good that will not cost more in the future because of poor workmanship. Please feel free to share

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This is a great question, and I'll be interested in the replies. It's a tough one!

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I know a solid contractor, I work as a resident manager and this contractor does everything by the book. he may take a little longer then your normal g/c, but this guys does it right the first time around he does it all contracting to woodworking. he's not the cheapest but by far not the most expensive.A true gem...

Nick (646) 315-4446

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Does this guy named Nick have a construction company name? Sure don't look to good for the Resident manager to recommend a contractor?

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Nick's Contracting is the name. Doesn't look good for a resident manager? That's pretty insinuating.

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Thanks for the input hopefully I can get a few more contractors to contact

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Combining Units - Anonymous Jun 15, 2009


I live in a condop, can I combine apartments? Would this require rewriting the lease stating that the bldg is a, let's say, 99 unit bldg instead of a 100 unit bldg?

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