In my opinion, management companies, these days, appear to engage in many related businesses that enable them to increase revenue.

The Bible says something like you cannot serve two masters at the same time... Well, being a leasing broker and a building manager may not be compatible in a co-op. This may be okay for a rental, in which the leasing office may be under the property manager's scope. Again, a manager's role must be specified by the contract. Management companies may have their own real estate, commercial leasing brokers, etc, but you have to make sure that your manager provides the support to the property that you expect. Let other members of the same organization to run the leasing aspect if these departments are divided and you sign the contract to represent you.

AdC

how about the statement below? (from an article) and what would the current interest rate be?

Care must be given, however, to ensure that the proprietary lease authorizes those particular charges, otherwise the co-op opens itself up to counter-claims by the shareholder and for his or her legal fees, if the shareholder is successful.

The most common abuse by co-ops is the inclusion of cumulative late charges, such as $25 the first month, $50 the second month, $75 the third month and so on.

This type of late charge structure violates not only most proprietary leases (which provide that late fees can only be charged equal to the maximum legal rate of interest), but also violates usury laws. Since the purpose of the rent demand, or "Notice to Cure," is to afford the shareholder the opportunity to determine the claim’s accuracy, only those charges which are legal and permissible should be included in the notice.

Do you have staff that may be ready for promotion?

With a little help from your management company, a good porter/handy man that may have worked side by side with your previous super and had learned a lot about your particular building may be a good fit and would warrant a look.

Then you just need to replace the porter.

Thank you but no, we dont have anyone on staff that can fill this position.

This is a great job, its hard to believe that its so difficult to find qualified applicants.

HG

Here's a resource to explore http://www.nysupersclub.org/ for job postings at http://www.nysupersclub.org/jobssupers.htm.

Good luck!

I may be to help you out with some Superintendents. If you would like to call me at 212-319-8375 I can set you up with some resumes. I am presently the President of the Manhattan Resident Managers Club, Inc. and I always have members that are looking another position.

Mike MacGowan

I was featured in a habitat article last january The Super Man!

joeshkreli@yahoo.com is my e-mail address I have a great network of honest and Very handy people.I am a Resident Manager with great leads that can make you very happy. My last position when i left i made sure the board knew that they were not just hiring a new employee, but they were bringing a stranger into their home to live with them.So please contact me with any questions or concerns. I enjoy helping people.

Joe, Thank you for your response. We did hire a Super (refered by our prev Super) but I will keep your Emial address... The number of unqualified applicants was surprising. And our Mang Agent was of very little help..

Thank you HG

In my building the shareholder asks me (Resident Manager) and I put them on the waiting list. If their is a space available I assign them a hook number and then management charges them $10.00 per month on their maintenance.

we charge $4 a month. Keeping it affordable. IMPORTANT - you need some horizontle storage as not everyone can lift a heavy bike. we forgot to do this and then had to re-do it so th people with back problems did not have to lift their bike.

Our building uses vertical storage - you can get a lot more bikes hanging from hooks than in racks in the same space. Fees are monthly, charged on maintenance bill. Haven't run out of hooks yet...

Could you tell me how much you charge?

Be buy nothing but government securities with differing maturity dates as befits our fiduciary responsibility.

We never play craps with our shareholders funds.

Try contacting Ira Meister at Matthew Adam Properties, Inc. 127 East 59th Street NYC 10022 (212) 699-8900

Amazing -- I was just about to recommend Matthew Adam Properties myself. We've been with them a little over two years and we find them outstanding. They're total pros and very friendly people.

Naturally, every building is different, and if you're seriously thinking about changing management, you should get recommendations from a number of sources. Follow up in detail and be prepared to spend a lot of time on the search; it's an arduous process.

Try calling Greg Cohen or Stuart Halper at Impact Mgt. 718-898-0190. We are a community that is almost 30 years old and have been thru many, many management companies. We have recently renewed out contract with them.

The Argo Corporation.

Veritas Property Management 212-799-2365 ask for Carl Borenstein. They are the best out of all 3 management companies we went through over a 3 year period.

Pres.

I am a former Management Company Executive and perform this service on a consultancy basis. We will evaluate your management needs and prepare a Request for Proposal for you to send out to several management companies for evaluation. We will do all the leg work and narrow the field to a company that would be a good fit for you. Receiving recommendations from readers may be a good start but will leave your board with lots of leg work for you.Please email Jeff @ PJrealtyservices.com

Typically, the lease and even the by-laws stipulate the "fee" for failure to make payment in a timely manner.

We have felt, at times, we wish to increase the fee for each month "late", e.g.: $25, first month, $50 second month, etc., but our corporate counsel has indicated that we are thwarted by the wording of our proprietary lease.

By the way, our monthly arrears total rarely, if ever, exceeds 1.5% of our projected monthly income.

Yes, you're right on all points. Although a managing agent is certainly free to suggest a good lawyer or accountant, the final choice is the Board's. The lawyer/accountant is answerable only to the Board, though you may want to have your managing agent talk with them on occasion: "Please have our accountant take a look at the so-and-so problem."

On a related point, we changed our managing agent two years ago but kept both our lawyer and our accountant. No one squawked and everything has been fine.

Thanks so much for your response. That's what I thought.

And why is it a good practice to have those two entities (management on the one hand, counsel + accountant on the other hand) at a remove from each other?

Did you change management companies, or did you just get a different agent with the same company? What do you mean when you say that no one squawked?

Thanks again.

Keeping management, attorney, and accountant as three separate entities ensures that there is no hint of a conflict of interest. For example, if your attorney is your managing agent's brother, and your managing agent recommends a lengthy and costly consultation with his attorney-brother, that doesn't look so great -- even if everything is completely in order. You should avoid even the *appearance* of possible impropriety.

Yes, we did change management companies and not just agents. We've been very happy with the change. "No one squawked" in the sense that our new agent, old lawyer, and old accountant all made the transition very smoothly and professionally -- no problems and no complaints.

By the way, I like Bill S's comment about having an in-house lawyer. Our former Board president is a real-estate lawyer and he's a great first resource before we go to the coop's official lawyer.

Keeping management, attorney, and accountant as three separate entities ensures that there is no hint of a conflict of interest.
Yes. Exactly. Thank you.

You should avoid even the appearance of possible impropriety.
Exactly.

↑ Sorry, I was anonymous there.

We have a CPA firm that is just dynamite. We did employ one of the big name accounting firms, and we switched several years ago. The new firm specializes in co-op and condos and I see a night a day difference in knowledge and diligence.

We have a house counsel. In actuality it is an attorney who lives in the building and who handles the tasks such as closings and letters to those residents who violate rules or who are in arrears (very few and very low amount). Occasionally, this attorney will handle some litigious matters. For unusual cases, we may obtain the services of a specialty law firm, but not in all situations.

Paul;

You have a point.

I, as a board member, would like to see the service user surveyed.

Carey

I agree, Paul. There is a definite need for an objective source of information on management companies. Making sure that a good — and honest — management company is in place is probably the most important thing a board can do for a building. There is so much opportunity for corruption around real estate and the building industry that it's not even funny.

I also think that Will has a point when he says that a lot can be learned from reading various management companies' responses to the green issue.

I also agree that much can be learned from mgmt firm replies to a specific question. But I don't agree that listing mgmt firms with the worst ratings would necessarily be helpful or productive.

A low rating may not be because a mgmt firm doesn't do well. There may be personality conflicts which can't always be explained - they just "are". A board's demands may be too high. Some BMs may be difficult to work with and a mgmt firm may resign the account if they don't get cooperation from them. There are, of course, mgmt firms that aren't very good or have "questionable" practices. But ratings could be low for very subjective reasons, which isn't fair to a mgmt firm.

IMO, to find a good mgmt firm, find out what types of bldgs they manage and what their speciality is, if any. Get recommendations if possible. Interview firms and call their references. When we interviewed mgmt firms a few years ago, we asked for references for bldgs they currently manage. We ALSO asked for contacts at a few bldgs they NO LONGER manage. We found that to be a good way to get a fair cross-section of opinions and evaluations of the firms.

Good points.

I do think it would be helpful if something like this existed for management companies/managing agents:

http://avvo.com/

Paul,
You are correct. The present survey is of no value. It is made for the Management Companies.

If they want to help the Board it would show which Companies got the worst ratings.

I definitely believe there should be some type of rating systems for management companies - however who will put together the information - board or Habitat or maybe both - Boards should have good information in helping them chose a mangement company and that is not available now - but would Habitat put it on their boards or should it be done off -
We have had quite a few problems with management companies that I do not believe anyone has discussed
Management company did not pay our payroll taxes for a long time - we got stuck with IRS bil, and it couldn't have been just our coop
Management company paid employees off books - no building employee qualifies for this treatment per IRS law - problem is if employee is injured or gets sick they are not entitled to Disability or Workers Compensation - both NYS laws - therefore major lawsuits could come
Management companies put subtractions on the disbursement account for bills that were not paid -
Then there is problem of transfers to reserve accounts - are those watched
Bottom line how many boards check their financial information from management companies and are qualified to know this, and please do not rely on your accountant because management companies cannot do this without participation of the accountant -

You are correct. Just look in the magazine and see the constant change of management company. They tell you what bldg. they just signed up with but we do not know how many bldgs got rid of them. A survey of bldgs listing the management agencies they got rid of would tell a board alot. for example if a good number got rid of XYZ Company I think we would get the idea that it might be wise to stay away from them.

I may be wrong but there may be legal issues with a survey listing mgmt firms that bldgs got rid of. If bldgs give them low ratings for mismanagement, criminal acts (kickbacks, fraud, etc.) they have to support it with evidence. Habitat isn't the forum for this. Publishing claims against mgmt firms without proof of misdoing might be considered libel. Also, a published survey has little purpose if it state things like "we didn't like the property agent's attitude" or "they didn't return phone calls quickly enough." Comments like these are too subjective.

Per my 9/20 reply here on this subject, a board/committee should interview mgmt firms, get references for bldgs they manage AND get contacts at bldgs they no longer manage. Maybe talk to contacts at the former mgmt firms and see what they say about the bldgs that terminated them. There are always two sides to every story. A coop/condo's lawyer can also check if there are criminal records or pending litigations against a mgmt firm.

Most definitely rating system would be useful. My coop has also experience management co. not paying payroll taxes Now socked with huge bills from IRS and having difficulties in trying to establish for which quarters we have or have not paid. In addition to management, accountant should have realized the problem yet presented audited financials attesting the financial soundness of the coop. What about ratings for accountants?

to Larry - maybe you and I and some other shareholders who are experienced these problems could get together to discuss what can be done about it - Definitely the accountant and management company should be held liable - has your coop done anything about that - and also where were the board members during this time - The President, Treasurer, etc, why did they not know and do something before everything got out of control

I agree and I don't agree. This current survey is of what experienced management executives think in response to a question which was excellent this year. Our board wants to go green at our 65 unit co-op in Queens. Several of these responses included information on ways to address issues that crop up and some warning signs tool. For Free! So it was of value to us. Your survey idea might be good too, but it's a different kind of survey. If you have any suggestions for Habitat, you might benefit by writing a note to the Publisher cott@habitatmag.com.

We are a 500 unit high rise.

We raise our maintenance every year.

After all, costs rise every year. Why fool people and then face a battle royal.

Small increases every year are better than a whopping increase every three years.

By using the above formula, all residents can plan their personal budgets very effectively. This reduces adverse feedback.

Our maintenance increase is from 3.0% to 3.9% every year.

We have an assessment every year as we have capital improvements based on our outside engineer’s assessment of our facilities (updated every two years).

We have no underlying mortgage.

We don’t borrow for capital improvements.

I think it is irresponsible to NOT raise the maintenance 3% per year and not have a capitol improvment program and be saving towards it.