NASSAU COUNTY

Loans to co-ops or condos are usually fairly easy to place — if the association's financials are in order. One of the areas that lenders examine is the state of the association's arrears. "If you have more than 10 percent arrears, and in some cases more than 5 percent, you've got a problem," says mortgage broker Pat Niland, president of First Funding of New York.

That was the case at Lido Beach Towers, a 184-unit oceanfront condominium in Lido Beach, on Long Island. This luxury property had suffered severe flood damage from superstorm Sandy, and it needed millions of dollars for repairs. It was not the first time the board had needed funds for such work, however.

Co-op and condominium managing agents throughout the region continue to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, even as a new storm is predicted for Wednesday, November 7.

Peter Lehr, the director of management at Kaled, reported that Birchwood on the Green, a 334-unit co-op in Oakdale, Suffolk County, on Long Island, was hard hit by the storm: “The power went out and we have to deal with [the building’s] sewage treatment plant. We were scrambling around to get the power up and running, at least to the sewage treatment plant. They got power back in the complex Friday — that’s three or four days without it — and our environmental team has been monitoring the situation because you’ve got to make sure that the [sewage plant] chemicals are balanced right. [If they’re not,] Suffolk County will come in and violate you.”

Baby, it's cold outside, and your boiler and heating system are going full-blast. That's a big energy cost for your cooperative or condominium. Fortunately, you have options. With supplies of natural gas high and prices low (though higher than last year), it may make sense to switch from oil to gas — or perhaps to to a dual-fuel burner capable of operating with either. In our latest Teachable Moments column, two veteran property managers relate some real-world experiences of how they helped their co-ops and condos pull the trigger on pulling the switch. Did it work? Well, one place is saving $50,000 a year and others are saving six figures. Might be worth the energy to consider.

The 99-unit co-op at 4 Maple Drive in Great Neck Plaza, a village in the town of North Hempstead, N.Y., doesn't have its own parking garage. No problem! There's a municipal lot next door! And since village residents in multiple-dwelling buildings can buy a residential parking permit for just $90 a quarter, it seemed a pretty good deal — at least until, as the residents made clear at a village board of trustees meeting recently, the garage became "the scene of car thefts, teenagers smoking marijuana, having sex, taking sexually explicit photos while on a resident’s car, drinking, public urination and other obscene acts," according to The Island Now. Tires are being stolen and the super's truck was vandalized. And since the local police don't patrol there much, the residents want security cameras. But there's a problem! The village mayor says there's no money for cameras and a security company to monitor them. Sooo ... nightly party at the garage, kids! Be sure to bring your tire irons and jacks!

Sept. 21, 2009 — We don't usually write laundry-industry trade stories, but we're invoking the kids-with-cancer exception. That's the one that says that if a company with some connection to your usual beat does something to help kids with cancer, you write about it.

The company in this case is the Hercules Corp. of Hicksville, N.Y., a longtime laundry-room service provider for co-ops, condos and others. Founded 50 years ago this year, Hercules last week donated 12 new industrial-strength front-load washers and nine similarly commercial-grade dryers to the New York City Ronald McDonald House, a major pediatric oncology facility and a provider of low-cost accommodations to the families of gravely ill children being treated in the many nearby hospitals.

May a board impose fines and other penalties when homeowners fail to cure a violation, even though the owners claim they are being prevented from doing so by another owner?

That was the question in Tucciarone v. The Hamlet on Olde Oyster Bay Homeowners Association.

One of the most difficult situations a board of directors faces is the transition of a community from sponsor control to homeowner control. One of my boards, The Seasons at East Meadow, has just completed the first year of resident control. My board had its first election of all homeowner seats in June 2013. With the help of management, the board members faced the job of organizing a 400-unit community, including its clubhouse and pools, security patrols, landscaping and snow contractors and site employees. It also had to deal with the numerous open items left by the ex-sponsor.

If your board isn't up on the two Fs — flooding and federal insurance — you may be inviting trouble. Here's what you need to know, both in terms of having a flood-insurance policy and in how to collect enough from it to afford repairs and restoration.

Floodwaters are rising, and so are concerns about safety. While Governor Andrew Cuomo builds breakwater parks and otherwise sets aside land to protect Nw York City's coastline, co-op and condo boards are taking their own steps to protect themselves. 

“I think you have to be proactive,” I. Ira Litt, former co-op board president of One Kensington Gate, in Great Neck, Long Island, says of flooding, whether from natural disaster or simply a heavy rain. “If it happens once, it’s too much.”

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week: Seriously? Mark Andermanis, board president of the subsidized Mitchell-Lama co-op East Midtown Plaza, jumps ahead of others to score a four-bedroom apartment — reserved for families of six, which, additionally, he does not have —  and when he won't budge, an alert shareholder sues him. But he gets to keep the primo place because the shareholder doesn't have standing to sue ... and while the co-op board, perhaps, could, here's the thing: He's the co-op board president! Does this sound proper or right to anyone ethical? The good guys do win one, though, when a developer who refused to fix a Long Island condominium complex is permanently barred from selling condos. That's something, at least.

And then there's another reason for condo and co/op boards to be wary of Airbnb....