The vast majority of both one-time projects and long-term service contracts involving vendors and service providers and their condominium or HOA clients go smoothly and either conclude or continue without incident. However, a small per…
The foundation of any properly run condo association or co-op building rests on residents paying their monthly maintenance fees on time and in full, with no delays or delinquencies. However, thanks to the lingering effects of the reces…
If you want to find out about the history of a town, region or country, head to a museum or look it up on the Internet. If you want to find out about your family’s history, look at your photo album, whether it’s in a book or online. And…
The Chicagoland Cooperator's Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo second expo last fall was by all accounts a huge success as the event attracted thousands of attendees from all across the region for a full day of education and networking. …
When summer rolls around many Chicagoans can be found at any one of the 33 beaches along the shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. There may not be any waves but the vast blue waters can rival any Florida or California beach. Illinois’s n…
When you were a child, you probably tuned into the PBS show Mister Rogers Neighborhood, where a homespun sweater-clad Fred Rogers often sang “Won’t you be my neighbor?” Mr. Rogers might be singing a different tune today if he w…
Serving on a condo board has its challenges—mostly of a relatively mundane, everyday sort, like how to pay for new carpet in the clubhouse, or what kind of flowers to put in the new beds out front. Occasionally however, a much more sens…
It’s a sad fact that the artisans and craftspeople who created some of the most beautiful, distinctive interior and exterior architectural elements for residential buildings are an endangered species. The proliferation of sleek, glass-…
Q With the proliferation of media such as Skype, OoVoo and FaceTime for online audio and video conferencing, I was thinking that community association and board of directors’ meetings probably could be conducted remotely. Can associatio…