Noise is an acknowledged part of urban life - particularly apartment living. Some of it - traffic, garbage collection, people shouting on the street - is external, and is controlled (theoretically, anyway) by zoning laws and noise ordinanc…
Q. I live in a condo and my neighbor downstairs from me is constantly smoking. I brought it to the attention of management and nothing has been done. What are my options as an owner: do I bring legal action against the management, or do I t…
Whether you live in a super-luxe Park Avenue co-op in New York City, a waterfront condo on Lakeshore Drive, a sprawling HOA in Nevada, or a multifamily community in Miami, one thing is certain: you have neighbors. Hopefully they’re the peop…
A few years ago, I was on the phone with a homeowner. He was irate with how his community’s money was being spent. He was unhappy with the budget increase. It was a call I took regularly from any one of my homeowners (and more often than no…
While keeping the records of the association is not the most fascinating part of serving on a board, it is in some ways the most important. In fact, the flow of paperwork is the lifeblood of the community. The association’s declarati…
It only takes a few minutes of a web search to uncover the traits that make a successful person or business owner. For example, Entrepreneur magazine’s Steven Key wrote the article, “5 Qualities of Successful Persons,” which included such …
The word community, like many words in the English language, has more than one interpretation. A community can be identified as a geographical location--a physical infrastructure of streets, parks and buildings, defined by tangible brick a…
Working in groups can be a challenge. Working in groups when people’s homes—and possibly their life savings—are involved can be a far greater challenge. It’s one faced every day by those brave souls who volunteer to serve on their co-op …
As housing markets in many parts of the country—including Chicago—have foundered, many developers have opted to convert portions of communities originally intended to be condominiums into rental properties. When a development with no ow…
Can’t we all just get along? It's a million-dollar question. When someone moves into a community, they often look for the friendliness and camaraderie that living in an association brings. But with many personalities often butting heads…