Yes -- at least the positive drumbeat is growing more insistent. Condos need money just like co-ops Short of robbing a bank there are only four ways of getting it: 1) Raise the monthly charges -- they can only go so high before there’s a mass revolt, 2) Impose assessments – never a popular revenue-raising method, 3) Get a loan – still harder for condos than co-ops, or 4) Impose a flip tax. The question is can they do it? Read more »

An Upper East Sider asks the Sage in the City whether the super in her co-op, a mini-real estate mogul in his own right, who owns lots of condos in Riverdale, should be allowed to buy an apartment in her building and become one of them Read more »

Nixon had his enemies list. Clinton had one for friends. FOB they were called. Reward your friends, punish your enemies. That’s the way real world politics works. Only now that time-tested tradition has filtered down to the alternate universe of co-ops and condos. Here's how it works. Read more »

With Annual Meeting season winding down, shareholders all across the City have their fingers crossed that the good guys got in. The truth is whether good or bad, here in New York politicians want to stay beyond their time. There’s our Mayor who’s in his third term, and now there’s even talk of a fourth. But even though he flouted the will of the voters, twice expressed, he got the City Council to bless the extension with an amendment to the Charter. What can board members do to extend their shelf llife? Read more »

I’m surrounded by a sea of balconies stacked up and down the facades of nearby white-bricked buildings. But no one’s ever on them – not even any would-be Juliets. You can’t barbeque on them because if everyone lit up at the same time the building would go up in smoke. You can’t hang out on them because strangers stare up from the street. But are they safe to sit on? Read more »