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Management
Self-Management
Self-managed condominiums are a puzzle to many, especially considering that one
major driving force for purchasing a condominium is to offload countless common home ownership responsibilities to
someone else. A community that assumes the supervision and administration of
their condominium without an outside property management firm is viewed as
counter to the purpose of buying a condominium.
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My Job or Yours?
The old adage is that it takes a village to raise a child. Think about that—it takes many people, working together, to do what’s right for just one child. It’s about teamwork. The same philosophy can be applied to running a successful community association—it also takes teamwork and each member of the team has his or her own responsibility. Read More
Above and Beyond
No two condos are the same, and neither are the needs of the buildings. A brownstone in Cambridge, a hotel-like complex in Boston’s Back Bay, a row of townhouses in Nashua—each requires specific services from its management company. Read More
Tongue in Cheek
As a rule, New England Condominium sticks to the straight and narrow as we contemplate the many players and problems in condominiums. But condo- miniums are, after all, populated with people, and people are human, fallible, and occasionally very funny. In this issue, we asked a number of condo professionals to weigh in with some of their favorite lighter, more humorous stories about condo life and the human condition...and just in time for April Fool's Day! Read More
Successful Management Strategies
Ask Mark Weisman, the president of Brownstone Real Estate in Boston, what makes a good managing agent, and his answer is simple: "You should be able to solve small problems before they become big problems—that's basically it." Read More
Switching Management Companies
Most of the time, a condo association or co-op building and its management company enjoy a mutually beneficial partnership—the management company and the individual agents try their best to serve their clients, and their client communities work with said companies and agents to insure that their associations run smoothly. Read More
Gone South
If they haven't left already, the remaining "snowbirds" will shortly depart for their warm and snug Sunbelt condominiums. Left behind will be scowling residents scraping ice off their windshields and shorthanded association boards — many of whom will have to deal with more than one member who's gone south. Read More
Managing Distressed Properties
In today’s difficult economy, more and more homeowner associations are facing the
prospect of dealing with some form of distress. Whether it’s physical distress from lack of funding for repairs or financial distress from
foreclosures and declining property values, these problems affect not just
individual homeowners, but the entire condo community. There is simply no such
thing as a distressed unit owner who does not impact those around him.
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Looking Into the Future
The roller-coaster ride labeled “2008” is over at last. But will its replacement be just as wild? Or are we in for a calmer time in 2009? It’s impossible to know what lies ahead, though any number of “experts” will offer forecasts ranging from a rebound to more gloom and doom. Which will be on the mark, or out in left field, won’t be known until several pages of that new calendar have been ripped off the Read More
Great Expectations
Whether it’s a neighbor’s barking dog or a backed-up toilet, the problems of condominium owners and residents are always personal. Their homes are a haven–and an investment–so at times, even an easily-solved issue can feel like a catastrophe. And like it or not, catastrophes always land on the property manager’s desk.“Issues are always emotionally charged when you’re dealing strictly with a person’s living arrangements. The only person they can take it out on, if you will, who is not another resident or neighbor, is the property manager. The manager is really the only person who is obligated to listen, at least to a point,” says Julie Adamen, a 25-year veteran of the community management industry and the founderof Adamen, Inc, a nationwide consulting and employment firm specializing in manager placements. Read More
