According to some sources, the word “tips” is actually an acronym—it's short for “to insure prompt service,” and the list of people who are commonly tipped—at least in the United States—includes everyone from hair and nail salon workers t…
Sooner or later, every resident living in a condo association ot HOA community will have to deal with the inconvenience of living through a major capital improvement project—a roof replacement, an elevator rehab, serious exterior work, or…
In December 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the United States was in a recession that had started back in December 2007. The official announcement was old news for most Americans. Most financially …
Unless it's a thoughtful gift or a party in their honor, nobody likes surprises. That's especially true when it comes to sudden, serious, or non-negotiable repairs to a condo building or HOA. A community must have enough money saved to d…
When it comes to running board elections in a condo community, the biggest concern among those involved is making sure the elections are fair and balanced and nobody has a reason to cry foul. Elections can be heated as it is, so the vo…
Being elected to the board of directors of a community or condo association comes with a great deal of power, and with that power also comes a great deal of responsibility. Whether they serve a high-rise condo building or a sprawling HOA…
Many unit owners want to get involved in their community but they soon find out that being on the board is no picnic. Soon neighbors are pestering them asking for feuds to be settled, decisions that affect all resident’s lives have to be m…
Few volunteer jobs are as big and involving as serving as a board member for a condo association. In some cases, it means helping to run a multimillion-dollar corporation in one’s spare time. It means managing the place one lives—possibl…
“We have 500 condo accounts and I can count on one or two hands the number of the ones that are not having issues with arrears,” reports Karen Sackstein, CPA, whose accounting firm, The Condo Queens, is based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. “A…
In any sizable community, people from a broad array of ethnic and sociological backgrounds live in close proximity, sometimes under the same association roof. Managing a community association that’s home to a diverse population poses some…