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Attorney Stuart Saft, a partner at Holland & Knight, addressed the topic of “Increasing Co-op Values in a Condo-centric World” at the May Managers’ Meeting. With condos in New York City selling for approximately 20% more than co-ops, Saft proposed several actions a co-op board could take to increase the value of its apartments.

FirstService Residential assembled a panel of experts to provide our clients with information and guidance on complying with Local Law 87 – a complex and potentially costly law that requires property owners to audit energy use and retro-commission their buildings every 10 years and submit an Energy Efficiency Report to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) documenting the results. The law impacts buildings over 50,000 square feet. Following are key takeaways from “Plotting the Right Course: How Multifamily Properties Can Benefit from Compliance with Local Law 87.”

Recognizing the importance of providing an exceptional customer service experience to our clients, FirstService Residential launched an innovative training program for building staff in our managed properties.

FirstService Residential and FirstService Energy are prepared to help boards and owners identify capital improvements or retrofits that improve a building's energy efficiency score and letter grade.

President Dan Wurtzel is quoted in this Cooperator article on essential insurance coverages condos and co-ops should have.

FirstService Residential President Dan Wurtzel authors this article for Multi-Housing News discussing the impacts of New York City's new short-term rental regulations.

Senior Vice President Marc Kotler of FirstService Residential's New Development Group is featured in the January 2015 edition of Mann Report Management.

Learn about the many benefits you can gain by undertaking a heating distribution assessment for your condo or coop.

All of us have caught the whiff of secondhand smoke from a passerby or a fellow patron at a restaurant or even neighbors on their balcony. And for most nonsmokers, it’s a fleeting irritation, gone in an instant. But what if it’s more than that?

As you begin to work on next year’s budget, it’s important to look for ways to save your building money to offset those unplanned expenses and potential revenue shortfalls.

With many meetings moving to telecommunications platforms like Zoom or GoToMeeting, it’s more important than ever to have a fine-tuned system for keeping your meetings organized and on track. There are steps you can take to ensure your upcoming meetings, whether they’re online or in person are effective and concise.

The board of Kips Bay Towers Condominium, in its endless quest to implement sustainable measures at its Midtown East complex —which comprises 1,118 apartments and spans 7.5 acres—expressed an interest in purchasing renewable energy.

Realty Advisory Board Attorney Robert S. Schwartz gave a presentation on labor relations during our June Property Managers’ Meeting covering wage and benefit rules for new hires and vacation relief employees; leaves of absences; the Family and Medical Leave Act; reduction in force actions; and best practices for progressive (corrective) discipline, among other topics.

This hurricane season, let us help you avoid unwarranted damage by preparing from the outside in. Using these five tips, you can prepare your landscaping to help your community safely weather any storm.

It’s important that co-op and condo boards come together to achieve strategic alignment.

Reserve studies and their relationship to capital improvements and preventive maintenance were discussed at length in our capital improvements guide . To refresh, a reserve study is a report about the condition and likely useful life of all the major components in your property. The report also contains a recommended schedule for repairs and replacements (“capital improvements”) that will be needed over a short or long period of time (e.g. 3, 5 or 10 years), estimated costs for these projects, and a recommended plan to fund each project. By having this information readily available, a board is enabled to allocate money every year toward the cost of future capital improvement work, or to perform unexpected emergency work.

Work hard. Make money. Buy new clothes, the latest technology and more toys for the kids. Does this sound familiar? It’s a blueprint that many of us tend to get carried away with. Minimalists, on the other hand, find freedom and mindfulness in austerity, and in the idea that less is more. Stripping away life’s baggage gives minimalists a sense of clarity and perspective.

New York City is getting ready to implement a city-wide grading system for energy efficiency. How does your building stack up?

In many ways, New York City is one large playground. With a population upwards of eight million residents, approximately one out of five city dwellers are dog owners. This is prime evidence that New Yorkers are fans of enjoying their environment with their four-legged companions. With so many people, vehicles and events creating a constant buzz of action, you’ll need to take special precautions to keep your furry adventure buddy safe, happy and calm.

FS Energy recently facilitated lighting upgrades for dozens of FirstService Residential managed properties. Replacing common area bulbs and fixtures with highly efficient, ENERGY STAR-qualified LED lighting technologies yields significant reductions in energy use and costs while delivering more aesthetically-pleasing illumination.

Next year, New York City buildings will be required to display their marks on energy efficiency.

NYC's latest Local Law #147/2017 requires all owners of class A multiple dwellings, including all coops and condos, to adopt a “smoking policy” no later than August 28, 2018. The purpose of implementing such a policy is to outline the requirements of this law so board members may consider how their coop or condo will comply.

Imagine an energy-efficient, fiscally sound co-op, condo, or rental building with a responsive property manager, highly trained service personnel, and an around-the-clock customer care team available to assist residents. It’s not fiction; for more than 500 buildings, with over 70,000 apartments managed by FirstService Residential, it’s a daily reality.

As the leading property management company in New York, FirstService Residential seeks to advise all board members on new laws that impact New York condo and coop communities -- the latest being a state law effective January 1, 2018 which requires boards of condos and coops to disclose to owners all transactions in which a member of the board has a conflict of interest. Our General Counsel Benjamin Kirschenbaum wrote a comprehensive memo on this topic which was sent to all FirstService Residential board members.