Condo Life March 2006
Wednesday, March
29, 2006
Condo scandals. If you know anyone who's a condo board member, they almost certainly have stories of questionnable practices and even minor abuse of power, but a friend of mine recently told me a startling story. She lives in a 60-unit build in Cambridge, which has a full-time paid manager, who is competent but unpopular. If you ask him a favor, he charges for it. For instance, he charged my friend $50 to shovel her car out of the snow last winter. At any rate, every year or so there's an attempt to remove him, but these efforts have so far consistently failed. One of the reasons they fail is because he handles all the proxy votes! Those who can't attend the annual meeting hand him their proxy slip, and he votes in their behalf. This year, he had enough proxy slips to vote out one of his enemies on the board. I told my friend I thought it was absurd that a non-owner, employee should be allowed to cast votes on behalf of the proxies.
In my own building, we have a more minor controversy with our live-in manager. This guy gets no pay, but gets a free apartment in exchange for 12 of work per week. He's also a professional plumber, but for plumbing work we pay him his regular rate. In my opinion, he always gives the building a break, but others aren't so sure. For instance, a few months ago, when our sump pump alarm went off, he reconditioned the motor, cleaned it out, and repaired a major leak he came across for $400. I thought that was a fair price, but others disagreed. So, now I had to handle the delicate matter of telling him that to increase confidence in the board, we will need to hire an outside plumber the next time we have a problem. I expect any other plumber we hire will charge more than we're currently paying. My condo board, like others, has a knack for turning a perfectly good thing into something that will leave hurt feelings (by our current manager), create inconvenience (for the person who calls in the other plumber), and probably cost more.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Burnt toast. On the first floor of my building is an amazing woman. She's 97, and the last time I was in her apartment, she was drinking a glass of sherry and smoking a cigarette. A few months ago, she fell and broke her ankle, but after a a few weeks in the hospital and at rehab, she's back to normal. Sure, she's lost a step or two and is not quite as sharp as she was ten years ago, when I first moved into the building, but for 97 she's a wonder. A couple years ago, she and her boyfriend (!) went on a vacation to France, and a few months ago she went to the funeral of a friend in Florida.
Although well traveled, she has lived her whole life in the neighborhood. She's described what the area I live in looked like in the 1920s, before some workers cottages and local stores were replaced with large buildings and before a major highway was put in. She's a great asset to the building, not only because she has witnessed so much history, but because for many years she was a good trustee. She took charge of the garden and the results of her work are still in blossom every Spring. Also, she knew so many people that she was, and sometimes still is, a great resource for everyone in the building. A few years ago, the sidewalks in the front our building were badly cracked, adn she called City Hall. Not only does a woman in her 90s command some extra respect, she has met so many people that she knew exactly who to call. Our sidewalks were fixed very quickly.
So what does this have to do with burnt toast. About once a week, the smell of burnt toasts wafts up the back staircase. It can be traced to the unit of this 97-year-old. It's not a bad smell. It's almost a warm smell that reminds me of childhood. Though I worry a little about her starting a fire, I'm reassured that her family spends a lot of time with her and her boyfriend (whose quite a few years younger) lives just across the hall from her.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Well our annual meeting was eventful only in that it was uneventful. It lasted only a couple hours; there were no major problems (like not enough people for quorum), and there were no major disputes. Even the 10 percent increase in condo fees passed without anyone calling for a microanalysis of the budget.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the meeting was the report by our building manager. (We have a part-time live-in manager, who gets a small apartment, but no salary.) He listed some of the major problems, including repairing the sump pump, installing new radiator valves, putting up new door numbers, replacing the locks, improving the cleaning schedule for the common area, and fixing the furnace. Then he and others provided a daunting list of issues we will have to deal with over the next few years, such as -stripping and refinishing the front stairway floor, replacing a major drain pipe that has a crack in it, replacing the fence, negotiating a new warranty on the roof, and fixing broken intercoms.
Our annual meetings never have big turnouts, and this one was no exception. Only eight people showed up, though others submitted proxies. A couple of those who showed up left the meeting after two trustees got into a dull discussion about how our treasurer handles cash flow problems. The budget is a great source for dull discussions. In years past, we've had hour of discussion about whether we should have a petty cash entry in our budget and whether we should put condo funds into a money market account.
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Someone in the building has been selling a condo for well over a year. First, the owners were asking about 30 percent over the probable value of the unit. Then, they kept dropping the price, but, as realtors will tell you, people rarely revisit properties they have already looked at. Now, the owner is finally fixing up the condo. Painting it, putting in more amps, fixing plumbing problems, and so on. But, meanwhile property prices have slowed or dropped in the area, and there are a lot of properties on the market. I wonder how long it will take my neighbor to sell the unit? Another owner I know decided to sell her property for a little below market value, but without a broker. She sold it within a couple weeks. Greed doesn't always pay, even in America.
Selling a unit is always a little tricky in a building. As a rule, condo boards don't want prospective buyers wandering unattended. This means everyone has to be buzzed in, which can be problematic, especially at an open house where the noise might be louder than the buzzer. Also, many condo associations will demand that prospective buyers be escorted as they explore the common space -- storage rooms, garbage area, bicycle area, etc. Some brokers ignore the rules, and they run the risk of not being welcome back in the building. Other brokers cooperate.
My condo association as a rule has not had many rules, and we do not have any rules about open houses. What typically happens in my building is the broker comes and latches open the front door. The residents, as they enter or leave, unlatch the front door, because it's not supposed to be be open. This goes back and forth for the duration of the open house. Maybe rules would be better, but then again rules tend to get ignored if they're too inconvenient.
Friday, March 4, 2006
Someone stole a tree! A small evergreen tree planted last summer on the edge of our property has vanished. Add that to the two missing rolls of paper towels and the mysterious disappearance of garbage bags, and you have a case fit for a sleuth. But there's more. There's the mysterious person who shut off our oil furnace, the silent geek who keeps resetting the timer that controls the entranceway lights. What about the old, odd furniture that people sneak into the common room, as if that room is a dumpster -- a chair with badly ripped fabric, a computer that doesn't run, a beat up exercise bicycle, a cracked coffee table. Ah, the mysteries of the building.
Who is it who sometimes leaves the front door latched open? Who is it who left the backdoor unlocked? Who are they who sneak around and steal or break the rules? Are they the same ones that leave detergent spills in the laundry room? Are they the same that left a soccer ball on the staircase?
Should the person with the note on her door warning people not to enter be a suspect in all these little crimes? How about the couple who always complain? What about the old man who sometimes wanders the hallways? Or could it be the person who once in anger broke the glass on a hallway door? Maybe it's those people I never see. Or the woman who's having trouble selling her apartment. It could be the people with kids. It could be me. It could be all of us.
Condo scandals. If you know anyone who's a condo board member, they almost certainly have stories of questionnable practices and even minor abuse of power, but a friend of mine recently told me a startling story. She lives in a 60-unit build in Cambridge, which has a full-time paid manager, who is competent but unpopular. If you ask him a favor, he charges for it. For instance, he charged my friend $50 to shovel her car out of the snow last winter. At any rate, every year or so there's an attempt to remove him, but these efforts have so far consistently failed. One of the reasons they fail is because he handles all the proxy votes! Those who can't attend the annual meeting hand him their proxy slip, and he votes in their behalf. This year, he had enough proxy slips to vote out one of his enemies on the board. I told my friend I thought it was absurd that a non-owner, employee should be allowed to cast votes on behalf of the proxies.
In my own building, we have a more minor controversy with our live-in manager. This guy gets no pay, but gets a free apartment in exchange for 12 of work per week. He's also a professional plumber, but for plumbing work we pay him his regular rate. In my opinion, he always gives the building a break, but others aren't so sure. For instance, a few months ago, when our sump pump alarm went off, he reconditioned the motor, cleaned it out, and repaired a major leak he came across for $400. I thought that was a fair price, but others disagreed. So, now I had to handle the delicate matter of telling him that to increase confidence in the board, we will need to hire an outside plumber the next time we have a problem. I expect any other plumber we hire will charge more than we're currently paying. My condo board, like others, has a knack for turning a perfectly good thing into something that will leave hurt feelings (by our current manager), create inconvenience (for the person who calls in the other plumber), and probably cost more.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Burnt toast. On the first floor of my building is an amazing woman. She's 97, and the last time I was in her apartment, she was drinking a glass of sherry and smoking a cigarette. A few months ago, she fell and broke her ankle, but after a a few weeks in the hospital and at rehab, she's back to normal. Sure, she's lost a step or two and is not quite as sharp as she was ten years ago, when I first moved into the building, but for 97 she's a wonder. A couple years ago, she and her boyfriend (!) went on a vacation to France, and a few months ago she went to the funeral of a friend in Florida.
Although well traveled, she has lived her whole life in the neighborhood. She's described what the area I live in looked like in the 1920s, before some workers cottages and local stores were replaced with large buildings and before a major highway was put in. She's a great asset to the building, not only because she has witnessed so much history, but because for many years she was a good trustee. She took charge of the garden and the results of her work are still in blossom every Spring. Also, she knew so many people that she was, and sometimes still is, a great resource for everyone in the building. A few years ago, the sidewalks in the front our building were badly cracked, adn she called City Hall. Not only does a woman in her 90s command some extra respect, she has met so many people that she knew exactly who to call. Our sidewalks were fixed very quickly.
So what does this have to do with burnt toast. About once a week, the smell of burnt toasts wafts up the back staircase. It can be traced to the unit of this 97-year-old. It's not a bad smell. It's almost a warm smell that reminds me of childhood. Though I worry a little about her starting a fire, I'm reassured that her family spends a lot of time with her and her boyfriend (whose quite a few years younger) lives just across the hall from her.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Well our annual meeting was eventful only in that it was uneventful. It lasted only a couple hours; there were no major problems (like not enough people for quorum), and there were no major disputes. Even the 10 percent increase in condo fees passed without anyone calling for a microanalysis of the budget.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the meeting was the report by our building manager. (We have a part-time live-in manager, who gets a small apartment, but no salary.) He listed some of the major problems, including repairing the sump pump, installing new radiator valves, putting up new door numbers, replacing the locks, improving the cleaning schedule for the common area, and fixing the furnace. Then he and others provided a daunting list of issues we will have to deal with over the next few years, such as -stripping and refinishing the front stairway floor, replacing a major drain pipe that has a crack in it, replacing the fence, negotiating a new warranty on the roof, and fixing broken intercoms.
Our annual meetings never have big turnouts, and this one was no exception. Only eight people showed up, though others submitted proxies. A couple of those who showed up left the meeting after two trustees got into a dull discussion about how our treasurer handles cash flow problems. The budget is a great source for dull discussions. In years past, we've had hour of discussion about whether we should have a petty cash entry in our budget and whether we should put condo funds into a money market account.
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Someone in the building has been selling a condo for well over a year. First, the owners were asking about 30 percent over the probable value of the unit. Then, they kept dropping the price, but, as realtors will tell you, people rarely revisit properties they have already looked at. Now, the owner is finally fixing up the condo. Painting it, putting in more amps, fixing plumbing problems, and so on. But, meanwhile property prices have slowed or dropped in the area, and there are a lot of properties on the market. I wonder how long it will take my neighbor to sell the unit? Another owner I know decided to sell her property for a little below market value, but without a broker. She sold it within a couple weeks. Greed doesn't always pay, even in America.
Selling a unit is always a little tricky in a building. As a rule, condo boards don't want prospective buyers wandering unattended. This means everyone has to be buzzed in, which can be problematic, especially at an open house where the noise might be louder than the buzzer. Also, many condo associations will demand that prospective buyers be escorted as they explore the common space -- storage rooms, garbage area, bicycle area, etc. Some brokers ignore the rules, and they run the risk of not being welcome back in the building. Other brokers cooperate.
My condo association as a rule has not had many rules, and we do not have any rules about open houses. What typically happens in my building is the broker comes and latches open the front door. The residents, as they enter or leave, unlatch the front door, because it's not supposed to be be open. This goes back and forth for the duration of the open house. Maybe rules would be better, but then again rules tend to get ignored if they're too inconvenient.
Friday, March 4, 2006
Someone stole a tree! A small evergreen tree planted last summer on the edge of our property has vanished. Add that to the two missing rolls of paper towels and the mysterious disappearance of garbage bags, and you have a case fit for a sleuth. But there's more. There's the mysterious person who shut off our oil furnace, the silent geek who keeps resetting the timer that controls the entranceway lights. What about the old, odd furniture that people sneak into the common room, as if that room is a dumpster -- a chair with badly ripped fabric, a computer that doesn't run, a beat up exercise bicycle, a cracked coffee table. Ah, the mysteries of the building.
Who is it who sometimes leaves the front door latched open? Who is it who left the backdoor unlocked? Who are they who sneak around and steal or break the rules? Are they the same ones that leave detergent spills in the laundry room? Are they the same that left a soccer ball on the staircase?
Should the person with the note on her door warning people not to enter be a suspect in all these little crimes? How about the couple who always complain? What about the old man who sometimes wanders the hallways? Or could it be the person who once in anger broke the glass on a hallway door? Maybe it's those people I never see. Or the woman who's having trouble selling her apartment. It could be the people with kids. It could be me. It could be all of us.
