Any building in South Florida that is taller than, say, five stories usually has an elevator—and often, new buildings of even three stories have an elevator. If you live in a high rise co-op or condo building on Collins Avenue in Miami Bea…
Remember the old Timex watch jingle, ‘it takes a licking and keeps on ticking’? The gist of the ad is that no matter what you threw at it, a Timex watch kept working. If you think about it, a building’s exterior is almost like a Time…
Charles Dickens once said, “It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.” Ah Mr. Dickens speaks the truth. Lo…
As jugglers of multiple and oftentimes complex tasks, property managers must be adept at mediating between board members and unit owners, as well as resolving all manner of maintenance and legal issues. To this end, property managers don’t…
Faced with a less-than-satisfactory management situation, a condominium or cooperative board may decide not to adapt, but to replace their property manager, or even switch firms completely. According to experts, this practice happens more …
The rules and regulations that owners and residents in a condominium or homeowners’ association must follow “are what they are,” says James Donnelly. “Most are reasonable and well accepted.” Yet, Donnelly takes issue with one rule at the F…
On any given night all around Miami and Fort Lauderdale, tourists swarm the streets, trying to get a good parking spot by the beaches, the bars, the art galleries and the restaurants. At the same time, locals are heading home from work, ci…
While crime rates are steadily decreasing nationwide, multi-unit dwellings are often more difficult to “police” due to the sheer numbers of residents, visitors, delivery personnel and third party workers such as contractors constantly comi…
Americans have a long history of pride in personal independence and individual rights. Since the break with English rule two centuries ago platitudes like, “A man’s home is his castle,” and “live and let live” have existed side-by-side wit…
One gated community in Sanford, Florida was struggling with security issues. In a one-year time period, from January 1, 2011 through February 26, 2012, police were called to The Retreat at Twin Lakes more than 400 times. Reports show that …