COOP Management Company

katbka · August 2008

My coop is looking for a new management company. Our current one (AFC) is absolutely useless. Can you share your experience with your companies? We've been looking for quite some time and still no luck..

belzjm · August 2008

can highly recommend square indigo.

718.625.5038

i know quite a few people who use and like them (including us).

park place mama · August 2008

Try Advance Management- Rob Witherwax: 718.907.7535.
He is a nce honest guy... and the company seems fine as well.

pureistheword · August 2008

Goldin Management
718-230-2600

turtle95 · August 2008

My building, a smaller one, only 14 units have not had much luck with management agencies. Including the one listed by pureistheword. Maybe with bigger buildings they are more active, but for small ones, which pay small fees, it's hard to get noticed by them.

longtimesloper · August 2008

I'm curious as to what sort of co op buildings use management companies and what do these management companies do for them?

We have owned a co op in a small building (7 apartments, only 5 of them owned, soon to be 6) for many years now and we have never used a management company. We, the owners, do everything ourselves.

I guess I can see why a large building would need one-but, I also see smaller buildings such as ours using them and I just don't get it. Can someone enlighten me?

brooklynjack · August 2008

LongTimeSloper: They do everything you do. REciee, and pay the bills and collect the rent, make sure the garbage is taken out and sidwalks are clear of snow (well by making sure you have someone to do it. Manage the infrastructure send out rfps and collect bid and manage projects when work needs to be done

But as turtle95 it just isn't cost effective for small buildings.

Park Place Mama I used to work for AMS, though it has been years and they can be good, though they do charge for everything, like making copies but I don't think they are fans of small buildings

There has been a lot written about how to hire a management company. Check out Habitatmag.com and cooperator.com

8thandprez · August 2008

This is such a timely post, as I am about to move into a new, 20-unit condo and have been anxious about hiring a management company.

This may be a stupid question but here goes... when a new building, such as my new condo, is first occupied, I am assuming there are a number of steps before a management company is actually on-site taking out the trash, etc (ie, the condo board has to be formed, has to select the mgmt company, collect the first maintenance fees). So, in that interim period, do the individual tenants work out a system for trash collection, sweeping snow, etc? Or does the condo sponsor work this out prior to closings?

I'm curious bc we've got two babies at home and I'm really not eager to start maintaining an apartment building in my (non-existent) spare time.

longtimesloper · August 2008

BrooklynJack wrote: LongTimeSloper: They do everything you do. REciee, and pay the bills and collect the rent, make sure the garbage is taken out and sidwalks are clear of snow (well by making sure you have someone to do it. Manage the infrastructure send out rfps and collect bid and manage projects when work needs to be done

But as turtle95 it just isn't cost effective for small buildings.

Park Place Mama I used to work for AMS, though it has been years and they can be good, though they do charge for everything, like making copies but I don't think they are fans of small buildings

There has been a lot written about how to hire a management company. Check out Habitatmag.com and cooperator.com

OK-that is what I figured they did. I guess I just don't understand why there are 7 and 10 unit COOP buildings hiring management companies. Taking out the garbage and getting the snow shoveled seems like something COOP owners in a smaller building could do themselves-hence the word COOP.

In our building, we all have jobs, one person takes care of the trash and light bulbs, another waters and sweeps outside, yet another does the snow shoveling, I handle special projects, etc. etc.

I can see large buildings hire companies like this-I just didn't understand why I would see smaller ones doing it-thanks for the info!

turtle95 · August 2008

Brooklyn Jack is right on target. We've tried about 4 different companies in the past 4 years, with exactly the same results...we pay a fee upfront and then we can't get a call returned! It can definitely help having someon experienced deal with contractors, bookkeeping, etc. The management companies are usually up to date on most information. The one thing I would advise if you do self-manage, is get an attorney on retainer so you have a legal resource to ensure you're not breaking any laws. Especially in a small building, one lawsuit from an unhappy resident can break the bank, so you need to make sure in addition to neighborly common sense, you're following the law.

Habitat magazine has a section in most issues about interesting lawsuits involving buildings and you'd be amazed how quickly a reserve fund can be drained by legal fees.

To the OP, if your building is small and you do find a reliable management company, let us know! I'd love to turn over some of the responsibilities I have (such as taking a day off of work to wait for contractors to show up) in my building.

belzjm · August 2008

i'm in a small co-op, and having a management company for us is pretty much a necessity.

some of us are super busy with work, a couple people are elderly and a couple are renters.

the burden of work would basically fall on 2 or 3 of us.

i can't imagine we'd ever not have a management company.

longtimesloper · August 2008

I guess we are just an odd building then. for years, 3 of the apartments here were rentals, so, yeah, the burden of work fell on a small amount of people. But, it isn't a huge amount of work and even though everyone in the building works, it still got done.

pureistheword · August 2008

for 8thandPrez; I would think the sponsor would have management lined up (even if they do it themselves) but this should be outlined in the offering plan Once the board takes control from the sponsor they can hire who they wish

brooklynjack · August 2008

8thandPrez wrote: This is such a timely post, as I am about to move into a new, 20-unit condo and have been anxious about hiring a management company.

This may be a stupid question but here goes... when a new building, such as my new condo, is first occupied, I am assuming there are a number of steps before a management company is actually on-site taking out the trash, etc (ie, the condo board has to be formed, has to select the mgmt company, collect the first maintenance fees). So, in that interim period, do the individual tenants work out a system for trash collection, sweeping snow, etc? Or does the condo sponsor work this out prior to closings?

I'm curious bc we've got two babies at home and I'm really not eager to start maintaining an apartment building in my (non-existent) spare time.

Just to be clear about this, and I think I spoek a bit too quickly, the management company does not take care of taking out the garbage and snow removal, the do manage the presses of the building, coop or condo, hiring someone to do it. If that personis not doing thier job you should be able to call the management company and have them find out why.

But yea, all this is in the offering plan

But still I'd look really closely at a building that only has 20 units. We have 83 apts and paid 28,000 lsat year for management. That's not for anything like taking out the garbage or snow removal just paying someone to manage the people we are paying to do it. Make sure the projected budget for this building looks realistic and how much is for management

mblevine · August 2008

Subject: Management Company

Hey, you can try Excel Bradshaw Management Group (www.ebmg.com). We have an office in Brooklyn and are heavily concentrated in the area.

[email protected]

Thanks

COOP Management Company

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