Going green doesn’t have anything to do with choosing a natural paint color for your kitchen, or planting herbs in your community garden. But the phrase can have many different meanings across a broad spectrum. Turning off lights in roo…
With the green movement in full swing across the country, it is not surprising that incorporating energy saving and improved efficiency measures has trickled into condominium development. Today, many buildings in the Chicagoland area p…
When the power goes out and city dwellers are left in the dark, people assume they won’t be stuck in cold apartments for days. Just as we expect our hospitals to have backup power generators to save patients who are on life support syst…
Noise is a key quality-of-life problem for almost anyone living in a densely-packed urban environment. It's the bane of many a condo-dweller’s existence, and over the years engineers, architects, and designers have tried any number of w…
Legendary funny man Benny Goodman once said, “I don’t want to tell you how much insurance I carry with the Prudential, but all I can say is: when I go, they go, too!” The comedian hits on all-important issue: how much insurance is too mu…
Insurance is designed to be there for us when we need it most. Without knowing the full extent of our coverage, though, we may find ourselves with less protection than we thought. For condominium owners, it is imperative to understand …
Last year the co-owners of a Chicago realty company that managed dozens of condominium properties were charged with fraud for stealing more than $2 million in assessment payments between 2005 and 2008. They trio covered up their fraud …
With the possible exception of fire, nothing is more damaging to residential buildings and the property of their occupants as leaks. Whether it’s a torrential deluge from the upstairs neighbor’s overflowing bathtub or a slow, seeping lea…
Stores and other commercial businesses on the ground floor of a condo building used to be a rarity but now they are becoming a hot new amenity, even a standard for newer buildings. Restaurants, food markets, drugstores, clothing stores…
For a crystal-clear picture of how an association is doing, there are few better lenses than the community's budgets and financial reports. From an investment perspective, they show the shareholders, managers, tenants, owners, and board…