Should You Join the Board of Your Condo or Co-op Building in NYC?

Should you join the board of your condo or co-op building in NYC? We’ll discuss this topic in the following video. Check out our website https://hauseit.com to learn how to save money if you’re buying or selling real estate here in New York. I’m Nick at Hauseit, based here in NYC. So let’s get started!

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Joining the board of your building is a great way to influence both the direction and finances of your condo or co-op.

Being on the board is particularly important in a smaller building. This is because individual unit owners in smaller buildings feel the financial impact of board decisions much more directly.

For example, if the board of a 10 unit building overpays on their roof repair project by $50,000, this costs each unit owner approximately $5,000. If you are in a larger building with 50 or 100 or more units, the individual unit owner’s cost of a bad board decision is much less significant.

Being a board member also allows you to influence the types of projects which the building undertakes. For example, should your building prioritize the installation of a video intercom system or spend the same amount retiling the floor in the lobby? What brand intercom should the building use, or what tile pattern should be used in the lobby?

Joining your condo or co-op board is also an excellent defensive measure against troublemakers in your building. This is particularly relevant in smaller condos and co-ops, where one or two owners on the board can make your life a living hell if you happen to offend them.

Being a board member yourself makes it much less likely for a board to ‘go rogue’ and initiate legal action or otherwise behave immaturely in response to a perceived grievance you may commit.

Let’s say, for example, you just closed on your apartment, and you know that several neighbors unsuccessfully attempted to buy your apartment before you sealed the deal with the seller.

Let’s also say that this apartment you purchase doesn’t have air conditioning. So, you submit an application to the condo to install an air conditioning compressor on the roof, since you observe that most other unit owners have the same type of air conditioning setup.

To your surprise however, management denies your request and falsely claims that your installation method is illegal.

You know that management’s rationale is baseless, but since you’re not on the board, you have no influence over management and no ability to command the board’s full attention to discuss the issue. You also remember that you’re not the board’s biggest fan to begin with, since you bought the apartment which a few board members tried to purchase.

In response to this unequal treatment, you decide to install the compressor on the roof anyway. In this real example, the board promptly retained a lawyer and initiated legal action against this owner, without even bothering to speak with the owner beforehand.

As the dispute grew, the board refused to speak with this owner for more than six months, and instead, they hid behind lawyers and wasted over $5,000 of the condo’s money in legal fees.

Now let’s rewind and think: what would have happened in this scenario if this owner was on the board? Would the board still have unfairly denied the request of a fellow board member to install the same air conditioning system which most of these board members already had? We don’t think so.

Well, these sorts of things actually happen, especially in a small building where one or two owners might have outsized influence on the board. Therefore, joining the board can actually prevent these types of fiascos from happening to you in the first place.

Now let’s answer another question: what are the downsides to being on your condo’s board?

Well, for starters, it can be a lot of work. The moment you agree to oversee any sort of initiative, most of the time, the other board members will back off and expect you to do all the work. So you’ll want to be careful what you volunteer to do. At the same time, this can be really great if you have time and feel passionately about your vision for the direction of the building.

There’s also the issue of having to mediate disputes between owners and other grievances against the building.

Board members also face a remote risk of personal liability in scenarios where the building is sued.

So there you have it! We hope you enjoyed this video, and if you did, please like, subscribe and leave us a comment. We’d greatly appreciate it. And if you’re looking to buy or sell, check out hauseit.com to learn how to save money. I’m Nick at Hauseit, and we’ll seen you on the next video!

Save 6% When Selling in NYC: https://www.hauseit.com/agent-assisted-fsbo/
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Hauseit LLC, Licensed Real Estate Broker
Tel: (888) 494-8258 | https://www.hauseit.com
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