Q I just bought a townhome in southern Florida. I'm just waiting for all the paperwork to go through. In the meantime, I wonder what kind of homeowner's insurance I should consider to protect my new home. I've heard that part of the…
While essential to the successful operation of all cooperatives or condominiums, governing documents are often only glossed over by otherwise well-intentioned board members, residents and property managers leading to potential pitfalls.…
As housing markets in many parts of the country—including South Florida—have foundered, many developers have opted to convert portions of communities originally intended to be condominiums into rental properties. When a develop…
It’s the same dilemma that single-family households across the U.S. are facing: What bills need to be paid immediately and what bills can wait? And should we stretch ourselves thin, taking more out of our bank accounts to pay for privat…
Global financier JP Morgan Chase owes the Keys Gate Community Association, Inc., in Homestead almost $20,000. The bank foreclosed on the borrower of a condominium unit and took title to it, then paid no maintenance fees for almost two y…
Even if you aren’t a customer of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, if you live in Florida, you’re still a 'citizen' of the state-owned insurance company. To repay the enormous outlays for damage claims from past hurricanes, Citiz…
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 muc…
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 association board, property managers, the unit ow…
It’s the same dilemma that single-family households across the United States are facing: How much money can we afford to pay for the services we want? And should we stretch ourselves thin, taking more out of our bank accounts to pay fo…