Forum Archive

… not quite, but our 40-unit elevator prewar building is on tough times.

We have a substantial reserve fund, but that is about to be slaughtered by two unexpected and potentially large (100K each) expenses. There was no real way to foresee these charges, and I can’t blame previous boards. So here we are.

What should we do now?

We have a small flip tax which generates very little revenue since nobody seems to move. We have precious little other revenue (bike storage, resident lockers, etc).

Any idea how people raise money? Should we use the reserve — leaving us with 75kish, a small amount for a large building? Should we impose an assessment? (We have lots of older residents for whom a 5k charge could be too much). Should we raise maitanence fees — we’ve done this so many times in recent years to keep up with heating, etc., and I think we’re already slightly above market. The building runs at just a barely break-even point now. We can’t refinance for several years. A bake sale? Just kidding – but would love creative ideas about raising capital.

The building itself is in great shape with no other projects in the near future (he said hopefully).