Combining individual coop gas meters into one meter. Mistake?


I wanted to post a question, and the following is some information which I think is necessary to know first.

We are a small, 15 unit brownstone coop building and are considering doing some minor plumbing work to change our individual gas meters (dedicated to cooking only) to a single meter. This would presumably garner individual tenants a combined net savings of $1750/yr (partially kicked back to coop reserves), since it seems that a very large part of our individual monthly gas bills is for service of individual meters and carry charges and not for the actual gas usage. Apartments would still have their own shut off valves, in case isolated work was necessary on an individual line.

Our calculations are that we would recoup the costs for the plumbing work within a couple of years, and then the coop would get $1000/yr additional directly to our reserves.

SO… my question. Someone in the building felt that this alteration could negatively affect the re-sale value of an individual’s unit. Can anyone here offer informed feedback on this issue? And otherwise if you have any comments about this plan, please feel free to chime in.

Categories: Appraisals
By Jeffehcom | 01/27/2011 6:27 PM | Comment

Sidewalk Violation and Mortgage Applications


Hi,

This topic came up in one of our building meetings.

Does anyone have an informed opinion on whether the fact that our building has an outstanding sidewalk repair violation (in actuality very minor) will prohibit a prospective buyer from being able to obtain a mortgage approval.

thanks!
Jeff

Categories: Mortgage
By Jeffehcom | 12/17/2010 10:45 AM | Comment