Agent on Board...

yes!

Opinions vary; boards generally like having a broker's perspective about long-term capital projects and the marketing "positioning" of the building. In addition, since brokers deal with many buildings, it's valuable to have someone who can say "this is generally the way this situation is handled" or "currently, when buildings renovate X, they do Y."

Non-board shareholders, however, sometimes fear how much power an individual broker might have over resale applications.

So some brokers don't sit on their building's boards by choice, while many do but recuse themselves from matters involving their clients.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

THANKS Ali!
Interesting, so there is no Law specifically prohibiting a Resident Agent from sitting on their Cooperative Board...

Why should it be against the law if they are a shareholder of the corporation? As Ali stated if there is a direct conflict such as a client application and they recuse themselves then there is no real issue. I am sure there are conflicts out there besides just broker related and there are no specific laws against this.

When I was on the board of my old building one of the other members was a broker. He did some business in the building but it was it not his primary expertise. Having him on the board created a lot of value in terms of market perspective, knowing what policies and improvements were important to buyers and socializing the building in the broker community. Unless the broker in question is going to create conflicts, I believe a broker can be a very healthy addition to a board

Colleague of mine had three potential rental tenants rejected by his co-op board, one after another.

For the fourth tenant, he listed the sublet with the real estate agent who sat on the co-op board. The fourth candidate was accepted.

Frankly, I'd prefer the board paid an outside, unaffiliated expert for a consultation when needed, rather than have one sit on the board and create even an appearance of impropriety.

LENOX is obviously an agent looking to get on a co-op board. Only Agents forget that Capital Letters have Meanings and feel the Need to Capitalize Random words with no rhyme or Reason.

Unless maybe you are translating from German.