Condo Management Companies

Also, we are in Manhattan in West Harlem.

halstead is the best.

I don't have any experience on the conversion aspect, but I am the President of a newer condo in the Hamilton Heights section of West Harlem. We interviewed a number of managing agents that came recommended to us from a variety of sources. Many just didn't seem to connect with the issues that we needed to deal with- and that was extremely important in our selection. In the end, we narrowed the list down to two choices- and I suspect we would have done just fine with our second choice. Upon reflection- we chose a great managing agent, but didn't have all the right people on the board, so many things did not get done that should have been. It's really important to have both the right board in place and the right managing agent for your building. Now that we have a proper board- things are moving in the right direction.

Stay away from Harlem Lofts....they are lazy, stupid, and unethical.

A google search is all it takes. As far as finding the right one, the board, along with your super and a real estate attorney should all be engaged in the process. All buildings are different and a management agent that is good for one building may not be good for you. Also don't hesitate to ask for references and see if their property portfolio is stable.

Try Orsid.

I would go with the people who serve Peter Cooper Village / Stuyvesant Town - ask Aboutready about how to get a big windfall settlement from them even if they didn't do anything wrong.

I contacted Orsid but was told their focus is on larger buildings and they also gave me an extremely high management fee, which is simply not possible for our mid-size building.

@semerun: can you share some of the choices that were in your list? Would love to hear recommendations.

You could ask your condo's lawyer and accountant. They deal with lots of different companies and buildings and might have a sense of which'd be a good fit.

Hi StreetChallenged, We ultimately selected Merlot Management and I would gladly recommend them. They are based out of the UWS and really grasped the level of service we needed. The developer cut some corners (shocking I know) and they have really stood by us while we have made many difficult decisions. Our number 2 choice was All Area Realty Services. They are a family owned shop and we were all impressed with the approach they took. Our only hesitation with All Area was that they were based in Queens with only 1 other property somewhat near us (though this was back in 2010). A couple of others that seemed reasonable but didn't fully connect with our needs at that time were Taylor Asset Management in Hamilton Heights, and HEC Real Estate Group in Central Harlem. We also met with Manhattan Modern Management and Wavecrest, but neither of those firms were a very good match for us.

@Semerun: thank you so much for this. This information is extremely useful and I will get in touch with some of the ones you mentioned.

If anyone else has recommendations for management properties where units are still majority sponsor owned, please feel free to recommend them!