The Challenge

When I asked the outgoing manager of the co-op that we were taking over for the transfer check, he said, “What check?” This transaction is standard in transitions between agents; it’s how the old agent transfers the operating funds to the new one. In this case – a 75-unit property on the Upper East Side – there was no check because there was no money. We soon found that vendors had not been paid and a significant number of sponsor-owned apartments were in arrears. Mortgage payments were late, and the co-op was close to going bankrupt. It was not a pretty situation.