Small condo groups deal with their owners' quirks
Thanks to Fred Pilot for spotting this. Small condo developments are popping up all over the place. Chicago has zillions of them, and here is San Francisco with the same thing. People convert small apartment buildings to small condo buildings. Then instead of a landlord taking care of the place, you have a condo association. Fine in theory, but in practice a gene pool of four to ten owners isn't likely to yield enough people willing and able to run the building. So now what? Municipalities can either let many of these buildings go to pot (for you San Franciscans, I don't mean the herbal recreational kind) or do something to keep them afloat. But how about not allowing them to be set up in the first place?

here's a saying that the only thing harder to manage than a three- unit condominium is a two-unit one. While owners in large developments can rely on a professional management company, small building unit owners don't have this buffer. They are usually their own trustees and must persuade their fellow trustee-owners to agree to a new roof or paint job. Bad feelings can follow a negative vote, and just one obstructionist or irresponsible owner can turn the most elegant converted Victorian home into a battleground.
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