Tina Larsson helped her own co-op save $340,000.Then she made it her business.
Today she helps NYC co-op and condo boards cut costs and run their buildings like a business, working with boards across the city.
A former Wall Street financial analyst, author, speaker, and co-founder of The Folson Group, Tina is the person boards call when they are tired of overpaying, when nobody can explain where the money goes, and when everyone assumes that is just how it has always been done.
As heard and quoted inThe New York TimesHabitat MagazineThe On Boards PodcastReal StatesThe Agent of Wealth
Why buildings overpay
Most boards are set up to overpay, and nobody stops to ask why.
Board members are busy professionals volunteering their spare time to make multimillion dollar decisions for their neighbors. Here is what they are actually up against.
01
Stretched Thin
Full-time jobs, families, and a building to run on the side. There is never enough time to read everything.
02
First Time, High Stakes
Most are making million dollar decisions for the first time in their lives, with no playbook to follow.
03
Not Enough Support
Good people in a hard job with the wrong tools, and rarely anyone in their corner who has read the notes before.
Boards aren't the problem. Tina built The Folson Group to fix all three.
The receipts
The numbers don't lie. Tina reads them for a living.
$340K
Uncovered for one NYC co-op in three years
20+
Years as a Wall Street financial analyst
16K
LinkedIn followers and growing
5x
Posts a week, in her own voice
100+
Podcast and media appearances
2022
Published author, Living the High Life
13
Years building The Folson Group
LEED
Green Associate and NYC Accelerator provider
How Tina thinks
Three stories that explain everything.
Not just anecdotes. Proof of how Tina looks at a building, and at a business.
01
Why are we doing it that way?
One building was paying $30,000 a year to polish the lobby marble, with a full-time staff of nine. Tina asked why. The answer: that's how it's always been done. Nobody had checked in years.
Always done that way is not a reason.
02
Read the notes.
Her Wall Street mentor Steve taught her to read the notes, not just the number. So she read a bid line by line and found a $20,000 charge to water-test a sidewalk. A sidewalk.
The notes tell you what you're really paying for.
03
The $340,000 coup.
In 2011, Tina and Mark organized a coup in their own NYC co-op. She read the contracts, asked why, and helped the board find $340,000. It became the whole idea behind The Folson Group.
Your best idea hides in what you do naturally.
What hosts say
Real words, from real rooms.
“
Tina Larsson brings an unforgettable mix of business intelligence, boldness, and entrepreneurial instinct to every conversation.
BizBlend
“
So fun. Absolutely loved having Tina on the show. Great guest, full of energy, great perspective, and really good storytelling.
The Flipped Story
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An excellent guest. Very good storyteller, a great conversationalist, and explains complex ideas simply and creatively.
The Boardroom Podcast
“
One of the most prepared guests we've had. An expert who can actually hold a conversation.
Marc My Words
“
Tina makes complex business lessons concrete and memorable. Calm, direct, and full of stories you remember.
She Is A Leader
On the mic
Tina is a great guest.
More than 100 podcast and media appearances across business and real estate. Here are a few you can listen to right now.
Two decades on Wall Street. One unforgettable coup.
✓
Credential
LEED Green Associate
✓
Recognized by
NYC Accelerator Service Provider
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Also
Published Author and Speaker
In 2011, Tina and her husband Mark did something most people only complain about. They organized a coup in their own NYC co-op and took over the board.
Tina was a Wall Street financial analyst at the time, so she did the thing she knew how to do. She looked at the numbers. She read the contracts. She asked why the building was paying what it was paying. Mark served on the new board and has been president since. Tina was not a board member. She was the analyst who helped the board see where the money was going.
The bigger realization came later. If this was happening in their building, it was happening in thousands of others. That is why The Folson Group exists, to help NYC co-op and condo owners increase their property values.
Today Tina is the author of Living the High Life, a frequent podcast guest and speaker, and a LEED Green Associate. She created Folson Board Academy to give co-op and condo board members the business framework they need before something goes wrong. She is on a mission to help NYC boards optimize their buildings, because smart co-op and condo boards don't go it alone.
Swedish-born New Yorker
Former Wall Street Analyst
Avid CitiBiker
Stand-up Comedian
Co-founder, The Folson Group
Speaking and media
Two ways to bring Tina to the room.
Tina turns the parts of building operations that usually clear a room into the part people remember. The numbers are real, and the delivery is not boring. The stand-up training is how the dry stuff lands.
Keynotes and Panels
On your stage
The $340,000 Question: What Your Building Is Wasting
Your Building Is a Business. Why Isn't It Run Like One?
The Board Member's Guide to Asking Better Questions
Tina with Living the High Life at an industry event.
The book
Living the High Life.
How Smart Co-op and Condo Owners Protect Themselves and Their Investment. The playbook Tina wishes every board member had on day one, written in plain language with the receipts to back it up.
Clear Sight Books, 2022. Foreword by Mark J. Foley. ISBN 978-1-945209-36-9.
Do you only work with buildings in New York City?+
The Folson Group is built around NYC co-ops and condos, so that is where most of the work lives. The way of thinking, read the notes and ask why, travels anywhere.
Was the $340,000 really from one building?+
Yes. One NYC co-op, the first three years after the coup, from reading the contracts and renegotiating, not from one dramatic cut.
What does Tina do that a board can't?+
Boards make the decisions. Tina helps them see the numbers clearly first, so the decisions are easier to make and easier to defend to the neighbors.
Is the stand-up comedy a real thing?+
Very real. Tina trained in stand-up to build the confidence to say the hard thing in a crowded room. It turns out board meetings and open mics have a lot in common.
How do I get Tina on my stage or podcast?+
Use the Invite Tina button anywhere on this page. It goes straight to her calendar.
Get Tina's Take
Tina has something to say. And she says it often.
Short, useful notes on NYC buildings, money, real estate, and the occasional lesson from stand-up or a CitiBike ride. No fluff, no jargon, nothing you need a finance degree to follow.
