The Controlling Director

How many of us have experienced the board member who wants to control all aspects of his or her community association’s operation from finances to personnel to housekeeping? This controlling person just doesn’t want to accept that there is a division of responsibility in the operation of an association.

How do you handle such an individual and keep the association out of trouble? The answer lies within legal and insurance purviews
by Linda Alexander
CMCA®, PCAM®

Going Green – What Can We Do and Why We Should Do It?

It seems as if every time we turn on the TV or radio, or open our newspaper or a magazine, there are stories encouraging us to “go green”. Al Gore has warned us about global warming and most of us think we should do something. But we don’t know where to start. In 2007, there were almost 300,000 community associations in the United States, representing more than 20 million homes. If each of our associations encouraged their owners to take some minor steps to conserve energy, the impact would be substantial.
by Gail VanDyke
PCAM®

Smart Irrigation Controllers – How Smart Are They?

Do you know what a Smart Irrigation Controller is? No? Well, don’t feel bad. Lots of people don’t. A Smart Irrigation Controller can save you and your clients money with very little time and effort. Smart controllers are irrigation clocks that automatically adjust irrigation run times in response to environmental changes. Smart controllers use sensors and weather information to manage watering times and frequency. As environmental conditions vary, the controller increases or decreases irrigation. Smart controllers have the ability to turn off your sprinklers automatically during rain, high wind or low temperature.

Smart controllers reduce outdoor water use by an average of 15 to 30 percent. They also reduce over watering, which can cause fungal disease and insect problems.
by Stella Placentia

Minimize Your Community Risk Against Current Housing Trends

When the housing market encounters a downward trend, and most recently accelerated by the rapid decline of the mortgage industry, cash-strapped homeowners must balance whom to pay, whom not to pay, and what to pay for. Sadly, many have decided to relinquish the maintenance on their homes.

In some cases, owners are abandoning their home, awaiting foreclosure. An abandoned home can directly impact the association and its members. Owners with no means of financial support are not able or willing to spend money on what they consider low priority – maintenance on their homes, which they do no expect to own much longer. Homes with pools are left without regular services, resulting in major health issues. Unkept lawns can result in brown grass, overgrown shrubbery, and trees untrimmed for many months. At times newspapers and junk mail accumulate on the property. A home in foreclosure can mean an empty house, which can then be a target for vandals.
by Patti Jo Lewis
CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®

Trusting your Professional Service Providers

Homeowners associations are comprised of people from all walks of life, and for that very reason their boards of directors often consist of individuals who bring various levels of knowledge to the administration of the association. Some community associations will elect members to the board of directors based on their ability to offer specific areas of expertise, such as attorneys, accountants, or other trades considered to be of importance to their community..
by Mark Southall
PCAM®, AMS®, CMCA®, COS®, CPM®

Jack of all Trades

Being a community manager is easy; anybody can do it, right? Hardly, as few professions require the range of knowledge that community managers must possess. On any given day, a manager might wear many hats: legal expert, financial analyst, general contractor, and mediator. Your community manager might start the morning outside with a landscaper, spend the afternoon with an engineer poring over construction plans, help your board president keep the peace at a night meeting, and then—just when you think your manager is done role playing for the day —s/he gets a call in the middle of the night about a plumbing problem. How can a person learn about all these different operational issues of community associations?
by John Lawton
CMCA®, RCM®, PCAM®

Hiring a Great Maintenance Worker

Great community association maintenance workers are a major asset in so many ways. They bring a huge sense of pride to their supervisors and the community they work for and are often referred to as “gems”. This comparison to valuable merchandise is accurate and that is exactly great maintenance works are: a precious commodity. So how do we increase our chances of finding that “gem” when in the market for a maintenance worker? Patience is the key.
by Jeff Gourlie
AMS®, PCAM®

Poor Documents and Insufficient Reserves = A Big Headache

The era of community associations really began to flourish in the late 1970s. The legal documents for those early homeowner associations and condominiums reflected the best thinking and analysis of the time regarding the future financial and operational needs of the individual communities. Actually, it is a tribute to the attorneys who crafted some of those fledgling documents with foresight to include flexibility for future boards with regard to assessment levels. However, in most cases, that flexibility was not included and community associations were limited to a small percentage annual increase – or none at all -- without a high percentage of membership approval. Those communities face a serious economic challenge today.
by Sandra Mango
CMCA®,AMS®, PCAM®

Prepare for an Emergency

What is an Emergency? An emergency is in the eye of the beholder. Homeowners, board members and residents often feel that whatever affects them is the emergency. That can be anything from a past due account to a violation letter to property and safety issues. Managers focus on the day-to-day issues of accounts and violations as a part of their routine. Recently, with Katrina, the blizzards in Colorado, flooding in Illinois and Ohio and fires in California, Georgia and Florida, the task of dealing with these types of disasters is once again in the forefront.

Most communities do not have a disaster/emergency plan for their members. The purpose of this article is to urge community associations and management companies to spend the time to plan ahead, using the following steps to create a unique plan specifically for their association.

by Dee Tyler
CMCA®, PCAM®

Less is Best When Refining Your Rules and Regulations

Here’s a challenge. Take out your current set of Rules and Regulations. Now, pretend you are a brand new homeowner who really wants to work with the board and management by actually reading this package of rules. Be honest. What are your reactions and opinions? Keep them in mind as you read the rest of this article.

Far too many associations have created rules and regulations that seem old, wordy, and sometimes conflicting with each other, with little sense of organization and order. They may have been frequently updated as each new board encounters a new situation that the directors felt required another rule.
by Steve Castle
CMCA®,AMS®, PCAM®

Where the heck does all the money go? Your fees or dues seem high, the whole community sends their payment each month to the Management Company, someone MUST be making a lot of money!

I was recently speaking with a customer and he said, “…we pay you guys a lot of money!” I replied, “Sir, I believe our piece of the pie is very small compared to other vendors.” Well you can bet as soon as I was off the phone, I ran a pie chart of this particular association’s monthly budget to assure myself I had had not misspoken and also so that I could have a factual and visual instrument that I could send this customer.
by Susan Gregg
CMCA®, PCAM®

Call to Action: Legislative Alert

Are you on top of what is happening with your state legislature and how it could affect community associations? Sometimes new bills can be drafted and move quickly through the process before you are even aware of what is happening. New legislation can have a tremendous financial impact on the community association industry and your association in particular.

First, if it has been a while since you last looked, take some time to review your current federal and state regulations. Next, get in the loop on what is happening in regards to community associations.
by Mark Lewis
CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®

Rebuilding a Dream

Home ownership is something that we all dream about. We work hard, save money, pay our bills on time and hope for loan approval on that dream house. For several families in Kapolei last year, their dream turned into a nightmare in a matter of minutes.

While many watched helplessly, four families saw their dream go up in flames. The fire ravaged two units completely and forced three families out of their homes. Damages were extensive, but with the quick response of HFD, the situation was quickly controlled.
by Toni Floerke-Politsch
CMCA®,AMS®, PCAM®

Managers are beginning to see more associations with delinquency rates approaching 20%. The perceptive managers are initiating conversations with their boards to direct focus on the effects of increasing accounts receivable.

Accounts Receivable (AR) reduces an association’s cash. When an association’s AR is 5% or less, there are usually no problems. However, an alarming number of Associations are experiencing AR in excess of 20%.

What should a Board do when they are only collecting 80% of the assessments?
by Robert Elks

How to Tame the Unruly Meeting

Board members and managers alike can all recall meetings that left them with churning stomachs and scratching their heads afterwards, wondering how in the world things could have gotten so out of control. The supportive homeowners get up and leave, and the disrespectful folks stay and just get more out of control by the minute. The Board members (and often the homeowners and the manager) feel beaten up and mistreated. While those situations are a learning experience for everyone, it might be helpful for both Board members and managers to do a little advance training to achieve a better outcome the next time around… and the next time will come.
by Dana Pepper
CMCA®, PCAM®

Out of all the amenities a community can offer, a pool is one the biggest exposures your Association can have. Operating a pool without lifeguards is not a practice you want to start or continue with. The cost of a pool management contract is nothing when you are referring to the safety and welfare of your residents and their guests.
by Lou Ann Hingley
AMS®, PCAM®

Why Do I Need to Write That?

At a recent homeowners association meeting, I sat listening to a number of attendees who asked the same questions a number of different ways. Perhaps they were hoping for a different answer each time the President replied. It seemed to me that many of the issues were simple to answer or explain. It became obvious as the event went on that the people were just not being kept as informed about issues as they could be or that when information was shared, they forgot or didn’t write down the details to help them remember all of the facts.
by Doug Mattos
CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®

Creating a Newsworthy Newsletter

A newsletter is a great way to keep the community informed. Many owners today have access to email, and the newsletter can be sent as an attachment or it can be mailed to each owner to ensure that news is going out on a regular basis. There are a variety of styles of newsletters used, but there are a few basic things that should be included in the newsletter, regardless of the format selected.
by Stacey Tokairin
CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®

How do we last; stay sane; are we really happy and how is success measured in community management? Aren’t they the $64,000 dollar questions?

Are we measured by the amount of clients you manage, your Board of Directors, your company or co-workers? In an industry full of Boards who are ever changing and moving the bull’s eyes, how do you know when you have success?
by Paula Santangelo
CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®

The Coveted Onsite Manager Position

While portfolio management (managers managing numerous associations) is prevalent in most areas, there are a large number of large scale associations that require an on-site manager, dedicated solely to that site. For many years those positions have been considered the premier positions.
by Christine Evans
CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®

During the last three years, I have experienced a significant increase in the number of unit remodels. A good number of these unit modifications were initiated without proper approvals, by new or maverick owners who, more often than not, did not fully understand that they own a condominium and that there are rules that must be followed.
by Patrice Asuncion
PCAM®, AMS®, CMCA®

Board Meeting Agendas

The number one most important part of a Board meeting is the agenda. The agenda is what guides the Board in conducting a timely and productive Board meeting all the while keeping the homeowners informed.
by Nicholas J. Mazzarella
MBA, PCAM®, CMCA®

Directors vs. Officers of the Association – Clarifying the Misconceptions

It truly amazes me how the very individuals that voluntarily take on those positions and responsibilities misunderstand the Director vs. Officer concepts. Over the years I’ve come to the realization that it is often less effort to simply prepare and present a recap similar to that, which follows. Please keep in mind that this work is prepared within the context of a specific Association and its governing documents, as well as prevailing law, in this case the state of Arizona.
by David Gauvin
PCAM®, AMS®, CMCA®

Okay, the Annual meeting has just adjourned and the new Board is meeting for the first time. First on the agenda is the election of officers for the upcoming fiscal year. Who is interested in being nominated for President? Nomination, 2nd, all vote for “Bob”. One down. Who is interested in being nominated for Vice President? Nomination, 2nd, all vote for “Karen”. Two down. (Whew!) Next is Secretary… the question is asked… no takers… dead silence…
by Bobbie Jo Barrett
PCAM®

I Bought a Condo!

Guess what? I bought a condo (or a townhome or another type of community association unit) and now I don’t have to do a thing! I’m going to give away my snow shovel and any other maintenance supplies I have because I’m moving into Maintenance Free Living! The Association will cut the grass, trim the bushes, shovel the snow, fix the roof, clean the gutters, and will take care of everything for me, when I decide I need it . . . won’t they? Well, the answer is – yes and no.
by Cathy Blake
PCAM®, AMS®

Fiscal Management

There are three different methods used in the preparation of a year end financial statement, which should be done by an independently contracted Certified Public Accountant (CPA). The three types are:

1. Audit
2. Review
3. Compilation

All three methods are considered to be levels of service, if you will, and each has certain assurances.
by Corey Recla
PCAM®, AMS®, CMCA®

Minutes - The Legal Document of the Association

Twenty-five years in the association management business have provided me with plenty of opportunities to review Board Meeting minutes and observe the various methods used in keeping and writing minutes. The importance of the task requires knowledge of the purpose and content of meeting minutes. How can we find a common sense approach to Board Meeting minutes?
by Carole Murphy
PCAM®, CMCA®

Changes in Personnel – It Happens!

We all know how disruptive it can be to client services when there is a change in Manager’s. Whether a Manager resigns, is transferred or worse yet, terminated, there will be a period of transition for the affected clients. As professionals, we must do our best to make sure that the transition is as seamless as possible to our valued clients.

How do you begin to train a Manager that is new to a client? While training never really seems to end, here are ten things vital to successful training.
by Meg Kitchin
PCAM®, AMS®, CMCA®

Rental Compliance

Community Associations help retain and improve the standard of living and property values within a community. While all owners sometimes wish that a particular restriction did not apply to them, most are grateful that the restrictions apply to their neighbors. In some cases their neighbor may not own the home; but have leased the home.
by Jan Lines
AMS®

What is a Homeowners Association?

A homeowners association is an organization established to govern a private community. Typically it owns and manages some common property for owners of private houses or condominium/townhome units. By buying a lot and/or home, an owner automatically becomes a member of the homeowners association of which it is a part. Most homeowners associations are corporations established under the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law. A homeowners association is similar to other corporations – it is governed by a board of directors elected by the members and a set of rules called by-laws.
by Linda A. Bartel-McGinnis
PCAM®, AMS®, LSM®