Community Association Management

Because I was the original developer of what is now CAM*Pro Association Management software, I have been a bit reluctant to just write an article about it, however, the fact that I have a bias toward it has been obvious throughout my articles. Simply put, I couldn’t manage without it.

The topic today is the role of technology in property management. Obviously, CAM*Pro is not the first nor the only software out there that supports association management. There are many more…and more to come, I am sure.

When I was practicing Organization Development in the 80’s, one of my clients was then my association’s management firm. I was amazed to find out they didn’t even have computers, much less a network, templates or standards for tracking work. Our first order of business was to get the business computerized, a complex and expensive process even then. Yet it was a critical investment in the business, just as databases are today. Keeping up with technology is a critical component in the business development model. How much does the investment improve the actual business processes? How does it contribute to that all important “bottom line”? Even though the association’s themselves might be non-profits, the management companies are profit driven. Unfortunately, in my experience, this profit driven perspective has been at the cost of the clients all too often.

When my association management business grew to 9 properties and over 1000 units, I found I had to have some effective way of managing all that data. I operated with 1 assistant for the property management business, with accounting outsourced to a company that specializes in providing services solely to homeowner associations. Over the 18+ years I have been managing, I have come to believe that this model is not all that different than what happens in most association management firms today. The only difference is that the “outsourced” accounting activities are contained within the framework of the same company, yet the functions of accounting and actual property management are so different that most managers don’t reap many benefits from the incredibly complex and expensive accounting software packages that are on the market today.

If you look, nearly every software that purports to be “association property management software” is accounting based. As the bigger companies grew, they added on work orders, then rule violation tracking – these are now “add-on” components to the basic software. Of course, there are some comprehensive software packages out there that offer both fully integrated accounting and management functionality. The key however is that you pay big bucks for them and many of the smaller management companies find themselves priced out of the market.

As a manager who didn’t need accounting functionality, I was left (like many smaller property management companies) to figure out how to meet my needs. Ten years later and more dollars than I care to mention, CAM*Pro is the result. An affordable, access-based software that addresses every action I need it to as a property manager without having to worry about who/what/or when the accounting software changes.

In talking with other companies, I have found that managers use every type of method you can imagine to get the same result. While a majority still rely on paper files (some color coded/unit file based), others have developed their own excel spreadsheets, others use Outlook for to do’s and spreadsheets for work order or rule violation tracking, most use Word and try to figure out a way to organize in that program. Some bigger companies have developed their own proprietary software. Bottom line, we will do anything to try and get a handle on this monster job that is based on managing the details well.

Yet, whether you are a portfolio manager, a large, self-managed CAM, or one of the new breed of “boutique” managers offering more customized, personalized management to a smaller number of clients, the best and most cost effective model is a database. In our litigious minded society, with new laws regarding the scope and access to record keeping, managers MUST have the ability to manage large quantities of data easily and effectively. More importantly, they must be able to ACCESS that data, via workable, definitive reporting systems. Nothing else can do that other than an effectively written database program.

There are so many reasons and benefits to embrace this technology it begs for another article so that will be the topic for my next blog. What software do you use for CAM? What software do you use for the accounting functions. Are they one and the same? If you are happy with your accounting software but looking for something that addresses ALL of the CAM functionality you need, please check out CAM*Pro and compare it to other software on the market. There are more and more options every day to help us improve the services we provide our clients.

I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Your questions can also help me direct my blog. We often work in isolation so this is a way we can also share things that work for each of us. Please email me at Gayle@campro.us if you have anything to share.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
info@campro.us
www.campro.us

Last week, I talked about Minutes and my process for recording them in a specific and repetitive format for consistency and effectiveness. This week, I want to talk about working with vendors and the technology available to help us help them.

First and foremost in working with my vendors is the relationship. As in all good relationships, this means communication is key to our working together. Every service provider has “hiccups” in service. I know I have had incidents when I missed a deadline or messed up a communication – we are all human. So why do we hold our service providers to any other standard? Of course, we all want to be professional, effective, efficient and exceptional in the service we provide our customers. If you don’t believe that about your vendor, it is time to change.

Many boards and management companies have the policy best described as “in with the new and out with the old.” I subscribe to the policy that everyone wants to do a good job and in 99 cases out of 100, if the vendor isn’t doing a good job, I need to look at myself.

Am I communicating my expectations?
 Do I issue Work Orders and expect a reply?
 Do I follow up on outstanding work orders?
 Do I call my vendor when there is a problem?
 Do I pay them on time?
 Do I accept responsibility when I make a mistake?
 Do I hold them accountable when they do the same?
 Do I take the time to really talk to them when I do call or email?
 Do I appreciate them for the work they do for me and my clients?

I learned the most effective method of communication is the “love sandwich”… and it took some time to learn.

In the past, I would just dash off the email request with no “dressing” nor did “close” well. Here is an example: (wrong) ___________________________________________________________

Katrina,

Can you cut a special check for the disposal company? They are such idiots. I need it tomorrow.

Gayle

Here is the same example using the “love sandwich” method:

Hi Katrina,

Hope your weekend was great! Little Bella must be growing like a weed these days.

The disposal company is having issues in applying payments. I really appreciate your calling them to get this resolved and would like to pick up a special check that I will hand deliver by the end of the week.

I understand the issues are on their end and that you always pay our bills. It must be as frustrating for you as for us. Please call when the check is ready.

Thanks! Gayle
_____________________________________________________________________________

Yes, it takes a little more time to dress up your emails or a few more moments on the phone (where I use the same approach.) When I first started, I would write my email, then have to go back and put the “sandwich” part into it. It took energy to think about really personalizing emails and making them feel good to the recipient. Now it is a habit and it has really helped in all my communications resulting in better relationships, both personal and professional.

The golden rule is “treat others as you would like to be treated.” It builds relationships when you meet your vendors on walk throughs and point out what they are doing right as well as what they are doing wrong. I ALWAYS want to do a better job when my board thanks me and acknowledges how much I mean to them after a meeting – and they do let me know this after every meeting without fail.

It helps to own your own frustration and not take it out on others. When there is a particularly difficult letter to write I will draft it and let my anger come out then put it aside. I’ll go back and laugh at how outrageous I was because I was angry and clean it up. Then, just to make sure that nothing “leaks”, I’ll ask my assistant or a board member to review it and give me feedback before it goes into the mail. If the board or my actions are the subject of the letter, it comes from the board president, not me!

How, you may ask, does “technology” fit into this blog? History is the key! We log all calls and emails into the call log and the work orders are also generated by our management program. Then, when I meet with a vendor, I can take reports of outstanding work orders and a history of emails or calls in a simple report format so I don’t have to struggle to remember details…they are at my fingertips. I’ll take an extra copy of the report for the vendor so we can make notes and those notes are summarized in a follow up email recorded in the database. Without this kind of organization and history, it is a “he said/she said” world.

I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Your questions can also help me direct my blog. We often work in isolation so this is a way we can also share things that work for each of us. Please email me at Gayle@campro.us if you have anything to share.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
info@campro.us
www.campro.us

Last week, I talked about Manager’s Reports and my process for tracking items for my boards. This week, I wanted to build on that and explain how I use that Manager’s Report to create my meeting minutes. Basically, it is a cut and paste process in Word. I have a folder for each year with all reports and minutes in it. You could, of course, split this into 2 folders within the main year folder but I find it helpful to view the year at one time. The naming convention always starts with the 2 digit year, the document name and the month.

I open both my current report and last month’s minutes. I save the current manager’s report as next month’s Manager’s report. My format is 08_ManRep_06.doc which is then saved as 08_ManRep_07.doc [year/document type/month].

Then I copy the content from 08_ManRep_06.doc and paste it into the 08_Mins_05.doc and save that as 08_Mins_06. Now I have 2 Manager’s Reports and 2 sets of Minutes open. I close both last month’s minutes (used just to capture formatting) and next month’s manager’s report [08_ManRep_07.doc] which I will come back to update at a later time thus eliminating confusion.

I update information in the new minutes document by recording members and guests present, time meeting called to order, and the meeting date. Remember, this information is all there since this it is a copy of last month’s minutes so it takes very little time to update all this. Then I proceed to the change the wording to record the actions taken by the board, purge info only items and any repetitive general information I’ve provided in the report. The goal is to cut down on the length of the minutes while still addressing business discussed, motions and reports and following the Manager’s Report format for consistency.

Called to Order

1. Board Business
2. Financial
3. Architectural Controls
5. General Business/Violations
6. Maintenance and Repairs
7. Landscape
8. New Business

Adjournment

There is a fine line between overstating and simply recording the most basic information. It is important to remember who may be reviewing your minutes since the entire audience could include owners, buyers, realtors, lawyers, etc. Since Roberts Rules of Order provides a basic guideline for managing meetings and recording minutes, their website is a helpful guide. Check out their FAQs at: http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#15

Here is what they say about minutes: “Not only is it not necessary to summarize matters discussed at a meeting in the minutes of that meeting, it is improper to do so. Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said.”
Minutes (other than Executive Minutes) should be readily available in a separate minute book. Never keep in the minute book as permanent records. Of course, laws governing associations differ state to state so it is vital that you are aware of the current laws governing your association processes.

I try to immediately go back to the Manager’s Report for my upcoming month, change the dates, update as much information as possible and make my “to do” list. Of course, if there are priority items from the meeting, I’ll complete those before working on minutes but I seldom wait to create my “to do” list. This entire process takes less than 30-45 minutes and is one of the most important tasks I use to stay organized and on top of things.
Next blog, I will talk about communicating with vendors and using technology to help you stay on top of those all important “to do” lists.

I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Your questions can also help me direct my blog. We often work in isolation so this is a way we can also share things that work for each of us. Please email me at Gayle@campro.us if you have anything to share.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
info@campro.us
www.campro.us

OK… this topic could cover a huge number of perspectives and I expect to share my thoughts from several of them over time. There is a new California Law SB528, effective November 2007, which addresses posting agendas and board decision making. In this blog, I am specifically talking about working documents and internal communication processes rather than the legal aspects of that law.

One of the reasons that I moved from being a board member to becoming a manager was the amount of time that I spent working with an every rotating series of account managers. I was an Organizational Development Consultant at the time, working from home and trying to balance all those activities that a small, home based consultant has to do: marketing, networking, client meetings, program development and delivery, invoicing, and the normal office tasks of filing, etc. Then, there was volunteering on the board and, eventually, assuming the mantle of President.

Over the span of 2 years, we had 4 different account managers. Given my bias for organizational systems, it made me crazy that we didn’t get manager’s reports before meetings, tasks went months without follow up, new account managers had more questions than answers about the property, and “training” the account manager, I felt, fell to me. In 1987 I offered to resign from the board and manage the association – one I still manage today.

My first task was to organize board communications via the Manager’s Report. True to meeting management principles, I created a format that simply expanded the agenda categories and tracked items within them from month to month until they were completed. I used the same format to transform the Manager’s Report to Minutes, purging extraneous details and recording motions and board direction/decisions. Following is a basic Agenda on the cover of the manager’s report from 2003 – a format that has changed little over time:

7:00 PM Call to Order

7:02 PM Review Manager's Report
1. Board Business
2. Financial
3. Architectural Controls
4. General Business/Violations
5. Landscape & Maintenance
6. New Business

8:00 PM Adjournment

Inside the Manager’s Report, each category (1 – 6) is expanded to reflect the business of the meeting. A simple example of how this might work is that under Board Business, item 1 is always to review and approve the minutes of the prior meeting. Item 2 might be “recruiting new board members”. This item will remain on the Manager’s Report until new members are recruited (including who is responsible for approaching candidates, etc.). It will report on board applications received, transition activities, and election of board positions once new members are elected by the membership. Once all related activities have been completed, the item would be closed and not appear on future reports. (Note: I am specifically not addressing what information would be transferred into the minutes here since the Manager’s Report is a working document and the actual Minutes are a legal document.)

Item 3 under Board Business is usually to review the 90 day calendar. One of the biggest benefits to having an HOA specific management database (www.campro.us) is that instead of reporting on activities within the Manager’s Report, I can now attach a simple report. The reports developed in the database were driven by the items I used to include in the Manager’s Report, so the 90 day calendar includes upcoming meetings and events, contracts coming up for renewal and major scheduled maintenance activities and helps give the board and management a “heads up” on upcoming tasks.

These reports also help the board understand the scope of work completed by management without making the Manager’s Report excessively long. Yes, I know this is self-serving, but one of the problems I think boards have is in truly understanding just how much managers do that goes unacknowledged. One report includes Architectural Approvals (anything outside standard specifications would be on the Manager’s Report). One is Completed Maintenance; one, Outstanding Work Orders. Not only does the board see that you are on top of taking care of the property, they also get to see who does, what, how much it cost and what kinds of maintenance is being done.

A CC&R Activities Report let’s the board see how many letters were generated, how many members complied with requests, and when needed, specific history on a problem unit or issue. This is really helpful when there is a board hearing and a homeowner is trying to tell the board they are the “only one” being picked on about their dog barking, for example. When the manager can cite that 30 letters have been written to owners about dog issues over the last 2 years, these homeowners suddenly lose their steam.

The Manager’s Report is one of the primary methods of communication we have with our Board. I believe the more informed a board is, the more trust develops between board members and the manager. The more detail you can provide, the better the understanding and communication. And yes, it is a balancing act to provide that level of detail without overwhelming your board members.

How do you manage it? Whether your system is a word document, a table, a spreadsheet, or a custom database, or combination, this level of communication can pay big dividends in helping create the sense of an informed and effective team. Next blog, I’ll discuss more on how I use the Manager’s Report to create meeting minutes and continuity between meetings.

I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Your questions can also help me direct my blog. We often work in isolation so this is a way we can also share things that work for each of us. Please email me at Gayle@campro.us if you have anything to share.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us
www.campro.us

For whatever reason, it seems that in every association there is someone you just can’t please. (I think it’s the old marketing “80/20” rule in action!) They “bad mouth” you to other residents, are abusive on the phone and no matter what you do, they just aren’t happy.

Fortunately, I only have a couple of those, one of whom is the topic for today. Now this is a person that over the years has been ejected from board meetings, and, due to verbal abuse, has been told she is only to communicate in writing to the office.

She recently called the office to talk about a leak she has in the bathroom. It was a most pleasant conversation! She said she remembered articles in our newsletters referencing common maintenance issues and thought I might be able to help her figure out the source of the leak. After she described it, I gave her a couple of suggestions (replacing the cartridge in her shower and checking the caulking around her tub spigot and overflow) and she thanked me. She even said, she “knew I could help her!” A couple of weeks later, she called about a different problem and in her message, she thanked me for my “wise advice” since they had determined it was, in fact, the caulking around the overflow device that was the source of the leak.

What this proves is that it truly is never about you. When people are angry and abusive, they usually have an issue in their lives that is driving their behavior. Whether their anger is “justified” or not, it is important to keep your personal boundaries and to insist on respectful conversations. Sometimes, you have to really just stop it. I have a little green cheeked conure [parrot] named Jimmy who says “stop it, now…stop it, Jimmy, right now! It’s like having a 2 year old repeating your worst phrases back to you!

Of course, we have to be a bit more diplomatic than that on the phone. My assistant, Carol, has a marvelous way of doing that by simply saying “I’m sorry to stop you…however I will have to close the phone now. Please put your concerns in writing.” and then she hangs up. She knows she has my complete backing, and more importantly, we document every call in the call log association management software (see www.campro.us) so there is never any confusion about who called when, how many times, and about what. It is an invaluable tool that allows her to see immediate history including phone calls, emails and past requests so she can be professional and responsive to residents and their concerns.

Living in the association as I do, I am often stopped by residents who want to vent or report an issue because they just happened to see me. Often, I know what is coming simply by who is approaching me. It isn’t always easy but I have learned how to say “please stop hollering and I will be happy to listen to you”, or “I’m sorry, I’m on my way out and I don’t have time to talk right now.” Setting boundaries isn’t always easy however with consistent, clear messages, it can be done.

Of course, the old adage is true, you can’t please everyone 100% of the time, but you can try!

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us
www.campro.us

What fun! I attended the CAI Conference held in Orlando at the end of April with my colleagues Bill Harding (Net5 Software, owner of CAM*Pro) and Nancy Nordyke-Shelley, his Sales Consultant. We debuted the CAM*Pro Association Management software at the conference. It was a great opportunity to meet other vendors, property managers and management company executives. Florida provided perfect weather, the property at Disney was certainly convenient and comfortable and it was a wonderful opportunity for all involved. Marc Ingram, the CAI National Event Manager, did a great job of managing the event!

What I learned was how much more stringent laws are in Florida regarding licensing of property managers, and how gi-normous some of the management companies are. It boggles my mind to think of +/-300 property managers working for one company! It was also fascinating to talk with property managers there about management issues, portfolio size, fees and more.

We also talked to folks about technology of course, since CAM*Pro is an association management software. It seems that almost every large management company (and there were some there from other states as well), have written their own proprietary software or use JenArk, ATG, Tops, or one of the other comprehensive (read expensive!) software. There was a big gap between those companies and the smaller ones (under 50 properties), many of whom had cobbled together their own systems for managing the plethora of data and tasks related to community management. One of those was an owner/manager who described an amazing system that was based in Excel! Time prevented us from understanding how this system was able to generate the wide variety of customized letters and reports required of managers today.

The trend to PDAs and online software was also evidenced by the number and type of service providers with booths at the convention. Yet, I am left wondering if these trends really service the BULK of manager’s today. How many association management companies are out there that serve 5 – 50 properties with a staff of no more than 5 to 15 people? My sense is that is more the norm than are these huge companies which may also have their own landscape and maintenance divisions.

In almost every case, software has been developed on an accounting platform. So what happens to those managers who outsource their accounting, or use Peachtree, Quickbooks, Timberline, or other accounting software? Is the opportunity for and access to a fully functional management software restricted to having to change accounting systems? Of course I am biased since I developed CAM*Pro http://www.campro.us meet my (and my clients) needs and we have always outsourced our accounting and collection services. I believe it is the first, best and most affordable option for managers who are happy with their existing accounting functionality and who need to be able to manage multiple properties effectively.

The other bias I have that as fast as this industry grows, it lags greatly in the areas of technology, training and software. Despite the growth of these huge property management companies in Florida and Southern California, the bulk of association community management is still done by small businesses with limited availability to state-of-the-art technology or by volunteers (in the case of self-managed properties), with little capability or time to even know what is available to them to support their endeavors. Many of these companies are real estate professionals who are now entering the marketplace as a result of the collapse of the subprime market. Yet the number of communities is growing by leaps and bounds every year, providing a fertile ground for vendors and service providers willing to put the time and effort into developing service packages or technology and the fortitude to figuring out how to reach their marketplace.

Amazing!

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Assoication Manager
Community Assoication Homeowner
Gayle@campro.us
http://www.campro.us

I am off to CAI National Conference in Orlando, FL tomorrow, 4/30 to help Net5 Software's Bill Harding and Nancy Nordyke Shelley staff our CAM*Pro association management software booth. I hope you will find us (look around the 704 - 706 area I think), and stop to say Hi. I would love to connect with as many managers as possible while I am there.

If you would like more information about CAM*Pro, please visit us at www.campro.us!

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us

Many years ago, a well-respected reserve preparer told me that reserve studies were not management tools, rather they were ‘savings plans’. While I might agree in principal, I couldn’t disagree more when it comes to managing associations. I believe reserve studies are one of the most important tools associations have in terms of budgeting and planning long term repair and replacement of their most important assets and it is critical that managers not only understand these studies, but also have a way to make the data useful to their association(s).

In California, physical inspection and update of reserve components is required every 3 years. Yet there is NO requirement for boards to use that data! Often times, reserve studies are completed and accepted without any type of formal board review and the “study” goes onto the shelf. That’s like fixing the budget then never looking to see if you are over or under expenditures.

Part of the problem is the way reserve studies are computed and presented. There is seldom a single line item for “painting”. Yet from the study, one can get an idea that the complex will need painting in about 3 years. We group those major components together and enter the ones that need to be addressed in the next 3 years into our working database (www.campro.us) as “Scheduled Maintenance”. That way, between studies, we have a way to remind the board that painting or roofing or siding is due to be inspected and/or bid.

We track completed maintenance so when the next reserve study is due, we can provide the reserve preparer with a report on all the work that has been completed on reserve components over the interim 3 years and at what cost. These components represent the biggest expenses the association incurs, yet many boards don’t even understand the basic methods available for funding them.

Full Funding means the association wishes to have the full amount of money on hand in the reserves equal to the amount of money as outlined by the reserve study at any given point in time.

Threshold Funding: The association wishes to ensure that the balances on hand in the fund over some number of future years (usually 30 or 40 years) remains above some threshold to allow some safety for estimate variations.

Baseline Funding: The association wishes to maintain positive balances in the fund over the next thirty years. In essence, a threshold of zero.

Each type of funding has the potential for impact on the association. Too much funding (is there such an animal any more?) and dues can be extremely high… too little and special assessments become the norm.

Several years ago, when laws were looser, my company assisted in preparing a couple of reserve studies using our qualified contractors and vendors to conduct the physical inspection of the components. The list of components had originally been provided by the developer and updated using qualified reserve preparers over the years. Yet, when I coordinated the study, we found many “missing” components. Amongst them was all the copper plumbing and electrical in the pool areas, the coping stone and the concrete decking. We spent $50,000 replacing one of our 2 pools last year because the copper pipes had rusted out and were leaking, the electrical conduit had disintegrated and the concrete deck had heaved so badly we were in danger of having the health department close the pool.

Since these pools were built in 1965, they did not meet existing code, so when we pulled the permits, we had to meet all the existing code for any public facility including dual drains, new fencing, etc. The project cost a total of $70,000 (with fencing) and took 2 months to complete. Fortunately, we had started funding this project over 4 years ago so no special assessment was required.

This year, we have discovered that our hot water re-circulating lines are failing and will need to be replaced, yet “plumbing” is not included in our reserves. We are in the process of assessing the lines and getting estimates so we can start planning the replacement process.

I know that many professionals will say that these are the kinds of items that are covered under the “contingency” portion of reserves. What I also know is that many associations are not funding reserves adequately and the “contingency” is one of the first items to be reduced or eliminated altogether.

Do you have a current reserve study? When was it last updated? How do you fund your reserves? Has your association had to pass special assessments for major repair or replacement of components that are part of this study? How (and when) does your board use the information in the study? I believe fiscal management requires us as board members and managers alike to be able to answer these and other reserve related questions. Our role as custodians of our physical assets, demands it.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us
www.campro.us

Julie Adamen (who incidentally I respect and admire greatly) recently wrote an article celebrating one of the things about our industry as our being “recession proof”. While I agree that it is a constantly growing industry from the management company perspective, I am not at all sure that the association communities themselves are as lucky.

My friends in the collection business can’t keep up with the delinquencies referred to the collection process. Management colleagues are distressed about even being able to pay their association’s bills.

In my own association, 2007 was a year of great difficulty for many of our homeowners caught in the subprime market collapse. The affect on the association has been equally as devastating. We began 2006 with $4,734 in delinquent assessments. That amount grew to $17,536 by 12/31/06. On 12/31/07 our delinquent assessments hit $52, 171.

Prices have collapsed and we have 10 or more units (out of 116) in various stages of foreclosure or sale. And the worst isn’t over yet. We see further reduction in prices as banks sell units just to move them, and as foreclosures are bought at auction for literally half their value of just a year or two ago.

One vendor reported one of his clients cancelled their contract as the association went into receivership. The trustee came in, ousted the entire board, fired all the contractors and took over the association. How many more of these are out there?

Despite the negative cash flow, we ended the year with our reserves fully funded, we took on the major renovation of the even side pool, the second of our three courts resurfaced; and all planned and emergency maintenance completed. Over the last thirteen years, dues have been increased 7 times, usually less than 3-4 %. The board has worked hard to keep dues as affordable as possible and the last 6 years, we have been under budget or within $2,500 of our $385,000 annual budget. So far, we’ve been able to weather the storm because of it.

That all sounds great however there is a big difference between the accrual method of accounting and understanding CASH FLOW! That was the main topic at our annual meeting in March. Although we were $3,260 “under budget” this year, using the accrual method, we had to look at that liability of $52,171 in unpaid assessments. Of that, about $30,000 is current arrears and in the collection process.

The other $22,000 or so is owed by foreclosed homeowners who have lost their homes and have few resources to pay their debt to the association - even assuming we can
a) find them
b) serve them
c) get a judgment against them, and
d) collect on the judgment.

So, how much does the association invest in going after these homeowners? What is our actual cash in the bank? What happens when we run out of cash? Some associations are passing special assessments to make up for delinquencies. Others are borrowing from reserves. Each has consequences.

Boards HAVE to pay attention to these issues and understand the financial statements they are provided. That means it is critical that managers understand them and to help guide the board through the morass of questions or help them find the professionals who can. How often this is true, and more importantly, how often the vital attention required is paid to them, is unclear.

We’ve tightened our belts and although my association has budgeted for regular maintenance, the decision was to do only what is required to keep up the appearance (and value) of the association until we can see how this year shapes up. Last week, Bernanke finally acknowledged that we could be “headed” for recession; we could have told him that months ago.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us
www.campro.us

Most of the conversations I have with professional colleagues indicate a shared belief that turn over is one of the biggest challenges the community association industry has to address. It is a complicated and difficult problem that starts with the fact that board members are volunteers who serve for a short term and then often leave. Even with staggered terms, it is hard to find a board with a member who has served more than 2 or 3 terms and often, the governing documents precludes it.

Yes, board members can abuse their power, especially if they have been on the board for some time. Yet the chances of that possibility, if the rest of the team is strong and involved, balanced against having really knowledgeable and effective members, is a discussion worth having.

Managing association communities is a complex business yet we are dependent on volunteers to do it. What we don’t consider is the value of history and historical practices; board decisions with regard to rules enforcement and architectural requests are just a couple of examples.

I have many friends who live in or own condominiums (for the sake of conversation, I am including all PUDs in this term). What I find is that, in general, people don’t understand:

a. the difference in types of condos and PUDs; often confusing construction with the legal description
b. what the association is responsible for
c. what they – the homeowner, is responsible for
d. what their dues pay for
e. why their dues are “so high”
f. the difference between operating funds and reserve funds
g. the role of the board
h. the role of the manager
i. that consistency is key to saving money
j. that enforcing the rules has a direct impact on the value of their property
k. that long term relationships can help save everyone time, energy and money!

These and other important concepts have to be part of the conversation during board meetings. There is a place for Roberts Rules of Order and even within that framework there can be time on the agenda for discussion around every decision. What if every discussion is an opportunity to learn, to teach and to ask important questions? Is everyone on the same page – or at least reading the same book? What have prior boards decided? What actions were taken in the past?

In an industry where the average property manager (or management company) is on board for less than 5 years (often with 2-4 individual managers even within the same company), and board member turnover is mandated, history often resides in paper files, boxes in storage areas, in board members basements/attics, or tossed out or lost as the revolving people door dictates. Every association needs history. Every board member and manager needs to be able to speak to the basic differences in their association(s) and understand the impact of their decisions. They need to be able to see what has gone on before them.

In today’s technological world, databases are the key to many of these questions. I know that my board members are grateful when I give them a print out of all the rule enforcement actions against a unit when a complaint is received; or a history of approvals (or disapprovals) when an architectural request is reviewed. Whether you use a commercial database such as CAMPro (www.campro.us) or one of the others available, or whether you create your own history in access or excel, having history is one of the first tools in educating both board members, managers and your membership. Without it, you can find yourself paddling willy-nilly upstream, subject to complaints of favoritism, abuse of power and setting precedents that future boards have to live with in perpetuity.

Yet, how to address these issues? Do we create legislation that requires board members to attend training before serving (as recently proposed in California)? I believe the job truly falls to managers and managers have to be trained not only in legislative issues, but also how to train their boards, how to manage and direct teams, and how to use the vast wealth of information they are privy to in a positive and effective way with their boards.

In order to do all this, we have to be able to reduce the burn out that many managers experience. Lessen workloads, use technology wisely, provide more cross-team training and back up; mentor each other and reduce the competitiveness prevalent in the industry. There is no scarcity of clients and the “pool” grows every year.

If we can diminish our contribution to the “revolving door” syndrome, perhaps we can help empower ourselves and our board members more effectively.

Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us
www.campro.us