8 Ways to Green Your HOA

Home Owner Associations or HOAs are becoming more and more of a reality for many Americans. In fact, in 2008 there was a reported 300,800 association-governed communities. With about 71 percent of people polled in 2007 rating their overall HOA experience as positive, these associations aren’t going anywhere. With these governing organizations becoming a larger part of our lives, making sure that is follows or adheres to our eco-concerns is just as important as making sure our own homes are up to environmental code. If your HOA were to be evaluated for its level of eco-consciousness, how would it score? If you believe your community could be greener, take a look at our 8 Ways to get your HOA on the same page as your lifestyle.   Read more

Going Green

As energy costs rise, the economy continues to struggle and resources become scarcer, more and more community associations and homeowners are trying to find ways to reduce energy consumption, reduce their carbon footprints and otherwise “go green”.  With recent legislation in Colorado placing limits on the authority of associations to prohibit or regulate certain energy generation devices and energy efficiency measures, the issue has come to the forefront of the attention of both associations and owners.  Given all of this, what are some ways community associations can be proactive in creating or encouraging green communities?    Read more

Up in Smoke - Associations Must Balance Competing Ownership Rights

Smoking — and demands to prohibit it in community associations — has not become the “issue of the decade” some industry executives have predicted. But the issue is smoldering in many communities, igniting the passions of smokers and non-smokers and creating headaches for the boards and managers called on to mediate their disputes and balance the competing rights they assert.    Read more

Welcome to the HOA Board!

The annual homeowner association meeting convenes. The president announces that the floor is open for nominations. A fellow homeowner say to you, "You know, you would make a good board member." Before you have a chance to reply, some body movement indicates that you are willing, ready and able to serve. "The nominations are closed," a vote is taken, and suddenly YOU ARE ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. You ask yourself, "What does being on the board mean, who is going to teach me and how much do I get paid?" Here are some basic guidelines on how to become a successful board member and enjoy it at the same time...a lesson in HOA responsibilities and practices.   Read more

Self Help

Your board wants to go on a property and correct a covenant violation themselves.  Can you?  Even if you have legal authorization, should you?  Read on for the risks and rewards of using authorization to go onto someone else's property to resolve a covenant violation.    Read more

Association Website Endorsements

Question: Our community association has created a Web site about which the board is very excited. We want to make the site both informative and useful to community residents. Some board members have suggested that we post the names of vendors – plumbers, electricians, painters, house cleaners, etc., making it easy for owners to find services they need. In addition, what about allowing owners to write “reviews” of vendors they’ve used? Are these good ideas? Are there any issues we should consider?         Read answer

The Disappearing Developer

In today’s economy, builders are leaving un-built or partially-built homes, causing hardships for associations. Imagine a community of 450 lots with a community pool and clubhouse. Now with only 225 homes closed, these association members are in for a shock. Association fees may double. In the past, builders would make up shortfalls in the budget to keep the community well maintained, but most builders are now cash-strapped and cannot support the association. Does the association board up the clubhouse and shut the pool? Developers in trouble have been around for many years, but we have seen more and more in the past three years. Underfunded reserves, incomplete roads, building defects and unpaid bills could end up as liens on the common property. Developers often create a Limited Liability Corporation for each community and may end up judgment-proof if they run out of funds.    Read more

Financial Management Tips: Second in a Series of Print 'Em Out Checklists

Managing your co-op or condo, never an easy task in the best of times, becomes even more challenging and possibly overwhelming as shareholders and unit-owners, struggling with financial problems of their own, fall behind on their maintenance or common-charge payments, or in extreme cases lose their apartments to foreclosure.  Read the list

Breaking Budget Bad News

The budget process for an association can be very long and drawn-out. For associations not operating on a January – December calendar year, it can be the bane of a board of directors’ summer, but sometimes it’s not the process that everyone dreads, it’s the announcement of next year’s assessments. With the market as bad as it is, homeowners almost everywhere are hurting financially, struggling to keep his or her head above water. As a board member having to announce the need for an assessment increase, you probably feel like you’re adding more leg weights, pulling the owners further and further under the water. There are ways, though, to make it as painless as possible. It’s all in the presentation!     Read more

Management Challenges for Small Community Associations

As community associations have evolved over the years, one thing has become evident -- smaller associations do not have the same opportunities to attract professional management services as do larger associations. The reason for this is simple economics - it is less profitable for a professional management firm to provide service to a smaller association.   Read more

Cool Roofs Reject Heat, Lower Cooling Loads

The availability of viable and energy-efficient cool roofing products has expanded greatly in recent years. Building owners and managers, specifiers, and architects increasingly use these products because of their capacity for energy savings.    Read more

To Catch a Thief: Recovering Assets After an Embezzlement

Workplace embezzlement is an increasingly common occurrence: according to the most recent U.S. Department of Justice statistics, embezzlement increased by 39% between 1990 and 2000. (And in the current economic environment this trend will likely accelerate.) But despite its frequency, an embezzlement, when uncovered, still prompts feelings of rage, betrayal and embarrassment. And before the emotional reaction subsides, companies generally take immediate, reflexively punitive steps against the employee-suspect: on-the-spot termination, hasty escort from the premises, restricted access to the company's electronic network and prompt notification of local law enforcement. While these steps may assuage the emotional wounds inflicted by the theft, a different approach may ultimately better serve a company's financial interests. If a company's primary objective is asset recovery, that company should not initially adopt the above procedures.         Read more

More News Stories

CA: Reserve funding for homeowner association important now  Reserve studies are a very important part of a homeowner association's financial plan. Typically, the annual operating budget is the most visible - one line item in that budget is the reserve allocation....

IL: Lawmakers mulling association proposals
Illinois lawmakers are considering an array of legislative proposals that relate to community associations. Here are some of the big ones, along with comments from the association world:...

WA: Foreclosures for Failure to Pay Condo Dues on Rise, Experts Say  Experts in the field say more condo owners are facing foreclosure for relatively minor debts: Months of unpaid condominium association dues....

NV: Foreclosed and forgotten: You Ask, We Investigate update  Ripped out bathroom doors, broken windows and a green pool. You wouldn't think people were paying to keep their area at the Hillside community near Cheyenne and 215 clean if you looked around....

RI: Serpa bill cuts corners for condo associations
Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-Dist. 27, West Warwick, Warwick, Coventry) has introduced legislation that would make it easier for condominium associations to borrow funds from banks and other lending institutions to complete necessary repairs, updates and improvem...

VA: Condo Controversy
"This is where the ceiling caved in while we were asleep," said Colon, standing in the Norfolk condo she shares with her husband, Omar. "I called the developer and said, 'It's literally raining in our second bedroom right now.'"...

SC: Myrtle Beach Area Fire Victims Wade into the Aftermath  At a meeting held Wednesday by the Barefoot Resort Homeowners Association representatives from the city of North Myrtle Beach, Horry County, OMNI management and Centex homes answered questions from property owners....

MA: Man admits con to get into condo
A New Hampshire man who conned his way into an elderly woman's condo, only to be confronted by her house-sitting nephew, admitted yesterday that the letter he showed a property manager to get a key was bogus....

FL: HOA Publicizes Which Residents Not Paying Dues  A homeowners association is taking action against residents who aren't paying their fees...

FL: Don't they know we are in a drought?
He wonders how homeowner associations can enforce standards on turfgrass in year three of the worst drought anybody can remember....

MI: Financing options limited for 'site condos'
Quirks in state and federal law are preventing the use of Federal Housing Administration funding in unfinished housing developments that were subdivided as "site condos," lenders, Realtors and builders say....

NC: Kure Beach condos ordered to rip out sandbags -- again   For the second time in 15 months, state regulators have ordered The Riggings to remove the sandbags that have protected the Kure Beach condominium complex from the encroaching ocean since 1985....

IL: Irving Park condo owner singing an angry tune
An Irving Park condo owner and her neighbors are living in a building with buckling floors, unfinished hallways and four foreclosed garden units. The developer is bankrupt and its phone disconnected. But rather than cry about it, she's inspired to write abou...

High court justices argue over voting rights enforcement  The case involves a small homeowners association board outside Austin, Texas. Residents of the Canyon Creek planned community in 2003 sought to move its polling place to an elementary school that is the neighborhood's polling place for all other elections. Suc...

AZ: Condos' HOA recalls 4 board members
Residents of the Venetian Condominiums have recalled four members of their homeowners association board of directors....

NM: Fort Bliss mom told to get rid of support sign
O'Neill said the homeowner's association allows political signs and signs that point out the home of a Keller High School cheerleader or football player...