E-Newsletter
 CAN Home   |  Subscribe  |  PDF Version
August 19, 2008     Vol. 5 Issue 17 
In the News Since the Last Issue

Check your state or region News Feed for more stories

CA: As numbers of rental units rise, myriad problems can develop for owners
As the slumping housing market erodes equity for many San Diego County homeowners, analysts say condominium communities face additional challenges as sales slow and renter populations grow....

IN: County gets serious about condo squatters
In all, 33 units were targeted at the request of the development's owner and the village. The units were occupied by alleged drug dealers, squatters in vacant apartments and, occasionally, people who just couldn't make the rent....

IN: Group targets home business  Two day care providers in the Benjamin Crossing subdivision south of Lafayette say they are being unfairly targeted by the subdivision's homeowners' association....

OR: Portland condo buyers win $2.3 million salve
Owners of Northwest Portland's Hilltop Condominiums at Uptown have won $2.3 million in their long legal battle against prominent local developer Marty Kehoe....

LA: Restoring old park isn't child's play for neighbors   By all accounts, the Kingswood subdivision in eastern New Orleans attracts more children these days. In many cases, young families have replaced the older folks who never returned after Hurricane Katrina sent 8 feet of water through the area, residents say. B...

HI: Condo owners allege fleecing
The developer of a new luxury condominium resort project on Kauai is being accused of charging condo owners more than $2.2 million in bills that he should have paid himself....

SC: Condo owners suing for repairs
Structural defects slowly surfaced after Keli Tolley bought an apartment-turned-condo last year in West Ashley. The roof leaks. Windows do too. The city of Charleston condemned the balcony because it's structurally unsafe....

WA: Sudden Valley services restored
Eight people lost their jobs and almost all recreational programs were cut after a $14.13 monthly dues increase failed to achieve supermajority approval in March. But a resident-supported petition brought a June 14 revote, which passed with 65 percent approva...

NV: Condo residents fighting homeowners association over $27,500 a piece bill
Residents of a Reno housing complex are upset over being hit with $27,500 assessment bills from their Home Owner's Association with little help from the courts....

FL: Fisher Island condo president mired in lawsuits   Dr. Irwin Potash, 81, longtime Fisher Island resident and condo association prez, is mired in two civil suits -- and one accuses him of less-than-civil behavior....

MD: Taking the lawn into their own hands
HOAs depend more on city, residents to clean yards of foreclosed houses...

FL: Homeowners who are forced into cable TV-Internet deals aren't happy  The deal actually was an insider arrangement front to back. The same trio of brothers controlled the developer, the homeowner association and the cable company....

WI: Homeowner groups start to feel the pinch
She's the new president of the homeowners association for the Meadow Creek Crossing subdivision in Germantown, and the board might have to slap a lien on three of her neighbors....

VA: HOA: SIGNS MUST GO campaign signs
But it seems the HOA is within its right to regulate the signs. State law prohibits localities from banning the display of political campaign signs on private property. However, the law does not apply to HOAs....

IA: Idyllwild in limbo  But after historic flooding in June, owners of all 92 units have left to live with friends, rent another place or cut ties altogether. Their future is uncertain: Will the federal government provide funds to buy out their properties? Will they rebuild? Will the...

FL: Attorney Expects Client's Exoneration If Cory Lake Isles Case Goes To Court   In an interview with the Tribune, Ron Clark denied that Thomason ever used funds collected from Cory Lake Isles homeowners to pay personal expenses. Thomason and his codefendants have until Aug. 25 to file responses to the lawsuit...

IA: Clive homeowner calls yard 'nature preserve'
Country Club Estates resident George Lederhaas thinks some of his neighbors should be careful what they wish for when it comes to enforcing city ordinances....

MD: Lightning strikes again, causing fire at condo complex   For the second time in two years, lightning struck a Perry Hall condominium complex, causing a fire last night that forced several residents from their homes, a spokesman for the county Fire Department said....

NC: Follow-Up on man in battle with his HOA over tow truck  We have an update tonight on the New Hanover County man at war with his homeowners association over his tow truck. Eddie Gilsinan has given up....

SC: Gated communities put brakes on scooter use  The problem is that driving mopeds, scooters and motorcycles is forbidden in Sea Pines, as it is in many other area plantations. That makes it challenging for some people, who have found those forms of transportation good options when it comes to the saving mo...

AZ: RV dispute between HOA, family ends after 14 months   A Gilbert family's ongoing struggle with its homeowners association came to head last week ending a 14-month battle regarding where the Carringtons could park their recreational vehicle....

PA: Conshohocken condo fire victims waited, worried  Today, residents displaced from the Riverwalk at Millennium camped at the Spring Mill Fire Company in Conshohocken, weeping on each other's shoulders, making frantic arrangements via cell phone, walking dogs, and eating donated pizza....

IL: Elevator upgrades put off four years
Local condo owners have four more years to comply with a state law requiring upgrades in their buildings' elevators thanks to an amendment to the Elevator Safety and Registration Act signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich two weeks ago....

TX: Residents beg city to bulldoze shuttered condo complex  Desperate residents who live near a shuttered condo complex in northwest Houston thronged a City Council meeting Tuesday, begging the mayor to bulldoze the empty buildings....

MA: Condo trustee to be prosecuted by state
DeCristofaro said he and 10 other unit owners are considering filing a civil suit against the O'Neills to recover the money spend on beach grass removal and replanting, as well as fees paid to Michael O'Neill for what DeCristofaro said was double payment for...

FL: St. Pete Condo Complex Manager Bilked Association  The former property manager of a St. Petersburg condominium complex turned himself in to police today to face charges that include transferring $250,000 to his account and using it as a down payment for a $2.6 million home in Tampa....

VA: Lake Holiday lawsuit requests not to declare property owner's association   Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Lake Holiday Country Club Inc. filed additional paperwork Friday, requesting a declaration that the organization is not a property owners' association....

MO: Condo residents cite flooding concerns
The Valley Park levee, recently finished and protecting much of the community from rising Meramec River waters, has only made flooding dangers - from backups into the Meramec's Fishpot Creek tributary - worse for those in the Summertree Village condos, acco...

UT: Water worries over for condo residents
Residents of an Ogden condominium complex who were threatened with a loss of water service no longer have to worry about being left high and dry....

FL: Residents' dispute may end in lawsuit
A lawsuit pitting neighbors against neighbors may be the only recourse for property owners in Chadwick Shores who want to stay out of its homeowner's association....

CO: It's hard to obey both lawn and water cops
And residents of some homeowners associations are familiar with lawn police - HOA officials who walk their neighborhoods with cameras and notebooks looking for overgrown, underwatered or weed-infested lawns.... 

IL: No matter the size, association boards need expert advice  If we as humans need to have role models, advisers and coaches just to help us learn to cope and make the right decisions, how about that new condo board? Do you think they know how to prepare a budget, collect delinquent assessments, decide who pays for the l...

IN: New trash contract creates dilemma for homeowners  The city of Noblesville entered into a new contract for trash pickup that has created an unintended consequence for homeowners residing in communities controlled by recorded covenants....

CO: Smoking ban gets lawyer's green light
An attorney for the homeowners association at the Centennial affordable-housing complex says a ban on cigarette smoking in its privately owned units is viable and will hold up in court....

MA: Colony of feral cats gets reprieve
A Franklin condo association's plan to trap and exterminate a colony of feral cats was temporarily called off yesterday due to public outcry....

FL: City disputes lawsuit from the Progress Corporate Park Owner's Assn  The city of Alachua does not think it should not have to pay $14,000 in past due assessment fees for three lots of land it owns in the Progress Corporate Park, according to court documents....  

MD: Homeowners oust condo board, seek legal help  More than 50 residents voted to remove the Frenchman's Creek condominium board of directors, claiming the group was inaccessible, handled maintenance poorly and filed bogus liens on condominium accounts....

DE: Entire community sues for repairs
Other owners had repairs done to stop the leaks, but last year an engineering study concluded that most houses in the 70-unit neighborhood had sustained serious water damage that threatened the structure of the buildings. The tab to replace roofs, siding, dryw... 

AZ: Homeowner Accuses HOA Of Wasting Money
A Valley man says his local homeowner's association is misusing the money collected from members' dues. Jack Matthews wants his landscaping neat, and his rules enforced; any leftover money should be returned to the HOA's members, he said....

GA: Homeowner groups often eco-unfriendly
In recent years, a dozen state legislatures have passed laws that restrict the ability of HOAs to ban solar panels and solar water heaters. Florida and Colorado now protect the rights of homeowners to replace irrigated, chemically dependent lawns with more nat...

FL: Condo ombudsman flooded with questions from owners, board members, attorneys
If you have a tale about a condo dispute, Bill Raphan probably has heard it before, at least once. He's supervisor of the Fort Lauderdale branch of the state Office of the Condominium Ombudsman, which fields hundreds of questions every week from unit owners, b...

MD: Water fee smacks HOAs in the wallet
Eight homeowners associations in Montgomery Village - as well as the Montgomery Village Foundation - are appealing a new county fee for water quality protection that in some cases jumped more than 600 percent over the year before....

See all of the latest national, legal, regional and state news

2008 Advertising Policies and Rate Sheet
Word Doc      PDF
New Articles Found on the Web

CDARS, safety in numbers for big bank customers (Think Reserves)

Customers of IndyMac Bank in California learned the hard way what violating Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. limits can cost. Clients whose deposits with the failed thrift exceeded FDIC limits of $100,000 for individual accounts and $250,000 for retirement accounts are expected to get just 50 cents on the dollar for the money they held in excess of those limits. "There is a lot of hard-earned money that went to waste," said Mark Hupe, wealth manager with Mainstream Advisors in Centennial. In a growing trend, Hupe is steering his clients, primarily retirees, toward the Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service or CDARS, an option not around during the last banking crisis two decades ago.   Read more   Visit Site

Richard ThompsonSMART HOA Mediation

While conflict is inevitable, we do have choices about how we are going to deal with it. When handled in a constructive manner, conflict can be a catalyst for new awareness, new understanding, creative solutions and enhanced relationships. However, we don't always deal with conflict in a constructive way and sometimes don't deal with it at all. Conflicts rarely get better with time. Here are some SMART suggestions for how to deal with conflict the next time it arises.   Read more

Performance Analytics to Quell Performance Anxiety

Condo-association president Richard Campbell would probably agree with the approach of deadpan detective Joe Friday on the old Dragnet TV series. Whenever a witness veered off on an emotional tangent, he steered her back with a much-parodied catchphrase: "Just the facts, ma'am." And Campbell is after "just the facts" about the operations of his building — using a standard big-business tool that's still new to co-op and condo management.    Read more

Guide to a Concrete Restoration Project

As a condominium board member, it is likely there will come a time when you will have to make a decision about performing a concrete restoration project on your building. As anyone who has already been through the process can tell you, it takes a strong-willed group to make the decisions involved, that are often unpopular, but necessary. Outlined in this article are the steps to be taken in the beginning of a project that will ensure that you receive the most for your money with the least amount of heartache.                Read more (PDF)

Julie AdamenMirror, Mirror on the Wall

We have become a nation of very casual dressers. For some people, “casual” has come to mean that the clothes you wear to clean out the garage are ok to be worn to work. True, in some work environments, that is acceptable. In ours, it is not. What you wear, or how you present yourself, is a crucial in how you are perceived by the client. Many of you out there may say it shouldn’t matter how we dress as long as we are good at what we do (a notion from 1960’s that should be as long gone as those years). The reality is – it does matter, and here’s why: From east coast to west, a major complaint from managers is that homeowners and Boards don’t or won’t listen to them when they provide professional guidance, advice or suggestions. “I’m treated like a secretary, or a gopher!” is what we often hear, or say. Part of the reason for this is the larger structure of the industry (which we’re not going to get in to here), but part of that oh-so-common scenario is our own doing in that we sometimes fail to understand this basic tenet: How we present ourselves, personally, to the client has a major impact on how we are perceived, and thus how we a treated. So let’s consider several factors in how we should “present” ourselves to our utmost advantage, to put forth our utmost credibility and thus our utmost sense of professionalism.    Read more

Budget Presentation

Most managers and their boards have a very good sense of the community’s fiscal needs and can usually predetermine their impact on the coming year’s maintenance fee. Nevertheless, it is important that your draft budget encompass ALL of the possible scenarios that were presented during the previous fiscal year. As a member of the board, it is your duty to determine which expectation level is best for the community. Your manager’s duty is to provide you with alternatives, not to decide it for you. Your manager’s preparation for the coming year’s draft budget began on the first day of the current fiscal year. During the year, he/she will have made note of all anomalies that occurred outside of the scope of the current budget, and will present alternatives to address each of them for the following year’s draft budget. For your manager, this is an opportune time to demonstrate an intimate familiarity with all operational aspects of your association. Undoubtedly there are many times throughout the year that your manager’s knowledge and familiarity of the community is tested, but as a board member, the budget process allows you to observe these competencies as the manager works with you to substantiate every number in the draft budget.   Read more

Greenify Your Home: 100 Tips and Resources to Make Your House Environmentally Friendly

You can increase your home’s marketability and safety by making changes now. To save money, focus on remodeling one room at a time, and look for federal or state (even local) incentives and tax credits that may be available for certain features of your green remodeling project. These tax deductions could help shorten the payback period. Energy-efficient homes do save money - financial benefits of green design are between $50 and $70 per square foot according to Resolution No. 50. And, they may prove more beneficial to your health as you reduce toxic materials and maximize fresh air and natural light.   Read more

Greening Your Roof: You Can Do It, and It'll Be Great. Here's How, and Why…

When Susan Boyle and her husband bought a six-unit apartment building in Crown Heights in 2001, they had two goals — to earn rental income and to create an environmentally friendly building. Today when they stand on the roof, they can wriggle their toes in the grass and the alpine plants they've carefully cultivated. You can do the same — and cut $100,000 off your tax bill doing so.     Read more

Not Everyone Has A Green Thumb (nor do they need it)!

If you like having container plants around your home or patio but you just don’t have a green thumb, try some plants that thrive on neglect! Plants like cacti, succulents, aloe and sotols are amazingly tolerant of human forgetfulness, hot, baking sites, and even outright abuse, and will thrive where other potted plants fail. Drought-adapted plants have many different forms, colors, and textures, which can add a dramatic sculptural beauty to any garden or yard. However, more importantly for those without a green thumb is that these plants conserve water resources and will save you time normally spent during these hot summer months trying to keep flower from wilting and dying.   Read more

Richard ThompsonGreen HOA Checklist

There is much talk of green construction. What exactly constitutes a "green" HOA? The following checklist will help identify features that produce a healthier, high-performance building that costs less to operate and has fewer negative environmental impacts. (Developers and builders take note):   Read more

Five simple keys to building solid teams

Ask any supervisor, manager, or leader what is necessary for building a solid, dedicated team, and you're likely to get a wide range of answers. The reason? People value different aspects of teamwork. Individual preferences and comfort zones affect what people believe to be important.  I'm no different. But as a consultant and management skills trainer, I have the benefit of having worked with hundreds of teams over the past twenty years, across a wide spectrum of industries.   Read more

The Synergy Between the Association, the Developer and the Management Company

In seeking new business, many management companies work with developers to open new community associations. Whether these communities are single family homes, town homes, cooperatives or condos, there are several common factors involved in this process. First, a great deal of effort is put forth by the management company to prepare for the opening of a new community. Working with the developer and sub-contractors on final construction issues, reviewing the governing documents, opening bank accounts, providing orientation to the homeowners, setting up each owner in the accounting system and basically ensuring that the community is opened in a manner that meets or exceeds the new owners’ expectations are all vital elements of a successful opening.   Read more


Insurance Article

Q:  Do community association directors face potential legal liability for not obtaining adequate property damage insurance? 
Read more   (PDF)

 

 

 




 
Sponsored Links
NCB FSB

Need financing for your HOA? Call us at  (800) 766-2622 or click on the link
Condo Manager

 Accounting and Management Software  - For HOA and Condominium Associations
Community Association Websites
Feature packed, Interactive websites for today’s active Communities, HOAs, & Management Companies. Affordably priced, beautifully designed and fully supported. Visit the AtHomeNet Live Demo.
Reserve Advisors

The most accurate and comprehensive Reserve Study
IREM

Leading Edge Education for
Community Association Managers
Jenark

Associate Yourself With the Leader In Association Management Technology
HOALeader.com

The Practical Guide to Homeowner Association Management - Free Trial
Reserve Fund Essentials
A refreshingly readable and levelheaded 17-chapter  book on fund-related how-to’s and must-do’s to keep balances healthy. Check it Out
HOATalk.com
Meet with thousands of HOA leaders online. HOA news & information too. Free!
Community Association Leadership Series DVDs!
Four hot topics on a two-disc DVD set: The Board, Meetings, Insurance, and Reserves. CAI members get 40% off!
Editor's Notes 
Summer's coming to a close up here in north country, so I guess it's time to actually start working on the next version of the web site.  This one is going to include more video and some original articles, as well as providing a place for those who wish to post articles to the site.  Look for more information in coming weeks.


Joe
New Audio/Video
Talk With CAM 051: An Interview With Joseph West
Talk With CAM 051: An Interview With Joseph West, SHOW NOTES Joe is another pioneer in community association management. He was a director with CAI and helped with the development in the early years. Like my self, he found that there was little on th...

Homeowners are using all kinds of digital devices to support an issue - take a look at this video, posted 8/18 on myspace.com, entitled "homeowner association harassment"

TX: City Tells Condo Residents To Vacate (video)
Residents packed up at the Park Memorial condos at Detering at Memorial on Monday after the city of Houston said all 108 occupants must move out...

TX: HOA says man's pickup is not classy enough (video)   If there is one thing Texans are serious about - it's pickups. Now one North Texas man says his truck is being targeted, simply because his homeowners' association doesn't think it's classy enough....

TX: No trash pickup for neighborhood (video)
Principal Management Group wouldn't go on camera, but said the association has been without a board for five years. Now the 300 or so homes are predominately rentals and getting the landlords to pay has been impossible....

TN: Wilson County Residents Unhappy With Subdivision (video)
Right now, the Seven Springs Homeowner's Association is considering legal action against the subdivision's developer because they say he cut too many corners building up this property...

AZ: Valley homeowners fight blight caused by foreclosures (Video)
With the record number of foreclosures in the Valley come thousands of vacant homes....


 

What's New in the Blogs

AT WHAT POINT IS AN HOA MEETING INVALID BECAUSE OF ERRORS?  What do you think happens when a California HOA screws something up in the election process after Civil Code Section 1363.03? That's a good question. Some assu...

RULE SETTING - WHAT RULES ARE RIGHT and REASONABLE?
Board members and owners in homeowner associations (HOA)s commonly have questions and concerns about setting rules to live by. Parking is one area of considera...

Be Wary of Foreclosure Rescue Scams  While speaking at a seminar a few weeks ago, a real estate agent, who happens to be heavily involved in the foreclosure market, approached me during the break and we began to discu...

Jefferson County District Court defines Common Interest Community   In a decision issued Wednesday, Judge Berryhill provided great case law for communities in Colorado. The decision makes it clear that a community which, by its declaration, r...

Are Your Association Funds Adequately Protected?    With a recent “run” on the IndyMac bank, it should be a wake-up call to all associations to take a closer look at where your operating and reserve funds are being...

Neighbor Issues
QUESTION:  I have a question regarding townhome covenants and the association’s responsibility to enforce the covenants. I live in the middle of two neighbo...

Passage of Common Area Titles
QUESTION: As was stated in one of your answers, passage of title to common areas is sometimes overlooked.  What remedy other than going to court exists when a Declaratio...

We're on the Radio!  Listen to community association talk show host Shu Bartholomew interview your blogger Tyler Berding on her radio show, "On the Commons." We discuss t...

The Decline of Suburbia?
We have written many times in this blog about the benefits and perhaps, the inevitability, of reversing the trend to suburbia that started half a cen...

 

 

 

 

 

CAN
 The Community Associations Network
Contact CAN at: webmaster@communityassociations.net
Welcome to the Community Associations Network E-Newsletter. The newsletter consists of links to news items and articles about community associations from around the country. The Community Associations Network has been created to bring the vast resources of the internet to one location to make it easier to find information and answers to your questions.  CAN is NOT responsible for the content or the articles or news items or for link continuity.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter send e-mail to webmaster@communityassociations.net  with the word "Unsubscribe" in the Subject Line.