Community Associations Network Industry News

ROCKVILLE, Md., August 27, 2008—Jenark Business Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of First Advantage Corporation (NASDAQ: FADV) and a leading provider of fully integrated property management and financial accounting software and services to the real estate industry, today announced its selection by Associated Professional Services (APS) to help streamline operations and increase efficiencies for their 550 communities.

APS spent the last few years researching leading software solutions. “We choose Jenark to help automate the more tedious day-to-day processes that are a result of our current system that uses older technology with a separate directory data structure,” said Stephen Jones, manager of APS. “By automating the accounting processes with a centralized database, we are able to save our staff time, automate the bill approval process and accounts receivables as well as export documents faster. What set Jenark apart is their dedication to providing the most advanced property management technology and their partnerships with other leading technology providers. This was key to our decision because we are looking to integrate with some of Jenark’s current partners and form new partnerships,” explained Jones. Another important factor in the decision was the responsive customer service from Jenark’s management, project managers and customer service specialists.

Founded in 1982, APS specializes in serving self-managed communities and provides accounting services to property management companies. “After implementing Jenark, we expect to grow our portfolio more quickly due to the ease of use of the software, the automated processes and the strong accounting solutions that will help facilitate this growth,” said APS owner Neal Chazin.

APS will utilize Jenark’s accounting modules and community association property management database. They will also implement automated lockbox and ACH debit with their present bank, energy management, utility sub metering, Jenark database report and letter writer, the management report job stream for automated board reporting and EZ Image for scanning and document retrieval. “The addition of Jenark’s solutions will greatly enhance operations and help APS achieve their desired business goals,” said Jenark Business Systems Vice President Mark Jennings.

About Jenark Business Systems, Inc. and First Advantage
Jenark Business Systems is part of First Advantage Corporation’s Multifamily Services segment, which assists property owners and managers with resident screening, property performance analytics, property management software and renters insurance services. It was founded in 1987 with the sole mission of providing the most advanced property management technology to the real estate industry. Technological superiority, combined with the most responsive customer service in the industry, has made Jenark the solution of choice for over 250 management companies and self-managed communities nationwide, encompassing over one million units. More than any competitive system, Jenark’s software solutions deliver the performance and functionality that enables communities to maximize customer service, efficiency, productivity and revenue. Additional information is available at www.Jenark.com.

First Advantage Corporation (NASDAQ: FADV) provides innovative products and services that mitigate risk by helping businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies make more informed decisions. Headquartered in Poway, Calif., the company has more than 4,700 employees in 12 countries that support over 90,000 clients globally. More information about First Advantage is available at www.FADV.com.

Posted by Joe at 12:11 PM | Permalink

Scott Devereaux is the new general manager for SaddleBrooke Homeowners Association #1, one of the two HOAs in the SaddleBrooke community.

Devereaux, who has been general manager of Oro Valley’s Sun City Vistoso Community Association for seven years, has more than 20 years of HOA management experience. He started in SaddleBrooke on Monday, Aug. 25, and a reception for him was held Tuesday evening.

“We are certain he will be a great asset to our association,” HOA 1 board president Jack Jeffery said in a letter to residents. “Scott will bring a new wave of enthusiasm to our management organization and community at SaddleBrooke.”

“As we look to the future, we must remember the past and those qualities that made this community successful,” Devereaux said. “Moving forward will take a coordinated effort by community members and staff to identify services important to the community as a whole.”

Devereaux’s HOA experience has been in New Hampshire, Virginia and Michigan. Earlier in his career, Devereaux was in financial and business management positions in Connecticut and Texas.

The general manager’s search committee received 42 applications from 14 states, Jeffery said in a release. “After many hours of careful screening, checking resumes, and interviews conducted by the committee and the board of directors, the final choice was made and a contract has been signed.”

Posted by Joe at 12:09 PM | Permalink

Cumming, GA (Vocus/PRWEB ) August 20, 2008 -- Community Association website provider AtHomeNet (www.AtHomeNet.com) officially presented a donation of Community Association Institute Resource books to the Forsyth County Library located in Cumming, GA. The books which ranged from topics on HOA laws and Board meeting procedures to Community motivation and neighborhood upkeep, are valued at over $1500 and promote AtHomeNet’s commitment to community involvement and information accessibility.

The dedication ceremony was held in the main area of the Forsyth County Library with Library Director Jon McDaniel and Assistant Director of Materials Linda Kelly accepting the books on behalf of AtHomeNet from company owners Jeff & Susan Sanders (pictured).

CAI which stands for The Community Associations Institute (www.caionline.org), is a national organization dedicated to being the leader in providing education and resources to the volunteer homeowners who govern community associations and the professionals who support them. CAI’s Adopt-A-Library program is a nationwide effort to enhance library resources through private donations from companies. AtHomeNet is celebrating ten years of providing affordable Community Association and Association Management company websites, and invested in this program as part of their anniversary celebration.

“I think these books are going to be a wonderful addition to our library, and especially helpful to all of our homeowners in the community,” stated Forsyth County Library Director of Materials Linda Kelly.

“Without all of the dedicated homeowners, association members, volunteers, and board members who use our service and support AtHomeNet, we would not be celebrating ten years in the industry. CAI’s Adopt-A-Library program presented us with an opportunity to show our appreciation to at least one small part of our nationwide family of clients,” commented Susan Sanders, AtHomeNet’s director of marketing.

The publications will soon be available for checkout at the Forsyth county library located at 585 Dahlonega Road in Cumming Georgia.

About AtHomeNet:
AtHomeNet is the nation's premiere provider of customized, affordable websites for communities and Professional Association Management Firms. The company was founded in 1998 by husband and wife team Jeff & Susan Sanders. With their websites now being used in well over one million homes in several countries, AtHomeNet continues to grow as a company and enhance their services in the ever expanding world of online technology.

For more information on the company, visit www.AtHomeNet.com or contact Susan Sanders at 1-800-556-7852.

Posted by Joe at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Jupiter, FL (PRWEB) August 13, 2008 -- Desired Results Consulting, the Florida-based community association consulting firm, has announced the launch of My Condo Coach, a social network specifically for Licensed Community Association Managers (LCAMs) and the boards of directors of community associations. This forum will be the first of its kind, entering the Community Association Management industry into the dynamic world of social networking.

"The most exciting aspect about the web for businesses is the emergence of social networking," explained Lauren Davis, LCAM, CMCA, AMS and President of Desired Results Consulting. "Social networking services - like Facebook or MySpace - have created powerful new ways to communicate and share information, but no one has yet applied this powerful application to community management. This is groundbreaking and instrumental towards guiding the industry in a positive direction."

My Condo Coach is a network which provides non-legal management support and information to members, including discussion forums, blogs, email and phone support, networking brunches and discounts on workshops conducted by Desired Results Consulting. Interested members also receive a special offer on an eBook - Tricks of the Trade: How to be a Successful LCAM the First Time Around - also written by Lauren Davis.

Davis attributes her desire to create this network as a direct result of her 18 years experience as a Community Association Manager. Said Davis: "In my personal experience, the most difficult challenge starting out in the industry was the lack of guidance, mentorship, and training for dealing with day-to-day assignments. That's what we want to provide through My Condo Coach - support, consulting, collaboration, training, and mentoring for newly licensed and established managers, or for board members simply grasping to figure out how to oversee the management of their association."

Davis continued: "It's a great thing to be able to act as a team and join forces with colleagues to discuss the real day-to-day problems and solutions we encounter. There really is no comparable resource in the industry, and LCAMs with such a resource are going to be at a real competitive advantage."

To become a My Condo Coach Member or for more information go to www.mycondocoach.com or www.desiredrc.com.

Posted by Joe at 11:12 AM | Permalink

ATLANTA, Aug 06, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ ----F3 Technologies, Inc. (Pink Sheets: AUMN), an Atlanta based software developer, announced today immediate availability of Version 2 of the Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) Community System, enabling Homeowner's Associations (HOAs) to deploy Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) with the latest upgrades.

"The availability of the Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) Community System has spurred Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) deployments at HOAs such as at Sentinel Lake in Marietta, Ga., and the availability of v.2 will further drive Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) deployments," said Rainey Shane, President, F3 Technologies.

"Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) allows an HOA Board to properly communicate and share information with its members, decreasing the likelihood of homeowner disputes so common within these organizations" said Ms. Shane. "In addition, it decreases the cost of HOA management by an average of over $1000 per month over the cost of using an outside management company. That money can then be used for more important community needs."

Record Rate of Customer Deployments

Sentinel Lake, a single family residential neighborhood in Marietta, has already benefited from deploying Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) Community System. It committed to deploying Interaction(TM: 86.45, +0.34, +0.39%) Community System over a year ago and this enabled Sentinel Lake to transform its HOA management into an "e-culture," creating a Web-based productivity infrastructure that allows Board members to publish critical information and documents directly to the community intranet. In addition, it allows the homeowners to become more involved in the community through image galleries, email, discussion boards, online dues payment, online facility reservations and shared vendors.

"The Interaction Community System has successfully brought our neighborhood community closer together," said Loren Volk, former Board president at Sentinel Lake. "Using Interaction, our residents are able to create community events, pay dues, reserve facilities, and recommend preferred vendors while simultaneously keeping up to date with our local community and neighbors."

Version 2 Availability

Version 2 is a collection of updates driven by customer feedback and has been deployed across all customers currently using the subscription based service at no additional charge. The addition of a more user-friendly dashboard and interface, an enhanced Accounting module, the ability to broadcast requests for home workers such as babysitters, tutors and pet sitters, and the ability to manage notices and violations are all included in the Version 2 release. A free 30-day trial of the on-demand software is available at http://www.interactioncs.com .

About F3 Technologies

F3 Technologies, Inc. (F3) is an Atlanta-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) development company and application service provider created to provide on- demand internet solutions to consumers and small to mid-sized companies. F3 Technologies currently has three distinctive products: FargoTube.com, Ascend Global Systems and Interaction Community Systems. It is the goal of F3 Technologies to provide the necessary systems and tools to help its end users realize personal, professional, social, and business-oriented goals.

About FargoTube: www.fargotube.com is an online video sharing software engine for users seeking to profit from their on-line video content in three different ways. First, FT allows users to upload proprietary video content and sell it to other users resulting in income for the host and video owner. Second, FT will share ad revenue generated by videos offered for sale or for free with the video owner. Lastly, FT will share a portion of any profits made by users they referred to FT as an affiliate commission.

About Ascend Global Business System: www.ascendgbs.com is an online Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product created specifically to help businesses improve customer relations, track employee performance, and support overall revenue opportunities. The Ascend SaaS solution contains customizable modules for accounting, human resource management, project management, website creation, online store creation (e-commerce), knowledge sharing, survey building, and customer relationship management.

About Interaction Community System: www.interactioncs.com provides neighborhoods, communities, church organizations, homeowner's associations (HOAs) and other similar type groups with a reliable, online solution for valuable services such as residential directories, accounting, voting, website creation, facility management and scheduling, newsletters, announcements, vendor sharing, e-commerce, accounting, classifieds, and message boards. Interaction offers features that allow residents of these communities to stay informed and become involved.

Safe Harbor

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking information made on the company's behalf. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address the company's expectations of sources of capital or which express the company's expectation for the future with respect to financial performance, operating strategies or business plans, can be identified as forward-looking statements. Such statements made by the company are based on knowledge of the environment in which it operates, but because of the factors beyond the control of the company, which include but are not limited to the ability of the company to implement its business plans, the company's ability to successfully compete, market conditions and the ability of the company to raise any necessary working capital financing, actual results may differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Contact: Paul Knopick
E & E Communications Pknopick@eandecommunications.com 949/707-5365 SOURCE F3 Technologies, Inc.

http://www.interactioncs.com

Posted by Joe at 5:32 PM | Permalink