New Year Plans in the HOA

Happy New Year!  If you are you the kind to make New Year’s resolutions, I have a few ideas for you.  In the homeowners association, advance planning is important and New Year’s resolutions are like goals and plans for the future.

As a resident of the community, resolve to appreciate those who serve on the board of directors or on a committee.  Rumor has it that those are thankless jobs.  Let’s resolve to say thank you and turn that rumor around.

Another good resolution for a few interested homeowners would be to get more involved in the community governance.  That would mean joining a committee or running for the board of directors when openings come up.  You have heard the stories about how terrible the job can be, but if you join in, that can be turned around just by bringing your point of view to the group.  A small change of attitude, something you can bring, can make a big difference to the community.

You may also resolve to cooperate with community leaders and resolve to quit complaining without justification.  If you are one of those who is searching to find fault with the community, constantly angry with the board and management, resolve to stop doing that.  Resolve to become part of the solution.

A resolution to enhance the community property would be good.  Major projects start with an idea (a New Year’s resolution) that becomes a plan.  Eventually the plan gets transferred to someone’s task list and the enhancement to the community begins.

For the board of directors a good resolution would be to stop micromanaging the management team and the various staffs.  The board’s job is to set policy for the association.  When the association has on site management, the staff should be empowered to get the management job done with minimal interference.  When most of the work is done by off-site staff or only by committees and board members, the same rule should apply.  A policy should be set by the board as a group and the individual board members and committee members should be empowered to accomplish the work based on and within the policies established.

The board should resolve to get the budget in line with the association’s needs for the future.  They should also resolve to follow the plan from the reserve study and keep the maintenance from being deferred.

With all these resolutions in place, the association will be on its way to healthy operations.  Remember that nothing happens without the cooperation of the residents who live there.  It starts with you. Happy New Year!

Maintenance of the Community is Important

Recent articles have mentioned the value of maintaining proper operating and reserve funding in today’s homeowner associations.  Now, let’s get on with the proper spending of that money.

Maintenance fees are collected in every common interest development, although called by different names such as “regular assessment”.  Sometimes the fee is referred to as “dues”, but that doesn’t adequately state what the fee is or what it is used for.  The preferred term is “Maintenance fee” because the money is used to maintain the community.  More accurately, the proper term is “Maintenance Assessment”.

Proper maintenance of the community is extremely important.  The property value of the all the individual homes in the community is, in part, dependent on the maintenance of the common elements of the community.   Let’s face it, if you are to drive into a community thinking of buying a home there and the first thing you see is a cracked and pot-holed street, you might drive out without looking further.

It doesn’t take much to turn off a buyer in today’s economy.  The buyers of today are pretty savvy when it comes to community appearance and maintenance.  It is not just the roads we drive on, but it is the landscaping that borders the roads and the look of the homes along the roadway.

I’ve heard board members say they like the “old and prestigious look”.  Sorry, but that is hog-wash!  That is an excuse for not wanting to spend the money necessary to properly maintain the community.

Having adequate reserves is important.  Failing to spend the funds to properly maintain the elements of the community is a tragedy.

An HOA attorney recently told a story of how a community spent thousands of dollars defending themselves in a lawsuit brought on because of improper maintenance of the community.  In addition to spending all the legal fees, they had to spend the money on maintenance and repairs to the community anyway.  They could have saved all the legal fees if they had just maintained the community properly to begin with!  Who paid the bill?  The owners within the community paid it!

Administration and maintenance of the community is not inexpensive and it is getting more expensive every day.  Just look at the cost of gasoline for your car – if you think the cost of gasoline in lawn mowers is getting cheaper, you’re mistaken.  If you think the employees who drive to your community to perform the maintenance, spend less on the gasoline for their cars, you’re mistaken.  The same applies to the office workers and off-site managers who drive through your community.

Our economy may be in serious shape, but this is not the time to cut back on maintaining the community.  I want the gasoline prices to go down just like you do, but I realize that not performing adequate maintenance in the community will not lower those prices.  Not providing adequate wages to the workers in the community will not improve the economy and it will not be conducive to adequate maintenance of the community.

The Board of Directors has the duty to preserve, protect, and enhance the value of the assets in the community and it takes spending money to do that.