Below you will find a list of daily thoughts and ramblings for condominium, HOA and Coop owners, board members and residents. These are intended to make you think and to give you a peek into the thoughts and minds of our principal and managers.
01/05/15
As I drove into the office last week I passed an association that looked like it needed help. The buildings are dirty and deteriorating with mold and mildew growing in many places. Since I drive by this association and it would be so convenient for us to work with, I looked up the name and phone number for the board president and gave him a call. I asked him if they were happy with their current manager and if they would be interested in making a change? He told me that he had been the president for many years and that the association was self-managed to keep costs down. When I asked about the condition of the property he said we just don’t want to spend money on something like that because our property values just have not kept up and units are difficult to sell in the association because they don’t appraise for what other properties around us do. He also told me he did not understand why as their maintenance was much lower than the properties around them. His final remark was I don’t really see any reason to make a change as things are working fine the way they are. I hung up the phone thinking, about the fact that he and the owners just don’t understand that every dollar they don’t spend on maintenance and upkeep is a problem costing them ten dollars in equity.
01/02/15
Here is a New Year’s Resolution for condominium, HOA and Coop boards. Let’s make meetings more accessible to owners for 2015. We can do this by setting a regular schedule for board meetings. For example, setting board meetings for the second Tuesday of Every Month at 6:30 PM. We can also do this by allowing owners to access those meeting by phone if they can’t attend in person. Setting up a dial in number where owners can listen in what is going on at the meeting along with an email address to which an owner may address questions to the board which the board will read and address at their meetings. We have implemented these strategies for many of our boards for some time, but this year we want to try and get every association on board.
