HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 21, 2011
Published: Wed, 01/19/11
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Tips for Making Sure Your HOA's Assessment Level is Just Right
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This week's tip gives you a head start on a three-step method for
determining whether your homeowners association assessments are
too high, too low, or just right.
Your first step? Complete a budget. "Determine what your
operating budget should be, taking into consideration all the
different expenses on an annual basis," suggests Duane McPherson,
the San Rafael, Calif.-based division president at RealManage, an
association management firm that oversees properties in Arizona,
California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, and Texas. Be
sure to consider your budget history. "It's easy to look on a
historical basis to see what's been spent," says McPherson.
Also look at where your budget has ended up in the past few years.
"At the end of every year, you know whether you budgeted
appropriately because your financial statements will tell whether
you're over, at, or under budget," says Dennis J. Eisinger, a
partner at Eisinger, Brown, Lewis & Frankel PA in Hollywood, Fla.,
who represents more than 500 condo and HOA associations. "You'll
see whether you've had a need for special assessments every year
or services have diminished because you've had to cut expenses
for things. The question is what do board members do about it?"
Next up: Account for reserves. "Look at your state and governing
documents' reserve requirements, and make sure they're budgeted
for correctly," says McPherson. "A lot of times boards will say, '
Let's not contribute to the reserves as much as we could' because
in some states, they're not required to budget for reserves. I
think that's a tremendous mistake because they're selling
themselves and their owners short, especially with things like
the Federal Housing Administration's requirements that condos set
aside at least 10 percent of their budget for reserves."
That's just the beginning of evaluating your reserves. To get the
full picture and find out the third step in determining the
appropriate level of assessments at your association, see our new
article, http://www.hoaleader.com/members/530.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Good HOA Board Member?
Great condo or HOA board members possess most, if not all, of 10
particular personality traits that we outline in a new article.
In this week's tip, we discuss three of them.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/public/528.cfm >
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10 Traits of Successful HOA Board Members
What qualities must you have to be a good homeowners association
board member? Here, our experts reveal the top 10 traits of board
members who serve their HOA well.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/members/527.cfm >
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Are Your Manager or Fellow Board Members Secretive?
In this week's tip, we answer a reader's request for help in
getting association records from a secretive board or manager.
Our experts' advice serves as a helpful reminder to all board
members about the importance of transparency at associations.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/public/526.cfm >
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How to Respond When Owners Propose Amendments to HOA Governing
Documents
On occasion, owners take matters into their own hands and propose
an amendment to their homeowners association's governing
documents, sending the proposal to some or all board members and
fellow residents.
How should you react to that type of initiative on a member's
part? Is it a good thing? Can it create problems? Here our
experts provide answers.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/members/525.cfm >
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Three Ideas for Restarting Stalled Decisions on Your HOA Board
Sometimes, your homeowner association board just can't reach
resolution on an issue, and a decision keeps getting tabled. How
can you unstall that process?
Here our experts offer three tips for resolving tough decisions
that probably could be made by the HOA board but that the board
can't or doesn't think it should make without owner consensus.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/members/524.cfm >
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