Selective Enforcement Challenge for Community Associations

Selective CCR Enforcement

Perfect Harmony

If you’ve served as a member of a community association‘s Board of Directors for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard the term “selective enforcement” when you have attempted to enforce the covenants.  There is good reason for this:  the selective enforcement defense is one of the most commonly used defenses to a Board’s covenant enforcement action.  There is much misunderstanding among Board members and homeowners as to exactly what selective enforcement means.  The purpose of this article is to provide an explanation of the underpinnings of the selective enforcement defense and to provide some guidance for insuring that your Board’s decisions can withstand a selective enforcement challenge.

A Board has a duty to enforce the covenants of a community in a procedurally fair and reasonable manner.  The defense of selective enforcement arises when an owner argues a Board breached this duty.

There are two types of selective enforcement: 1) when an association acts arbitrarily by enforcing some covenants but fails to enforce others; and 2) when an association acts arbitrarily by enforcing the same covenant differently against one owner and another.  The best reasoned case on this issue is a case from the Supreme Court of South Carolina, Palmetto Dunes v. Brown.  In that case, the association’s covenants vested its Board with the power to approve or disapprove construction plans based on purely aesthetic considerations.  Relying on that provision, the Board denied an owner, Brown’s, new home construction plans on the basis that the plans submitted by Brown showed a garage that “overpowered” the rest of the house.  Brown argued to the Court that the Board’s decision was unreasonable and ar

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bitrary, in part because the Board had approved two other similar houses.

The Court examined the Board’s reason for disapproving the home on aesthetic considerations.  The Court look to see if the decision bore a reasonable relation to the other buildings in the community or the general plan of development.  The Board presented evidence to the Court that Brown’s plans were different from the two similar houses.  In addition, the Board explained to the Court that it approved the other two similar houses based upon construction plans, and was disappointed in the houses once built because they did not match the overall aesthetic of the community.  Because of the appearance of the completed houses, the Board told the Court that they had decided not to approve any more houses with similar garages.  The Court found in favor of the association, holding that the evidence did not justify a finding that the Board acted unreasonably in disapproving the house plans, even though it had previously approved similar plans; the decision was not arbitrary or capricious, but was based on well-reasoned value judgements.

In another case, the Georgia Court of Appeals held that a violating owner has the initial burden of proof to present evidence that an association enforced the covenants in an arbitrary or selective manner.  Once that is done, the burden of proof shifts to the association to show why the present owner’s violation is different from other violations.

The homeowner in that case violated the architectural control provisions of the association’s governing legal documents by building a second driveway on his lot without receiving prior approval from the architectural control committee. Once informed of his violation, he submitted plans and specifications to the committee for approval. The committee denied his request and ultimately, the association brought suit to enforce the covenants. At trial, the homeowner presented sufficient evidence to show that the association acted in an arbitrary manner in denying his request by showing pictures of other homes in the community with second driveways. The association was not able to present any evidence as to the reason the other second driveways in the subdivision were permitted, but this owner’s request was denied. Since the Board could not put forth reasons for its decision, the owner won the case and kept his second driveway.

The basic lesson to take away from these two cases is that if an association’s documents give the Board authority to approve or disapprove a modification or make other decisions based on certain standards, even one as broad as “aesthetic considerations”, a Court will likely uphold a decision if there is a reasonable explanation for why the Board made the decision as it did. For example, in the Palmetto Dunes case, the Board had the power to approve or disapprove a house based on purely aesthetic considerations, and in court the Board was able to point to specific reasons that it denied the owner’s plans; namely, an overpowering garage. The Board was also able to distinguish the house from the similar houses cited by the owner and to explain why it had decided to no longer approve houses with similar garages. In contrast, in the second case, the Board was unable to provide evidence to the Court as to why it made the decision not to allow a second driveway.  As a consequence, the Court found that the Board’s decision was arbitrary and capricious and upheld the owner’s claim of selective enforcement.

With this in mind, a Board can help to protect itself from claims of selective enforcement by insuring that its decisions to approve or disapprove owners’ plans or proposed modification are supported by well-reasoned explan­ations. If there are any homes in the community similar to the one that the Board disapproves, the Board should be able to identify distinguishing factors between the disapproved modification and the one that was approved, or a good reason that the Board had for previously approving similar houses but not to the present one. Boards should also remember to keep accurate records of each decision in the association’s records, including notations of the reasons for the Board’s decision. In the event of a selective enforcement lawsuit, those records will help to show the Court the reasoning behind the Board’s decision-making on a particular owner’s proposed modification and/or in demonstrating to the Court that the Board has a sound, consistent covenant enforcement process.

In sum, there may be little a Board can do to prevent an owner from alleging selective enforcement against it in the event that he or she does not agree with a decision the Board makes. However, if the Board can demonstrate that it has made a sound decision, within the scope of its authority, it can put itself in the best position to defend its decision against such a claim

A Day in the Life of a Community Manager

Someone asked me a few years ago to describe a normal day in the life of a community manager and I had to laugh normality and community management seem such a contradiction in terms. Then I began to think of my normal day.

As community managers, we wear a multitude of hats:

We are Financial Advisors : We advise our Boards of Directors on how to spend reserves, how to budget for repairs and how to collect dues. We oversee the smooth operation of millions of dollars of real estate every day.

We are Accountants : We have to be able to read and explain financial statements and answer that most asked question, What do you do with all of our money?

We are General Contractors : We must be able to look at a plumbing leak and determine immediately (with 20 possible sources) where the leak is coming from and who is responsible for taking care of it.

We are Lawn Professionals : We must be able to tell if a dry brown spot within the grass is due to fungus, lack of water, or too many pets.

We are Pool Professionals : We must have an immediate answer as to why the pool suddenly turned algae green overnight.

We are Horticulturists : We must know every species of botany known to man in order to explain to residents that those weeds are not really weeds but flowers.

We are Pest Control Coordinators : We surely know the species of the critter invading kitchen pantries and its access hole into the building!

We are Sewer Experts : We know exactly why most sewers back up at 5:01 on a Friday night of a holiday weekend.

We are Plumbing Professionals : We turn the water off in an emergency situation in the middle of a man’s shower just to aggravate him.

We are Community Police : We should rush right over to referee a domestic dispute. . .often among two people twice our size.

We are Feces Inspectors : We can determine the DNA on each and every dropping throughout a community and spot the work of Mrs. Jones‘ little poodle FiFi at 200 paces.

The point here is that if you are looking for a low-activity normal workday, then community management may be more of a challenge than you first expected. Community management is hard yet rewarding work and you have to maintain a sense of humor and a positive outlook to succeed in this profession.

A list of Do’s and Don’ts for Community Management:

• Customer service. Answer your calls and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Even if you don’t have an answer, let your client/homeowner know that you are working on it.
• Know your community. Set your goals to be proactive, not reactive.
• Be respectful. Treat that nasty, arrogant man or woman with respect; they may be your next Board President.
• Maintain your cool. If a homeowner is calling you names and yelling, don’t take it personally. Nine times out of ten, they are just having a bad day and you have been chosen to take it out on. Surprisingly, after they have vented, they will often call you back to apologize.
• Support staff. Acknowledge and appreciate those that are there to support you. It only takes a second to add a line to your email after they have gathered information for you to say, Hey, I appreciate all you do for me.
• Never, ever lie. If you have forgotten or not completed a task given you by the Board, tell them I am sorry. I overlooked that directive but I will follow up immediately. The Board will understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen. If you are straight forward and provided you don’t make a habit of overlooking your assignments, they will understand.
• Rumblings of dissatisfaction. Working for a management company means client retention. If you feel, hear or suspect any dissatisfaction, then you need to address this issue with your supervisors. What begins as a tempest in a teakettle ultimately could lead to a hurricane. Less clients for your company can mean cuts backs in the work force.
• Ask questions. No one has all the answers all of the time. Ignorance is not bliss if you have read the documents wrong or given your Board misinformation. Better to say, I don’t have an answer at this time, but I will research the issue and report back promptly.
• Stay focused. On the days that every call you get is from a cranky homeowner, every email seems full of hate, you feel sure that your supervisor appears to be looking at you with thoughts of terminating your employment, and you are ready to just give up. . . you might be surprised that the next call is from a homeowner or Board member telling you how much they appreciate you, the next email is one giving you a glowing reference on a job well done, or you are paged to come to the reception desk and find a floral delivery from a grateful Board/Homeowner, and you see your supervisor in the hallway and well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Remember this quote:

Be bold in what you stand for, careful what you fall for. Be yourself. No one else is better qualified.

With these tips, and an occasional aspirin, you’re sure to be a hit in this profession. If you like excitement, enjoy people, and thrive on being busy and serving others, community association management might just be the right fit for you!

Source: Association Times

Selective Enforcement Challenge for Homeowner Associations

Selective CCR Enforcement

If you’ve served as a member of a community association‘s Board of Directors for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard the term “selective enforcement” when you have attempted to enforce the covenants.  There is good reason for this:  the selective enforcement defense is one of the most commonly used defenses to a Board’s covenant enforcement action.  There is much misunderstanding among Board members and homeowners as to exactly what selective enforcement means.  The purpose of this article is to provide an explanation of the underpinnings of the selective enforcement defense and to provide some guidance for insuring that your Board’s decisions can withstand a selective enforcement challenge.

A Board has a duty to enforce the covenants of a community in a procedurally fair and reasonable manner.  The defense of selective enforcement arises when an owner argues a Board breached this duty.

There are two types of selective enforcement: 1) when an association acts arbitrarily by enforcing some covenants but fails to enforce others; and 2) when an association acts arbitrarily by enforcing the same covenant differently against one owner and another.  The best reasoned case on this issue is a case from the Supreme Court of South Carolina, Palmetto Dunes v. Brown.  In that case, the association’s covenants vested its Board with the power to approve or disapprove construction plans based on purely aesthetic considerations.  Relying on that provision, the Board denied an owner, Brown’s, new home construction plans on the basis that the plans submitted by Brown showed a garage that “overpowered” the rest of the house.  Brown argued to the Court that the Board’s decision was unreasonable and ar

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bitrary, in part because the Board had approved two other similar houses.

The Court examined the Board’s reason for disapproving the home on aesthetic considerations.  The Court look to see if the decision bore a reasonable relation to the other buildings in the community or the general plan of development.  The Board presented evidence to the Court that Brown’s plans were different from the two similar houses.  In addition, the Board explained to the Court that it approved the other two similar houses based upon construction plans, and was disappointed in the houses once built because they did not match the overall aesthetic of the community.  Because of the appearance of the completed houses, the Board told the Court that they had decided not to approve any more houses with similar garages.  The Court found in favor of the association, holding that the evidence did not justify a finding that the Board acted unreasonably in disapproving the house plans, even though it had previously approved similar plans; the decision was not arbitrary or capricious, but was based on well-reasoned value judgements.

In another case, the Georgia Court of Appeals held that a violating owner has the initial burden of proof to present evidence that an association enforced the covenants in an arbitrary or selective manner.  Once that is done, the burden of proof shifts to the association to show why the present owner’s violation is different from other violations.

The homeowner in that case violated the architectural control provisions of the association’s governing legal documents by building a second driveway on his lot without receiving prior approval from the architectural control committee. Once informed of his violation, he submitted plans and specifications to the committee for approval. The committee denied his request and ultimately, the association brought suit to enforce the covenants. At trial, the homeowner presented sufficient evidence to show that the association acted in an arbitrary manner in denying his request by showing pictures of other homes in the community with second driveways. The association was not able to present any evidence as to the reason the other second driveways in the subdivision were permitted, but this owner’s request was denied. Since the Board could not put forth reasons for its decision, the owner won the case and kept his second driveway.

The basic lesson to take away from these two cases is that if an association’s documents give the Board authority to approve or disapprove a modification or make other decisions based on certain standards, even one as broad as “aesthetic considerations”, a Court will likely uphold a decision if there is a reasonable explanation for why the Board made the decision as it did. For example, in the Palmetto Dunes case, the Board had the power to approve or disapprove a house based on purely aesthetic considerations, and in court the Board was able to point to specific reasons that it denied the owner’s plans; namely, an overpowering garage. The Board was also able to distinguish the house from the similar houses cited by the owner and to explain why it had decided to no longer approve houses with similar garages. In contrast, in the second case, the Board was unable to provide evidence to the Court as to why it made the decision not to allow a second driveway.  As a consequence, the Court found that the Board’s decision was arbitrary and capricious and upheld the owner’s claim of selective enforcement.

With this in mind, a Board can help to protect itself from claims of selective enforcement by insuring that its decisions to approve or disapprove owners’ plans or proposed modification are supported by well-reasoned explan­ations. If there are any homes in the community similar to the one that the Board disapproves, the Board should be able to identify distinguishing factors between the disapproved modification and the one that was approved, or a good reason that the Board had for previously approving similar houses but not to the present one. Boards should also remember to keep accurate records of each decision in the association’s records, including notations of the reasons for the Board’s decision. In the event of a selective enforcement lawsuit, those records will help to show the Court the reasoning behind the Board’s decision-making on a particular owner’s proposed modification and/or in demonstrating to the Court that the Board has a sound, consistent covenant enforcement process.

In sum, there may be little a Board can do to prevent an owner from alleging selective enforcement against it in the event that he or she does not agree with a decision the Board makes. However, if the Board can demonstrate that it has made a sound decision, within the scope of its authority, it can put itself in the best position to defend its decision against such a claim.

 

A Day in the Life of a Community Manager

Someone asked me a few years ago to describe a normal day in the life of a community manager and I had to laugh normality and community management seem such a contradiction in terms. Then I began to think of my normal day.

As community managers, we wear a multitude of hats:

We are Financial Advisors : We advise our Boards of Directors on how to spend reserves, how to budget for repairs and how to collect dues. We oversee the smooth operation of millions of dollars of real estate every day.

We are Accountants : We have to be able to read and explain financial statements and answer that most asked question, What do you do with all of our money?

We are General Contractors : We must be able to look at a plumbing leak and determine immediately (with 20 possible sources) where the leak is coming from and who is responsible for taking care of it.

We are Lawn Professionals : We must be able to tell if a dry brown spot within the grass is due to fungus, lack of water, or too many pets.

We are Pool Professionals : We must have an immediate answer as to why the pool suddenly turned algae green overnight.

We are Horticulturists : We must know every species of botany known to man in order to explain to residents that those weeds are not really weeds but flowers.

We are Pest Control Coordinators : We surely know the species of the critter invading kitchen pantries and its access hole into the building!

We are Sewer Experts : We know exactly why most sewers back up at 5:01 on a Friday night of a holiday weekend.

We are Plumbing Professionals : We turn the water off in an emergency situation in the middle of a man’s shower just to aggravate him.

We are Community Police : We should rush right over to referee a domestic dispute. . .often among two people twice our size.

We are Feces Inspectors : We can determine the DNA on each and every dropping throughout a community and spot the work of Mrs. Jones‘ little poodle FiFi at 200 paces.

The point here is that if you are looking for a low-activity normal workday, then community management may be more of a challenge than you first expected. Community management is hard yet rewarding work and you have to maintain a sense of humor and a positive outlook to succeed in this profession.

A list of Do’s and Don’ts for Community Management:

• Customer service. Answer your calls and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Even if you don’t have an answer, let your client/homeowner know that you are working on it.
• Know your community. Set your goals to be proactive, not reactive.
• Be respectful. Treat that nasty, arrogant man or woman with respect; they may be your next Board President.
• Maintain your cool. If a homeowner is calling you names and yelling, don’t take it personally. Nine times out of ten, they are just having a bad day and you have been chosen to take it out on. Surprisingly, after they have vented, they will often call you back to apologize.
• Support staff. Acknowledge and appreciate those that are there to support you. It only takes a second to add a line to your email after they have gathered information for you to say, Hey, I appreciate all you do for me.
• Never, ever lie. If you have forgotten or not completed a task given you by the Board, tell them I am sorry. I overlooked that directive but I will follow up immediately. The Board will understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen. If you are straight forward and provided you don’t make a habit of overlooking your assignments, they will understand.
• Rumblings of dissatisfaction. Working for a management company means client retention. If you feel, hear or suspect any dissatisfaction, then you need to address this issue with your supervisors. What begins as a tempest in a teakettle ultimately could lead to a hurricane. Less clients for your company can mean cuts backs in the work force.
• Ask questions. No one has all the answers all of the time. Ignorance is not bliss if you have read the documents wrong or given your Board misinformation. Better to say, I don’t have an answer at this time, but I will research the issue and report back promptly.
• Stay focused. On the days that every call you get is from a cranky homeowner, every email seems full of hate, you feel sure that your supervisor appears to be looking at you with thoughts of terminating your employment, and you are ready to just give up. . . you might be surprised that the next call is from a homeowner or Board member telling you how much they appreciate you, the next email is one giving you a glowing reference on a job well done, or you are paged to come to the reception desk and find a floral delivery from a grateful Board/Homeowner, and you see your supervisor in the hallway and well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Remember this quote:

Be bold in what you stand for, careful what you fall for. Be yourself. No one else is better qualified.

With these tips, and an occasional aspirin, you’re sure to be a hit in this profession. If you like excitement, enjoy people, and thrive on being busy and serving others, community association management might just be the right fit for you!

Source: Association Times

Selective Enforcement Challenge for Homeowner Associations

Selective CCR Enforcement

If you’ve served as a member of a community association‘s Board of Directors for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard the term “selective enforcement” when you have attempted to enforce the covenants.  There is good reason for this:  the selective enforcement defense is one of the most commonly used defenses to a Board’s covenant enforcement action.  There is much misunderstanding among Board members and homeowners as to exactly what selective enforcement means.  The purpose of this article is to provide an explanation of the underpinnings of the selective enforcement defense and to provide some guidance for insuring that your Board’s decisions can withstand a selective enforcement challenge.

A Board has a duty to enforce the covenants of a community in a procedurally fair and reasonable manner.  The defense of selective enforcement arises when an owner argues a Board breached this duty.

There are two types of selective enforcement: 1) when an association acts arbitrarily by enforcing some covenants but fails to enforce others; and 2) when an association acts arbitrarily by enforcing the same covenant differently against one owner and another.  The best reasoned case on this issue is a case from the Supreme Court of South Carolina, Palmetto Dunes v. Brown.  In that case, the association’s covenants vested its Board with the power to approve or disapprove construction plans based on purely aesthetic considerations.  Relying on that provision, the Board denied an owner, Brown’s, new home construction plans on the basis that the plans submitted by Brown showed a grage that “overpowered” the rest of the house.  Brown argued to the Court that the Board’s decision was unreasonable and arbitrary, in part because the Board had approved two other similar houses.

The Court examined the Board’s reason for disapproving the home on aesthetic considerations.  The Court look to see if the decision bore a reasonable relation to the other buildings in the community or the general plan of development.  The Board presented evidence to the Court that Brown’s plans were different from the two similar houses.  In addition, the Board explained to the Court that it approved the other two similar houses based upon construction plans, and was disappointed in the houses once built because they did not match the overall aesthetic of the community.  Because of the appearance of the completed houses, the Board told the Court that they had decided not to approve any more houses with similar garages.  The Court found in favor of the association, holding that the evidence did not justify a finding that the Board acted unreasonably in disapproving the house plans, even though it had previously approved similar plans; the decision was not arbitrary or capricious, but was based on well-reasoned value judgements.

In another case, the Georgia Court of Appeals held that a violating owner has the initial burden of proof to present evidence that an association enforced the covenants in an arbitrary or selective manner.  Once that is done, the burden of proof shifts to the association to show why the present owner’s violation is different from other violations.

The homeowner in that case violated the architectural control provisions of the association’s governing legal documents by building a second driveway on his lot without receiving prior approval from the architectural control committee. Once informed of his violation, he submitted plans and specifications to the committee for approval. The committee denied his request and ultimately, the association brought suit to enforce the covenants. At trial, the homeowner presented sufficient evidence to show that the association acted in an arbitrary manner in denying his request by showing pictures of other homes in the community with second driveways. The association was not able to present any evidence as to the reason the other second driveways in the subdivision were permitted, but this owner’s request was denied. Since the Board could not put forth reasons for its decision, the owner won the case and kept his second driveway.

The basic lesson to take away from these two cases is that if an association’s documents give the Board authority to approve or disapprove a modification or make other decisions based on certain standards, even one as broad as “aesthetic considerations”, a Court will likely uphold a decision if there is a reasonable explanation for why the Board made the decision as it did. For example, in the Palmetto Dunes case, the Board had the power to approve or disapprove a house based on purely aesthetic considerations, and in court the Board was able to point to specific reasons that it denied the owner’s plans; namely, an overpowering garage. The Board was also able to distinguish the house from the similar houses cited by the owner and to explain why it had decided to no longer approve houses with similar garages. In contrast, in the second case, the Board was unable to provide evidence to the Court as to why it made the decision not to allow a second driveway.  As a consequence, the Court found that the Board’s decision was arbitrary and capricious and upheld the owner’s claim of selective enforcement.

With this in mind, a Board can help to protect itself from claims of selective enforcement by insuring that its decisions to approve or disapprove owners’ plans or proposed modification are supported by well-reasoned explan­ations. If there are any homes in the community similar to the one that the Board disapproves, the Board should be able to identify distinguishing factors between the disapproved modification and the one that was approved, or a good reason that the Board had for previously approving similar houses but not to the present one. Boards should also remember to keep accurate records of each decision in the association’s records, including notations of the reasons for the Board’s decision. In the event of a selective enforcement lawsuit, those records will help to show the Court the reasoning behind the Board’s decision-making on a particular owner’s proposed modification and/or in demonstrating to the Court that the Board has a sound, consistent covenant enforcement process.

In sum, there may be little a Board can do to prevent an owner from alleging selective enforcement against it in the event that he or she does not agree with a decision the Board makes. However, if the Board can demonstrate that it has made a sound decision, within the scope of its authority, it can put itself in the best position to defend its decision against such a claim.

A Day in the Life of a Community Association Manager

Someone asked me a few years ago to describe a normal day in the life of a community manager and I had to laugh normality and community management seem such a contradiction in terms. Then I began to think of my normal day.

As community managers, we wear a multitude of hats:

We are Financial Advisors : We advise our Boards of Directors on how to spend reserves, how to budget for repairs and how to collect dues. We oversee the smooth operation of millions of dollars of real estate every day.

We are Accountants : We have to be able to read and explain financial statements and answer that most asked question, What do you do with all of our money?

We are General Contractors : We must be able to look at a plumbing leak and determine immediately (with 20 possible sources) where the leak is coming from and who is responsible for taking care of it.

We are Lawn Professionals : We must be able to tell if a dry brown spot within the grass is due to fungus, lack of water, or too many pets.

We are Pool Professionals : We must have an immediate answer as to why the pool suddenly turned algae green overnight.

We are Horticulturists : We must know every species of botany known to man in order to explain to residents that those weeds are not really weeds but flowers.

We are Pest Control Coordinators : We surely know the species of the critter invading kitchen pantries and its access hole into the building!

We are Sewer Experts : We know exactly why most sewers back up at 5:01 on a Friday night of a holiday weekend.

We are Plumbing Professionals : We turn the water off in an emergency situation in the middle of a man’s shower just to aggravate him.

We are Community Police : We should rush right over to referee a domestic dispute. . .often among two people twice our size.

We are Feces Inspectors : We can determine the DNA on each and every dropping throughout a community and spot the work of Mrs. Jones’ little poodle FiFi at 200 paces.

The point here is that if you are looking for a low-activity normal workday, then community management may be more of a challenge than you first expected. Community management is hard yet rewarding work and you have to maintain a sense of humor and a positive outlook to succeed in this profession.

A list of Do’s and Don’ts for Community Management:

• Customer service. Answer your calls and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Even if you don’t have an answer, let your client/homeowner know that you are working on it.
• Know your community. Set your goals to be proactive, not reactive.
• Be respectful. Treat that nasty, arrogant man or woman with respect; they may be your next Board President.
• Maintain your cool. If a homeowner is calling you names and yelling, don’t take it personally. Nine times out of ten, they are just having a bad day and you have been chosen to take it out on. Surprisingly, after they have vented, they will often call you back to apologize.
• Support staff. Acknowledge and appreciate those that are there to support you. It only takes a second to add a line to your email after they have gathered information for you to say, Hey, I appreciate all you do for me.
• Never, ever lie. If you have forgotten or not completed a task given you by the Board, tell them I am sorry. I overlooked that directive but I will follow up immediately. The Board will understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen. If you are straight forward and provided you don’t make a habit of overlooking your assignments, they will understand.
• Rumblings of dissatisfaction. Working for a management company means client retention. If you feel, hear or suspect any dissatisfaction, then you need to address this issue with your supervisors. What begins as a tempest in a teakettle ultimately could lead to a hurricane. Less clients for your company can mean cuts backs in the work force.
• Ask questions. No one has all the answers all of the time. Ignorance is not bliss if you have read the documents wrong or given your Board misinformation. Better to say, I don’t have an answer at this time, but I will research the issue and report back promptly.
• Stay focused. On the days that every call you get is from a cranky homeowner, every email seems full of hate, you feel sure that your supervisor appears to be looking at you with thoughts of terminating your employment, and you are ready to just give up. . . you might be surprised that the next call is from a homeowner or Board member telling you how much they appreciate you, the next email is one giving you a glowing reference on a job well done, or you are paged to come to the reception desk and find a floral delivery from a grateful Board/Homeowner, and you see your supervisor in the hallway and well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Remember this quote:

Be bold in what you stand for, careful what you fall for. Be yourself. No one else is better qualified.

With these tips, and an occasional aspirin, you’re sure to be a hit in this profession. If you like excitement, enjoy people, and thrive on being busy and serving others, community association management might just be the right fit for you!

Source: Association Times

A Day in the Life of a Community Manager

Someone asked me a few years ago to describe a normal day in the life of a community manager and I had to laugh normality and community management seem such a contradiction in terms. Then I began to think of my normal day.

As community managers, we wear a multitude of hats:

We are Financial Advisors : We advise our Boards of Directors on how to spend reserves, how to budget for repairs and how to collect dues. We oversee the smooth operation of millions of dollars of real estate every day.

We are Accountants : We have to be able to read and explain financial statements and answer that most asked question, What do you do with all of our money?

We are General Contractors : We must be able to look at a plumbing leak and determine immediately (with 20 possible sources) where the leak is coming from and who is responsible for taking care of it.

We are Lawn Professionals : We must be able to tell if a dry brown spot within the grass is due to fungus, lack of water, or too many pets.

We are Pool Professionals : We must have an immediate answer as to why the pool suddenly turned algae green overnight.

We are Horticulturists : We must know every species of botany known to man in order to explain to residents that those weeds are not really weeds but flowers.

We are Pest Control Coordinators : We surely know the species of the critter invading kitchen pantries and its access hole into the building!

We are Sewer Experts : We know exactly why most sewers back up at 5:01 on a Friday night of a holiday weekend.

We are Plumbing Professionals : We turn the water off in an emergency situation in the middle of a man’s shower just to aggravate him.

We are Community Police : We should rush right over to referee a domestic dispute. . .often among two people twice our size.

We are Feces Inspectors : We can determine the DNA on each and every dropping throughout a community and spot the work of Mrs. Jones’ little poodle FiFi at 200 paces.

The point here is that if you are looking for a low-activity normal workday, then community management may be more of a challenge than you first expected. Community management is hard yet rewarding work and you have to maintain a sense of humor and a positive outlook to succeed in this profession.

A list of Do’s and Don’ts for Community Management:

• Customer service. Answer your calls and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Even if you don’t have an answer, let your client/homeowner know that you are working on it.
• Know your community. Set your goals to be proactive, not reactive.
• Be respectful. Treat that nasty, arrogant man or woman with respect; they may be your next Board President.
• Maintain your cool. If a homeowner is calling you names and yelling, don’t take it personally. Nine times out of ten, they are just having a bad day and you have been chosen to take it out on. Surprisingly, after they have vented, they will often call you back to apologize.
• Support staff. Acknowledge and appreciate those that are there to support you. It only takes a second to add a line to your email after they have gathered information for you to say, Hey, I appreciate all you do for me.
• Never, ever lie. If you have forgotten or not completed a task given you by the Board, tell them I am sorry. I overlooked that directive but I will follow up immediately. The Board will understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen. If you are straight forward and provided you don’t make a habit of overlooking your assignments, they will understand.
• Rumblings of dissatisfaction. Working for a management company means client retention. If you feel, hear or suspect any dissatisfaction, then you need to address this issue with your supervisors. What begins as a tempest in a teakettle ultimately could lead to a hurricane. Less clients for your company can mean cuts backs in the work force.
• Ask questions. No one has all the answers all of the time. Ignorance is not bliss if you have read the documents wrong or given your Board misinformation. Better to say, I don’t have an answer at this time, but I will research the issue and report back promptly.
• Stay focused. On the days that every call you get is from a cranky homeowner, every email seems full of hate, you feel sure that your supervisor appears to be looking at you with thoughts of terminating your employment, and you are ready to just give up. . . you might be surprised that the next call is from a homeowner or Board member telling you how much they appreciate you, the next email is one giving you a glowing reference on a job well done, or you are paged to come to the reception desk and find a floral delivery from a grateful Board/Homeowner, and you see your supervisor in the hallway and well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Remember this quote:

Be bold in what you stand for, careful what you fall for. Be yourself. No one else is better qualified.

With these tips, and an occasional aspirin, you’re sure to be a hit in this profession. If you like excitement, enjoy people, and thrive on being busy and serving others, community association management might just be the right fit for you!

Source: Association Times

4 Ideas for Trimming Your HOA’s Expense Budget

More and more associations are collecting less and less dues as a result of the housing crisis. Here are four tips for trimming your budget to ensure that your association still provides key services with a smaller pool of funds.

1) Shop around. A good way to shrink your budget is to shop your insurance policies and other ongoing contracts around. If you’ve been with your current insurance carrier for years, it may have been a while since you’ve compared rates. Do it now. While you’re doing that, ask whether increasing your deductibles will net a worthwhile savings. Sometimes the savings are minimal—and probably not worth the added risk. But you’ll only learn that if you ask.

2) Conserve energy. Minor conservation efforts can make a big difference in your budget. If you’ve got timer-controlled sprinklers that run for 30 minutes each morning, cut them back to 25 minutes for a month to see if the plants still get enough water and you save any money on your water bill. Do the same with your hot water heater. Dropping the thermostat a degree or two may make no difference to residents, but it will create savings. Finally, depending on the size of your association, swapping old-fashioned light bulbs out for more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs can save money. Compact fluorescents aren’t inexpensive, so you’ll take an initial budget hit. But you’ll see lower energy costs over time.

3) Do it yourself. If your association is in dire straits, evaluate all your expenses to determine if you can bring any functions in house. If you have a management company, is it possible to eliminate that expense and run the association yourself? (The opposite may also be true. If you’re self-managed, you may save money by having professionals keep an eye on your budget and get you discounts from their trusted vendors.) If you have landscapers, can you cut back on their work and let residents pick up the slack? You could pay for a spring and fall grounds cleanup while bringing grass cutting and flower planting in house. Finally, explain the situation to homeowners and ask owners who are professionals for discounts or freebies. For example, if you have a resident accountant, ask if she’ll prepare the association’s annual tax filing for free or at a discounted rate.

4) Fix it now. Homes are like cars. Routine maintenance helps prevent larger, more expensive problems from creeping up on you. Create a checklist of your major mechanical and building systems. Then ask residents with expertise or outside contractors to check those systems to see if a minor upgrade or repair now will extend the life of the system. For example, if you’ve got a roofer in the house, ask if he’ll volunteer to inspect the roof and do minor patching on areas that may become a problem in the near future.

If your budget is still in the red after all of your trimming efforts, you may have to take more drastic measures—like raising assessments. Before you do, however, consider whether you can generate income. For example, your governing documents may permit you to rent your clubhouse to nonresidents for a fee. Or if your state allows you to earn money on reserves (some don’t), consider putting a lump sum that you don’t expect to use immediately in a safe investment with a higher return than a savings account.

Community Involvement

With home ownership comes responsibility. As soon as you sign on the dotted line, repairs and maintenance are yours to deal with. How well you take care of your home not only affects the appearance of your property, but also affects property values ​​and the street.

It goes beyond this, however. Home ownership means you are a permanent part of a community. They are the soul of how your district and the role of the city. A community relies on its members to help the needy and to make sure things are done.

There are hundreds of ways you can volunteer your time in your own community. Here are some ideas to get started.

The American Red Cross: Volunteers constitute 96 percent of its total workforce to carry out its humanitarian work. If you like helping people who have come to the right place. Its local unit of the Red Cross could only have the opportunity – from training to be ready for disaster response to support a blood drive for message delivery to the U.S. service personnel to families displaced by disasters or conflict connection. Visit redcross.org / en / volunteers.

Goodwill / Salvation Army. From disasters to the hard times, many families with less than necessary. By donating your extra items to the local establishments that are helping the less fortunate.

Big Brothers / Big Sisters: one to one tutoring have shown striking benefits for children. Not all children have someone to be your model. What if all children reach their potential? They do not have time for this kind of commitment? Consider making a donation to bbbs.org.

Relay for Life and local “walk”: Sponsored by the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life raises funds to help find a cure for cancer. Relayforlife.org You can visit for more information. In addition, your community may have sponsored trips to the local causes. So be active and make a difference!

MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a great cause that helps raise awareness about the dangers and risks of drunk driving. One in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related accident in his life. The organization said “Volunteers are the heart and soul of MADD. It is his compassion and determination that drives the organization and his tireless work they have achieved so much. Join these citizens who have become activists extraordinary to save lives. ”

School fundraisers. Students need all that your community is to help finance sports leagues, clubs, theater, and travel to a new computer for school. Do your part by taking advantage of the units of cakes, candy sales, magazines and records. Or make a donation to their cause.

Keeping up with taxes and registration: The community benefits of dollars in state and local taxes. For up to date on property taxes and vehicle registration, which is doing its part to help fund community programs, maintenance of roads and schools.

Being good neighbors. Neighborhood watch meetings are a great way to show your support for your area and do your part to keep your home safe.

Local sports events. Many high schools and local youth sports leagues are highly dependent on ticket sales and concessions to finance their equipment and travel. Support your local team and have a night on the town!

HOA board: your HOA may need volunteers to help balance the finances of the organization of events, and help enforce HOA rules. As a member of the Council can help your neighborhood in smoothly and fairly.

Run for office in the city: Looking to make a change on a grand scale? By participating in the politics of the city you can help promote change. If they have an elected position, may attend meetings and vote on important issues.

These are just some of the ways you can get involved in their community. Choose one and inspire those around you to participate too!

Foreclosures costing neighbors as homeowner associations pay to maintain abandoned houses

Homeowners across metro Atlanta are paying hidden costs of neighbors’ foreclosures as their homeowner associations get stuck with maintaining abandoned properties until the lender or a new buyer takes over.

River Falls homeowner association president Allan Price inspects the pool area of a foreclosed home in the gated Roswell community.

If HOAs don’t maintain them, the empty properties drag down values of other homes and turn off prospective buyers. And at the same the associations are spending more money on maintenance and repairs, they are suffering the loss of monthly dues from foreclosed homes in their neighborhoods.

That causes them to have to raise the dues on those who do pay.

Allan Price of Roswell’s River Falls neighborhood said his HOA has been forced to raise dues an average of 2 percent a year over the past several years to help pay the losses.

“There was a foreclosure unattended for such a long time with a pool so dirty it could have created a haven for West Nile virus. So we had to get a pool service to come treat it,” said Price, the HOA president.

The association has paid to mow grass on foreclosed properties and perform maintenance on one house’s doors and windows to keep it from deteriorating, he said.

Two homes in River Falls, a neighborhood of $300,000-plus houses, have cost the HOA nearly $23,000 in lost dues and work, Price said.

The HOA tries to get repaid by putting a lien on the properties, but Georgia law wipes those bills clean of all liens when the lender takes over the property.

“You just have to watch it play out and continue to take your losses,” Price said.

Metro area HOA officers interviewed said delinquency rates have varied from 5 percent to 20 percent in their subdivisions.

State Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton, tried to help the HOAs recoup their costs earlier this year by adding provisions to a bill that would have allowed the associations to collect some of their costs from liens put on properties. But he removed the proposal in the face of lobbying by the Georgia Bankers Association.

Joe Brannen, president of the Georgia Bankers Association, said when a bank takes over a property it should not be held accountable for what a homeowner has failed to do, such as pay dues.

“It shouldn’t be the lender’s responsibility, as the lender would have no knowledge of that,” Brannen said.

“Fees like HOA dues are obviously a little different from real work done on a property, but again, the lender would have no knowledge of or control over a borrower who may have stopped paying these fees, so the lender shouldn’t have to pay all that just because [banks] are forced to foreclose,” he said.

Not just HOAs are affected; any liens, such as a workman’s lien put on a property by an unpaid plumber, also get canceled.

Brannen said banks also usually take a loss of more than 40 percent when they foreclose on a property. It is an issue where everybody is losing money, he said, and it would be unfair to saddle a lender with all of the losses.

“Which is why foreclosure is always a last resort and needs to remain an efficient process like we have here in Georgia to keep the losses as low as possible for everyone,” he said.

“Certainly, the foreclosure crisis has had an enormous impact on our clients,” said Julie Howard, a partner in the Weissman Nowack Curry & Wilco law firm, which specializes in HOA law. “Assessments go up or they have deferred maintenance or deferred capital improvements or repairs.”

Denise Hindes of the Echo Mill neighborhood in Cobb County said HOAs can limit their losses by being proactive in enforcing community covenants early.

But at some point an HOA has to make tough decisions about when to cut its losses and stop spending money on lawyers or collection agencies. That problem is exacerbated during the limbo period between the owner walking away and a bank taking over. That can be months or even years — while a house sits looking worse and worse, Hindes said.

Last winter, Howard approached Hamrick, who was writing a bill to resolve problems in getting developers to turn over HOAs to homeowners. Hamrick added language that would have allowed HOAs to collect at least part of the money owed them from the lender who is in line to take the property over. Howard said states such as Florida have passed such laws.

“Of course, there was opposition from bankers,” Hamrick said, and he decided to remove the collection provisions. “We are trying to address two separate problems. I guess at some point I tried to get back to original problem. That is why we ended up taking out lien issue.”

Hamrick said he might try again to address the problem when the General Assembly comes back into session in January.

Howard said contacts in states where such laws have been passed told her they were able to work with banks to resolve the opposition. She is hoping to find such a resolution in Georgia, but is not waiting idly for the Legislature to address the issue.

She said she’s “working on a full-scale grassroots effort” to get HOAs to lobby legislators for the change.

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution