IS YOUR ASSOCIATION STRUGGLING WITH A FEW ISSUES; IT DOES NOT REQUIRE FULL-TIME MANAGEMENT SERVICES? IF YES, CONTINUE AND BE SURPRISED.

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What do we do?

We target Self-Managed Associations- because we provide occasional services that a professional management companies do not provide typically. For example, compare the list below

Management Companies                                                             HOA-Consulting-Services

Accounting Services                                                                        Strategic Planning Service

N/A                                                                                                    Strategic Planning & implementation

N/A                                                                                                     Marketing Studies

N/A                                                                                                    Compliance Issues

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Accounting Services cover posting invoices and payments to the correct income and expense accounts, posting funds from the association’s members to each member’s account, and preparing periodic financial statements.

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Strategic Planning includes a review of the Association’s past financial statements, the annual operating accounts and reserve accounts. The annual operating accounts should include appropriately named “maintenance accounts” that will cover the cost of services that are performed annually. The “reserve accounts” are not ‘emergency accounts’. They are designed to cover the costs of replacing or repairing real property owned by the Association that normally depreciates over 10-20 years.

One of the major problems for a self-managed Association is that it may decide to use a Reserve Account as an emergency source of funding which should not occur, unless the funds are replaced within the next budgeting cycle. When the funds are not replaced, the Association is simply pushing forward a major problem and misusing the Reserve Accounts that cab become habitual.

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Strategic Planning and Implementation Services usually occur after the members have decided to change a major tangible feature of their Association (e.g., tennis courts). In many cases, the self-managed Associations vote to add a new feature to their Associations without considering the costs beyond the initial cost. Therefore, our services that may require obtaining approval from a state or local planning agency should also cover a complete cost analysis of the initial cost, followed by annual expenses needed to maintain the added feature.

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Marketing Studies may be needed when an Association’s Board of Directors or its members propose a change to a governing document that will increase the Association’s annual operating costs and possibly reserves, the ideal objective should be that it will improve the market values of every privately owned lot or home in the Association.  Therefore, a marketing study should identify if this is the case prior to voting on the proposal.

For example, changing a governing document that  increases the Association’s operating costs should be considered if at least one other similar HOA (similar in size, location, and amenities), exists because a prospective buyer of a vacant residential lot in one of the two “competitive” HOAs should  be inclined to choose the lot that has the lower HOA’s dues. Alternatively, the prospective buyer  should be inclined to offer a lower price for the lot that has the higher HOA’s dues. Therefore, all decisions to make costly increases to the HOA's budget  will not always improve the market value of every lot or home in an HOA.

A marketing study can also assess the degree to which a proposed change in a governing document would benefit certain lots at the risk of causing adverse impacts on other lots. In this situation, the Board or members will either drop the proposal or decide how the costs will be covered.  

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Compliance Issues Management Companies are usually well informed about changes in state and local laws that can change over time. But, management companies do not usually instruct their clients about procedures for announcing their meetings, for handling their meetings; and for preparing the Minutes of their meetings. The procedures are stated in Roberts Rules of Order that usually self-managed HOAs disregard. Although a certain amount of latitude is common among self-managed HOA’s, deviations from these Rules should be discouraged if they do not provide opportunities for members to object to the Board’s decisions that may adversely impact the members’ property.