If your community is a seasonal one that tends to thin out over the summer months, what rules or policies do you have in place to ensure that your association continues to operate smoothly and transparently over the summer months? The less crowded summer months in...
Every year, I attend many of my clients' annual meetings and elections and it is always disappointing when some members' election ballots must be discarded due to avoidable errors. For Florida condominiums and HOAs who have adopted a "condominium style" election process, the election protocol that...
Historians believe that the ancient Babylonians were the first people to make New Year's resolutions approximately 4,000 years ago. During a religious festival known as Akitu which lasted for a lengthy 12 days, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the...
HOAs certainly have their share of detractors. Many HOAs operate a community of detached, single family homes which begs the question: it's my house; it's my yard; other than the local building code, why should my HOA be able to restrict what I can do...
Even in the frenzy of post-Irma repairs, ordinary life continues and for most volunteer boards and professional managers that means screening applicants who wish to lease or purchase in their communities. However, purchase and rental screening has become such a part of the fabric of community...
I had planned another blog post for today about boards' screening ability regarding sales and leases. However, I woke up to the news of yet another mass shooting and loss of life; this time in Las Vegas. I sat down this morning and wrote the...
Thankfully Floridians heeded the call and evacuated where necessary and prepared one and all for the monstrous Hurricane Irma. While Irma was a lengthy and dangerous storm, the effects on Florida were not as devastating as had been feared. However, for thousands of shared ownership...
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey's destruction and with Irma fast approaching the eastern US coastline, I could blog about the steps your community needs to take to prepare. I've written that blog post many times before and I often wonder how many board members,...
The role of board members in a community association is fairly straightforward: keep informed on the association's business operations; be familiar with and come prepared to discuss the agenda items for upcoming board meetings; encourage and participate in constructive, businesslike discussions of those agenda items;...
It's hard right now to turn away from the 24/7 news cycle and its discord, rancor and heated rhetoric. When we spend the majority of our time discussing just 20% of the topics which concern us, we cannot commit time or energy to the other...
