For the first time in many years, interest rate volatility is a factor in the housing market. The long period of low inflation and low-rate stability that characterized equity growth and a seemingly permanently turbo-charged housing market …
Q. In a board meeting, the owner of the management company told the board that I fired the plumbing company. The owner of the plumbing company asked for my name and phone number and the manager gave it to him. Is this legal? …
Q. On March 31, 2020, after calling my HOA, I was given verbal permission to replace my roof, which was leaking. I signed a contract to replace the roof on April 15, 2020. Now the board has sent me a letter with a $500 fine for not gettin…
Q. What is the difference between HOA rules and CCRs? —Not Looking for Creedence A. “In the world of community associations, CCR stands for covenants, conditions, and restrictions,” says senior attorney Scott K. P…
While practical experience may be the best source of education for property managers, a little refresher in the classroom from time to time never hurts. Requirements for continuing property manager education vary from state to state, and ev…
Indoor plumbing is a minor miracle: clean water on demand, at the temperature one chooses, right out of the tap. What would have been the height of luxury just a couple of generations ago is now considered a bare necessity. Miraculous as it…
While many condominium associations and co-op corporations hire professional property managers or management firms to handle the routine (and not-so-routine) tasks involved in running a multifamily building or HOA, a significant number take…
In early 2020, our firm was hired to prepare a reserve study for an unremarkable 136-unit, 12-story condominium in south Florida. It was the kind of association you could drive right by without noticing, not much different from all the othe…
In our current environment of steeply rising costs, it’s more important than ever to safeguard your reserves to ensure that your association has sufficient funds available for immediate and future capital projects. Unfortunately, many assoc…
Buying into a residential community like a co-op, condominium, or HOA can be a bit like selecting the political system you’d like to live under. Governance styles can range from an Athenian democracy where every member of the community is i…