Community Association Financials

Budgets, Dues, Association Fees, Assessments, Financial Controls, Insurance, Reserves

This Could Be the Start of a Beautiful Relationship: 5 Tips for Working with Vendors

A management company’s ability to form positive, productive relationships with competent and reliable vendors can make or break its ability to deliver for its client associations. From landscapers, pool service companies, and maintenance firms to attorneys, accountants, and insurance agents or brokers, here’s how to form and maintain successful relationships with your vendors.1. Perform thorough…

Don’t Drag Your Feet on Delinquent Owners – It Could Cost You

Community associations often drag their feet when it comes to filing liens against delinquent owners. The reluctance can be understandable — who, for example, wants to take such a step against a neighbor who has lost a job or racked up medical bills? But this reluctance can prove costly, as one Nevada association recently learned…

Don’t Let Your Clients Lose the Lien Race

Community associations often drag their feet when it comes to filing liens against delinquent owners. The reluctance can be understandable — who, for example, wants to take such a step against a neighbor who has lost a job or racked up medical bills? But this reluctance can prove costly, as one Nevada association recently learned…

Is Your Association Vulnerable to Phishing Attacks?

It’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month — are you, your employees, and your boards of directors aware of community associations’ risks from phishing attacks? If not, or if proper precautions aren’t taken, your clients and their owners could lose control of their confidential information. And the risks are even higher if you have staff working from…

Court Says Manager Wasn’t a Debt Collector – But This May Not Always Be True

A federal Court of Appeals recently ruled that a community association manager wasn’t a “debt collector” for purposes of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which strictly regulates the conduct of general debt collectors. But managers shouldn’t take too much comfort in the decision because it left open the possibility that the result might…

Budgeting in a Time of COVID

We're willing to bet that very few of your clients' budgets are on track for 2020, and figuring out how to adjust and plan for 2021 is complicated. “We’re looking at all those odd pieces, the additional costs associations have borne since March,” says Paul Grucza, director of education and client development at the Seattle-based…

Budgeting for 2021: The COVID-19 Factor(s)

We're willing to bet that very few of your clients' budgets are on track for 2020, and figuring out how to adjust and plan for 2021 is complicated. “We’re looking at all those odd pieces, the additional costs associations have borne since March,” says Paul Grucza, director of education and client development at the Seattle-based…

Manager’s Conduct Doesn’t Make It a Debt Collector

A federal Court of Appeals recently ruled that a community association manager wasn’t a “debt collector” for purposes of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which strictly regulates the conduct of general debt collectors. (Bates v. Green Farms Condominium Ass’n, 6th Cir. 2020). But managers shouldn’t take too much comfort in the decision because…

Don’t Let Your Clients Get Caught: How to Avoid Phishing Risks

It’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month — are you, your employees, and your boards of directors aware of community associations’ risks from phishing attacks? If not, or if proper precautions aren’t taken, your clients and their owners could lose control of their confidential information. And the risks are even higher if you have staff working from…

How Should Association Assess Buyers’ Financial Health?

Your clients may be worried that the COVID-19 crisis threatens their financial stability, but you need to help them avoid going too far in their efforts to protect their bottom lines. One path to steer them away from, for example, is becoming overly invasive in their financial screening of prospective buyers. An association in Florida…