In many associations with the new year comes a new set of board members. In most associations there is no transition program and the newbies learn as they go. This can be problematic as many positions have responsibilities such as secretary or treasurer. Unless the senior members are proactive, then the new members have learn [...]
The Challenges of Raising Assessments to fund association reserves As a board president in Washington State, you've just discovered that your association needs $200,000 to replace the clubhouse roof due to a leak. Your operating budget has no contingency funds, and your reserve fund, which has not had an increase in many years, has a [...]
7 reasons to not ignore your condominium reserve study: Deferred maintenance: Without a reserve study, it can be difficult to budget for and plan for major repairs and replacements. This can lead to deferred maintenance, which can cause the condition of the condominium/ homeowner complex to deteriorate over time. Special assessments: If the condominium/ [...]
Aging Infrastructure in Condominium Complexes The Surfside Condominium collapse continues to resonate through the industry sounding the alarm about the health of building's infrastructure. Many boards are still operating in the dark underfunding reserves in the hopes that we won't have a failure. Other boards feel comfortable in having $100,000 plus in reserves that they [...]
We frequently get questions from board members on why certain assets not included. What assets are most likely to be excluded? The general rule is if a component (assets) has a life greater than 30 years its outside the scope of the study. For example, natural gas piping has a life of 50 years [...]
Our blog has discussed over the years the value of having a Reserve Study. It is, after all, one of the best practices an association can take to protect property values. None of us want to see the value of our home slashed and our home equity vanish. But that’s exactly what happens when maintenance [...]
In Washington State do reserves have to be fully funded? It’s a great question - when you review the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA) it really doesn't say how much an association needs to have. Fully funded is one of the most misused terms in our industry because there is not just one [...]
Updated in August 2023 - Hawaii just had a devastating wildfire that killed over 100 people and burned more than 1,100 structures. It was reported at least 6 condominium associations were destroyed and many others had damage. Its unknown if the damaged associations were habitable. Our hearts go out the Maui community and we hope [...]
