2011 January
2011 January Vol. 9, No.1
Focus on...Management/Board Relations
Come Prepared to Learn!
With the New Year under way, The New Jersey Cooperator’s 2011 Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo is quietly taking shape as this spring’s must-attend event for the Garden State’s property managers, board members and unit owners.
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Hitting the Books
These are hardly the best of times for those who manage condo and homeowner
association buildings, charged as they are with overseeing financial
well-being, maintenance goals, legal issues and an almost unpredictable
kaleidoscope of other daily concerns, in an economy stressed by many months of
lean times. On the positive side: When has there been a better opportunity to
acquire the kind of experience only challenging times can provide?
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Negotiating Management Contracts
Drawing up a contract for management services looks at first glance like a
simple task. Such contracts usually follow a particular format and outline
services for condos, townhomes and co-ops regardless of size. But what about
contract areas where there’s room for negotiation? How can an association board and a management company
arrive at a contract that helps foster a cooperative relationship?
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Managing in the Economic Downturn
Job losses. Bankruptcies. Foreclosures. These are tough times for everyone, but
when homeowners fall on hard times, they are often late paying condo, townhome
or co-op fees. Some can’t even afford to pay them at all. Read More
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
Most buildings have emergency preparedness plans in case of fires, floods, or
hurricanes. But there’s one form of crisis that very few have an organized response for: the public
relations disaster. It could come in the form of a scandal, criminal
indictment, or even (especially these days) a nasty bedbug infestation.
Managers and board members not only have to handle the crisis itself, whatever
it may be, but they must also address the aftermath and communicate with
residents and sometimes the press about the situation. And that's something
that takes poise and forethought to handle correctly and with minimal drama.
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Keeping In Touch
As recently as five years ago, traditional phone logs and Rolodexes were a
common part of a property manager's daily communications arsenal. Yet, with
recent advances in property management software, such anachronistic methods are
largely a thing of the past. Today’s tech-savvy manager can handle large volumes of communication, track and
prioritize messages, schedule maintenance, and interact with vendors via modern
web-based applications. Some of these applications can even serve as one-stop
solutions for every aspect of condo communication.
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Stinkbug Invasion
The harshness of winter can be challenging for all of us, but for cold-blooded
insects, it's downright brutal. Yet every spring when temperatures rise,
insects are once again crawling and buzzing around as though winter never
happened. How do they do it?
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Q&A: Delinquent Dues Member
Our condo association, which is private, has a situation that seems to be going nowhere. One of the units in the association has been for sale for over 2 years and the owner has not paid their HOA dues in 3 plus years. We as the board filed a lien on the unit, prior to the unit going on the market and one after the unit went up for sale. The owner has had all HOA privileges taken away (access to the pool, clubhouse) but we still have one lingering issue and that is parking on the street by family members. We can tell them not to park on the street but we are not sure how to enforce this. Can this be enforced? Also it seems the unit may stay on the market for some time. We have a lawyer dealing with the liens but we are wondering as an association board, is there anything else we can do besides wait? Read More
Q&A: Board Rule Changer
I am on our condo board. We have a problem with a previous condo board member who maintains that any rules (not bylaw changes) must be enforced by subsequent boards and can never be adjusted or changed. When she left the board the last time, without any notice or discussion, she put through a bunch of onerous rules just before leaving and now demands that future boards enforce all of them. My question is: Is it true that New Jersey laws require current condo boards to enforce rules and regulations (not made part of a condominium’s bylaws) set by a previous board, and at the same time prohibit future condo boards from ever modifying or reversing such rules? Read More
