Striking a balance between homeowners and aesthetics

There are a multitude of personal views and opinions on landscaping. When you live in a planned community some of those personal views will be expressed and chances are they will be conflicting views. Money allowing this is an area that should always be handled with a plan and by a professional company.

Over the last year we have received some good and not so good ideas regarding ways to offset increases on landscaping. Here are a few that didn’t make the grade:

• One suggested that we hire a landscaper that would arrive only when we called. This way if the weather had been dry and there was no rain we could hold off on a cut or only cut those areas that were shaded had growth;
• Someone planted artificial flowers outside their unit, they felt it would save on replanting;
• And we had a resident plant wild flowers and wild grass in an effort to reduce on purchasing annuals.

None could conceive that their ideas were not well received by the board, other residents, or our contractors. While all of these ideas could work in your personal single family home they were not conducive to an expansive property that stretched over 18 acres.

There are great projects that condo residents can do working together to enhance the curb appeal while saving a few dollars:

• Plan a spruce up/clean up day. Ask for resident volunteers to work around buildings cleaning up, reducing weeds and plantings gone badly. Some complexes have wooded areas, trash areas, and other areas that tend to over grow or collect blowing trash.
• Purchase plants and/or mulch in bulk and make an outing of it. Planning something like this around a family day with a picnic lunch after is a great way to bring together a community.
• Adopt a planter. Ask residents if they would be willing to volunteer to take care of a planter or planting bed. This has worked for us with some success. We still have to care of some planting barrels and planting beds while others are done by residents that are close and want them to look nice every year.

Living in a planned community is always about balance. This happens to be an area where the results of a decision are very apparent because the result will be outside of the units and visible not only to residents but also to neighbors and everyone who passes the community.

Michael Zimmer is the President of The Meadows of Southington Condominium Association, Inc. Michael has served on the board of directors for this 166 unit complex in Southington for over 15 years and has held the position of President for the last 12 years. He can be contacted via email at mjzimmer@bigplanet.com

MANAGEMENT EVALUATION

An interesting feature of homeowner associations is that they are either self-managed or managed by a community association management firm under the direction of elected volunteers of various backgrounds.

Experience has shown that there are some drawbacks to this concept:

• Many associations are run more as social organizations instead of business enterprises that are comprised of assets often valued into the millions of dollars.
• Continuity in running a community association is often difficult to maintain because board members usually serve for a few years at most and there are turnover issues with professional community association management.
• Board members and managers often lack training and education.

The Community Association Institute offers professional training for managers and board members. Listed below are some pointers taken from its’ M-! 00 course material. (A highly recommended course for new board members and managers.)

What are some of the signs of a weak or ineffective management situation at a community association?

• An increase instead of decrease in action items carried over from one board meeting to another.
• An increase in unit owner attendance at meetings and complaints about poor service.
• Untimely or no response to maintenance requests.
• Inability to fill board positions – or resignations due to “personal” reasons.
• Surprise assessments or unexpected financial shortfalls.

If community associations such as condominiums and planned unit developments are considered non-stock business enterprises that are often valued in the millions of dollars, then it is necessary to measure performance of how a property is being run and have plans for maintaining and enhancing values.

There are several methods for measuring management performance whether self-managed or managed by a professional management firm.
One is an owner survey and the other is a management audit.

A management audit, sometimes called an operational audit in the commercial world, is a useful tool for measuring performance. These are the factors that are included in a review of an operation:

• Review and updating of the association’s governing documents including rules and regulations.
• Appearance and physical condition of the property .
• Owner/resident satisfaction.
• Financial condition.

Once a management audit has been completed the board and unit owners should have a good idea of where there association stands and what action may be required to shore up weaknesses.

The results of the management or operational audit would be a major input to an annual management plan.

An annual management plan is a statement of goals and objectives and includes a yearly cycle of tasks.

As stated in the M-100 syllabus, a management plan addresses a community association’s administration, governance, and community aspects.

These are the typical areas that would be included in the annual management plan:

• Rules and regulations – enforcement policies and current applicability.
• Repairs and upkeep programs.
• Vendor services.
• Communication programs for the unit owners and residents.
• Finances – Adequacy of budgets, replacement fund analysis, monthly fee collections.
• Administrative activities – meetings, elections.
• Insurance and risk management.

Periodic performance reviews and an up to date management plan will help to provide objective measures and guidelines for board members and managers.

If commercial enterprises find it useful to prepare plans and review performance, then community associations should too. The benefits far outweigh the effort and expense.

Walt Williamsen has vast experience as a property manager. He has been active with CAI-CT for many years, serving as President from 2001-2003. Walt is a frequent speaker at CAI-CT seminars and he coordinates our popular Ask the Experts: Leadership Forum program. Walt is the owner of Condominium Consulting Services, LLC.

WHEN THE BLOOM IS OFF THE MANAGEMENT ROSE……

Over the past five or so years, I have had the unique opportunity to see several sides of the association management issue while working with both boards and management companies.

At most education seminars put on by the state’s CAI chapter the topic of problematic management issues usually comes up in the Q&A sessions and based on my experience, there are more than a few situations where the board/association is not happy with the management company and similarly, the management company is not a fan of the board/association as a client.

Notwithstanding all the advances in email, instant messaging and all the other modern communication devices, I still maintain that the association management business is mostly “high touch, low tech.” In many ways, it is a relationship business.

Problems often arise on account of these typical dynamics that are common to the community association management business:

• Board members come and go;
• Managers come and go;
• Unit owners and managers with myriad personalities interact daily;
• Physical structures and properties constantly deteriorate and require constant upkeep;
• Many associations want the most service for the lowest cost; and
• Some management companies would like to provide a minimum of service for the fee charged.

In any event, CAI has many resources on how to hire a management company and how to operate a management company, but these are topics for another time.

It does not do a community association any good to be continually changing managers and management companies – and here’s why:

• There is disruption in the continuity of operations, projects, and administration.
• Records and valuable site documents are often lost in the transfers.
• Some good vendors and contractors may consider it “disloyal” to continue on.
• Financial records may be compromised (perhaps not all accounts are transferred).
• A property may get a reputation as a difficult, high maintenance client administratively, causing other companies to avoid it or to charge higher fees (i.e., combat pay).

Assuming a basic level of competence and reasonable responsiveness on the part of the part of the management company, these are pointers to consider before deciding to move on to try another management company:

1. The obvious – discuss the disappointment in performance on the part of both parties. Often a change in site personnel or board contacts will work.
2. Have realistic expectations – in most cases, an association is paying a management fee that is not sufficient to have exclusive use of one manager and the entire office staff. It is typical for a site manager to be overseeing six or more properties at one time.
3. Managers and staff should be treated with respect and courtesy. These are regular people trying to deal with many different issues with many different people, especially after unfavorable weather events. Swearing at, bullying, or otherwise belittling someone over the phone over some unresolved issue is not appropriate.
4. Reevaluate the association’s management requirements. Perhaps a hybrid type management arrangement can be discussed.
5. Consider email as a tool for conveying succinct messages. Unit owners should be encouraged to limit emails to a brief description of a problem to be resolved. (Some emails received at management offices are small novelettes that are too lengthy and take up much staff time.)

Ultimately, if you do decide to part company, both parties should “leave on terms where they can go back in and pick up their hat.” In other words, don’t burn bridges. There are numerous instances where associations and management companies have parted company and then reunited years later with good results.

Walt Williamsen has vast experience as a property manager. He has been active with CAI-CT for many years, serving as President from 2001-2003. He is currently a member of the CAI-CT Board of Directors and serves as Secretary. Walt is a frequent speaker at CAI-CT seminars and he coordinates our popular Ask the Experts: A Basic Course for Board Members program. Walt is the owner of Condominium Consulting Services, LLC.