The Uncommon Area

Jonathan Naranjo of Newfront Insurance discusses what HOAs can do to make insurance companies more eager to provide insurance coverage for them.

1. Understanding Insurance Market Dynamics:

2. Importance of Mitigating Risks:

3. Broker’s Role and Bidding Process:

4. Navigating Insurance Applications:

5. Tips for HOAs:

The post Insurance companies may not want to insure your HOA | Ep. 41 appeared first on Action Property Management.

A discussion with Carson Lappetito, president of Sunwest Bank, regarding what is happening in the banking world right now and the impact on HOAs.

Dive into what happened with Silicon Valley Bank, the FDIC insurance limit, and what HOAs should consider for their funds.

The post Is My HOA’s Money Safe in the Bank? | Ep. 40 appeared first on Action Property Management.

General manager Claudia Faison discusses her experiences with a beach community and all the methods they employed to keep seagulls away. She shares the solution that has kept their roofs and buildings clean once and for all!

The post Seagulls Make Messes—What Should You Do? | Ep. 39 appeared first on Action Property Management.

Unintended consequences of relaxed board meetings.

Some HOAs discourage participation from homeowners when they think that they are encouraging participation. For example, an HOA with a loose open form policy or a loose following of that policy will eventually discourage participation because it will allow for a few residents to dominate. This will discourage others from participating or even coming. Let someone talk during open forum for an extended time—maybe someone else came to ask one question they have to get home for dinner with the family. Someone else dominates, and they have to leave before they can ask. It happens all the time. Maybe someone jumps in with input outside of open forum. When the meeting becomes a free-for-all the length of the meeting gets longer, and people either leave sooner or just don’t come. Adopt and follow an open forum policy. You’ll get more involvement in the long run.

The post Hot Take: Nice Is Unfair | Ep. 38 appeared first on Action Property Management.

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A discussion with Jens Hansen from Commercial Energy about why natural gas prices have suddenly skyrocketed and what HOAs can do control their costs.

Resources:

http://www.commercialenergy.net/

The post Why Are My Natural Gas Prices So High? | Ep. 37 appeared first on Action Property Management.

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A discussion with Scott Vandeventer, of Empathic Inc Coaching and Consulting, about leadership that “meddles” in the lives of other people to help them be more successful and to help organizations (like HOAs) perform at higher levels.

The post Leadership: Meddling in People’s Lives | Ep. 36 appeared first on Action Property Management.

The life of an HOA portfolio manager.

[00:00:00] HOA portfolio managers. Is it a great job or a brutal job? I was a portfolio manager for more than a decade. There’s often an emphasis on the negative in that job, and it’s not for everyone. It can be a very high volume of work. It can be stressful. It can average 50 or more hours per week, and it requires strengths in three areas that often don’t go together.

[00:00:29] High degrees of organization, the ability to work quickly, and really good people skills. But if you have strengths in those areas, can manage stress well, and are willing to work hard, there are a lot of rewards. No two days are the same. You get to work with a wide variety of people. You make a real difference for people where they live.

[00:00:51] There’s lots of flexibility, and you are always learning something new. It’s not for everyone, but for those who are the right fit, don’t forget about all the amazing aspects of this job.

The post Hot Take: Not Everyone Can Do It | Ep. 35 appeared first on Action Property Management.

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A discussion with attorney Sandra Gottlieb, of SwedelsonGottlieb, about the pitfalls an association may face with claims regarding discrimination, harassment, and fair housing and how to avoid liability for these kinds of claims. Sometimes a person might just be a jerk. But sometimes, they might be breaking the law. And that could expose an HOA to liability. Protect your HOA from this kind of liability.

Resources:

https://www.lawforhoas.com/

The post A Jerk or Lawbreaker? | Ep. 34 appeared first on Action Property Management.

HOAs that save a dollar, only to cost homeowners thousands.

[00:00:00] The single biggest mistake that HOAs make is to try to save pennies while costing their members thousands of dollars. Most studies show that a home in an HOA is likely to have a greater value than one not in an HOA, but that assumes that the HOA is well managed. So management can have a huge impact on home values. A 2% difference in an $800,000 home,

[00:00:24] is a difference of $16,000 or a cumulative difference of 3.2 million in a 200-unit community. But too often an association gets hung up on making its choice of management company based on a few dollars. For example, a management fee of $1,800 a month versus a fee of $2,400 a month is only a difference of $3 a month

[00:00:45] for each home. But for many HOAs, that $600 a month overall cost will be the deciding factor. It’s a consideration, but the deciding factor should be based on who is going to manage the community the best, and how that will affect living experiences and property values in the community. $3 a month shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

The post Hot Take: Saving Pennies, Losing Dollars | Ep. 33 appeared first on Action Property Management.

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The post H2O for HOAs | Ep. 32 appeared first on Action Property Management.