All JOKES ASIDE…
By
Rafael Aquino
Published April 3, 2019
While today may be a day of jokes and foolish
videos, living in an association is no joking matter. In my
experience, you have owners that really don’t understand what it
means to live within a community and the impacts it can have on
them. Many owners believe that they can elect a Board and fall into
the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality but that’s a HUGE mistake.
Why? Because the board members you elect have many responsibilities
and if you don’t keep a close eye on what they are doing, things can
quickly go south.
I understand that most owners don’t have the time
or energy to keep up with association matters but today I will do my
best to educate you on how, with just twenty minutes a month, you
can get a high-level view of your community and avoid being one of
those associations that come out on the news.
Step 1: Review the Monthly Financial
statements – (Time: 10 – 15 Minutes) The financials can give
you a clear understanding of the health of your community. As a
member, you will want to know how much money you have in the
operating account each month, how much in reserve account
(hopefully you have reserves), delinquencies (what owners
owe), are you staying within the proposed budget for the year
and review what checks are being paid out and to whom.
Step 2: Review Previous Meeting Minutes –
(Time: 5 – 10 Minutes) While I believe it is best to attend
board meetings, I know that many owners can’t because of their
personal life commitments however you can always get a snapshot of
your board’s decisions, or lack of, by reviewing the minutes.
Within these minutes you will want to see what proposals are being
approved, what decisions are being made, is the manager providing a
monthly report, are projects moving along or staying stagnant and
most importantly are board meeting being held.
As a reminder, as of January 1, 2019, an
association with 150 units or more shall post digital copies of all
the items specified above on the association’s website.
This isn’t a failproof plan; however, by
following these two simple steps each month you can determine if
things are going well in your association or if you need to dig
deeper. Remember that you own a piece of this non-profit
organization, and it’s up to you to keep an eye on what is going
on.
In closing, I would like to thank both Jan
Bergemann and Eric Glazer for giving me the opportunity to exercise
my opinion on this Blog. Thank you both for your vote of
confidence. I’m looking forward to participating and educating
today and tomorrows future association members.