Dealing with Boards

Strong relationships with your community association clients are always important — but not always easy — to maintain. When times are tough economically, you can’t afford to lose clients, but even when finances are robust, an unhappy client or former client can cause trouble for your future prospects.

That doesn’t mean, though, that managers have to settle for rocky treatment from clients that are overly demanding, unappreciative, or even abusive. Concessions can be made for exceptionally trying times, of course, but wouldn’t you rather develop solid, productive, and mutually satisfying relationships with your clients?

This exclusive Special Report aims to help you do just that. It provides valuable guidance on how to identify and land the right clients, establish and enforce boundaries, manage poor conduct, and leverage happy clients.

Start creating the business and the client relationships you want and deserve today.

Download now »

This week, we’ve got some practical tips on how associations, their current boards, and their management companies can effectively recruit new members for the board of directors. Board recruitment has long been a challenge, and many associations find it harder than ever to find fresh, qualified, and willing replacements. “It’s an especially huge issue in…

Board recruitment is a challenge many community associations face, and, for some, the problem is only getting worse. Long-standing board members are aging out or simply want to step back, but no one seems willing to fill their shoes. “It’s an especially huge issue in smaller associations, where a group of dedicated people serve for…

“E-payments” first came on the scene about 25 years ago or so, and it’s estimated that more than half of U.S. bills are paid online these days. Consumers use online payments to pay for everything from mortgage, credit card, and car payments to utilities and monthly subscriptions. This is Part 1 of a 2-part series.…

One of the keys to effective management is meeting and beating community association member expectations — so it sure would help to know what your members think about their associations. The website insurancequotes.com has provided a valuable peek into the minds of HOA members with their results of their recent “Honest About HOAs” survey. The…

While serving on the board of a community association is a volunteer position, board members can get very invested in it. It’s not uncommon to hear about board members who overstep boundaries. That’s why it’s important to be able to gently—or in some cases, more firmly—remind a member who’s taking over duties that aren’t part of her position about the board members’ official duties and why it’s important for everyone to play his or her role.

When a board member gives up her position, your association will have the sometimes difficult task of replacing the outgoing member. But the challenging part of replacing a member comes after the new member is found and elected to the board. That’s because, depending upon the new member’s experience with your association, or associations generally, there may be a lot of information for him to quickly get up to speed on—especially if big decisions are in the process of being made.

Managing a condominium building or planned community is undeniably challenging; balancing the needs of members, the board of directors, your own staff, and contractors or third-party vendors can be like a juggling routine. You might feel as though each day you’re interviewing for your own job. A great opportunity to both shine as a manager and execute one of the most important events of the year is the annual member meeting.

Ideally, your association’s board would act efficiently regarding every request, activity, and issue it’s faced with in the process of serving the best interest of the community you manage. Sometimes, this isn’t the case. Board members could be overwhelmed, disorganized, or—unfortunately—acting in their own interests instead of members’ interests, leading to disputes with members. There doesn’t need to be a sense of urgency for the board to make decisions immediately on all matters; some things can wait.

Sometimes, to comply with the law, association boards must be restructured. If you find yourself in the position of having to deliver the news and help with the restructure, you could be faced with accusations by board members that you’re improperly trying to oust them for your own motives. For example, if you’ve had difficulty working with the current board members, they could assume that you’d like to replace them with members who will be more accommodating. The laws that apply to condo association and HOA board term limits vary from state to state.