Many community associations are in the thick of budget preparations for their next fiscal year. A well-crafted budget reflects shared priorities, safeguards essential services, and supports long-term sustainability.
Earlier this year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced important changes to condominium reserve funding requirements. Management companies and condo boards nationwide need to take the changes seriously and act now.
Community associations are typically required to maintain some level of insurance to protect the association, its members, and shared assets from the risk of financial loss. These requirements are shaped by governing documents, laws and regulations, lender requirements, and best practice. One of the most common — and consequential — questions in community associations is about how insurance responsibilities are divided. Who covers what?
Generating adequate reserve funding in your community can seem like a daunting task, but doing so is a necessary step in providing for ongoing preventative maintenance and structural inspections and repairs, and safeguarding your community’s future. An Iowa community association was forced to tackle their reserve funding head on when faced with severe maintenance challenges they couldn’t afford.
A carefully written investment policy should keep community associations on a straight and narrow path, say professionals who advise them. At Ford’s Colony Homeowners Association, a 2,600-home community in Williamsburg, Va., a finance committee of volunteers uses an investment policy to advise the board.
