How to Read Your Association’s Financial Reports (and Fulfill Your Fiduciary Duty)

An HOAleader.com Webinar for Condo and HOA Boards

Thursday, January 18, 2024
2-3 p.m. Eastern

Nobody expects you, as a board member, to be a CPA or a super-high-level financial whiz. But to fulfill your fiduciary duties, you do need to be able to understand your association’s financial statements, ask good questions about its financial status, and spot potential problems.

And in the past four years, these skills have become all the more complicated by the financial stressors COVID-19 placed on you, combined with the hyper-focus on deferred maintenance that has emerged in the wake of the Surfside, Fla., condo collapse—along with today’s stubborn inflation.

This webinar, led by two community association management experts, will help get you there. These two veteran industry leaders will cover:

• The major financial reports for community associations and what each shows you, from balance sheet and cash flow to bank statements, check stubs, and credit card statements
• Common issues that arise throughout the year, such as what to do when your budget varies from its original figures
• The difference between cash and accrual accounting and why it matters
• How condo/HOA finances have changed for communities in times of COVID, including new budget line items you should consider
• How to spot potential fraud (Hint: You need to look not just at bank statements but also financial reports, for instance)
• The role of your advisors:
  • Bookkeeper and CPA (is every bookkeeper a CPA? Is every CPA a bookkeeper? Does it matter?)
  • Banker
  • Manager
  • Attorney
  • Tax advisor
• Other financial professionals you might want to consider adding to your team, along with where to draw lines between the advisors’ roles)
• What you need to know to understand investment reports and reserve reports
• The differences when it comes to financials for self-managed HOAs
• Recordkeeping: What’s public, what gets shared with members, what just gets summarized, and what doesn’t get shared at all?

In just one hour, you’ll get the information you need to begin confidently reviewing financial reports for your association and identifying when something doesn’t seem right. Register now for this informative event for community association board members.

The 9 Most Pressing Issues for Condo/HOA Boards In the New Year

An HOAleader.com Webinar for Condo and HOA Boards

Thursday, December 14, 2023
2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern

You never, ever know with certainty the challenges that will suddenly upend your carefully prepared plans. Even so, the best-run boards will prepare their condo/HOA for the issues their community is most likely to face in the coming year.

We can help you identify and prepare for the challenges of 2024. Join us for a must-attend webinar on December 14. You’ll hear three community association experts with decades of experience discuss the trends they expect to be front and center in 2024, along with what you need to know to ensure you’re ahead of the curve instead of constantly putting out fires.

Here are just six of the hot topics our experts are tracking for their clients:

• The surprise burden of the Corporate Transparency Act—Odds are lawmakers had no idea this law would have the sweeping effects on condos/HOAs that it does, but its scope is so broad
• Setting boundaries with the growing group of agitated and angry owners—what you can and should do to protect you and your fellow board members, along with what probably won’t work or won’t fly
• How you can shift risk—more and more condos and HOAs are focusing on insurance and indemnity clauses in contracts as a means to lessen their potential legal liability
• Consumer bankruptcies on the rise—What should you expect for your community when it comes to regular assessments and special assessments when a growing number of your owners file for bankruptcy
• Decision 2024: To allow or to not allow political signs—The latest in disputes we’re seeing over political signs and how you can act now to tamper down tension in your community
• The feds are still focused on your reserves and structural soundness—Federal agencies haven’t let up in terms of the requirements imposed in the wake of the condo collapse in Surfside, Fla.

In 90 information-packed minutes, you’ll get the information you need to ensure that 2024 is your association’s best and most positive year ever. Register now for this informative event for community association board members.

Modifying Your Condo/HOA Governing Documents: When It’s Necessary and How to Accomplish It With Less Stress

An HOAleader.com Webinar for Condo and HOA Boards

Thursday, November 16, 2023
2-3 p.m. Eastern

If you’re like most condo/HOA board members, when you’ve read your declaration, your bylaws, or some other governing document, you’ve thought: “Wait, that can’t be right.”

Perhaps your documents are so out of date they mention things you legally can’t do these days, such as prohibit ownership based on race or ban all signs or flags or satellite dishes.

Or perhaps your community has morphed, and you’d like to modify some of the documents to permit owners more latitude or to restrict owners’ rights. Parking, rentals, and pets are all hot-button issues today, and your documents may need to be updated to reflect that.

Or maybe you need to change your documents to remove provisions you don’t enforce and that you and your owners would prefer you not enforce anymore.

Whatever the challenge with your documents, it’s important to ensure that any changes you make are done purposefully and properly.

Join us for a foundational webinar on November 16 for an A-to-Z guide on what to know if you’re considering modifying your governing documents. You’ll hear from two community association lawyers with extensive hands-on experience advising associations.

You’ll learn:

• How to identify what should be changed in your governing documents and what’s probably not ideal but perhaps not critical to change
• Specific examples of red light, yellow light, and green light provisions that you must change, that you probably should change, and that you can probably live with
• General requirements for changing each of the documents in the hierarchy in governing documents, from your declaration to your bylaws down to your rules
• A step-by-step overview of the process to follow in modifying governing documents, including timelines (spoiler alert: the timeline can be long!)
• Tips for educating your owners on why changes are necessary and getting their buy-in when their approval is required
• Best practices for passing amendments to your governing documents
• Tips to make the entire effort less daunting, less time-consuming, and less contentious
• And much more!

In just 60 minutes, you’ll hear the most important information you need to assess and update your governing documents to make your job and your owners’ lives better. Register now for this informative event for community association board members.

Enforcement of Your HOA’s Rules: How to Create Enforceable Rules, Effective Fines, and a Fair Violation Process

An HOAleader.com Webinar for Condo and HOA Boards

Thursday, October 12, 2023
2-3 p.m. Eastern

Enforcing your condo or HOA’s rules doesn’t have to be a pitched, tense, and unpleasant battle between your board and your homeowners. With some smart planning, you can make enforcing your HOA’s rules quicker, easier, and less stressful.

Join us for an in-depth webinar on October 12 led by two community association experts who have decades of hands-on experience in advising associations on how to create and enforce rules and insights on the day-to-day operations of rules enforcement. You’ll get up-to-date practical ideas, systems, and processes you can begin to take advantage of at your association the minute the webinar ends.

You’ll learn:

• The role of the lowly rule in HOAs, being less powerful than a CC&R or a bylaw, but easier to implement than provisions in those weightier documents
• How to determine the steps you need to follow to create enforceable rules
• Tips for identifying what you can handle with a rule and what you should never try to accomplish through a rule
• How fines fit into rulemaking, including how to set an effective fine amount and how to know when you’ve gone too far with a fine
• The steps you need to take to create an effective violation system — from notice of a violation to providing a meaningful right for owners to state their defense at a fair hearing
• Insights into rules you’ll never be able to enforce and fines that’ll fall short of their goal to curb repeated violations
• Suggestions to help you avoid the most common mistakes boards make creating and enforcing their rules
• And much more!

In just 60 minutes, you’ll gain practical, valuable tools you can use right away to make your rules more enforceable and your violation process more fair. Register now for this informative event for community association board members.

HOA Reserves and Other Funding Options: Tips for Everyday Smart Money Management

An HOAleader.com Webinar for Condo and HOA Boards

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023
2-3 p.m. Eastern

Money is one of the most contentious issues you’ll manage at your HOA. There’s always an owner—or many—who’ll challenge your financial decisions. Whether it’s how much money to collect from owners in assessments, how much money to spend on maintenance and repairs, or how much money to set aside in your reserves for those inevitable projects, your actions will be put under a microscope.

Keep calm and join our webinar for vital information on how you can effectively fund your association’s reserves in one-hour webinar on September 14 led by three community association experts—one a manager, one a lawyer, and one a reserves analyst.

They’ll explain what you need to know about HOA reserves and other funding mechanisms. They’ll also reveal the smartest moves you can make to ensure your HOA can pay for needed maintenance and repair projects and everyday HOA operations.

You’ll learn:

• The role of reserves at an HOA, including the new three-part test defining what’s appropriate to fund through reserves
• How state laws differ in requirements for reserves, ranging from states that don’t have any laws specifically governing HOA reserves to those that require reserve studies or certain reserve levels—and states in between that permit HOAs to not fund reserves if owners approve such a move
• What you should know about reserve and money management to ensure you meet your fiduciary duties and responsibilities
• When and how to conduct a reserve study
• The consequences of underfunding reserves
• How to help your owners take their focus off the goal of “low monthly assessments”
• Pros and cons of various funding mechanisms: budgeted contributions, one-time special assessments, and loans
• The most common mistakes boards make when funding HOA repair projects, whether through reserves or another funding method
• And much more!

After just one hour, you’ll know the HOA industry’s best practices when it comes to money matters at your HOA. Register now for this informative event for community association board members.