Blog

By Kelly Zibell

Community Associations play a crucial role in maintaining community harmony and property values. In the past, HOA management involved intricate paperwork, face-to-face meetings, and manual administrative tasks. Due in large part to the recent pandemic, the industry is experiencing a rapid paradigm shift. This article explores the evolving landscape of HOA management and new tools available to streamline processes and enhance efficiency.

THE ROLE OF AI IN HOA MANAGEMENT

In case you were not watching the news in late 2021, Microsoft, Google, and other providers rolled out the first largely available AI tools. This set off a race between technology providers to add artificial intelligence tools to their products or tout the tools that already include this technology. In community association management, AI is revolutionizing the industry by streamlining administrative tasks, enhancing decision-making processes, and providing predictive analytics for financial or mainten...

…because that sounds so much more official than mental illness.

By Wendy Benner Miller

"Mental health" is a somewhat ironic phrase because it is typically used when discussing the antithesis of a healthy mind and symbiotic emotions. While many may argue that the goal, when using this phrase, is to prioritize the need for society to focus on the importance of a person’s emotional health in the same manner as one’s physical health, this is rarely the case. All too often, when the term "mental health" is brought up in conversation on its own, it elicits a visible response in one’s body language, a shifting in a seat, or an actual bristle or uncomfortableness, which can sometimes conjure stereotypical assumptions, eye rolls, and slang references.

What might be the biggest irony of all is that for most of history, mental illness was not considered an illness at all, but a choice based on controllable feelings or "bad" attitudes. Historically, being unwell was hidden or met with drastic m...

President’s Message

By Laura Ravazza

This article first appeared in the Summer 2023 edition of The Communicator here.  

I hope this message finds you all in good health and high spirits. I want to take a moment to address an important aspect of our organization’s well-being – financial management within our homeowners associations (HOAs).

Managing the finances of an HOA requires careful planning and collaboration with our business partners. It is crucial that we work together effectively to ensure the financial stability and success of our communities. To achieve this, I encourage each of you to be proactive in your approach to financial management.

First and foremost, I urge you to not hesitate in asking questions. Whether you are a board member, a committee volunteer, or a concerned member, never be afraid to seek clarification or further information. Financial matters can be complex; and it is our duty to understand and actively participate in the decision-making process. By as...

By Eric Lecky

As Every Community manager and community association leader knows, building components begin to fail as they age—and your pipes are no exception. Depending on the material, a building’s pipes may begin to develop age-related cracks and leaks within a few decades of installation, sometimes less.

The question then becomes: When do you repair the pipe and when do you replace the entire piping system?

KNOWING WHEN TO RE-PIPE

Based on estimated useful life tables, some piping materials may begin to fail after 30 years, while others may not show signs of age until 50 years. Because pipe replacement is expensive, you could start assessing your piping systems periodically when your building reaches 20 years old, giving yourself time to reserve funds for a future re-pipe.

Unfortunately, most community managers and boards aren’t regularly testing their pipes, and so they first face the decision to repair or replace when their properties are already experiencing frequent leaks ...

Common, Costly and Concerning
By Steven Fielding

THE GOVERNING BOARDS of condominium associations worry about many things. Reserves, rules enforcement, insurance costs, maintenance, pets, parking, and COVID are on a long list of things that keep trustees and association managers up at night. Water heaters probably are not, but they should be. Here are a few hard – or soggy – facts:

• Water damage is one of the two leading property damage risks faced by homeowners, representing nearly one-third of all homeowner claims filed annually, exceeded only by wind and hail damage.
• One in every 50 insured homeowners files a water damage claim every year; the average claim cost is about $7,000, adding up to more than $2.5 billion in insured losses annually, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
• There are no statistics on how many of those claims are attributable to water heaters, but 75 percent of all water heaters will fail – usually without warning – within 12 years of their purch
...

This article first appeared in The Communicator, Spring 2021. To read more, click here.  

 THE CAI BAYCEN Chapter is offering three exciting programs designed to help you achieve an advanced designation through CAI.

1 Mentoring Program

Do you need some tips on what classes to take? Do you want some guidance as you navigate the application process? The Designations Committee will match you with a mentor who has achieved the industry’s highest professional credential, the PCAM.

Your mentor will provide one-on-one support and guidance throughout credentialing and the designation process. This includes creating a personalized strategic plan for each candidate to obtain the AMS designations and preparing candidates for the PCAM case study.

2 Scholarship Program

We are offering scholarships of $250 to Community Managers who are chapter members in good standing to partially reimburse you for registration fees for any one of CAI’s six M200 level Professional Management Development Progr...