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By Donna Vingo

This article first appeared in the Communicator, Fall 2025 Edition. To view click here.

There is an ongoing information and insurance crisis in California. Homeowners’ associations are having their insurance premiums increased, sometimes drastically, or their insurance is cancelled. Without association insurance, a would-be homebuyer new to the association cannot obtain a mortgage for a unit within the HOA, thus limiting his or her ability to purchase at this association.

The largest number of insurance claims are due to water intrusion, with the roof being the main area of entry. Prior to a new policy being accepted and bound, insurance underwriters now require five to 10 years of maintenance records and no deferred maintenance/capital projects.

HOA roof maintenance and roof replacement, especially on an emergency basis, is one of the costliest decisions an HOA board makes. The lack of roofing information is one of the main reasons why boards don’t make the decisio...

By Erik Sundquist, RS

This article first appeared in our Communicator Magazine, Summer 2025 Edition.

IN THE WINTER of 1914, as explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew faced the crushing ice of Antarctica aboard the Endurance, they didn’t rely on wishful thinking to survive. They relied on planning, preparation, and constant reevaluation of conditions. Though the ship was eventually lost, every crew member survived thanks to leadership that understood this truth: conditions may be beyond your control, but your response never is.

Today’s California HOAs are navigating a similarly hostile environment – not of ice and isolation, but of inflation, regulatory pressure, and risk exposure. Boards and community managers can’t stop insurance markets from tightening or buildings from aging. But they can lead with foresight, and they can pre‐ pare. In this landscape, the updated reserve study is their map, compass, and survival kit all in one.

Let’s examine four urgent issues facing California H...

So, you have deferred maintenance, sharply rising costs, and the coffers are bare…

By Caroline McCormick, CAMEx, CCAM

Civil Code requires that HOAs disclose deferred maintenance, but many do not. Boards try to "save money" by waiting to perform maintenance or make needed repairs. This mentality, coupled with inflation, post-COVID19 labor and material price increases, and the notion that maintaining assessments artificially low is a benefit to the community, has created funding challenges for many associations.

WHERE DO WE START?

Robert W. Browning, PCAM, RS, and owner of Browning Reserve Group, believes that reserve studies are essential to the strategic planning of any community. "Having a professional study that’s reviewed annually just makes good business sense," says Browning. Start nine months before the fiscal year end by examining in detail the reserve study component list and funding scenario to make sure it is reasonable for your community. Make sure any work the community...