Fall Board Review 2012

Budget Seminar Update

FYI: the date for the budget seminar has been changed to Wednesday, October 24. The time and place are still the same: 6-8 pm at the Royal Park Hotel: 600 East University Drive, Rochester, MI 48307. Dinner will be included with the budget seminar. Invitations will be mailed out by next week at the latest. If you are a governing board member at a homeowner association and do not receive an invitation by October 10 but would still like to attend, please email rcomins@landarc.com to register. We will accept registration for the budget seminar until October 15. LandArc strongly recommends that association board members attend this event in preparation for the upcoming budget season.

The Inactive Governing Board...

Individuals who live in homeowners’ associations are dependent on their governing board to enforce the law of the land as well as making decisions that affect everyone in the community. But what happens if your board doesn’t do those things? In my source (see link below) a homeowner wrote a letter stating that their HOA governing board has not held a meeting in years and does not respond to letters or inquiries. The reply to this letter stated that it is the responsibility of homeowners to prompt their board into action, because there are “no state agencies to help homeowner associations.” The response also stated that the writer of the letter refer to the governing documents for procedures and any available meeting minutes. This is the kind of situation that no homeowner should be involved with. LandArc remains in regular contact with governing boards of the communities we manage.


Click here to view my source for this post:

http://www2.tbo.com/lifestyles/life/2012/sep/16/banewso3-take-action-to-get-hoa-board-back-on-trac-ar-501116/

Free Budget Seminar

Budget time for HOA communities is upon us once again. Did you know that there are two independent budgets that are vital to the continued growth of home associations? These are the operations budget and the reserve budget. Both are the driving force behind all HOA communities. LandArc is committed to providing the associations we manage with the tools necessary to succeed. That is why we are offering a free budget seminar for association board members in about a month. This event will take place on Tuesday, October 23rd from 6-8 pm at the Royal Park Hotel: 600 East University Drive, Rochester, MI, 48307. Allow us to have a positive impact on your community.


Source: http://www.mesquitecitizen.com/viewnews.php?newsid=2848&id=77

HOA Meeting Turns Violent

An HOA meeting goes violently wrong earlier this month. Following a dispute over a fence and driveway, a homeowner comes to the meeting armed and takes the lives of two board members. Although tempers can often run high at these meetings, there is nothing that can justify taking one life let alone two. Mahmoud Yousef Hindi faces two murder charges for his actions that place on September 6th which cost the lives of 73-year-old David Merritt and 69-year-old Marvin Fisher. The dispute over the home, which has escalated over the past year, is further complicated by a court statement made by Hindi where he stated the home was not his but his children’s.

Click the following link to read more about this terrible tragedy:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gl3xZnZbxddE2ByUunQKQaYwtiLA?docId=0a59767acec441e692d6bb85bf0e8ddb

Conflict of Interest

In the link below, two different HOA board situations in the state of California are discussed. Both scenarios display evidence that the HOA board is not acting in the best interest of the communities represented. In the first scenario, a board president had gone through five management companies in four years and was now considering the prospect of paying himself to manage the HOA. This situation has conflict of interest written all over it. While the details of this situation are not disclosed (see source below), it is clear that the president of this HOA is prepared to step outside of the bounds of his authority. The second scenario is much shorter, but also displays a conflict of interest. In a bid proposal, a board member passed over lower priced proposals in order to secure a proposal with a company the board member was associated with. This is clearly not in the best interest of the community this board member serves. It is an outrageous display of the abuse of one’s position.
Click here to view the source used in this post: http://communityassociations.net/cacondoguru/?p=509

Community Woes

Residents who live in an HOA really have a high stake in the effectiveness of both their governing board and their property management company. If either one does not perform their job properly then it is the homeowners that reap the consequences. In the link below, a homeowner living in an HOA sends a letter asking what is the proper way to remove an ineffective president from their governing board. The president here arrived to a board meeting drunk and belligerent, which is no way to represent a community. The response to that letter (also included in the link below) states that a board member position should be one of little power where the board devotes their time and actions in service of the community they represent.


A second letter is included that asks about the proper conduct of a property management company. This letter and the response discusses how property managers should always act professionally by not discussing community related business in a public restaurant or excluding other members of the board in favor of one member. The writer of the response to this letter stated that property management companies lose their “objectivity,” in cases such as that.

To view both letters and their responses, click here: http://www.pe.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20120910-hoa-homefront-presidential-problems-and-communication-with-management.ece.

Board President Steals $500,000 from HOA

The president of a Florida Homeowners Association is charged with stealing more than $500,000 from the community he was supposed to serve. While David Meadows claims that the charges are beyond his comprehension(see source below), his actions during the past four years leave a lot of questions. Money intended for the HOA community Meadows' administered went, instead, to a number of other places, ranging from Meadows’ own mortgage to businesses he used to run. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the structure of the board itself. Instead of the traditional officers, the only board members in charge of this community were Meadows and his wife. Allegations show that Meadows did not manage this HOA, he ruled it. Due to his ownership of multiple units in the community, he controlled the votes performed. The property management company performing services to the association also belonged to Meadows. Many community owners also complained about receiving outrageous fines from the association ranging from possessing satellite dishes to having bent screens on their homes. These violations would cause Meadows to charge these homeowners $100 a day. Meadows allegedly used these fees to pay back money he owed through the companies he managed. The homeowners in this HOA can only hope that justice will be served.

Click here to view the source used in this post: http://www.newschief.com/article/20120912/NEWS/209125007/1021/NEWS01?p=1&tc=pg

Florida HOA Charged with Discrimination

A Florida homeowner’s association was recently charged with discrimination concerning one of its residents. Townhomes of King’s Lake HOA Inc. in Gibsonton has been charged with violating the fair housing act by trying to evict a family for having too many kids living in the household. Six, to be exact. The charges against the HOA and its former property management company, Vanguard Management Group Inc., were filed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Townhomes of King’s Lake threatened to evict this family unless they reduced the number of people living in the household. Well, that is easier said than done. This is a family with about eight people: six kids, probably two adults. How should a parent feel if they are told that two of their kids can no longer live with them? The HUD determined that policies such as this may prevent families with children from living in their communities with their unlawful discriminating restrictions. They also noted that the town of Gibsonston, where King’s Lake is located, permits up to eleven people to live there. That’s five more people than allowed by King’s Lake.

To view the source used in this post, click here: http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.12324

Some Facts about Labor Day

Did everyone have a great Labor Day weekend? This is often viewed as the last opportunity to have a little fun before the end of summer. However, Labor Day has a much deeper history than that. It was first celebrated in the late 19th century in recognition of the triumph of labor unions over the unfair working conditions of that time. This was during the industrial revolution, when sweatshops were common and benefits nonexistent. There were also floods of immigrants surging in from Europe and Asia, all searching for new opportunities to support their families in the New World. The triumphs of unions over the corporate empires of the late 1800s, paved the foundation for the future of America.


The future we enjoy today, in the present, is the result of Labor Day. It is because of Labor Day that we are able to set a lawn chair out in the sun, fire up the grill, and enjoy the unofficial end of summer. Instead of being forced to work long hours for very little, as they did during that time. You can’t take advantage of the amenities at your homeowners association under those kinds of conditions. You can’t spend time with your family, pursue a hobby, or do anything enjoyable if you have to work eighteen hour days and are still be unable to make ends meet. Times are difficult now, but they were even more difficult then. We owe a lot to Labor Day.


To read more about Labor Day, click on this link: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm#pagecontent

Community Heroes Recognized

The eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is drawing near. An active lifestyle community in Florida is offering a commemoration for those everyday heroes who sometimes have to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to do their jobs. Del Webb Orlando residents are offering a pancake breakfast for Polk County firefighters. This event is organized by the community association and lifestyle managers. The breakfast will take place on site at Del Webb Orlando, which is located just south of Orlando in the town of Davenport. This event will take place during the morning on September 11th from 9 to 10:30 am. Del Webb Orlando is an award winning active lifestyle community, which is truly a place of paradise. Their goal is to ensure the heroes of that dreadful day eleven years ago will never be forgotten.

Click on the following link to read more:

http://www.topix.com/business/2012/09/residents-of-del-webb-orlando-to-commemorate-sept-11-with-pancake-breakfast-for-first-responders

Britton Falls strives for Health

The 2012 Summer Olympics concluded earlier this month with great success from American athletes. Some of the Olympic stars, such as Michael Phelps, began training at a young age in order to reach his peak fitness that has resulted in his success. It is never too late to think about getting into shape, as residents in Britton Falls has proven. The Del Webb community promotes active lifestyle living through their facilities and personal trainers. There are also sports teams so that residents can play softball, as well as a number of other sports. Not everyone can be like Michael Phelps, but it is never too late to strive for health improvement.
Britton Falls is located in Fishers Indiana outside of Indianapolis. To find out more about how Britton Falls is promoting good health, click on this link: http://www.livingwellmag.com/del-webb-britton-falls-dedicated-healthy-active-lifestyle/.