Common Interest Services, Inc.

board member education

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It’s Budget Season!

Many associations’ fiscal year ends 12/31 and that means it’s time to start preparing next year’s budget. If your association has a 12/31 year end, your board members can expect to receive a proposed budget from your manager in the coming weeks. Your manager will use historical data, any notices from your contracted service providers, and guidance from professionals like insurance agents and reserve study specialists to provide the board with an accurate picture of what changes may be expected for next year’s finances. California Civil Code dictates many duties and responsibilities for the board regarding the approval and distribution of the budget along with annual disclosures. Your manager will guide the board every step of the way to help make sure the board is meeting their fiduciary duty and following civil code. Check out the Annual Budget page at Davis-Stirling.com for more information about the requirements for the annual budget.

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CAI Advocacy Summit

 

Nels Atha visited Capitol Hill to meet with the offices of some of California’s members of Congress to discuss federal legislation affecting community associations, including Representative Maxine Waters (CA 43rd District) and Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein.

While the Davis-Sterling Act provides for the majority of legislation presiding over California community associations, federal housing legislation can have a very impactful influence on California communities. Taking the time to educate our legislators about what community associations are and how they function, as well as giving a voice to their constituents that belong to community associations, can have a powerful influence on the way federal legislation affects the communities we serve. A few of the federal legislative priorities that we focused on at the summit were Housing Finance Reform, Disaster Relief for HOAs, and the National Flood Insurance Program. Below is an overview of how these issues are affecting community associations:

Housing Finance Reform

After the housing crisis of 2008, Congress has been tasked with reforming the housing finance system. In 2016, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) was passed with the goal of increasing access to FHA loans. In practice however, the number of associations with FHA approval has decreased.  According to CAI, only 6% of condo associations have FHA approval. The department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a proposed rule in 2016 to make FHA approval more attainable by condominium associations but has not approved it.

Click Here to View HUD Press Release

Check out this post for a legislative update by a local industry leader in the FHA condo approval process.

You can learn more from CAI:

CAI Online - Mortgage Finance Reform

Disaster Relief

Did you know that community associations are not eligible for emergency relief from FEMA following a natural disaster? Although community association members pay the same federal taxes as owners of single family homes, they are not allotted the same support from FEMA following a natural disaster. You can help support CAI’s efforts to change this by contacting your representatives in Congress and asking them to support the Disaster Assistance Equity Act of 2017, H.R. 3238.

Watch this video from CAI to learn more:

Or read more about it here:

CAI Online - Disaster Relief Fairness

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)

The NFIP is the largest insurer of flood risk in the U.S. and Congress votes every 5 years to extend its authority to sell insurance policies. The NFIP’s current authorization is set to expire on July 31, 2018 and has been caught up in some controversy in the Senate.

Learn more about the controversy from CAI:

Be an Advocate!

As members of CAI, our staff regularly lends our voice locally and nationally to advocate for the needs of our clients. We invite board members, owners and residents to join us and help to make our voice that much more powerful. Our representatives want to hear from you, their constituents, to take the lead on how they can better serve community associations.

Join CAI Today

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CAI National Conference

Last week, CAI held the Annual Conference in Washington D.C. Our executives, Nels and Bre Atha were in attendance to meet with and learn from trendsetting leaders of the community association industry from all over the world. CIS is committed to offering the most innovative products and services to our clients. We accomplish this by keeping our staff educated on current industry trends and recent legislative changes that affect our business and the communities we serve. It is our goal to provide the resources, knowledge, and guidance to the board members we work with in order to bring harmony and order to the associations they serve. Events like the CAI Annual Conference help us to achieve these goals.

Stay tuned for more details about all the happenings at the conference, including:

And more...

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SB 721: Call to Action

SB 721, also known as the “Balcony Bill”, is making its way through the CA legislature and will have a profound impact on HOA’s in California if passed. Nels Atha and other members of CAI’s California Legislative Action Committee (CLAC) will be in Sacramento on April 8th and 9th for CAI’s Legislative Day to advocate to our representatives on behalf of our clients. Contact your representatives today to let them know how this bill will affect your community or join us for Legislative Day in the capitol.

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Free Webinar from Association Reserves on March 15

It is valuable to your association to have board members that know their stuff. We recommend all board members participate in HOA education to stay current on new laws and trends in the industry. It’s also beneficial to review the basics every so often and this free “Reserve Study Basics for 2018” course from Association Reserves is a great opportunity to do just that. Check out what Association Reserves has to say about this upcoming course and make sure to register below.

Reserve Study Basics for 2018

Every so often it is important to take it back to the basics to improve your understanding of a subject. Reserve contributions are regularly one of an association’s largest budget line items (or they should be!). So save time, save money, and avoid costly mistakes by joining us for this “Reserve Study Basics” webinar. Whether you are a Board Member or Manager, in this 45-minute session we’ll show you how the basic principles of Reserve Studies are in the best interests of your association.

Thursday, March 15 at 11am PT (2pm ET) and 1:30pm PT (4:30pm ET)

*Choose your preferred time from the drop down menu

Click here to submit any questions prior to the webinar.

This course is approved by:

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