THE ASSOCIATION OF YOUR HOME

It’s been a few months since I updated my blog but I assure you that I’ve been extremely immersed in the fields of association management. I’ve decided to take on a new long-term assignment. It’s funny how life works. In my pursuit of supplementing my association consulting career, I was approached by my mentor who presented me with this tantalizing scenario, “How would you like to work for an association where the membership never changes? The bad news you will never be able to grow the membership base larger than its current state. The good news, you never have to worry about any drops in membership” It sounded like one heck of a riddle.

Naturally, I asked about the demographic of the members. Her reply was “They are homeowners.” I then proceeded to ask her what their platform was, she replied “living.” Now I went from solving a cryptic challenge to intense intrigue. I was ready for the question to her answer. “What is Condo and Homeowner Associations?”

In all my years of managing and consulting with associations, I never once considered this avenue. Mainly because most professionals in my industry have trouble finding the correlations. After having several personal meetings with the leaders of the region’s largest company specializing in condo/ homeowner associations, I began to see some of the commonalities and recognized areas that I can help them maximize their member (homeowner benefits).

Here are ways I am helping this very successful organization. They oversee 75+ properties in the Pennsylvania area. All together they are serving 30,000+ members. Let’s not misconstrue, they are homeowners but in this world, they are also members. These are individuals are paying a membership fee in exchange for programs and services. These services include, the use of commercial landscapers, the privilege of having snow removed during bad weather, the ability to dispose of their trash, in some cases water usage, electricity and or cable services. In other cases, Doorman services, fitness room, recreational amenities.

Each of these properties is overseen by volunteer boards. This is where my professional strength is best utilized. This is my sweet zone. More specifically, I was assigned to 3 specific properties who were lacking formal rules, bylaws, and general governance procedures. In one case, they were a new client with 3 board members who had no idea what their property rules, term limits or obligations were.

So this is why I’ve put some consulting projects on the backburner. I have been exhausting efforts in building strong board alliances and instituting a new culture to some of these properties. Let me make this very clear, this company I’ve been working for has been around for 30+ years. They already have a strong reputation in the industry. My work has only fortified these efforts.

It’s been a challenge. In addition to developing new board relations, I have also been reviewing procedures, analyzing contracts and addressing homeowner concerns. One important lesson I learned is that homeowners are generally tough people to work with, some have language barriers, others have zero background in organizational planning and many are angry about insignificant things but in fairness, they also have valid concerns. These are individuals who pay $50- $500 a month to protect their biggest tangible asset, their homes.

Although it’s been a challenge for me, I am really enjoying the experience. I’ve had the opportunity to teach my own methods but even more importantly, I’ve had the opportunity to learn. I am adding this to another successful venture in managing an association albeit a bit different than traditional 501(C6) model but one that exists and is very sophisticated in the association world.