HOA doing their own property maintenance?

[Steve]

Things aren't looking too good for some of these homeowner associations. In this article, the homeowner association president has been forced to do property management work himself!

Have you seen more of this in your area too?

Foreclosures 'like a cancer' for some communities (http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_7231029) - When he moved to Grey's Riverview Terrace three years ago, Christopher Rocco figured the town home association that runs the complex was in good enough shape. It had about $25,000 on hand, and most of the units had just been reroofed.

He never envisioned the jam Riverview Terrace finds itself in today. The wave of foreclosures sweeping across the Twin Cities has hammered the little community on St. Paul's West Side.

Of the 21 town homes, nine are in foreclosure, according to Rocco, the association's 37-year-old president. The group can't fix Riverview's rotting siding because it has just $37 - plus $5,000 in debt it can't pay and a ledger filled with unpaid monthly dues and late fees totaling more than $35,000.

"We are on the verge of losing everything," Rocco said. "It's a lot of stress."

With no money even for lawn maintenance, Rocco does the mowing and raking himself Friday afternoons after work.

[pnplawn]

I do believe we are going to start seeing more of this Steve. The way the home market is going down the tubes, we are going to see a lot of this all over the US. I think the only ones that are going to profit will be property management company's to handle the homes for all mortgage company's and banks that have foreclosed on the homes.


Rodman
PNP

[Steve]

Now as we reflect on this, how could a savvy lawn care business owner take this information and profit from it?

[pnplawn]

Get in touch with property management companies.

[tmillsap]

I have seen many HOA's that are not run properly or run greadyly. I prefer not to deal with HOAS in my area. As the mortgage crisis hit TN I know that I will see at least one of these HOAs bite the bullet. But on the positive side you could offer to ........:laugh:

[Steve]

Hi tmillsap,

Welcome to our forum. Could you share with us some of the experiences you have had with HOA's that have made you prefer not to deal with them?

[S.P.Martin Lawn Care]

I have a condo association as a customer. *Before signing a contract I inquired about thier solvency which turned out to be OK and they even paid up front for the season. *

Don't be bashfull about making the same inquiries with any HOA or even commercial accounts that you may have even the slightest hint about not getting paid.

[Steve]

Quote[/b] ]Before signing a contract I inquired about thier solvency which turned out to be OK

How do you go about doing this? Do you just ask them and rely on that? Do you do some sort of credit check? What would you suggest?

[S.P.Martin Lawn Care]

I listened carefully to what they were saying during the negotiations for my services. *Two of the officers mentioned their budget and other projects in the pipeline. *I asked them how the budget is arrived at and learned what the fees were. *I asked if they had any deadbeats and was told which units were behind. *I did some quick math in my head since I knew how many units made up the association and decided they had more then enough cash flow.

Its just my nature to ask questions. *The trick is to know how to ask them. *Its a combination of listening, reading body language, and plain old experience. *In this instance I felt comfortable I was given accurate information and ran with it.

If it were a new account, I would look at how many units are for sale or rent**red flag it more than 20% were marketed! *Chances are that empty housing units and no association fee payments are one in the same. If I got past that initial inspection, I would go ahead and ask my questions at the right time.