Category: Finance

2014 December Pay Up! By Danielle Braff

The slowly-ebbing recession that’s been going on in South Florida and across the nation since the mid-2000s has affected far more than home prices and mortgage rates; it also has a huge effect on monthly HOA fees. The great majority …

2014 July Financial Firestorms By George Leposky

In an upscale lakeside community near Orlando, the pace of home sales unaccountably accelerated in 2009. At first, the new owners paid their assessments and fees. Then some of the homes were rented to subtenants, and others changed hands a…

2014 July Cutting Costs – Without Cutting Corners By Danielle Braff

As the 2012 federal legislative fiasco over the debt ceiling—as well as any number of other spending bills proposed since then—demonstrated, balancing a budget can be like pulling teeth. Balancing a condo or HOA community's budget can some…

2014 July Budgeting and the Bottom Line By Anne Childers

Preparing the annual budget is by no means an easy task. Those charged with preparing condominium or HOA budgets will soon begin reviewing costs, gathering data and projecting expenses for the coming year. Communities, businesses, individu…

2013 August It's a Capital Idea By Lisa Iannucci

These days, just about everyone is cutting back on spending, whether to make ends meet, save for something special or a rainy day, pay off debt or fund their retirement. Consumers are cutting coupons, looking for deals and keeping a cl…

2013 July Follow the Money By Raanan Geberer

 If you want to find out about the history of a town, region or country, head to  a museum or look it up on the Internet. If you want to find out about your  family’s history, look at your photo album, whether it’s in a book or online. And…

2013 July Coping with Arrears By Keith Loria

 The foundation of any properly run co-op or condo building rests on residents  paying their monthly maintenance fees on time and in full, with no delays or  delinquencies. Unfortunately, because of the lingering effects of the Recession  …

2013 July Watch Your Language By George Leposky

 A major building rehabilitation for a large condominium community included  impact-resistant replacement windows, at a six-figure cost for materials alone.  The owners’ association advanced money to the contractor to buy the windows. When…

2013 February Letting it Slide... By J.M. Wilson

 It’s the same dilemma that single-family households across the U.S. are facing:  What bills need to be paid immediately and what bills can wait? And should we  stretch ourselves thin, taking more out of our bank accounts to pay for privat…

2012 December By the Book By Steven Cutler

 Unless you have a degree in accounting, your first board meeting could come as a  bit of a shock. You probably knew board members oversee the finances of your  association but who knew there were so many records to produce and filing  dea…