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Condo President
There are few moments as exciting -- and these days, as perilous -- as taking over the Board of Director President’s job at a condo association or home owner association.  But once you’ve been elected, what exactly do you do?  Here is a practical guide to help you navigate through many issues and turbulent waters that you are likely to encounter.
Start-up Kit Features

  • A  condensed field guide that will describe all things that you should do, particularly during the critical first year of operation for your new association

  • Microsoft® Office Word-based documents that can be easily modified to fit your unique needs, including sample letters, policies, meeting agendas, business processes, and other reference material

  • Active links allow you to quickly move from one section to another or to reference material with a single keystroke

  • A proven  management & control system to quickly get your association up and running, using sound business practices, including the use of decision packages and Notice of Actions

  • Completely flexible to customize your approach to fit your unique situation
Why Would I Need This Kit?

An association’s Board of Directors is not simply a group of neighbors getting together to make decisions about their condos in a social setting.  Rather, it is a legal entity that is guided by the by-laws and other governing rules and regulations.  Failure to meet any of these obligations has serious implications, as lawsuits are not uncommon in condo associations, particularly if poorly run or neglected.

When you accepted the President position you took on the leadership responsibility for a company.  As such, you will operate in an environment with unique business, legal, and social aspects.   Unfortunately, many people that come to this position have limited business experience in these matters and they try to lead as they would manage their personal affairs.  This is a big mistake!

Through the use of sound business practices and proven techniques, the material presented in this start-up kit helps you fulfill that leadership responsibility for running the “business” of your new condo association.  
How Will It Help Me?

  • It saves you time!  This tool kit provides a clear roadmap of what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.  It will save you hours of research time and/or talking to experts trying to figure out what you should do.  It also provides you with nearly 50 sample letters and reference documents that you can use with minor modifications to fit your unique situation.

  • It saves you effort!  Making it up as you go along is a time-consuming process fraught with problems.  This kit allows you to accelerate your learning curve by avoiding mistakes, finding solutions, and gaining necessary knowledge needed to build an effective organization

  • It saves you money!  Besides the value of your time and effort, it saves you from making costly trial-and-error mistakes that result from your actions or inactions.  It allows you to do more with less and may prevent costly legal disputes

  • It saves you aggravation!  Angry and dissatisfied members are quite common in many associations.  The best way to handle this situation is to prevent it from happening in the first place.  The techniques offered in this kit provide for a well-informed, involved, and happy co-owner

  • It makes you look good!  You will come across as a competent and qualified leader of your association, who knows what to expect, who has a well thought out plan, and is someone who can get things done.
This page was last updated: May 16, 2011
Creating High Performing Condo and Homeowner Associations
Table Of Contents
The selection of a new leader is a normal part of any business, including that of a new president for a condo or home owners association (HOA).  Intelligently managing the transition with a well thought out plan can result in significant advantages to you personally and to your association.  An improper transition can truly make your job difficult or at best time consuming.

The purpose of this start-up kit is to examine some of the issues surrounding your introduction as the "new" leader and Board of Director (BoD) president and to suggest ways to help you become more effective in performing that new role.  This package draws upon learning’s from the corporate business environment and then applies it to the world of condo associations and home owner associations.  For simplicity purposes, the term “condo association” will also be used to refer to a homeowner association throughout the remainder of this document.

Currently, there is a wealth of information that can be found in the marketplace on virtually every aspect of managing a condo association including; rules and regulations, meetings, voting and elections, committees, the role of volunteer leaders, budgets, insurance, amending and enforcing documents, etc.  But, there are few that give practical advice and a “roadmap” for all the things that a new condo president must do during the initial start up period.  This is particularly true for a newly created association, which may have little in place beyond the Master Deed and By-laws.

Although many people will gain valuable insights from this start up kit, it is specifically targeted towards a new president of a new U.S. based, small condo Association of typically 20 units or less. 
 
This kit will quickly get you up and running while setting the foundation for an effective association in the future.  It provides a practical guideline of tasks that should be completed within the critical first year of operation.  This guide is not meant to be followed to the letter or as a substitute for sound leadership judgment and intuition.  You may have past experiences with leadership positions of this type and preferred introduction methods.  Style considerations must also be included as an integral part of the implementation equation.
Preface
The Preface and Table Of Contents, you should give you a feel for what this start-up kit provides and how it is organized.  The Table Of Contents section provides an outline of many of the "What" and "When" issues that should be addressed to set up an effective management control system.  The book will provide the "How" to execute each of these steps along with a wealth of reference information on the topic. 
What Other Customers Have Said About New Condo President Start-up Kit

  • Very comprehensive, and a great deal of practical advice that has been extremely helpful. (RG, Illinois, USA)

  • That is a very impressive document and it would be wise for every Board to apply this to their association . Good job there. (GTF, California, USA)

  • Thank you for your insightful start-up kit.  We are definitely using it to help us improve our association activities. (DM, Florida, USA)

  • With our association. starting off with this approach, we are now confident that we are going down the right path.  Congratulations on providing a very useful and comprehensive guide. (NM, South Carolina, USA)

  • Very well done!  I would highly recommend it to any new president or association (SK, Calgary, Canada)