April 2023

“If you could travel back in time to meet with your younger self as you were just starting your career in property management, what advice would you give yourself? “

YOUNGER SELF... from page 28.

In other words, put together a complete list of all finan cial, administrative, and buildings/grounds issues; assign budgets and completion dates to each issue, and prioritize these issues (using, for instance, a numerical priority scale). Then, present to your boards with your explanations of how the priorities were arrived at, plus, provide a game plan for funding the top priority items. If associations do not have the cash in hand, present other funding scenarios such as special assessments, loans, etc. Lastly, draft a communica tion designed to go out to all owners explaining the “what, why, when, and how” of the plan and assist your boards in informing their members. This process allows the decision makers (i.e., board members) to feel that they have a good overview of what they need, what they want, approximately how much it will all cost and how long it will all take, how to fund it all, and probably most importantly to many board members: how to communicate everything to their ownership. This provides

a level of comfort to boards that they are not making their decisions in a vacuum without understanding the impact. It instills a sense amongst the owners that there is a well thought out game plan for the next 3-5 years at least. It also assures all that their quality of life and value of their investment is well cared for, and importantly--does not have you, their property manager, spending all your time running around getting pricing on every low value issue that the board is not ready to move forward with (or shouldn’t be moving forward with) anyway. In the end, the board may totally disregard your guidance and advice. That’s OK! Don’t get too caught up in what

Expertise. Focus. Solutions. Put the leading bank for community association management companies to work for you with individualized service, award winning technology and smart financial solutions.

cit.com/cab Let’s get started. Nicole Skaro, CMCA VP, Regional Account Executive 908.524.8741 | Nicole.Skaro@cit.com

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