Yalnes, an Urbnlivn advertiser, sent me a slide deck with some numbers on their business, which included some industry numbers I thought some of you might find interesting: $0.64 is the average monthly assessment owners in Seattle pay to their Condominium Associations per square foot $0.52 is the average monthly assessment owners in Puget Sound… Read More

Here’s a guest post from Sergey Petrov of Yalnes, a condo management firm and Urbnlivn advertiser. Do you ever wonder why Community Associations (and/or management companies) send everything by mail? It seems just about everybody is on email these days… Unfortunately, legislation has not yet quite caught up with modern technology and official / formal… Read More

A few weeks ago, the Seattle Times published an article on headaches. Oh, actually it was about what might be causing those headaches for condo buyers and sellers: recent FHA rule changes. Is a little-publicized switch in federal mortgage policy causing huge problems for condominium sellers, buyers and homeowner-association boards across the country — even… Read More

Question from a reader about management companies and financial reports: Since you seem to be fairly in the loop with regards to condos & management, I thought I’d ask you for advice. As the treasurer of our HOA, I get to audit their monthly financial reports on the building. Asking for any changes to our… Read More

It’s interesting to contrast the customer service of the two different condo management companies I have to deal with. For both units I’ve needed additional garage door fobs. With Madrona who manages Trace Lofts I’ve been able to get fobs the next day when they have them in stock (they’re also conveniently located a block… Read More

For all you HOA board members and community managers you might be interested in this event that is geared towards challenges condo & homeowner associations are facing during the recession. Local attorneys will be presenting educational sessions. Cost to attend is $60, which includes educational seminars, lunch, and social networking reception at the end of… Read More

Trace Lofts is looking at a rental cap and we’re curious to know what other condo buildings are capped at. If you know please leave a comment (yes we could spend hours holed up in the library looking through the public condo docs but that seems like a lot of work.) As well I’d be… Read More

I recently received an email from a reader whose condo is facing a major re-model and wondering if there are other buildings that have gone through something similar: I am working on a cost benefit analysis that will (hopefully) illustrate the feasibility of the project. In doing so, I am trying to identify condominium projects… Read More

This weekend the Seattle Times reports that New state law requires condo associations to report money set aside for long-term maintenance: Calling it the “biggest thing to happen since the Condominium Act of 1990 was passed,” longtime condo attorney Kris Sundberg says the new provisions will address “the dirty little secret of the condo world:… Read More

Yahoo Finance has as a rather alarmist article on 10 Things a Homeowners Association Won’t Tell You (via Galen). They are: “We Can’t Wait to Get Our Hands on Your Money — Or Even Your Home.” “We’re More Secretive Than the CIA.” “When in Doubt, We Sue.” “You Won’t Be Able to Sell When You… Read More

The Redfin Seattle Sweet Dig’s blog has a post about The Scoop on Homeowner’s Dues. The other thing I’m starting to do is collect the amount of HOA’s per square feet new developments are charging. If you know of any for the condos on our list let me know and I’ll add them to the… Read More

JD asked me today ‘do you know of any ways to assess the health of a condo home owner’s association?’ and I thought I’d throw this question out to the readers since you probably have much better suggestions than I do (actually I don’t have any.)