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 away making picking them up very easy). The one time they were out they mailed it to me a few days later.

With CWD Group I have emailed and phoned them a number of times for the last four weeks and have been unable to get a response from them as to when or how I can get a replacement fob. It is driving me crazy!

Unfortunately as an individual home owner you have little control over the selection of management companies, but your HOA does. Let them know how your management company is doing.

Hell, it was easier to get a replacement fob for my 1993 Land Cruiser via some sketchy Internet site.

Update: I emailed the president of CWD but received an auto-reply saying:

Please be advised that I will be traveling until December 15th. Due to the volume of e-mail I receive, I may be unable to reply prior to my return to Seattle.

Please feel free to contact our Customer Service Team at 206-706-8000 for assistance.

Unfortunately their customer service team is the problem.

Update 2: Annoyed I need to drive to Salmon Bay to pick it up. Why don’t they have offices downtown where their buildings are?

Update 3: CWD just mailed me a new remote at no cost. Thanks CWD!

Cost to attend is $60, which includes educational seminars, lunch, and social networking reception at the end of the event.

Here are the topics:

• Resolving Disputes at the Board Meeting: or, How to Deal With Bullies
• Enforcing Governing Documents in Tough Economic Times
• Foreclosures 101
• Protecting the Value of Your Investment in a Fluctuating Market
• Homeowner/Board Member Disputes
• Lowering Association Expenses and Risk – Are You Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?
• Don’t Shoot the Messenger – Effectively Communicating Bad News to Your Membership
• Steps a Board Can Take to Protect its Association During a Recession
• Rental Cap Roadmap: Key Things to Know About Rental Restrictions

Register here.

P.s. Thank-you to everyone who sits on the boards of my HOAs. I know it’s tough work.

As well I’d be curious to get a survey of move in/out fees.

Let me start with the Meritage, there’s an 80% cap being discussed and the move in/out fee is $100.

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 that have had rather substantial remodels of common areas, so that I can trend values before the remodel, and after the remodel, to see if we can identify a change in value tends as a result of the project. Any identifiable change in value can then be compared to the cost of the project and presented to the homeowners to determine if a special assessment is appropriate.

Can you think of any buildings that have been substantially (cosmetically) remodeled that I could use in such an analysis?

Can anyone help out with some suggestions?

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: Most condos are severely underfunded.”

I’m sure we all have stories of a friend in an older building hit by a large assessment. Likely more will be hit as they do the required reserve study and address their inadequacies but this law will making things rocky initially will condo associations on the correct path for the future.

The article also has a sidebar on how to get more info:

The Washington State Chapter of the Community Associations Institute is sponsoring a seminar about the new reserve-study requirement and its implications for homeowners associations on Saturday, May 17, 9 a.m.-noon, Shoreline Conference Center, 18560 First Ave. N.E. Registration fee varies. Information: www.wscai.org or 425-778-6378. The institute also has a list of reserve-study specialists on its Web site.

1. “We Can’t Wait to Get Our Hands on Your Money — Or Even Your Home.”
2. “We’re More Secretive Than the CIA.”
3. “When in Doubt, We Sue.”
4. “You Won’t Be Able to Sell When You Want.”
5. “We’re Poorer Than We Look.”
6. “We Can Make Up the Rules as We Go Along.”
7. “We Don’t Want You at Our Meetings.”
8. “We’re in Over Our Heads.”
9. “We Work for Nothing but Get Compensated in Other Ways.”
10. “We’re Incredibly Petty.”

Does this line up with people’s experiences? I haven’t done this whole condo thing long enough to know if should be running to a single family dwelling or not.

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 detail’s page.