Condo Media - May 2010 - 27

equally important component of professionalism knowing the limits of your knowledge? Is respect a two-way street? Is your managing agent an important member of your trust’s management team? Or do you allow your managing agent to miraculously transform into just another vendor when it asks for an increase in its management fee? Who retains the institutional memory of your community? Is there an elephant in the room?

What’s Your Policy?
Have you read your condominium’s master deed and declaration of trust? Do you know the rules and regulations of your community? What are the differences between common area, common area with the exclusive right to use, limited common area and a deeded parking space? Are you allowed to have pets? If one pet is allowed, would a rattlesnake be an acceptable pet? What about a pig? Is a donkey too big? Would you declare your pet a service animal to avoid the no pet rule in your community? If you are a unit owner, should the condominium association act as your landlord and provide repair and maintenance services within your unit at the trust’s expense? What does a unit owner get for his or her monthly fee? Why don’t you know? Have you ever looked at your association’s budget? Do you read the annual accounting report sent to you each year? If the warranty on your hot water heater was to expire in three months, would you replace your hot water heater now or after the warranty expired? If your toilet leaked into the unit below you, are you responsible for the damage? Would you offer to pay even if you weren’t responsible? Do leopards ever really change their spots? Is it appropriate for a fur salesman to be a member of PETA? Does speed and expediency outweigh common sense? Is choosing the lowest price always appropriate? How would you define the term “conflict of interest”? Does it seem appropriate to hire a wolf to be the security guard in a chicken

coop? Is wrong or right the same as legal or illegal? Who provides what services to your association? When you need a medical specialist, do you go to the local clinic? Do you have generalists or specialists working for your association? What is management’s true role? Are you watching the store? Can online financial transactions ever be 100 percent safe? Can food for thought cause indigestion? Would it be appropriate for you to run for the board of your association with the intent of resolving just one personal agenda item? Can an association be properly run if the board meets just two times a year and does not provide direction to its managing agent the rest of the year? Should a board abdicate its management responsibilities to its managing agent? Should a managing agent accept them? If you knew that your association had a great deal of deferred maintenance, would you tell a prospective purchaser if you were asked as a trustee? How about if you were asked as a unit owner? Does misery really like company? When you call and leave a message with the manager of your community, do you have voicemail on your phone for them to respond to you or do you just get mad and complain they don’t call you back? Do you assume your call will be returned in the evening? Do you work 24 hours per day? Does your board meet in the evening? If you are a trustee attending one of those meetings, how tired are you and the manager at those meetings? Do you make the best decisions when you are exhausted? Would you be better off having your trustees’ meetings during the day? Do you make your doctor’s appointments in the evening? Would you miss your children’s sporting events or parent/teacher conferences if they were in the afternoon? Do you need a mirror?

foul? If you knew for certain that your condominium unit would never be the source of an insurance claim for the trust, should you still purchase a homeowners insurance policy? If you could receive a $25,000 insurance settlement from your association’s insurance company by premeditatedly injuring yourself within the common areas of the trust, would you do so? If you fell of your own accord within the common areas of your community and hurt yourself badly, would you wait three years for there to be something wrong with that area and then sue the association? Is it hard for you to believe that these things happen? Which of these is real — Harvey the Pooka Rabbit or insurance fraud? Have I irked you with these questions or intrigued you? Is gardening one of your passions? Do you enjoy working hard for a just reward? Do you like surprises? Would you consider an insurance claim an extraordinary event? Why should your manager perform a public insurance adjuster’s role for free? If you could choose to watch an illusionist/ magician or a video with the name, “How to Strike It Rich in Real Estate,” which would you choose? Would you rather save for the future or live it up now? Could you write a check for $25,000 tomorrow for a special assessment or temporary increase in fees? How quickly do you think you could learn how to juggle five pool balls? Would you rather walk the plank with just your hands tied behind your back or blindfolded as well? If I told you I don’t sleep at night, would you believe me? How well will you sleep now? Have the answers to these questions been obvious to you? Does your association need an objective and strategic review? CM Robert M. Kravets, PCAM, CMCA, is the president of Realty Corporation of Massachusetts Inc., a full-service property management firm in Needham, Mass.; and a managing partner in Community Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in the community association industry.

How Well Do You Juggle Choices?
If you knew that a trustee was falsely suing the association would you yell

CONDO MEDIA • MAY 2010

Condo Media - May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - May 2010