HOA payment fraud is one of the most common and most preventable financial problems community associations face. It rarely looks like fraud when it is happening. It does not announce itself. It does not show up as a dramatic missing balance or an obvious red flag in the monthly report. It tends to look, at…
An HOA insurance renewal comes in significantly higher than expected. The board reviews the numbers, checks the operating account, and starts discussing what can be cut to make room for the increase. Maybe a maintenance project gets postponed, maybe reserve contributions are reduced. Maybe homeowners are told to expect a special assessment. The higher premium…
Key Takeaways Homeowners association (HOA) reserves are the money an association sets aside for major future repairs and replacements. When boards are trying to keep dues down, reserve contributions can become the number that gets adjusted to make the budget work. But putting less money aside does not make the roof last longer or the…
Managing the finances of a small homeowners association can seem relatively straightforward. Collect assessments, pay the bills, reconcile the bank account, and provide the board with a basic financial report. As the community gets larger, the financial workload grows with it. Maintenance activity increases, capital projects begin, delinquencies may appear, and the association may have…
Every October, boards across the country sit down to build their 2027 HOA budget. Most of them start in the same place: they pull up last year’s budget, add a percentage across the board, and call it a draft. It is fast, it feels reasonable, and it is almost always wrong. The problem is not…
Every month, Community Financials hosts webinars for HOA and condo board members. The questions that come in are consistent: What are my legal obligations as a board member? How do I read my financial reports? What happens if we do not fund our reserves properly? What does a collection policy actually look like in practice?…
The comparative income and expense report is the number one report I have used to run communities for 25 years. Most boards either do not receive it or do not know what to do with it when they do. The part that matters most is a single column that most board members scroll past without…
Nobody joins an HOA board because they want to charge their neighbors late fees. Yet assessments have to be collected. The association still has insurance premiums, vendor contracts, utilities, maintenance costs, reserve contributions, and other obligations to pay whether every homeowner pays on time or not. When assessments arrive late, somebody has to address the…
Starting January 4, 2027, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are raising the minimum reserve funding requirement for condominium and HOA communities from 10% to 15% of annual assessment income. Most boards heading into budget season are not yet asking what this means for their community, and the window to act on it before the deadline…
Russell Munz, Founder
Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA)
Expert Financial Oversight
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