State of Communities: The Big Picture in CIC land.

State of Communities: The Big Picture in CIC land.: "The Big Picture in CIC land. Community Associations (CA), Common Interest Communities (CIC) or Planned Unit Development (PUD) over the last..."

Yes this is back Storm Water Ponds.

International Community Association: Maryland’s Montgomery Council hearing on Pepco 2/7...

International Community Association: Maryland’s Montgomery Council hearing on Pepco 2/7...: "Considering 3 out of 4 homes in Maryland fall within a Common Interest Communities “CIC” (aka Condominium, Cooperative Single Family Homeow..."

CIC2.0 Open.gov has to come to Condo, Coop & Hoa's

Wow what a giant dark hole we are prying the lid open on when we come to think of Open Gov as it relates to Common Interest Communities (CIC).   This is so far removed from the minds of those enabling, - NO! MANDATING- it that in some US States you don't even have to be told that your home is a combined assets of a nonstock company.  And, as the CIC goes~So does your home.

Eample! Right now in the shadow of Congress and every Agency that is espousing OPEN.data.Gov/.Org new home owners  moving into a Single Family or Townhouse Homeowners Associations (HOA) arn't told about the rules or the finances of the HOA.   That means the biggest financial decision these folks will face in most of their lives~ they will have no information about the investment it rules, finances or even it's existence.   How can our GOV makes disclosure of these things for securities and does not for the homeowner in an associations. How can the Federal Gov back loans in areas that don't offer this basic disclosure to the majority of new home buyers.

Because of this oversight or lack of it the management companies & boards operate in the dark to the membership.  There is no enacted law to ensure this does not happen. Yet there is a uniform law that is being used in VA and partially in MD that would help in the dark homeowners. BTW we can see by resales states that have done so fair better.   I have been to more then one reboot of a HOA after they found the management company or someone with access to the funds stole their money.  It just makes sense a concepts like a Disclosure law;  Yet afters years of seeking one none exist.

In Maryland we get to see the downfall of not enacting the financial disclosure requirements that States like Virginia and Washington  along with the Bylaw, Covenants, rules and regulations (aka CondoHOA Docs) who require financial disclosure for resales in Single Family & Townhouse HOA's.  In Maryland resale buyers when buying their home face a decision about a company/community and they don't get any details in the form of a balance sheet, audited statement or any financial disclosure for that matter . What does the homeowner  have to do to get one leader to step up to the plate this makes no sense.

I am sorry to say that until there is some leadership on the National or State level communities themselves are going to be two steps behind.  However, communities can jump  ahead by making  records available to your members/owners any Gov or Emergency responder that need access to data/info on the cloud.  

We launched in 02 to bring attention to Condo, Coop and Hoa's plights

Community Associations (CA), Common Interest Communities (CIC) or Planned Unit Development (PUD) over the last thirty years has become a staple of new home development for many reasons. They may be in the form of a Condominium, Cooperative or Homeowner Associations but they all share in number of characteristic and 1 out of 6 US home fall within one.

Each one of these developments has document and disclosure requirements and they have a responsibility to the membership as a whole to operate the community for the good of all residents and to generally increase the combined property value

What is the affect of non- resident oriented contracts and what are the dangers that may come about because the communities were not making these decisions? It is reported by Community Association Institute, a national trade group of the planned community professionals, that 1 out of 6 homes in the US falls within such a place.

This same group projects that 50 percent of all new home developments are being built as planned communities.

According to the Wayback machine we put this online in Aug 2002. Whois has it up April of 02. 


 It is our opinion that for owners of homes that happen to fall inside a Common Interest Communities it has only gotten worse and the State of the Union Speech tonight will not offer any home for the Millions that find themselves in this situation together. 


Lets see if the Gov has a plan for your CIC we are trying to get them to pay attention and please feel free to visit our new group to do just that.   InternationalCommunityAssociation.org  Help Us Help Your Community. 

BTW 25 THOUSAND CONDO"S just lost FHA Underwriting

We said~  Hey this is coming and guess what it ain't over because Fannie's deadline is just a week or so away and even if they move the date back as it seems FHA is doing the facts on the ground are that these Condos are broke and until that is fixed none of them are going to get through a winter let alone pay for some stupid recertification that entangles your community with DEADBEAT OWNERS like FHA, FANNIE.

It might not be a bad Idea for communities to not deal with the agencies since it is these same agencies that placed all the dead beat owners in the units that FANNIE FHA and others now own and again don't pay dime of current assessments and they have not done ONE single thing to help any Community in the USA.  

This is not a joke and the folks that are supposed to be your elected leaders have not done one thing either.  Name one hearing that has been called.  These same folks will take up days talking about Super Rich folks getting a tax cut HOWEVER they will not take one moment to talk about the 100 million US homeowners that are without single voice in DC, it would seem, that cares.

WAKE UP and at least one reporter seems to have http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121002088.html

WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON AT FHA.

Additional update: The HUD Mortgagee Letter 2009-46A,eliminates “Spot Loan” approvals for condominiums going into affect on February 1, 2010.  For a more detailed explanation, read this. We believe that this, along with thenew condo “concentration” guidelines (see number ten) will mean that from this point forward, the HUD database will not be the most accurate to guarantee that a unit “is” or “is not” FHA approved.  After concluding our research, we believe that, by far, the most comprehensive and up to date collection on whether a unit is approved by the FHA will be found atFHA Pros. Check back here for updates.  We will be posting them as they become available.  Click to go to site.

Of course clicking on the FHA Pros link takes you to a $4.99 a search website. The HUD database is free and by what reasoning or act of law or agency can their data not be the authority answer on who is or is not in compliance. 

I would like to hear from someone at HUD as to their database is still relevant and if not why. 

Clearly we'll take a look into this and get back to everyone.   

FHA Condo Reserve requirement kicking Condos in the gut

The condominium/homeowners association must have at least 10% of its budgeted income designated in a capital reserve fund for replacement reserves and adequate funds budgeted for the insurance deductible.

FHA reserve requirements as per FHA Mortgagee Letter 2009-46B This law was put in place over a year ago and it was delayed so that some kind of education and outreach from the agency that is required to fulfill this function. As well this would with a massive pr blitz community the need to condo come into compliance with something that was never asked of them before.

 ~why wait, why not have this as part of any plan that would require repair and maintenance of plant and equipment. Why did the regulators hide this from consumers -- this is a whole blog itself.

I'll go out on a limb and say most don't know that every condo that is backed by FHA loans are required to established a reserve fund.  Thats right and if you didn't get a reserve plan at closing that is a pretty good sign that your condo doesn't have one.

To be in compliance with this a base funding is set at 10% of your budget to be placed in a reserve account. 

So what will happen if your Condo did not set up the fund and didn't get it to the 10% level. Anyone that seeks to refinance or sell a property in said Condo --the loan will be rejected.  Yep, no FHA loans for anyone in your Condo.

Of course there is no official plan in plan by anyone anywhere to deal with this and the FANNIE Recertification requirement that comes up end of DEC as well.

Again, from Washington nothing.

We do have a plan and we'll need to get the help of everyone or we are going to wreak the entire US Economy.

Think CONDOICEBURG.


Here is some more


"Reserve Study – a current reserve study must be performed to assure that adequate funds are available for the funding of capital expenditures and maintenance. A current reserve study must be no more than 12 months old – if recent events or market conditions have affected the finished condition of the property that information must be included. When reviewing the reserve study, consideration must be given to items that have been replaced after the time that the reserve study was completed."

For existing associations with pre-owned condominiums, HUD underwriters require a current reserve study containing a funding projection which clearly indicates the percent funded level is 60% **or more at the time of approval. Once a particular association is approved for FHA lending guarantees there is no requirement that they re-qualify at a future date. However, that does not mean once you are approved by HUD you can forget about your reserve funding program. Even after an association has received HUD approval for FHA loans subsequent loan applications must include an updated reserve study as part of the document package submitted to underwriters. If the underwriters see evidence the reserves are not being funded as planned, or the percent funding amount has fallen to unacceptable levels, it could trigger the need for a new reserve study.
Not only must the reserve study provide a funding plan which indicates the reserves are 60% funded at the time approval is granted, but the association’s reserve account must be current in terms of the contributions which are required to maintain the funding levels indicated in the reserve study. Reserve contributions which are scheduled in the reserve study must be made on a monthly basis.
New condominium developments are treated somewhat differently than existing and converted condominium associations. New developments are said to be those which are newly constructed and are being sold by the developer to the first owner who will ever occupy the dwelling.
New developments are not required to maintain a specific percent funded level in their reserve account. What is required in order to gain approval for FHA loan guarantees is a current approved operating budget which includes a provision for a reserve transfer. The transfer must be adequate relative to the size of the association, its reserve funding obligations, etc.
While this may seem somewhat ambiguous what is important to understand is that the underwriters are looking at the budget and the reserve funding obligations of the association to develop a sense of whether there is a prudent plan for long range replacement funding in place.

http://www.paccrestreserves.com/FHA-HUD-condominium-Reserves.htm