There is no reason that your community should be on Social Media ~Right?

Since part of our chairman's Nelson Jacobsen, background involves a life time in emergency management and a new area called CrisisData he has been at the forefront of the social media citizen movement.

Specifically, This tread of using social media to communicate during a disaster is changing the whole world of emergency management.  Recently Nelson was part of a team of volunteers that assisted at the National Emergency Managers Association special workshop called SMEMCamp



This event allowed emergency managers "EM" to have access to social media practitioners who shared their experiences and knowledge in social media to help the EMs understand something that is completely overtaking their world.

More important to understand is that social media is 100 percent cloud based and this is really the forest behind the trees of twitter, facebook etc.  So yes what is popular is going to change and board's will have to learn to use new communications technology or skills and there is nothing else to do~  save to adapt.  

It should not be lost on boards and managers of Common Interest Communities that they need to adopt a social media strategy!  Not only because most of their members are already there; we know from recently disasters that citizens are going to turn to social media to communicate during them.

We have to wonder if the property management company in Georgetown, DC been on twitter would they would have seen the alerts that the DC government has posted. We saw them and changed our plans for the day.  They didn't and the outcome is a disaster

When your on social media it is interlinked and your emergency managers and national defense use these open system to look for what we call noise on the wire.

• For more information about CrisisData visit here. 
• To establish your community Twitter visit here

If you do one thing after reading this! We would advise that each CIC establish a twitter feed not only communicate with your membership -- it needs to be connected to you local government, utilities companies and emergency responders and you need to share this account with a couple of board members so what they can monitor and respond with it matters most in your community.

Here is a simple example of how to use Twitter during an emergency.

If your community is interested in Community Emergency Plans or how to establish a social media presence please contact. Hastatus, LLC follow @hastausllc or @intercommassoc

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. 

Maryland's Governor candiates are ducking CIC issues.

Today on Twitter there was a debate between the Governor Omalley and Former Governor Bob Ehrlch about their vision for Maryland.  During this debate the candidates were also on twitter and were following the #mddebate for twitter folk.

We decided to chim in and see if the respective leaders where aware or even cared about the issues facing Maryland Common Interest Communities. So we asked the some direct questions and some general ones. So far neither of them have bothered to do more then claim some piric victory in a debate that didn't even touch on the fact that 3/4 of Maryland's homes are in jeopardy of going broke and bankrupt.

We have to ask--Who will emerge from Maryland leaders, either party, to start to take on a task that most of them been ducking or denying for years

Let's take foreclosure.........Sure the easy thing to do is say stop them, if you don't know that most of those are in Condo's Single Family & Townhouse Associations.  Now how are you going to help them keeps the lights on or the gas going when their master utility bills cannot be paid because past due assessments are at the all time high, let alone any other bills or budgeted obligations. 

BTW Fannie/Feddy/Hud/Va and your underwriters. If you own guideline say that no more then 10 percent of owners can be past due in assessments and we know that many communities are 30-50 percent of owners not paying INCLUDING YA"LL how can you then allow the resale of these property when your the owners of them.

 Is that even legal, let alone moral.  We know the answer do they.   BTW If your a resident of a common interest community and one of these campaigns calls, knocks or tweets to you ~ask them what's their plan for your community. 

Here is  r time line for this debate......

intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

@

@Ehrlich4MD We asked you what your plan is for the millions of owners in #md #hoa regarding assessments/forclosures. U do know about #HOA ?

from American University Park, Washington

39 minutes ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#cic #condo #hoa have not 4 some reason? been given relief under the #staffordact they often cannot afford 2 rebuild roads, centers, roofs

from American University Park, Washington

7 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

BTW most #cic #condo #hoa are denied funding under the #staffordact emergency relief act. A road lost in storm if owned by CIC not covered

from American University Park, Washington

7 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate #Condo #hoa owners lose because no one cares? knows? Golly how did 3/4 of #MD homes since 80s become a #cic Where's a plan 4 them

from American University Park, Washington

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate Millions of #MD homes are in #CIC that r going broke cuz #banks #fannie #freddy #deadbeatowners #investors dont pay dues + no help

from American University Park, Washington

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate Now even #HUD knows that there are BIG problems in ... http://t.co/MNReXuT From 2002 #mdsenator #condo #hoa #assessment FEDs NOPAY

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate What you are not being told about the housing problem Sept 5 2007 http://t.co/zzxygEs #condo #hoa #dues #assessments #broke #fail

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate @epa is suing #md for failure to meet CleanWatAct ie Stormwater ponds test/clean numbers = #fail #md cant find them cuz -charter

from American University Park, Washington

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate after 6 years #MD expunges list of forfeited charters, now #md does not have list of all the #condo #hoa that existed = lost taxes

from American University Park, Washington

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebate when a #CIC cannot get #dues & #reserves a budget #fail starts. Soon they cant pay MDProperty Tax, lose charter, MD loses taxes +

from American University Park, Washington

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mddebte many of those illegals owned homes in #condo #hoa So 1st time ya'll yell ((((ICE))) ? % of #MD #hoa stoped getting #dues #reserves

from American University Park, Washington

8 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

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intercommassoc Inter Comm Assoc ICA

#mdvote if some1 is running for office and they dont have a plan for the 3/4 of #MD #CIC homes then tell them to get one. #condo #hoa #coop

Maryland's Elected officals bend over backwards to kill your condo or hoa.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's governor and congressional delegation are asking the state's chief judge to halt all foreclosures in the state for at least 60 days.
In a letter to Chief Judge Robert Bell on Saturday, Gov. Martin O'Malley and all 10 members of Maryland's congressional delegation say immediate action is necessary to avoid miscarriages of justice.  Reported on WTOP

So Governor O'malley it appears that you are aware of the fact that 3 out of 4 of these homes are in a Common Interest Community and if you stop the process of foreclosure and dont help the community then there will be nothing left for the owner to be assoicated with since these homes are bound by convents and bylaws that say they are part and parcel of an over all community.

If your one of these communities I would be scared to death right now because this very same government is going to be after their property taxes and since so many of your neighbors went into default on their mortgage your budget has been balanced since the save button was hit drafing it and your community doesn't have these funds.

Let alone the master utilities, for street lights common area lighting, gas, water, security, repairs maintenance and these politicians have the nerve to cry over some auto signed documents.  Either, the Maryland elected officials hate your condo's coop's and homeowner association or they are clueless as to the effect decision like this one have on these communities. It's only 3 out of 4 homes in Maryland.

Considering that our Chairman Nelson Jacobsen called in and ask one



Maryland Condominiums, Cooperatives and Homeowner/Townhouse Associations are not just worried about the foreclosure. The process he talks about does nothing to help the Communities in fact it delays the amount of time and cost to the community.

What is the hardship on the HOA's How are you going to make these communities whole if you dont address the problem.

WHAT THE PROBLEM Well if they aint paying their mortgage then they're not paying these assessmens, reserve contributions and specail assessment for the homeowners they took the property from in the first place.

It gets better........Maryland HOA's there is a totallack of Financial Disclosure under the MD HOA ACT. When these banks do sell these homes which they are not paying assessment on they are not telling the new owners that the HOA is broke because deadbeats like the banks and FANNIE, FREDDY and HUD. Heck they dont have to even give the budget.

Now if that were't enough some of the biggest dead Beads see BOA-BLOG - FANNIE FREDDY & HUD aren't even giving them the required Documents -Article of Inc,

BTW Many of these CIC are not incorporated because they dont have the money to pay the MD filings.

Declarations, by-laws and any amendments. These are required under the Maryland HOA ACT Disclosure requirments and most of these banks, fannie/freddy and HUD are guilty of wholesale dereliction of responsibility or they are once again -- clueless.

Now considering that so many of Maryland homes are in CIC it find it very hard to believe that didn't notice them popping up in all over the place Considering that any development over 3 unit in Maryland has to form a water association.

So we are going to follow up with Craig Rice in Maryland and introduce him to a number of HOA owners and board directors and see if he's with CIC or against them.

Just stopping foreclosures will do one thing KILL CONDOS & HOAS IN Maryland

BOA just stuck a knife in every Condo HOA in America

As we expected when we reported that the Delaware AG got into the foreclosure fray (Delaware not being a judicial state), it was only a matter of time before foreclosures would be halted in all 50 states. Sure enough, Diana Olick has just reported that BofA has just expanded its foreclosure halt from the 23 judicial states, to all 50 states. And so, the pendulum swings from populist anger to adulation. The only question is when will Tarp 2 be enacted now that banks are facing tens of billions in losses. Full article

According to ZeroHedge  Bank of America just announced that any home that they have a mortgage in that falls inside a Common Interest Community, that said CIC, will not be getting any relief on unpaid assessments.

Clearly this is a move by Band of American to stab CIC's in the financial heart.   If there are no foreclosures then there is very little hope what so ever that past due let alone ongoing assessments to be paid.

In the same article they talk about Tarp 2 for banks.  Mean while the CIC's are still asking where is Community Reinvestment 1.

BTW Elected leaders there are 100 Million US citizen in CIC and we are going to help them paint a target on every one of you that does not stand up and deal with the development laws and situations that Congress and the FEDs have brought about by deliberate design.  

To CIC this is a fatal design and unless your a banker there is no way to justify that we continue to turn a blind eye to over 1 Million communities and to any community that has funds in a Band of American  branch you better pull your money out and put it in a community bank because dealing with BOA will bankrupt your community.  

BTW if you didn't notice they owe a load of back assessments, reserve fund contributions and ongoing assessments and special assessments -- because deadbeats like them don't pay the assessments.  Then Congress/FEDs their pets are letting them off the hook PLUS giving them billions and at the same time raising underwriting requirements that now make it harder for us suckers, err ......community association members,  to sell our homes let lone keeping the whole community from losing utilities, services and general ability to survive.

If there was an actually analysis of how CIC are going to survive this toxic GOV/BANKSTERS could any one with a straight face or without a guilty conscience say that CIC have the ability to survive.

Did you know your Condo Coop & HOA has to issue 1099s

That right under the recently passed HealthCare act they snuch in a little tiny provision what states in plan languge that every transaction over 600 dollars has to have 1099's at the end of the year.  So when your Common Interest Community "CIC" (Condo, Coop, Single/Townhome Assoc.)

So every vendor that comes into your CIC that receives  $600 or more for services rendered the CIC will give them a 1099.  And, for every time you get a check for 600 or more then you have to remit a 1099 to other party.  So guess what tax time is going to be like.  

It is not clear from the language if this would apply to fines. 

So Condominims, Cooperatives, Single Family & Townhouse Associations need to attend the International Community Associations Webinar on the ramifications of this legislations and what CIC's can do to make sure if they have to repel it and send a message to every member of congress that they need to take into consideration the State of Communities.

Webinar TBA 

State of Communities

Elected officials on every level have not began to deal with this impact this type of development bring on to the residents. As well existing federal laws are putting CIC into potential insolvency; Let alone, the double taxation that residents of CIC face today.

Many of the issues that CIC encounter are covered here, but until our elected officials understand and take CIC's in to account when they make policy decisions these problems will only grow.

If the economy of the US is largely based on home ownership, we have the potential for some huge problems in our homes and financial markets because there is a clear lack of planning and educational opportunities for the owners of homes in CICs.

This blog is going to blog the CIC wide open and force everyone to deal with this issue which are many and effect so many people already and just about ever new home buyer.

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