HOA's and many property management companies being replaced due to bad management (Orlando: apartment complex, foreclosed)

[PhotoProIP]

So, here's a question: It looks to me that with a management company homeowners have no say in anything! how's that fair?

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by PhotoProIP

So, here's a question: It looks to me that with a management company homeowners have no say in anything! how's that fair?

Home owners have a lot to say...all they have to do is show up and speak up at meetings and that the thing and issue that most communities have.

Our community changed it with the last 2 years of annual meetings where so many people showed up that the President was flabbergasted and knew there was more to it than the property manager was saying.

[tinytrump]

it can become an ugly place because many are very very opinioated bullys...I have seen it - almost gave my poor old dad a heart attack, I moved him out- not all palces, but this thread is showing the ugly side of it. I rather live free- pink flamingo mailbox-- crazy but whatever

[bentlebee]

For me it is the other way around and personally I never had a real issue myself since I keeps the rules and don't mind these rules since to me they are to preserve the value of the property. The part I care about is the part that if they don't try to answer in ad event time frame, work with people when they fall behind instead of making it worse and I don't care if they are harsh towards dead beats.

[IC_deLight]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Rampart changed their name into Associa Gulf Coast just so you know it is just a way to get rid of the bad association they got with the Rampart name at a time it was really becoming necessary!

Texas Senator John Carona's Associations, Inc. aka "Associa" holding company acquired Benson's as another HOA management company subsidiary a few years ago. The subsidiary name was changed to "Associa Gulf Coast" in 2011.
Associa Expands Florida Market | Business Wire

Rampart, Community Management Concepts of Florida, and Associa Gulf Coast will all be operated under the Associa Gulf Coast name. Associa acquired Community Management Concepts of Florida and Rampart some time ago. CMC was acquired in 2004. Rampart was acquired in 2010. They have all been operated under the direction of Texas Senator Carona for years. It's not clear whether these will be treated as separate companies operating under one assumed name or whether the other entities are being merged or are otherwise being disposed of with the survivor being AGC.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.: Associa Branches Join Forces to Offer Greater Service to Florida’s Gulf Coast - Real Estate - MiamiHerald.com

Simply changing the name of the entity doesn't alter any of its business practices. They've been "Associa" businesses for years.

[bentlebee]

I heard they are a Texas based company and during the presentation it was mentioned that we would get a manager that still was in Texas and moving to our area. All employees that were replacing Florida based employees came from Texas....sad for people who live and worked at Rampart for years aside from Kelly who should have been fired years ago.

BUT it seems their Texas way is not working here since. Rampart overal was doing fine and is not like a fast train without brakes heading for the edge of the cliff! Soon they will go over it!

Originally Posted by IC_deLight

Texas Senator John Carona's Associations, Inc. aka "Associa" holding company acquired Benson's as another HOA management company subsidiary a few years ago. The subsidiary name was changed to "Associa Gulf Coast" in 2011.
Associa Expands Florida Market | Business Wire

Rampart, Community Management Concepts of Florida, and Associa Gulf Coast will all be operated under the Associa Gulf Coast name. Associa acquired Community Management Concepts of Florida and Rampart some time ago. CMC was acquired in 2004. Rampart was acquired in 2010. They have all been operated under the direction of Texas Senator Carona for years. It's not clear whether these will be treated as separate companies operating under one assumed name or whether the other entities are being merged or are otherwise being disposed of with the survivor being AGC.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.: Associa Branches Join Forces to Offer Greater Service to Florida’s Gulf Coast - Real Estate - MiamiHerald.com

Simply changing the name of the entity doesn't alter any of its business practices. They've been "Associa" businesses for years.

[PhotoProIP]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Home owners have a lot to say...all they have to do is show up and speak up at meetings and that the thing and issue that most communities have.

Our community changed it with the last 2 years of annual meetings where so many people showed up that the President was flabbergasted and knew there was more to it than the property manager was saying.

....and if they don't come how will anything pass? I don't think it is just "work" that keeps people from coming...it is a generational thing. Here only the old people who are retired show up. There are kids in HS, or stay at home parents who never go...what do you attribute that to?

[IC_deLight]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

I heard they are a Texas based company and during the presentation it was mentioned that we would get a manager that still was in Texas and moving to our area. All employees that were replacing Florida based employees came from Texas....sad for people who live and worked at Rampart for years aside from Kelly who should have been fired years ago.

Their approach doesn't work in Texas either - at least not for the HOA corp or the involuntary members. Works great for Sen Carona. He sat in the legislature authoring laws beneficial to his HOA management company organization when few knew of his industry ties. More recently he created a PAC to lobby for laws beneficial to his businesses in other states like Florida and California.

You might want to look at the venue provisions in that management contract. It might require disputes to be litigated in Dallas County, Texas.

You might also look into what entity owns the insurance you think your project is insured under. If Associa is involved, the insurance its subsidiaries promote are owned by Associations, Inc. aka "Associa" - not the HOA corporations or condo corporations. Your project will be one of many - how many you won't know - all claiming coverage under the same policy (owned by Associa). If you inquire you may be lied to as to who owns the policy. You need to get a copy of the insurance declarations page to see who the owner is. You will likely get resistance when you try to obtain such documents. Associa has been playing this game for years - including in the state of Florida.

The management contract will probably also have a provision demanding 10% of claims paid out via insurance to go to the management company. The management contracts in Texas have such a provision.

Banking used to get switched to First Associations Bank after the subsidiary management companies took over "management" of the HOA. Guess who was the largest shareholder of FAB....Rather odd to have a bank with a single branch in Texas and which only did business with HOA management companies. Regardless of the bank used, you might want to look into who the account owner is and whether the management company has been given authority via contract or "bank signature card resolutions" to negotiate checks without crediting them to the client.

BUT it seems their Texas way is not working here since. Rampart overal was doing fine and is not like a fast train without brakes heading for the edge of the cliff! Soon they will go over it!

When there is a tying relationship between the management company and insurance coverage, you can't fire the management company once the management company provokes a dispute between the HOA corp and involuntary members. Once litigation starts the HOA won't be able to get coverage elsewhere and the HOA corp can't keep the insurance coverage it thinks it has if it fires the management company due to the tying arrangement.

[TampaKaren]

I dislike throwing a wrench to all the company bashing, but we have been very happy with Jim Davis at Rampart (now Associa). He's a hard working guy and he knows the laws. He also attends the HOA board meetings every month and he's copied on board emails. The properties undergoing foreclosure are always kept mowed and free of squatters - something I can't say about other large communities. It sounds to me that you had a sub-standard property manager though ultimately that's the management company's fault. I have no intention of killing this thread - I'm just saying that everyone is not sewn from the same cloth.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by PhotoProIP

....and if they don't come how will anything pass? I don't think it is just "work" that keeps people from coming...it is a generational thing. Here only the old people who are retired show up. There are kids in HS, or stay at home parents who never go...what do you attribute that to?

In our community hardly anybody went to meetings aside from the people serving on some committees until one year too many people had issues and everyone was shocked how many people turned up for the annual meeting and it was complaint after complaint from home owners.

If you are in a community with little or no complaints than hardly anybody will show up.

Of course there are always people complaining who don't have a valid complaint but just are upset about things they have caused themselves or by their late payment.