Homeowner association managers get disaster training

SOUTH FLORIDA -- Aug. 1, 2006 -- Well before Hurricane Wilma’s first rain drops fell in South Florida last October, Kathryn Danella, general manager of the community association for Boca Pointe, a development of 4,044 residences, had shifted into disaster mode.

And thanks to her training as a certified manager of community associations (CMCA), her recovery program in the 1,000-acre community of 7,600 residents, located just outside the city of Boca Raton, was underway as soon as the last drops fell.

The CMCA program is the only national certification designed for managers of homeowner and condominium associations, according to the National Board of Certification for Community Association Managers (NBC-CAM), which administers the CMCA certification. According to the Community Associations Institute, there are more than 286,000 such communities, home to one in five Americans or approximately 57 million people.

The Community Associations Institute created the NBC-CAM in 1995. Since then, 6,000 managers have been trained.

According to CMCA, CMCA specialists help reassure potential homebuyers that a community is well run, has adequate reserves and will continue to enhance the value of a property. They can also help real estate practitioners acquire relevant documentation and information regarding budgets, insurance, assessments and reserves when a residence is sold.

“Our requirements for earning and maintaining the CMCA were designed to provide homeowners with a port in the storm -- a certified professional ready, trained and able to handle almost any situation -- from emergency conditions such as floods or fires to community management of finances and contracting,” says Judi Phares, NBC-CAM’s chair.

Last year, disasters touched 48 states in some way, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In a recent survey conducted by NBC-CAM, 94 percent of those certified said they were better equipped to handle natural disasters than they had been prior to the training.

Establishing on-going relationships with vendors ahead of time helps communities recover rapidly, says Danella. At Boca Pointe, she says, these relationships meant they were able to begin clearing roadways immediately after the storm.

Another essential function for association managers facing a disaster is to be a communication hub for absentee residents and families of residents who remain on site. This means, says Danella, developing a Web site and having access to communications that can be maintained during power outages.

NBC-CAM also offers a brochure, “Community Matters,” designed to inform consumers about living in a community association

Source: Realtor Magazine Online, Camilla McLaughlin

© 2006 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS