Over the last several years, CAI has developed relationships with key legislators and key committees in the state legislature. Through these relationships, LAC hopes to be a voice in the discussion of pending legislation, such as legislation recently introduced requiring greater access to association records and open association meetings. Other pending legislation extends the time for builders to add additional phases to developments governed by associations. The proper consideration of these matters requires input from those involved with associations who are familiar with the operation of associations and are in a position to realistically assess the benefits and pitfalls of such pending legislation. Check back for a full report of the day’s activities after May 14^th and check our legislative page often for updates on various Bills now pending before the legislature.

By Jonathan H. Katz, Esq.
Hill Wallack LLP

As you may have heard, as of January 24, 2013 you can no longer dispose of many electronic items – such as televisions and computers – with your regular trash.

Signed into law in 2010 by former Governor Ed Rendell, the Pennsylvania Covered Device Recycling Act (the “CDRA”) bans the disposal of all “covered devices,” which include desktop computers; laptop computers; computer monitors; computer peripherals, such as printers, keyboards and mouses; tablets like iPads and Kindles; and televisions with viewable screens larger than four inches (both cell phones and PDAs are exempt from the law). As mandated by the CDRA, it will become illegal to dispose of any such covered devices in municipal landfills. Rather, all of that “e-waste” must be recycled.

New Jersey’s version of the CDRA – the Electronic Waste Management Act (the “EWMA”) – went into effect on January 1, 2011. As of that date, the EWMA banned the disposal of computers, televisions and other “covered devices,” prohibiting individuals from disposing of these items as regular solid waste.

Information regarding recycling of electronic waste in Pennsylvania can be found at this link. 

Information regarding recycling of electronic waste in New Jersey can be found at this link.

“Increasingly, our communication and interaction with members is online, and the chapter website is a big part of that. We’re grateful that the judges who reviewed our website thought so highly of our efforts to engage our members via the chapter website,” Campisi said of the recognition.

CAI Achievement Awards are determined by a panel of judges within the CAI membership. 

In early 2012, the chapter embarked on a total re-design of the chapter website to incorporate new technology, allow members to interact with easy links to various social media platforms, and to include a new, easier online event registration system. Today's website is a dynamic site with regular updates on content. The chapter's blog is fully integrated into the site and members can now register online for chapter events in a seamless, easy to use system that integrates with our membership management system. As a result, traffic has increased to the website and the vast majority of event registrations now occur online.

Continue visiting our site for new information and updates to chapter programs. And while you're here, share this information on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn by clicking the links below!

City Councilman James Kenney to speak at Forum on Actual Value Initiative

King of Prussia, PA.: Philadelphians who live in one of the city’s approximately 1000 condominium and cooperative associations can learn how property tax reform will affect them at a seminar co-hosted by the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national non-profit organization that advocates for community associations and those who call them home, and the Greater Philadelphia Condo Managers Association. City Councilman James Kenney will be one of the speakers at this program, which will focus specifically on how condominiums and cooperatives may be impacted by the Actual Value Initiative. The session, which costs $40 for CAI members and $60 for non-members (discounts apply for early registration) will be held on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 in the Atrium at the BNY Mellon Bank Building, located at 1735 Market Street in Philadelphia, from 8:30 to 11:00 AM. The session includes continental breakfast and advanced registration is suggested. Individuals can register online at www.cai-padelval.org or call 877-608-9777.

The session will feature City Councilman James Kenney and a speaker from the city’s Office of Property Assessment and will be moderated by Gary A. Krimstock, Esq., an attorney with the Center City, Philadelphia law firm of Fineman, Krekstein & Harris.

CAI is a 33,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

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King of Prussia, PA.: Community association staff members – including public safety officers, recreation staff, administrative personnel and managers – are invited to CAI’s third Annual Staff Training Symposium where they can participate in multiple educational sessions designed to improve customer service and staff skills in various areas of community association management. The half-day symposium will be hosted by A Pocono Country Place in Tobyhanna, PA and is sponsored by the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national non-profit organization that advocates for community associations and those who call them home. The event, which costs $40 for CAI members and $55 for non-members (discounts apply for registering early) will be held on Friday, April 26, 2013 from 8:30 AM to 12:00 Noon. The session includes breakfast and advanced registration is suggested due to space limitations. Individuals can register online at www.cai-padelval.org or call 877-608-9777.

Attendees will have access to a variety of educational sessions, including a general session by motivational speaker Scott A. Brown, author of "Who Cares? Creating a Culture of Service in Your Business."  In addition, breakout sessions include topics on customer service, bankruptcy and collections, basics of community associations, and handling youths in your care for recreation programs. The closing session is titled “Confrontation: What to do with an active shooter” and will be presented by Rob O’Donnell, a retired New York Police Detective who is now the Safety Director at Big Bass Lake Community Association. Full details on sessions and speakers can be found at www.cai-padelval.org.

CAI is a 33,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

# # #

The session was very useful in providing an overview of community associations to legislators who sit on the committee that considers most legislation amending Title 68 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statues. Title 68 contains the Uniform Condominium Act, the Real Estate Cooperative Act and the Uniform Planned Community Act. These three statutes govern the three forms of common interest ownership communities in the Commonwealth.

Chapter Executive Director Tony Campisi and LAC Delegates Carl Weiner, Esq. and Steven L. Sugarman, Esq., represented the LAC and presented information to the Urban Affairs Committee. Topics of discussion included the types of common interest ownership communities, how they are governed, their sources of authority, the hierarchy of documents, community conflict, and dispute resolution.  The session also included an overview of CAI, our mission, and the resources that CAI makes available to help build better communities.

Legislators followed up the presentation with pointed questions about various topics including how assessments are levied, how community associations are formed and governed, and what happens when a community association is faced with the possibility of a special assessment. There was also a short discussion of the issue of municipal taxes and why community association homeowners are required to pay the same level of municipal taxes when many municipal services are not provided to the community association by the local government.

The session was part of the LAC's mission to educate lawmakers on the nature of community associations so they have a fuller understanding of the potential impact of legislation affecting those who live in community associations in Pennsylvania.

PA LACs annual Capitol Day, which has been re-scheduled for May 14, 2013, will serve as a follow up to this session where CAI members will meet with legislators one on one to further the discussion and present the LAC's positions on various pieces of pending legislation.

You may not know his name. But you will definitely know his story.
 
Join us on May 9th for the keynote address at “Soar! CAI’s Annual Conference & Expo” to hear the extraordinary story of Adam Taliaferro.

On a Saturday in September, with less than two minutes remaining in Penn State’s game against rival Ohio State, Adam Taliaferro made a routine helmet-to-helmet tackle that would change the course of his life.

The Voorhees, N.J. native had broken his neck – the same injury suffered by actor Christopher Reeve.

Adam lay motionless on the field. Given only a three percent chance of ever walking again by medical personnel, Adam had very different ideas. Today he walks, and walks well.

"Adam is our miracle," said legendary Penn State Coach Joe Paterno. Adam is the personification of triumph over tragedy, an inspiration to his teammates, his Penn State family, and anyone who hears his story.

Prior to his injury, Adam was a National Football League prospect. A cornerback, he was ranked the seventh best high school player in the nation when he graduated as a National Honor Society member. Offered scholarships to numerous schools, Adam chose to play for Penn State.
 
The talented, personable and vibrant young man and his family would have nothing of the devastating diagnosis after he was injured on Sept. 23, 2000. Through his incredible determination, courage, tireless rehabilitation and desire to return to a normal life, Taliaferro was, incredibly, walking on his own five months after his injury.
 
A little more than 11 months later, Taliaferro completed one of the major goals he had established soon after his injury. On September 1, 2001, he jogged onto the Beaver Stadium turf, in front of a jubilant, record crowd of more than 109,000, leading the Nittany Lions onto the field against the Miami Hurricanes.

Though playing football was no longer part of Adam's future, his inspirational tale of recovery has been followed across the nation, leading authors Scott Brown and Sam Carchidi to chronicle his remarkable story in their 2001 book, Miracle in the Making.

Taliaferro began taking a full academic course load again at Penn State in the Fall, 2001 semester while continuing his rehabilitation. He remained a part of the Penn State football team as a student-assistant coach and received the Maxwell Football Club's Spirit Award, given to a college football player who displays courage and heart in overcoming adversity. Adam also was the recipient of the Bob Mitinger Award, presented to a Penn State senior who personifies courage, character and social responsibility.

Adam was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. In May, 2005 Adam walked across the stage and was awarded his Penn State degree in Labor and Industrial Relations. In May, 2008, Taliaferro earned his law degree from the Rutgers School of Law-Camden.
 
Within months of his injury, Adam and his family created the Adam Taliaferro Foundation. The foundation provides emotional, financial and educational assistance to individuals who suffer catastrophic head or spinal cord injuries. The foundation, which has raised nearly $500,000 since its inception, also provides support for research and prevention of those injuries.

Adam was a practicing attorney for five years and now works for Bristol Myers Squibb as a healthcare advocate. In November of 2011, Adam was elected as a member of the Gloucester County Board of Chosen Freeholders. In July, 2012, Adam was elected to the Penn State Board of Trustees.

The Philadelphia Sportswriters Association recognized the efforts of Adam and his foundation in 2009, as he was presented the Humanitarian of the Year Award for his philanthropic efforts.

Through his foundation, Adam continues to provide hope for so many people who feel there is no reason to hope at all. As Adam says it: “I have been blessed in more ways than one…and it’s now my mission to share my blessings with anyone who will listen!”

Adam will deliver the keynote address at our Annual Conference & Expo at 9:30 AM, during the general session, on May 9th in the Diamond Club at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Register today to hear this remarkable story of overcoming adversity and soaring to new heights.

CAI is a 33,000 member national organization dedicated to building better communities. CAI provides information, education, and resources to association governed communities, including condominiums, cooperatives and homeowner associations, and the professionals that support these communities. The Pennsylvania chapter represents an estimated 15,000 such communities across the Commonwealth, including approximately 900 communities with thousands of housing units within the City of Philadelphia. Tens of thousands of Philadelphians call these association-governed communities home.

I am here to offer testimony in support of City Council Bill 130016, which would change the city's recent dumpster law by exempting from the trash dumpster medallion and license fee requirements all dumpsters that are stored on private property and not on the public right of way. Many Philadelphia condominium and cooperative buildings would benefit from this legislative change.

Tens of thousands of Philadelphia residents make their home within condominiums and cooperatives across the city. In many cases, because these associations are often mistaken for commercial buildings, the residents of these communities pay for various municipal services twice…once in the form of municipal property and wage taxes, and a second time in the form of private contracts for municipal services not provided by this city government.

It is well documented that Philadelphians who live in these associations have long been denied equitable treatment in the delivery of municipal services. Most notably, this city has denied the provision of refuse collection to many of these associations despite the fact that those who live in them pay the same level of municipal taxes as their neighbors who live in single family homes. These homes are not apartments. They are not commercial buildings. They are single family homes that happen to share some common element – a roof; an elevator; a community room or a common wall.

But when it comes to the delivery of various municipal services, most notably refuse collection, these homeowners, many of whom live in, quite simply, vertical row homes, are treated differently than their neighbors who do not live in an association governed community. They are charged, as part of their municipal taxes, for city refuse collection. But for decades, amid council debate, mayoral vetoes and years of litigation, the city is still unable to adequately provide what ought to be a fundamental city service to these residents, compelling these residents to hire private contractors to the tune of thousands of dollars, forcing them, in effect, to pay twice for refuse collection.

Now, due to legislation adopted by council in 2010, these residents are forced to bear additional refuse collection costs in the form of expensive medallions and licenses for their trash collection dumpsters.

At what point is enough, enough? Several years ago, the city offered a deal to these residents, by proposing that the city would pick up trash from these associations once a week if the trash were to be piled at the curb.

Imagine what it would be like if Society Hill Towers piled its garbage from hundreds of homeowners on the street corner in the sweltering heat of July during the Welcome America Celebration, when tens of thousands of visitors flood the city’s historic district.

Imagine what it would be like if the Symphony House, located on the Avenue of the Arts, piled its garbage from hundreds of residents on the street corner a half a block from the Kimmel Center during tomorrow evening’s performance by the world famous Philadelphia Orchestra.

Imagine what it would be like if the Residences at the Ritz, located directly across the street from where we sit today, piled its garbage from hundreds of residents on the street corner on New Year’s Day, as the Mummers march proudly around City Hall to the reviewing stand, in plain sight of the television cameras broadcasting the world famous event.

Some day the residents who live in these buildings may take the city up on its offer to pile their garbage high on the street corner. I guarantee you it will not be a pretty sight as it sits rotting, waiting for the city to pick it up. I trust this sounds as ridiculous to you as it does to us.

It is clear that the issue of municipal refuse collection from condominiums and cooperative buildings will not be solved easily, or soon. However, the trash dumpsters that are used by these buildings are located on private property, they are cared for and cleaned properly, and should not be subject to costly and burdensome regulations that were intended to force commercial property owners with dumpsters stored on the public right of way to maintain the cleanliness of their dumpsters and this city. This is an issue that can and should be easily fixed.

I urge council to adopt this bill and remove this un-necessary added cost from residents who live in condominium and cooperative buildings in Philadelphia.

Tony Campisi,
Executive Director

With a new Congress sworn in and the pageantry of President Obama’s inauguration passed, CAI is moving aggressively in Washington, DC to make sure your voice is heard. The road ahead for CAI’s federal affairs agenda includes fairness in disaster recovery for community associations and preparing for the central role associations will play in new federal mortgage rules.

Fairness for Community Associations

Superstorm Sandy has shown once again how community associations are treated unfairly under federal disaster recovery guidelines. CAI has heard from hundreds of members whose communities were damaged by Superstorm Sandy but who have been denied federal disaster assistance.

Local governments have helped associations only to have FEMA refuse funding to offset these expenses. Cooperatives and condominiums have been ruled ineligible for help with uninsured damages.

In each case federal disaster assistance was refused because the damages were in a community association. Tragically, FEMA would have helped these neighborhoods and homeowners if the loss occurred in a non-association community. It is unfair that associations are told to manage disaster recovery on their own.

CAI’s call for fairness in disaster assistance was joined by other organizations and has been heard by key leaders in Congress. CAI is working with New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez to persuade FEMA to reconsider its refusal to provide disaster assistance to community associations. New York Senator Charles Schumer has called on the federal government to provide grants to cooperatives and condominiums to help with disaster recovery.

Every CAI member can contribute to this effort by contacting their representatives in Congress to demand fair access to recovery resources for community associations. Ask your local and State officials to contact FEMA and urge that community associations receive fair treatment. By joining together we can prevent community associations from having to go it alone in the next natural disaster.

Federal Mortgage Rules

In early January, the federal government released new mortgage lending guidelines. As expected, community associations will play an important role in the new mortgage approval process.

Lenders are now required to prove borrowers can make monthly principal and interest payments as well as monthly payments for insurance premiums, taxes, and association assessments. This “ability to repay” test protects borrowers and communities from the dangers of predatory lending.

Community associations should be prepared to provide lenders with information about regular and special assessments. This information is a critical part of the ability to repay test. 

At CAI’s request, the federal government will allow lenders to use assessment information from other sources as long as the information is reasonable reliable. For example, a lender may rely on assessment information provided by the buyer or seller rather than the association. Also, associations need only provide information on current assessments.

Federal officials understand that community associations are a growing source of housing in America. Verifying that new homeowners have the ability to pay a fair share of association costs will lead to healthier, stronger, and more stable communities across the country.

The Road Ahead

For CAI, the road ahead in 2013 involves a broader federal agenda than fairness in disaster assistance and implementing new mortgage rules. Every CAI member is vital in driving this agenda as far down the road as we can. To learn more about CAI’s federal affairs agenda and how you can help, visit www.caionline.org or send an email to government@caionline.org.

King of Prussia, PA.: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has recently seen an increase in judicial cases and decisions from state courts that have serious consequences for the management and governance of condominium, cooperative and homeowners associations. These judicial decisions and their practical impact will be the subject of an Annual Legal Symposium hosted by the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national non-profit organization that advocates for community associations and those who call them home.

The course has been approved for 2 hours of continuing legal education credit as well as 2 hours of continuing education credit for professional community association managers.

Experienced attorneys and members of CAI's Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee will lead an interactive program focused on the latest judicial decisions and emerging trends impacting condo and homeowners associations. The session, which costs $45 for CAI members and $55 for non-members (discounts apply for registering early) will be held on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel in King of Prussia from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM. The session includes lunch advanced registration is suggested. Individuals can register online at www.cai-padelval.org/education or call 877-608-9777.

CAI is a 33,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

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Is it possible that the results of Super Bowl XLVII, America’s most watched game, could have been affected by a neglected piece of building conservation technology? You watched it. We all watched it as San Francisco almost came back to win the game, almost entirely because of a power outage that changed the game’s momentum.

The missing piece of technology is called Power Factor Correction, and it should be considered for all large buildings and condominiums. This equipment is designed to arrest any surge or lightning strike so that breakers won’t trip, circuits won’t fry, and motors won’t heat up as much, allowing them to last much longer. Equipment such as stadium lights that shut down due to a municipal outage will cycle back on much faster after repair. 

You may be asking what a power factor is, and why does it need correcting? The simple explanation is that the "dirty energy", or waste energy, coming from the grid is far too nonspecific for your facilities’ actual needs. The equipment affected most by this issue includes all inductive loads such as motors, pumps, and ballasts. Constant smaller electronic spikes and surges inherent in raw grid energy is given off as heat, which can eventually damage valuable equipment. This power inefficiency is caused by a delay between when demand begins to move electrons through the circuit (voltage) and when they actually move (current). The ratio used to describe the amount of energy used and not lost is called “Power Factor”. Proper power conditioning can save from 5% to15% of the energy used on inductive loads and will eliminate power factor penalties and some demand charges from your bill. Less building surges will also protect your lighting systems, reducing ballast and bulb loss. LED lighting will likely last well beyond its typically long lifespan. Additional motor and ballast heat may be removed by air conditioning.

Large building owners should consider the protection and savings to be found by utilizing Power Factor Correction. The long term cost savings speak for themselves. The conservative return on investment for most Power Factor Correction installations is generally within 2 years, and larger applications with higher motor loads will perform even better. 

Actual electrical savings will depend on the amount and type of inductive loads within your facility and existing power factor. The process requires a careful inspection of your facility, billing statements and usage patterns to best determine how to bring your Power Factor to near 100%. Certain specialized systems are capable of cycling the additional captured harmonics (waste energy) back into usable power whereas many less expensive systems do not.

Post authored by Scott Milne
National Energy Technologies LLC
800-984-0332
scottm@nationalenergytech.com

Infrastructure management and maintenance topic at upcoming seminar

Date: February 7, 2013

Contact: Tony Campisi, (610) 783-1315 x11, tony@cai-padelval.org

King of Prussia, PA.: Managers, maintenance staff and board members from private communities throughout the Poconos will get a crash course in maintaining roads, bridges and dams at an upcoming seminar for community associations in the Poconos area, hosted by the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national non-profit organization that advocates for community associations and those who call them home. Speakers will provide useful information on how to maintain a community’s most costly investments. The session, which costs $30 for CAI members and $50 for non-members (discounts apply for registering early) will be held on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at the Sycamore Grill in Delaware Water Gap from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The session includes dinner and advanced registration is suggested. Individuals can register online at www.cai-padelval.org or call 877-608-9777.

Speakers include David Moyer with the full-service construction firm of Papillon and Moyer, and Eric Snyder, a civil engineer with Keystone Consulting Engineers, Inc.

CAI is a 33,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

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With the help of our lobbyist, your PA-LAC works hard advocating for legislation that is beneficial to community associations and opposes legislation that may have an adverse impact on the interests of community associations.

In order for us to do this, we need to raise $51,000 in 2013 and we're asking for your help.  Why me you ask?  Well you are directly affected by proposed legislation, good and bad, because you either live, work, or have a client in a condominium or homeowner association.   Your donation is for the ‘common’ good, harmony, and peace we thrive to achieve for our community associations.

Approximately 80% of the $51,000 budget is allocated to our lobbyist, to assist with issues such as the following:

• Condo Ombudsman:  CAI opposes a Bill introduced in 2012 to establish an Office of the Cooperative and Condominium Ombudsman and provide for its powers and duties; which will also impose a residential unit fee to the Office of the Cooperative and Condominium

• Tax Equalization:  CAI supports legislation to address the problem of residents of associations paying taxes for municipal services that are often not provided to them.

• Association Records and Open Meetings:  CAI strongly agrees that the sharing of information and access to documentation with homeowners is essential; however, the use of recording devices during board meetings and the provisions regarding the application of fines for violations by board members, will have negative effects on the willingness of homeowners to serve on the board of directors within their communities.

• Shaffer v. Zoning Hearing Board of Chanceford Township:  This Township objected to the creation of a planned community and conveyance of parcels among family members. CAI is advocating for legislation that will make it clear that the creation of condominium associations and planned communities out of existing land or facilities does not require municipal approval unless and until new structures or buildings are constructed within the association or planned community.

• CAI seeks to improve the collection of community associations’ data in the Commonwealth.

Laws that affect condominium and community associations in New Jersey are proposed, debated and voted on in Washington and in Trenton nearly every day. Some are passed and signed into law, and some are not. CAI's New Jersey Legislative Action Committee monitors and helps guide the progress of those bills.  This past year saw much legislative activity related to homeowner associations, on both the national and local levels. Here are the highlights:

Vacant / Foreclosed Property: A series of bills have been introduced to deal with the problem of vacant and foreclosed homes across the state, many of which are in homeowner associations. One would require the foreclosing lender to maintain these vacant homes during their foreclosure process. Another would establish a faster “track” for the otherwise slow foreclosure process when the foreclosed-upon property is vacant. Discussions are also ongoing to require the foreclosing lender to pay the monthly association assessments during the foreclosure process on a vacant property.

Other Issues: Other issues under review: to amend the Municipal Services Act to add services to the list of those for which homeowner associations costs are reimbursed by their municipality (currently snow removal, leaf collection, collection of recyclables and trash, and electricity for street lights; suggested additions would include water for fire hydrants, maintenance of sewage pump stations and maintenance of detention basins); to create a statutory lien for unpaid assessments in non-condominium community associations; to identify and prohibit conflicts of interest by board members or management employees; and to require municipalities to notify homeowner associations when a developer has requested a release or reduction of its performance and/or maintenance bonds on an association development project.

Discussion and action on these legislative initiatives will continue through the 2013 legislative year. Stay tuned…and stay involved. These initiatives affect you!

From Backyard Planning Sessions to 40 Years of Growth and Success

In 1964, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) published Technical Bulletin No. 50, a document that called for the creation of a national organization to provide education and act as a clearinghouse of information and best practices for the growing community association housing market.

The principal author was Byron Hanke, one of CAI’s eventual founders along with Lincoln Cummings, then president of Whetstone Homes Corp. and vice president of Montgomery Village Foundation in Maryland; Dave Rhame, a developer and chair of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives; and David Stahl, former public official and ULI executive vice president.  Cummings and Rhame would eventually lead the fledging organization.

But there was a lot of work to be done before leaders would be selected. It took nine years and an abundance of discussion, fortitude and planning—including backyard strategy sessions at Hanke’s Calvert, Md., home. But good ideas persist, and this idea became Community Associations Institute.

The official date of birth was Sept. 20, 1973—40 years ago this year.  The Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter was created in 1974, under the name Mid-Atlantic Chapter.

There were fewer than 30,000 U.S. common-interest communities in 1973. Today, more than 64 million Americans live in an estimated 325,000 community associations, condominium communities and cooperatives. The first issue of CAI News, in 1974, was distributed to 200 members.   Today, CAI’s flagship national magazine, Common Ground, is distributed to more than 32,000 members—in both print and digital formats.

CAI’s growth was slow but steady—at first. Membership surpassed 1,000 by the end of 1975. It took eight more years to reach the 5,000 mark. The organization we know today began to take shape during the late 1970s and 1980s.

• 1975: The first national conference takes place in New Orleans.
  
• 1977: Association Management, the first Guide for Association Practitioners, is published.
  

• 1978: CAI welcomes its 10th chapter.

• 1980: The Professional Management Development Program is launched.
  

• 1982: The Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) designation is introduced.
  

• 1984: The first issue of Common Ground is published.
  

• 1985: CAI welcomes its 30th chapter.
  

• 1986: California members form the first of CAI’s 35 legislative action committees.

• 1988: Membership tops 10,000.

CAI continued to expand in the 1990s, creating www.caionline.org, the popular ABCs course (now “Essentials”), Community Associations Press (now CAI Press) and the College of Community Association Lawyers. Other milestones included publishing the first issue of Community Management (now Community Manager), topping 50 chapters and reaching 15,000 members in 1996.

CAI has been equally ambitious in the new century, expanding its website, offering webinars, developing Rights and Responsibilities for Better Communities, expanding its public policy initiatives, creating the Educated Business Partner distinction and offering its first online course, The Essentials of Community Association Management. Meanwhile, membership surpassed 25,000 in 2005 and topped 30,000—in 60 chapters—in 2010.

Like every organization, CAI had to adapt to meet the challenges of a growing and changing industry.  New and enhanced member benefits were developed. Governance overhauls were debated and implemented. The membership structure itself was reengineered, mostly recently in 2005 to encourage individual memberships for community managers and homeowner volunteer leaders.

“Our growth and achievements would have been impossible without the contributions of member leaders,” says Tom Skiba, CAE, CAI’s chief executive officer since 2002. “Sustained growth and success for an organization like CAI requires skilled, dedicated and selfless member volunteers. National and chapter board and committee members, our education faculty, legislative action committee members, authors, event speakers—they are the unsung heroes. They’ve made our accomplishments possible for 40 years.”

King of Prussia, PA.: Building managers and residents of condos and cooperatives can hear an explanation and update of required reasonable accommodations for eligible disabled persons under the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act at a workshop hosted by the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national non-profit organization that advocates for community associations and those who call them home. The workshop will focus on the differences between reasonable accommodations and modifications and will cover service/assistance/comfort animals, and the HUD complaint process. The session, which costs $40 for CAI members and $60 for non-members (discounts apply for early registration) will be held on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at Maggianos, located at 12^th and Filbert Streets in Philadelphia, from 8:30 to 11:00 AM. The session includes continental breakfast and advanced registration is suggested. Individuals can register online or call 877-608-9777.

The session speaker is Gary A. Krimstock, Esq., an attorney with the Center City, Philadelphia law firm of Fineman, Krekstein & Harris. Mr. Krimstock is an expert on community association law and served as the President of the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of CAI in 2012. He is a frequent speaker on topics concerning community associations.

CAI is a 33,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

Ask the Experts Panel will provide information for disaster planning.

King of Prussia, PA.: Following the destructive Hurricane Sandy that hit the region in October, CAI will present an Ask the Experts Panel Discussion on disaster planning and preparation for community associations in the Poconos area, hosted by the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national non-profit organization that advocates for community associations and those who call them home. The program will cover issues including insurance, planning and preparation for disasters, clean up, communication with residents and related topics. The session, which costs $30 for CAI members and $50 for non-members (discounts apply for registering early) will be held on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at the Sycamore Grill in Delaware Water Gap from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The session includes dinner and advanced registration is suggested. Individuals can register online at www.cai-padelval.org or call 877-608-9777.

Speakers include Robert A. Travis, with Community Association Underwriters, which has an office in Stroudsburg; Mike Partel, a disaster clean up specialist with RestoreCore, and Dave Timko, CMCA, AMS, community manager of Pocono Farms Country Club Association..

CAI is a 32,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

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On January 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its long-awaited federal Qualified Mortgage (QM) standard. The new federal guidelines, which are required by the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (commonly known as the Dodd Frank Act), establish minimum requirements for all mortgage loans.

As anticipated, the QM standard considers community association assessments a key factor when determining if a borrower is qualified for a mortgage. Ensuring borrowers can afford to pay association assessments will lead to stronger communities and prevent foreclosures.

“The Ability-to-Repay standard will ensure home buyers are able to fulfill all their financial obligations related to owning their home—including their association assessments. This will create a greater degree of financial stability for community associations, while at the same time helping to ensure fairness and equity for all owners in the community," said Thomas M. Skiba, CAE, chief executive officer of Community Associations Institute.

Under the QM standard, lenders are required to prove borrowers have the financial resources to pay mortgage principal and interest, insurance premiums, property taxes and association assessments. Lenders that extend mortgage credit without fully documenting a borrower’s income and assets and ensuring the borrower has the ability to make all monthly mortgage payments will face stiff penalties and fines.

Lender documentation of association assessments and special assessments required to meet the new ability to repay standard will be a key issue for CAI members. CAI will continue to work with the CFPB and the banking industry to ensure that all parties understand the role played by community associations to provide lenders assessment information in a reasonable and cost-effective manner.

Key features of the QM standard include:

• Ability to Repay—lenders must document that borrowers have sufficient assets and income to make monthly mortgage payments and pay other mortgage-related obligations such as community association assessments.
• Borrower Debt-to-Income Ratio—borrowers may not spend more than 43 percent of their monthly income for payment of mortgages and mortgage-related obligations such as association assessments.
• Legal Safe Harbor for Lenders—except in the case of high-cost mortgages, lenders that comply with the ability to repay standard will be offered protection from borrower litigation.
• High Risk Loan Terms Prohibited—lenders are no longer permitted to offer mortgages that allow loan balances to increase (negative amortization) or interest-only payments. Mortgages may not have terms of greater than 30 years.
• Transitional Standard—all loans eligible to be guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or for Federal Housing Administration insurance will be granted QM status during a transitional period.
• Delayed Effective Date—lenders will have one year to comply with the QM standard, which is effective January 2014.

CAI is reviewing the final QM standard and will provide additional updates to CAI members once a full analysis has been completed. Summary documents provided by the CFPB may be viewed here.

With more than 32,000 members dedicated to building better communities, CAI works in partnership with 59 domestic chapters, a chapter in South Africa and housing leaders in a number of other countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. CAI provides information, education and resources to community associations and the professionals who support them. CAI’s mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship—ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. Visit www.caionline.org or call (888) 224-4321.

King of Prussia, PA.: Robert A. Travis, CIRMS, CPIA, Vice President of Sales and Business Development for Community Association Underwriters of America, in Newtown, Pennsylvania, took office January 1 as the new President of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute.

Travis, along with other members of the chapter’s leadership, were elected by the chapter Board of Directors at the December 12 Board Meeting. Travis has been involved in community association insurance and risk management for 27 years and has been an active volunteer with CAI for nearly as long. Travis served as president of the former Northeast Pennsylvania Chapter of CAI in 1994 and has served on CAI’s National Board of Directors as well as their Business Partners Council.  He has been a member of CAI’s National Faculty for 17 years.

 “I look forward to working with the chapter leadership, board members, staff and dozens of chapter volunteers as we continue to bring information, resources and critical educational services to homeowners as well as community association managers. Our goal is to build better communities, and help residents of community associations to protect the value of their most important asset, their home,” Travis said.

Brian A. Friel, CIC, CIRMS, will serve as the chapter’s President-elect for 2013. Friel is a partner with Smith Insurance Associates in Spring House, PA. Mary Ann Mulfino, CMCA, Executive Director of Wentworth Property Management Corp. in Valley Forge, is the chapter vice president. Mitchell Frumkin, PE, RS, president of Kipcon, Inc. in North Brunswick, NJ, will serve as Treasurer and Kevin McGrath, PCAM, president of Benjamin Cobrin & Co. in Narberth, PA will serve as Secretary.

In addition to the above officers, three new members were elected to the chapter board of directors. Jennifer Brick is with Herrick Feinstein, LLC, a law firm with offices in New York City and New Jersey. Michael Pascarella is a realtor with Keller Williams Realty in Center City, Philadelphia. Carol Richard, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, is a regional director with Mid-Atlantic Management Corp., AAMC, in Plymouth Meeting, PA.

CAI is a 32,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. CAI’s Pocono Mountains Regional Council hosts educational programs on issues affecting community associations in the Poconos. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

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Time will tell if these opportunities can be taken advantage of and if these threats can be defeated. Your help will be critical on both fronts.

Threats

Since the turn of the century 13 years ago, Bills have been introduced in every legislative session that would throw open the door of every community association to detailed inspection by regulating association meetings and access to association records. CAI strongly agrees that the sharing of information and access to documentation are essential components of proper functioning of community association governance.  However, there are laws and rules already in place that ensure openness and that unit owners have access to the records and documents of their community association.  CAI will not support legislation that would adversely impact the ability of associations to function properly, including provisions allowing the use of recording devices during board meetings and provisions regarding the application of fines for violations by board members. CAI's Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (PA LAC) has successfully amended and defeated these measures in the past and will have to work diligently to do so in this session.

CAI remains skeptical that Pennsylvania needs a Condo & Co-op Ombudsman. Legislation introduced last session would essentially create a vast state agency, staffed primarily by attorneys, that would result in costly, intrusive remedies to association disputes. CAI does not dismiss the fact that there are homeowners in community associations who have difficulty with their association and could benefit from mechanisms to assist in dispute resolution. CAI does believe that there are more appropriate alternatives that serve to empower residents and associations rather than expanding state government powers. CAI believes that these mechanisms work to provide greater transparency and clear processes to assist with dispute resolution in community associations. PA LAC would need to vigorously respond if such legislation were to be reintroduced in the new session.

Opportunities

While PA LAC and our government relations professionals will continue to remain vigilant regarding the above legislative threats, we will also be proactively seeking solutions to a number of issues that have arisen in the state over the last few years. 

Planned Unit Development Data Collection Act

In late 2011, the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission released the findings of a study conducted of community associations in Pennsylvania. The study included various recommendations for public policies concerning community associations. As a precursor to these public policy recommendations, PA LAC intends to seek a sponsor for the Planned Unit Development Data Collection Act. If adopted, the legislation would require an annual registration, at the county level, of all community associations in the Commonwealth. The data from such registration would enable CAI and the Commonwealth to effectively measure the impact of various public policy proposals, include a resolution to the long-standing issue of owners in community associations paying twice for certain municipal-type services.

Legislative Remedies for Judicial Actions

Within the last few years, various court cases in the Commonwealth have upended long-standing precedents and practices regarding community associations. PA LAC strongly believes that legislative remedies are necessary to cure these judicial actions. More information will be made available as legislation is drafted and introduced and members will be called upon to contact your legislators on these topics.

As we gear up for a very busy legislative term, PA LAC will be calling upon members of the association community for financial support as well as outreach to legislators. Your support will determine the level of our success.

As chairperson of the Green Task Force at the Philadelphian, Joan initiated many environmentally friendly and conservation projects that benefited all residents of the building. As a result of these efforts, the Philadelphian saved thousands of dollars in electric bills. The building is recognized as a model green condominium complex.

In addition to her volunteer activities within her own condominium association, Ms. Batory spearheaded the creation of a new organization called the Philadelphia Green Condo/Coop Initiative (GCCI). This citywide group advocates for policy change to enable condo and co-op owners to work together and offer sustainable operations to multi-family residential communities. As this group evolved, Joan collaborated with the Center for Environmental Policy at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University to sponsor educational forums and workshops on environmentally friendly projects. As a result of Joan’s efforts and organizational skills, the Inaugural Philadelphia Condo Congress was successfully held on October 23, 2012 at the Academy.

Joan was nominated by fellow residents Joyce Silberman and Susan Thompson.

In addition, CAI recognized Lemus Construction of Furlong, PA as Business Partner of the Year; Melissa Hofmann, with Ruotolo Spewak & Company CPA’s from Mt. Laurel, NJ, as volunteer Rookie of the Year; Jill Geiger, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, with Mid-Atlantic Management Corp. in Plymouth Meeting, PA, as 2012 Rising Star, and Nancy Hastings, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, CEO of Associa / MAMCO Property Management in Mt. Laurel, NJ, with the 2012 Robert Wise President’s Award. Additional details on the above awards may be found on our blog, located at www.cai-padelval.org.

CAI is a 32,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

CAI members impacted by Hurricane Sandy are facing high recovery costs as local governments are being denied Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement for debris removal and other disaster recovery expenses in community associations.

This week, Congress is debating legislation to provide additional resources and flexibility for FEMA to fully respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Your voice needs to be heard for CAI members in the affected regions to have equal access to federal disaster recovery programs.

CAI’s Federal Legislative Action Committee is asking for your help!

Contact your federal legislators and tell them community associations deserve equal access to disaster recovery resources. Use our communication system to contact your federal legislator and send them an email or letter today.  Click here and follow the directions to “Take Action”. 

For decades, community associations have been denied equal access to federal disaster recovery assistance. With your help and voice, this can change. Residents of community associations should be treated equally with all other taxpayers.

Don’t wait to get involved! Community associations deserve equal access to federal disaster assistance. Your call or letter will make a difference for community associations and CAI members across the country.

CAI is the only international organization dedicated to fostering competent, well-governed community associations. For nearly 40 years, CAI has been the leader in providing education and resources to the volunteer homeowner leaders who govern community associations and the professionals who support them. CAI’s more than 32,000 members include homeowners, professional managers, community management firms, and other professionals and companies that provide products and services to community associations. 

 The prestigious Robert Wise President's Award was established in 1996 to honor former chapter president Robert Wise, principal and owner of Wise Management

The 2012 Robert Wise President’s Award was presented to Nancy Hastings, Chief Executive Officer of Associa / MAMCO Property Management. Nancy has been a volunteer with this chapter for well over fifteen years, having served on the Annual Conference & Expo Committee and on the New Jersey Regional Council. Nancy was elected to the chapter board of directors in 2006 and just completed her second and final term on the board. In 2011, she served as President of the chapter. Nancy has helped the organization grown and prosper in countless ways and is a truly deserving recipient of the 2012 Robert Wise President’s Award.

Watch a video of the Wise Award presentation!

Business Partner of the Year Award

The Business Partner of the Year is awarded to a CAI Member Business Partner who has provided extraordinary service and support to an individual community association and the industry as a whole.

The 2012 Business Partner of the Year is Lemus Construction. Lemus Construction was a 2012 Platinum Plus Sponsor for CAI and a strong, active partner and participant with many CAI functions and events. Owners Victor & Cleydi Lemus are a real life example of hard work, dedication & love for what they do.  During 2012, Lemus pledged to donate $100 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every roof they installed. Lemus and their staff are also active participants in rebuilding homes with Habitat for Humanity, having dedicated over 200 hours of personal labor & donated several thousand dollars in roofing & window materials. In October, Lemus was publicly recognized for their efforts and achievements, and they proudly presented a check for $22,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation and $9,300 to Associa Cares, a non-profit organization that awards monetary help to residents in community associations who have suffered a weather related loss, fire or similar catastrophe.

Lemus Construction was nominated by Rosy Brophy, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, Community Manager at Blue Bell Country Club Community Association.

Rookie of the Year Award

The Rookie of the Year is awarded to a volunteer in his or her first year of service who has gone above and beyond what is asked and expected of chapter volunteers.

The 2012 Rookie of the Year is Melissa Hofmann, with Ruotolo Spewak & Company.  Melissa has risen to the occasion as a member of the New Jersey Regional Council and helped to assist in making the October South Jersey Happy Hour a success, with over 75 attendees, as well as helping with other New Jersey Council events.

Melissa was nominated by Kristine Clancy, CMCA, with MAMCO Management.

Rising Star Award

The Rising Star is awarded to a volunteer with a minimum of two years of volunteer service who has displayed extraordinary commitment, leadership and contributions to the chapter.

The 2012 Rising Star is Jill Geiger, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, with Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation. Jill has served in the past on the Membership Committee and for the last few years on the Social Committee and has helped organize the annual Summer Networking Party, Manager Designations breakfast, and other chapter social. In addition, Jill joined the Legislative Action Committee in 2011, and now serves as the LAC Secretary. Jill has help the LAC with fundraising activities and was a tremendous help in making this year’s first annual LAC Wine & Beer dinner a big success. Jill is a terrific volunteer resource for the chapter and we look forward to her many years of involvement.

Jill was nominated by Gary Krimstock, Esq., 2012 Chapter President.

Community Association Volunteer of the Year Award

The Community Association Volunteer of the Year is awarded to an individual volunteer within a community association who has excelled in his or her volunteer capacity.

The 2012 Community Association Volunteer of the Year is Joan Batory, with The Philadelphian Condominium in Philadelphia. Joan Batory has been instrumental in helping Philadelphia condo and co-op residents conserve natural resources and save money through ongoing education and action programs.

As chairperson of the Green Task Force at the Philadelphian, Joan initiated many environmentally friendly and conservation projects that benefited all residents. These efforts included distributing CFL bulbs to all residents, developing an extensive recycling program and researching other green options like a green roof. Consequently, the Philadelphian saved thousands of dollars in electric bills. The building is recognized as a model “green” condominium complex.

Joan spearheaded the creation of a new organization called the Philadelphia Green Condo and Coop Initiative (GCCI). This citywide group advocates for policy change to enable condo and co-op owners to work together and offer sustainable operations to multi-family residential communities. As this group evolved, Joan collaborated with the Center for Environmental Policy at the Academy of Natural Sciences to sponsor educational forums and workshops on environmentally friendly projects.  As a result of Joan’s efforts and organizational skills, the Inaugural Philadelphia Condo Congress was successfully held on October 23, 2012.

Joan Batory is an enthusiastic, tireless volunteer whose work has positively affected The Philadelphian and many other co-ops and condos in the Philadelphia region.

Joan was nominated by fellow residents Joyce Silberman and Susan Thompson.

Outgoing Board Members

In addition to the above awards, CAI also recognized three members of the chapter board of directors who are term limited or stepping down from the board.

Patricia Connolly, CMCA, PCAM, Board Member, 2007-2012

Meg Kitchin, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, Board Member, 2010-2012

Dennis Metz, Board Member, 2007-2012

The chapter appreciates the contributions of each member as well as all award recipients.

David C. Hoffman, Vice President and General Manager of CAI Business Partner member Vector Security Patrol, Inc. and a longtime CAI volunteer in various capacities with the chapter's Pocono Mountains Regional Council, was awarded the council's Distinguished Service Award at the Poconos Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 5, 2012. The event was held at Lake Naomi Club in Pocono Pines, PA. Dave recently announced his retirement from Vector, effective November 2, 2012. Click here for a short video of the award announcement!

Dave has been an active member of Community Associations Institute, specifically as a member of the Pocono Mountains Regional Council (PMRC), for many years. Prior to joining the council, Dave was involved with the former Northeast PA Chapter of CAI. "Dave was always ready with a joke or amusing anecdote to brighten your day and his contributions to CAI and the Poconos Council have been extraordinary," said CAI Executive Director Tony Campisi. Incoming 2013 chapter President Bob Travis, with Community Association Underwriters in Stroudsburg, added: "Dave Hoffman has put a lot of years into CAI and we wanted to do something very special for Dave. He received this special award because of his special contributions to CAI and to community associations."

In addition to the Distinguished Service Award, the Poconos Council gave out the following additional awards:

Community Association of the Year - Village of Four Seasons Community Association, located in Uniondale, PA

Community Association Volunteer of the Year - Lee Oakes, Hemlock Farms Community Association, Lords Valley, PA

Community Association Employee of the Year - Arthur Smith, The Hamlet Property Owners Association, Canadensis, PA

Pocono Mountains Regional Council Volunteer of the Year - Julie McCormick, EHD Insurance

The council awards are given out each year to recognize the contributions of those who live in and work with community associations in the Poconos region.

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee is asking you not to be silent – but to yell out and tell us that you will help and donate an item to the LAC’s Silent Auction!

The PA-LAC needs desperately to raise funds to support CAI’s legislative advocacy efforts. The primary goal of the PA-LAC is to monitor legislation and educate state lawmakers on behalf of community associations.  The PA-LAC is proactive in introducing and advocating for legislation that is beneficial to community associations and are equally active in opposing legislation that may be adverse to the interest of community associations.

In the recently completed legislative session, delegates to the PA LAC considered positions on more than 15 pieces of legislation that impact the governing and management of community associations in Pennsylvania. In addition, the LAC met with Federal representatives on the ongoing FHA/mortgage issue, hosted dinners for the House and Senate Urban Affairs Committees, and hosted a Town Hall in Chester County that was attended by State Senator Dinniman and State Representative Truitt to discuss issues concerning community associations. The LAC has held ongoing negotiations with the PA State Association of Township Supervisors to come up with a compromise to cure an issue affecting community associations as a result of a court case that arose in York County. The LAC is also pressing for adoption of Bills that would provide tax credits for municipal services for community associations in the Commonwealth. For more information on the issues currently pending before the legislative action committee, visit the legislative page of our website.

The cost of lobbying and government relations is significant, therefore, we need your help.  The LAC is hosting the second of two Silent Auctions during the chapter’s Annual Meeting & Holiday Party on December 12.  Donations such as a gift card to a restaurant, tickets to a sporting event, gift baskets,  house and home products, electronics, and best of all a coupon for your professional services are wonderful items to be auctioned off during our holiday parties.  Please consider the important work of the PA LAC…… and click here for information on how to donate an item for the auction.

Special thanks to those members who have already donated to the Silent Auctions:

• Rookie of the Year – given to a volunteer in his or her first year of service who has gone above and beyond what is asked and expected of chapter volunteers.
• Rising Star – given to a volunteer with a minimum of two years of volunteer service and has displayed extraordinary commitment, leadership and contributions to the chapter.
• Community Association Volunteer of the Year – given to an individual volunteer within a community association who has excelled in his or her volunteer capacity. Nominees must be currently serving in a volunteer capacity with their community for a minimum of one year.
• Business Partner of the Year – given to a CAI Member Business Partner who has provided extraordinary service and support to an individual community association and the industry as a whole.
• Public Official of the Year – given to an elected or appointed government official who has advanced the cause of community associations in an exceptional manner within his or her public sphere of influence.

The deadline for chapter award nominations is November 30, 2012.

Poconos Council Awards

CAI and the Pocono Mountains Regional Council is now accepting nominations for the Annual PMRC Awards. Awards will be given in the following categories:

• Community Association Volunteer of the Year
• Community Association of the Year
• Community Association Employee of the Year
• Business Partner of the Year
• PMRC Volunteer of the Year
  

To make a nomination, please e-mail info@cai-padelval.org with the name of your nominee, the award category, and a paragraph explaining  why your nominee deserves a PMRC Award, or complete the nomination form, available on the Poconos Regional Council page, and submit it by the deadline of November 16.

Eagles Director of Event Operations to Keynote Inaugural Philadelphia Condo Congress

Philadelphia, PA.: The Philadelphia Green Condo/Co-op Initiative (GCCI), in conjunction with Community Associations Institute (CAI) and the Greater Philadelphia Condo Managers Association (GPCMA), has announced that Leonard Bonacci, Director of Event Operations for the Philadelphia Eagles, will be the keynote speaker at the Inaugural Philadelphia Condo Congress, an event created to promote sustainable strategies for condo and co-op buildings of all sizes while improving the environment and the bottom line for owners and associations. Visit our Philadelphia Regional Council page for full event details.

Mr. Bonacci will share the story of the Eagles’ journey to create the greenest stadium in America and how multi-family buildings can adapt the technologies they are using to share in their success. Mr. Bonacci oversees and directs game day and special event operations for the Philadelphia Eagles including games, concerts, soccer games, the Army/Navy game, and a variety of community, corporate, and private functions held at Lincoln Financial Field.

The inaugural event will take place on October 23, 2012, from 3:00 pm to 7:30 pm, at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Registration begins at 2:30 PM. The event is supported by the Academy’s Center for Environmental Policy and CAMCO Management Company and there is no charge to attend. Light refreshments will be served, and dinner may be purchased. Attendees will learn how the adoption of sustainable practices such as alternative energy and use of efficient building materials can generate a return on investment while helping the environment.

The Philadelphia Condo Congress is the culmination of years of input from concerned homeowners, professional managers and governing boards that envision a community of condo, co-op and homeowner associations united around the goals of economic efficiency and environmental responsibility.

Features of the Congress include hands-on workshops, a mini trade show with diverse exhibitors serving the condo market, networking sessions and refreshments. Breakout sessions will include case studies on sustainable practices in condo/co-op buildings, a legal and legislative update on case law and pending legislation affecting community associations, and sessions on the legal and financial implications of adopting sustainable practices and projects. Attendees can come for one session or stay for the entire program.

Who should attend?  

• Managers in condominiums, cooperatives and homeowners associations considering adopting sustainable practices or who just want to learn more on these subjects.
• Homeowners and elected volunteers in community associations looking for information on conservation, alternative energy, and associated legal and financial issues.

For complete program details, visit www.philagcci.org or www.cai-padelval.org/philadelphia. Attendees can register online or call CAI at 877-608-9777.

GCCI is a local grassroots organization of volunteers whose goal is to help building managers and owners in our unique communities adopt sustainable operations and maintenance practices that will protect the environment while saving money through education, information networking, and political advocacy. Find GCCI on the web at www.philagcci.org.

CAI is a 32,000 member national organization dedicated to building better communities. CAI and its Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter provide information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

Throughout its twenty-seven year history, GPCMA has been a proactive organization of condominium and cooperative property managers, actively sharing information and being an effective voice to better serve its members and their communities. GPCMA enables its members to learn about economic, social and political issues that affect their communities, in order to enhance their professional knowledge and contribute to the well-being of the residents they serve. For more information visit www.gpcmacondopros.net

Aside from the spectacular multi-course dinner, the event gives you a chance to educate yourself on things like food and beverage pairings, the nuances of flavors that go into each wine or lager, and an opportunity to help the PA-LAC raise funds to keep advocating on behalf of community associations.  It is also a nice way to see people that we work with coming together for a good cause and community.  We're already expecting over 80 attendees so don't wait...get your tickets today! Click here to register.

Philadelphia, PA.: The Philadelphia Green Condo/Co-op Initiative (GCCI), in conjunction with Community Associations Institute (CAI) and the Greater Philadelphia Condo Managers Association (GPCMA), announces the Inaugural Philadelphia Condo Congress, an event created to promote sustainable strategies for condo and co-op buildings of all sizes while improving the environment and the bottom line for owners and associations.

The inaugural event will take place on October 23, 2012, from 2:30 pm to 7:00 pm, at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It is supported by the Academy’s Center for Environmental Policy and CAMCO Management Company and there is no charge to attend. Light refreshments will be served. Attendees will learn how the adoption of sustainable practices such as alternative energy and use of efficient building materials can generate a return on investment while helping the environment.

The Philadelphia Condo Congress is the culmination of years of input from concerned homeowners, professional managers and governing boards that envision a community of condo, co-op and homeowner associations united around the goals of economic efficiency and environmental responsibility.

Features of the Congress include hands-on workshops with exciting and relevant speakers, a mini trade show with diverse exhibitors serving the condo market, networking sessions and refreshments. The Keynote Address will be delivered by Leonard Bonacci, Director of Operations for the Philadelphia Eagles. Mr. Bonacci will share the story of the Eagles’ journey to create the greenest stadium in America and how multi-family buildings can adapt their technologies to share in this success. Mr. Bonacci oversees and directs game day and special event operations for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Breakout sessions will include case studies on sustainable practices in condo/co-op buildings, a legal and legislative update on case law and pending legislation affecting community associations, and sessions on the legal and financial implications of adopting sustainable practices and projects. Attendees can come for one session or stay for the entire program.

Who should attend? 

• Managers in condominiums, cooperatives and homeowners associations considering adopting sustainable practices or who just want to learn more on these subjects.
• Homeowners and elected volunteers in community associations looking for information on conservation, alternative energy, and associated legal and financial issues.

For complete program details, visit www.philagcci.org or www.cai-padelval.org/philadelphia. Attendees can register online or call CAI at 877-608-9777.

GCCI is a local grassroots organization of volunteers whose goal is to help building managers and owners in our unique communities adopt sustainable operations and maintenance practices that will protect the environment while saving money through education, information networking, and political advocacy. Find GCCI on the web at www.philagcci.org.

CAI is a 32,000 member national organization dedicated to building better communities. CAI and its Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter provide information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

Throughout its twenty-seven year history, GPCMA has been a proactive organization of condominium and cooperative property managers, actively sharing information and being an effective voice to better serve its members and their communities. GPCMA enables its members to learn about economic, social and political issues that affect their communities, in order to enhance their professional knowledge and contribute to the well-being of the residents they serve. For more information visit www.gpcmacondopros.net

Under the eminent domain proposal, municipalities would raise funds from investors to provide sufficient resources to condemn individual borrower mortgages. The plan would permit a municipality to condemn any lien secured by real property as long as the holder of the lien is provided just compensation.

Homeowners whose mortgage and other liens have been condemned would then be offered a mortgage loan with a reduced balance, ensuring the owner is in a positive equity position. Municipalities believe reducing the amount of mortgage debt that homeowners carry will stabilize home values, reduce foreclosures, limit community blight, and provide a more stable base of property tax revenue.

In requesting comment on the proposed use of eminent domain to reduce homeowner mortgage balances, FHFA states the agency has “significant concerns with programs that could undermine and have a chilling effect on the extension of credit to borrowers seeking to become homeowners and on investors that support the housing market.” FHFA also reveals that it may direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which collectively fund more than 60 percent of all mortgages, to “avoid a risk to safe and sound operations and to avoid taxpayer expense.”

To read the FHFA announcement and the Federal Register notice requesting public comment, click here.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org.  CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping changing federal housing policies to ensure the perspective of community associations is heard. This is one of the many benefits of belonging to an organization that works for you on the local, state and federal level.

I am a member of the CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (PA LAC) and have been for close to 20 years. I was very interested in joining the committee’s ranks after watching some of my local municipalities treat my client communities like second-class citizens and not being able to do anything about it myself.  Soon after joining, I found that fellow committee members shared my desire for community associations to be treated more fairly by not only municipalities, but by developers also. But again, we are a small group trying to reach out to not only thousands of community association members, but more importantly hundreds of Pennsylvania decision makers, policy makers, State Representatives and Senators in an effort to sponsor and support industry-related legislation to improve the lives and standard of living of community members throughout the Commonwealth.Many years ago, in order to encourage communities to support and bolster the efforts of the LAC, we came up with the “Buck-a-door” program. This fund raiser, which asks for a simple contribution amount of $1.00 per unit (door) per community per year, should be within the reach of all associations big and small; and the donation can be easily included come budget-time.

Now more than ever, with the PA LAC engaging a government relations firm to help make CAI a “household name” to our state Legislature, the Buck-a–door program is vital to the very existence of the LAC’s purpose and charge. So please say YES to making a contribution of one dollar (or more if possible) per “door” to the PA LAC. And THANK YOU for your help!

To contribute, click here.

Join CAI on our ongoing mission: to grow our membership, provide outstanding education and networking opportunities to our members, and promote and protect our industry through legislative advocacy.

BEAM UP great prizes by helping to recruit new members to CAI!

•     One Manager will win a FREE one year Membership Renewal
•     Star Trek “Original Cast” Movie Basket including 6 movies on DVD, popcorn & candy
•     Star Trek “Next Generation” Movie Basket, including 4 movies on DVD, popcorn & candy
•     Star Trek Movie Gift, including the 2009 movie DVD, popcorn & candy
•     Movie Night Packages – Gift card for night at the movies to AMC or Regal Theaters.

The housing and foreclosure crisis has left millions of American homeowners with homes that are worth less than the outstanding balance of their mortgage. To help these “underwater” homeowners refinance their mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created the Home Affordable Refinance Program, known as HARP. 

The purpose of HARP is to allow underwater borrowers who are current on their mortgage obligations to refinance at today’s historically low interest rates. By refinancing, these families save thousands of dollars a year. These savings make it less likely that underwater borrowers will default on their mortgages, preventing foreclosures and saving taxpayer money.

In January, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced additional changes to HARP to help even more borrowers refinance under the program. Since these changes were implemented in March, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac report a significant increase in HARP refinancing.

As a consequence of the housing crisis, homeowners in community associations face higher housing costs as assessments are increased due to the foreclosure crisis and the number of neighbors who can no longer afford to pay assessments. These higher costs threaten the financial stability of households shouldering a disproportionate share of association costs. Allowing more households to refinance their mortgages at current, historically low interest rates will save these homeowners an average of $2,500 per year.

S. 3085 will allow more households to refinance their mortgages by making targeted changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP. While HARP does not cover all mortgage loans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac currently own almost 70 percent of all mortgages in the nation.

Under current HARP guidelines, borrowers often do not have a choice in lender when refinancing their mortgage because HARP rules do not easily permit such a change. This means that borrowers are often charged higher interest rates and do not receive the greatest benefit from the refinance. S. 3085 will repeal this restriction in HARP and require lenders to compete against each other for refinance business. This competition will save borrowers an additional $8,000 to $10,000 over the life of their loan.

Writing to Senator Menendez, CAI noted that relying on fewer households to cover association costs “leads to more foreclosures, financially distressed associations, and a downward cycle in the community association market.” CAI told Senator Menendez that “S. 3085 will blunt the financial strain placed on these families, ensuring that more residents…have the capacity to meet their obligations to their neighbors.”

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents.

You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org. CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping changing federal housing policies to ensure the perspective of community associations is heard. This is one of the many benefits of belonging to an organization that works for you on the local, state and federal level.

Noting changes in housing development and modern housing preferences, CAI urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, to recognize community associations as a distinct housing market. More than 60 million Americans live in 314,000 community associations nationwide, representing almost 20 percent of the American population.

Writing on behalf of CAI members, Tom Skiba, CAI’s Chief Executive Officer, told FHFA that “Over the past several decades, community associations have evolved, rendering monolithic housing market descriptions of “single-family” and “multi-family” less meaningful.” Mr. Skiba wrote that by developing policies to address the concerns of community associations, FHFA “will ensure liquidity in these markets and promote access to mortgage finance so that purchasers will be able to buy the housing of their choice, thereby meeting the needs of housing markets and local communities.”

On May 12, FHFA released a draft strategic plan that will guide the agency over five years as it regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and prepares for changes to the housing finance system. CAI commented on several aspects of FHFA’s strategic plan, encouraging the agency to develop a regulatory plan that will support community associations by:

• Requiring that mortgage servicers pay assessments on Real Estate Owned (REO) in a timely manner
• Requiring that mortgage servicers maintain properties that are abandoned or in foreclosure
• Requiring that associations be included earlier in the short sale process
• Expanding loan-level data tracking to develop a full understanding of the community association housing market
• Developing project standards based on data and market observation so that project standards and borrower underwriting standards are empirically driven
• Improving mortgage servicer understanding of community associations

Mr. Skiba also strongly cautioned FHFA against rushing to create a new housing finance system. FHFA’s strategic plan calls for the creation of new underwriting standards, the elimination of certain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac products, and potentially moving to consolidate a substantial amount of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac operations. Calling attention to the sharp policy disagreements between Congress and the Executive Branch on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Mr. Skiba wrote that “FHFA has a duty to proceed cautiously and not to act unilaterally.” To read CAI’s letter to FHFA click here.

CAI will continue to work to address these issues.

Members of CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee participated in the LAC’s annual Legislative Day in Harrisburg on April 3, 2012. Approximately fifteen members from the LAC and the chapter board of directors met with dozens of legislators to discuss issues facing common interest communities (CICs) throughout the Commonwealth.

The most significant topic of conversation was the impact of the report completed by the Joint State Government Commission on CICs. I did a thorough analysis of the report in a recent issue of Community Assets with the goal of using the article as a springboard for legislative reform. While the 60+ page report served as a great primer for legislators, it highlighted some significant data gathering flaws that scream out for a legislative solution. One proposal would be to require the 67 county planning commissions to collect and track CIC data such as address information, number of units, miles of roads, types of infrastructure, and sewer and water facilities. This information would be invaluable to CAI and its members as well as the owners within each of these communities. Other counties may want to consider emulating the data tracking systems already in place in counties like Pike and Monroe, where the county GIS, planning, and assessment offices work in concert to compile CIC data in a comprehensive manner. In the coming months CAI's PA LAC will be researching this issue and potential legislative solutions.

The 2012 Legislative Day was a huge success, with over 40 meetings with legislative offices and the governor’s office. The LAC is functioning at a very high level, which can only continue if we can maintain our relationship with our government affairs professional, Duane Morris Government Strategies. PA LAC fundraising is the key and you can help! Ask your community to contribute today to our legislative advocacy efforts!

Do you want your meetings recorded, uploaded to YouTube and shown on tonight’s 6:00 news? It may be the law if we do not do something about it. Do want your community to have another annual fee for a Pennsylvania government agency to oversee your community when your community already has a professional management company and experienced board members doing this job? It may be the law if we do not do something about it. Do you want to continue to pay for trash through your local taxes as well as through your condo fees? This may continue if we do not do something about it. These are the issues that your Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (PA-LAC), with the help of our lobbyist, is working on for your community. But we need your help. 

The Buck-a-Door Program is one of the ways the PA-LAC generates funds to pay for the much needed services of a government affairs professional. If your community has donated to the Buck-A-Door program, we thank you and ask that you budget this annually. If your community has not contributed to the LAC, please present this information to your board. Manager - put this item on your next agenda for the board’s consideration. If you are a board member, ask your community manager to add this item to the next agenda. You can also include a summary of the proposed bills in your board packages. Community managers and board members need to be educated on current and proposed state statues that govern community associations. Communities can inform homeowners about these issues through your newsletters and e-mail blasts and encourage them to become active for the good of your community and all community associations in the state.

Join the growing list of community associations supporting our advocacy efforts in Pennsylvania. If your community cannot donate a dollar for each home in your community, any amount that your community can afford is appreciated and will be helpful. The LAC must raise over $40,000 per year in order to educate and inform legislators on the important issues facing community associations. Please consider contributing to this important cause. Click here for the LAC Brochure. Checks can be made payable to PA LAC and send to the chapter office. Your community’s name will be recognized as a Buck a Door contributor in Community Assets, CAI's bi-monthly magazine, and on the chapter website.

The findings are especially positive for the homeowner-volunteer leaders who serve on association boards, with almost 90 percent of residents saying board members "absolutely" or "for the most part" strive to serve the best interests of their communities. Only 10 percent of respondents expressed displeasure with their boards. Almost two million homeowners are elected by their fellow owners to serve on association boards.

• 81 percent of association residents say they get a "good" or "great" return on their association assessments; 18 percent say they don't, and 2 percent aren't sure.
• 73 percent say their professional community managers provide value and support to residents and the association at large; 21 percent say they don't, and 6 percent aren't sure.
• 76 percent say their community association rules protect and enhance property values, while only 3 percent say rules harm property values, and 21 percent say there is no difference.

Although the enforcement of community rules can generate discontent and calls for more stringent regulation of associations, only 11 percent of those surveyed want additional government control of association-governed communities. Almost 90 percent oppose more government involvement.

While most residents do not want additional regulation of their associations, Murphy readily acknowledges that many community associations are not without issues. "It's sounds pretty good that only eight of every 100 residents are dissatisfied with their own associations," she says, "but that percentage represents close to 5 million Americans, so there is a continuing need for education and training."

Education and Training

CAI provides three levels of professional education for community managers, as well as a variety of tools and resources for the association board members and other homeowner leaders who play roles in the governance and management of their associations.

"The education of managers and homeowner leaders is our primary reason for being," says CAI Chief Executive Officer Tom Skiba, CAE. "Community association management is an increasingly complex business-and associations are businesses-so it's more essential than ever that managers and homeowner leaders learn from the most respected experts in the field. That's what we offer in our classroom and online courses, at our national and chapter events, in our publications and on our website."

Skiba urges managers to take full advantage of CAI's professional development program. "It's the single most important thing managers can do for their client associations and their own careers," he says. "Homeowners in every community deserve a professional manager who is trained, educated and always current on key issues and best practices that affect the well-being of the communities they serve."

Skiba adds that homeowners need to "step up and play a constructive and positive role" in their associations. "You get out of your communities what you put into them," he says. "There's no substitute for active and constructive homeowner involvement and no better way to build a strong sense of community."

Best and Worst

Asked to name the best aspects of living in an association, residents most often cite neighborhood attractiveness (24 percent), less maintenance for individual homeowners (17 percent), community safety (13 percent) and property values (12 percent).

Asked to name the worst aspects of their associations, 34 percent say there is nothing bad. That is followed by restrictions on exterior improvements (15 percent), dealing with neighbors (10 percent) and paying assessments (9 percent). Association homeowners pay assessments for services and amenities provided by the association. Services can include landscaping, building maintenance, garbage pickup, snow removal and street lighting. Amenities can include pools, clubhouses, tennis courts, playgrounds and association-sponsored social functions.

Learn more about this research at http://www.caionline.org/info/research/Documents/National_Homeowner_Research.pdf. Based on telephone interviews conducted in February 2012, the survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percent. IBOPE Zogby, now known worldwide as IBOPE Inteligencia, is ranked among the top 25 market research firms in the world.

Created by CAI in 1975, the Foundation for Community Association Research is an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to common-interest community research, development and scholarship.Visit the Foundation website to learn more.

With more than 31,000 members dedicated to building better communities, CAI works in partnership with 59 domestic chapters, a chapter in South Africa and housing leaders in a number of other countries. CAI provides information, education and resources to community associations and the professionals who support them. CAI's mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship-ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. Visit CAI's website or call (888) 224-4321 (M-F, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern).

On April 5, the Federal Reserve System issued guidance to banks intended to spur the temporary conversion of Real Estate Owned (REO) to rental property. Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve strongly encouraged the sale of REO to investors for use as rental properties. With this new guidance, the Federal Reserve is offering banks the option to keep ownership of REO properties while making the properties available for rent. The Federal Reserve’s REO rental guidance will impact CAI’s members in two general areas.

A dozen members of the LAC and chapter board of directors met with the Governor's office and over 40 State Senators and State Representatives throughout the day discussing CAI's positions on various Bills. Two main topics of discussion were the recently introduced Bill to establish the Office of Condo and Cooperative Ombudsman, and the policy recommendations included in the Joint State Government Commission's Report of Common Interest Ownership Communities in Pennsylvania. 

In addition to those topics, the LAC also promoted potential legislation to create a rebate program for municipal services tax equalization, similar to the program in operation in the State of New Jersey. Several legislators expressed interest in this concept, which would require municipalities to either offer certain municipal-type services such as refuse collection and recycling, street lights, fire hydrants, etc. or permit community associations who have to contract for those services to apply for a rebate from their municipal government to ease the burden on community associations who pay twice for various municipal services - once in the form of property taxes paid by owners and a second time via private contract.

At the end of the day, the LAC hosted a reception in the Capitol Rotunda for legislators and staff members. This informal reception provided an additional opportunity to interact with legislators who we may not have had the opportunity to meet with earlier in the day. The LAC was assisted throughout the day by our government affairs firm Duane Morris Government Strategies. CAI will continue to advocate on behalf of community associations at the state level and urges community associations to contribute through our Buck A Door program to assist the LAC in its efforts.

Special thanks to LAC Delegates Gregory Malaska, Esq., Ed McFalls, Jill Geiger, CMCA, AMS, Carl Weiner, Esq., Paul Cunningham, Marianne Fein, CMCA, Stefan Richter, Esq., Steve Galvin, David Martin  for participating in yesterday's events, as well as chapter Board President Gary Krimstock, Esq., and Vice President Brian Friel.

King of Prussia, PA.: Since late 2008, in response to the financial crisis and downturn in the housing market, extensive changes to the nation's mortgage system and requirements for condo project approvals have taken place and many of the changes seriously impact condominiums and the ability to secure a mortgage. CAI has lobbied the Federal Housing Authority, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Congress and other Federal agencies in order to clarify proposed changes and protect the ability to secure financing for units in a condominium. CAI will review these efforts and educate condo owners and managers on critical changes at an educational session to be held during CAI’s Annual Conference & Expo on April 19, 2012 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The conference is open to all condominium, cooperative and homeowner association managers, elected board members and those who live in these community associations and is free to attend.

The conference keynote speaker is nationally syndicated radio host and MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish. In addition to the education sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to visit with over 100 exhibitors that provide products and services necessary to the maintenance and management of community associations and network with others who live in and work in community associations from Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware. Individuals can register to attend this free, day-long event by calling CAI at 877-608-9777; or, register online at www.cai-padelval.org.

Close to four hundred attendees are expected to attend the Annual Conference & Expo, including individuals who manage hundreds of community associations that tens of thousands of people call home in the tri-state region. Educational sessions at the conference will cover diverse topics including security and safety in multi-family housing, how communities can deal with abandoned units as a result of foreclosure, and resident conflict. CAI will also give out its most recent round of Gold Star awards, recognizing communities that meet basic industry standards and therefore are preferred places to call home.

CAI is a 31,000 member organization dedicated to building better communities. Working in partnership with 60 state and regional chapters—including the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter—CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. For more information, call 877-608-9777 or visit www.cai-padelval.org.

# # #

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (PA-LAC) will be raffling off a few wonderful prizes at the Annual Conference & Expo at Citizens Bank Park on April 19^th  – so make sure you stop by our booth and purchase a raffle ticket! If you are a community association manager, board member, or homeowner, you are affected – more than you know - by legislation that is proposed in the Pennsylvania State House.  PA-LAC continues to work aggressively to advocate for legislation that benefits community associations and to argue against legislation may be detrimental.

Here are some important things about pending legislation that you may not be aware of:

Did you know…

• What an Ombudsman is? It is a proposed agency of the state empowered to oversee disputes as well as the governance and management of condos and co-ops, and is funded by a per unit fee.  CAI’s PA LAC believes this is an unnecessary and burdensome expansion of government regulation of private communities that would create more problems that it would solve. This is one issue that PA-LAC is working to educate law makers on the ramifications of this proposed Bill.
• Philadelphia condos, co-ops, and planned community homeowners have to pay for their trash collection twice once to the association and a second time to the city through city taxes. Throughout the Commonwealth, owners in community associations pay twice for many municipal services. CAI supported a Bill passed by Philadelphia City Council, and vetoed by Mayor Nutter, to provide a credit against the tax for homeowners who do not receive regular City trash removal, recycling and bulk item collection services. This battle goes on.
  
• PA LAC supports proposed legislation on the right to dry clothes on a clothes line or other clothes drying device, with provisions that provide for reasonable rules by community associations.

Much of the success of PA-LAC in the last few years has been due to the efforts of our government relations firm that works on our behalf monitoring legislation and serving as our liaison to the legislature. The cost of this full time representation, however, is significant. And that’s why PA-LAC needs your support. Community associations can help support the efforts of our legislative action committee with a financial contribution through our Buck A Door program.

 PA LAC also raises money through events and other methods, including our raffle at the Annual Conference & Expo.  Please stop by our booth on April 19^th and purchase a raffle ticket to show your support!

If you can't attend on April 19th, you can still make a contribution to support the efforts of PA LAC.

FHFA;s final rule adopted nearly all of CAI’s recommendations. FHFA will continue to allow deed-based transfer fees charged by community associations. In addition, FHFA has clarified that any such fee which benefits the community in which it is levied will continue to be allowed under the new rules.

Specifically, FHFA requires that all private transfer fees created on or after February 8, 2011, must provide a direct benefit to the properties upon which they are levied. Private, deed-based transfer fees that directly benefit property are considered “excepted transfer fee covenants” and are allowed under the FHFA rule. An “excepted transfer fee covenant” is defined as a covenant that requires payment of a private transfer fee to a covered association and limits the use of such fees exclusively to purposes which provide a direct benefit to the property on which the fee is charged. FHFA also provides guidance on what a direct benefit means under the rule. Allowable uses for the transfer fee funds will include use for maintenance and improvements to the property, administration costs, and acquisitions. Transfer fees will also be able to be used for cultural, educational, charitable, recreational, environmental, conservational and other activities provided they are conducted in or protect the community or adjacent property or they are conducted on property that is used primarily by residents of the community.

The FHFA victory on transfer fees is just part of the story. In 2011 there was model legislation introduced in state legislatures across the country which would have banned any and all transfer fees. This would have included all deed-based transfer fees as well as any fees charged by management companies or other business partners in conjunction with the sale of property in a community association. CAI worked with the National Association of Realtors and the American Land Title Association, sponsors of the model bill, to amend the language to allow for transfer fees charged by associations and their agents to be exempt from the proposed statutory ban. As a result of this outreach and the hard work of our state legislative action committees, nearly all of the 32 states that enacted transfer fee bans have statutory exemptions for community associations and their agents.

It is unprecedented for an organization like CAI to achieve such a clear victory in such a compressed time period across the spectrum of state and federal law, but thanks to the work of CAI and our members, we have achieved a victory that will help ensure the financial health of all community associations.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org and on Twitter at @CAIGPA. CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping changing federal housing policies to ensure the perspective of community associations is heard.

"We're very excited with the new design. Its a clean, fresh, updated look that's full of content for members, compatible with mobile devices and integrated with the social networking site where our members spend their time and share their interests," said Executive Director Tony Campisi. "We expect our members will visit often!" 

Work on the new site began in November, in conjunction with our webmaster Shovi Websites. New pages have been added that make this new place on the web a comprehensive, one stop shop for members who need to interact with the chapter. New pages include content on how to get connectedwith various aspects of CAI such as volunteering, submitting articles for publication and how to get involved as a speaker.

Additional content  explains how business partners can take full advantage of membership byadvertising and sponsoring programs and events. The site also expands information on our signature event of the year, our Annual Conference & Expo.

In addition to new content, the site is fully interactive with social networking sites and allows members to share pages and content across platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and others. It also fully incorporates our blog, @Home with CAI, where the chapter posts timely information, news and announcements.

Traditional features of our site highlighting critical services to members remain, including educational and regional programming, legislative advocacy, and a page devoted to our Gold Star program.

Chapter sponsors will be pleased with a new feature that draws added attention to the business partners who support the chapter and make fulfillment of our mission of education and advocacy possible. 

An improved calendar and event registration site is still in development and will be launched soon.  Photo galleries will also allow the chapter to showcase our members interacting with each other and building relationships.

 We hope you'll visit often, and if you have suggestions for content or just a comment on the site, let us know! 

President Obama has announced changes to the Federal Housing Administration’s streamline refinance program to help more borrowers take advantage of historically low mortgage interest rates. FHA’s streamline refinance program allows existing FHA borrowers to forgo strict loan underwriting requirements when refinancing to another FHA-insured mortgage.

FHA charges all borrowers an upfront mortgage premium as well as an annual mortgage premium. The fee for the upfront premium is 1 percent of the loan balance (due at closing) and an annual premium (paid monthly) that is equal to 1.15 percent of the loan balance. FHA has announced that for new purchase mortgages, these insurance premiums will increase April 1.

To protect borrowers refinancing FHA-insured mortgages from these higher fees, the President is substantially lowering premiums in the FHA streamline refinance program. To ensure the changes target borrowers who will receive the greatest benefit from refinancing to lower interest rates, the lower premiums are only available for FHA loans originated prior to June 1, 2009.

The new premium structure for qualifying FHA streamline refinance mortgages will be: Upfront mortgage insurance premium of 0.01 percent (10 basis points) Annual mortgage insurance premium of .55 percent (55 basis points)

The Obama Administration estimates that up to 3 million FHA borrowers are eligible to refinance existing mortgages and qualify for the new, lower FHA premiums. The combination of lower interest rates and lower mortgage insurance premiums could mean that qualifying FHA borrowers will save as much as $1,000 annually over their current mortgage payment.

To qualify for FHA’s streamline refinance program: Borrowers must have made at least 6 mortgage payments (minimum 7 months from closing) Borrowers must be current on their mortgage (limited exception for one late payment in prior 12 months) Borrowers must receive a net tangible benefit (i.e. refinance from an adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage, new total mortgage payment at least 5 percent lower, or a reduced mortgage term) Borrowers must demonstrate employment and income sufficient to make new mortgage payment Borrowers in a condominium that is no longer FHA certified are eligible for FHA’s non-appraisal streamline refinance program (FHA non-appraisal streamline refinance transactions are limited to only the outstanding balance of the existing loan)

To read the White House announcement on changes to the FHA streamline refinance program, click here.

Recruiter Rewards is the Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley Chapter’s way of rewarding members who help CAI grow. Here’s how it works…

Each time a member recruits a new member to CAI, you’ll be entered into a prize drawing. Prizes will be awarded several times through the year, with the grand prize being awarded at the chapter’s Annual Holiday Party in December. The grand prize winner will receive $500 cash just in time for a holiday shopping spree, to give yourself a gift, or however you see fit!

Additional prizes will be given throughout the year, including:

• One Manager will win a FREE one year Membership Renewal
• Star Trek “Original Cast” Movie Basket including 6 movies on DVD, popcorn & candy
• Star Trek “Next Generation” Movie Basket, including 4 movies on DVD, popcorn & candy
• Star Trek Movie Gift, including the 2009 movie DVD, popcorn & candy
• Movie Night Packages – Gift card for night at the movies to AMC or Regal Theaters.

The more new members you recruit, the more entries you’ll have in the prize drawings. In addition, your new member recruiting also qualifies you for participation in CAI National’s Recruiter Club where you can earn additional prizes!

CAI can provide you with membership applications, as well as flyers and brochures that explain the benefits and advantages of membership in CAI.

CAI’s Recruiter Rewards Program is open to any member who successfully seeks out and engages associations and professionals who are looking for information, education, programs, networking, and other services concerning managing or living in a community association. Prospective members are all around you and are easy to find, including clients, colleagues, referrals from clients, new or old community associations in your area, etc.

Tips on How to Recruit

Recruitment can be both fun and challenging. Having the necessary information and tools will better prepare you to tell your friends and colleagues about the great benefits and services offered to members at CAI. Follow these simple tips and you can be a #1 Recruiter.

Share your personal experience. Nothing can be more effective than you sharing your personal experience in being a member of CAI, as well as the benefits/services you receive from becoming a member.

Attend a community association meeting. Invite prospects to attend a community association board meeting to personally explain CAI membership. Don’t forget to bring prospective membership packets for each prospect.

Meet them half-way. Send membership information to your clients and offer to pay a portion of their membership dues for the first year. Clients who are involved and educated make informed and better decisions.

What would such an office do? The Ombudsman, which the legislation requires to be an attorney with extensive experience in real estate, cooperative and condominium law, would be a full time state position, with additional staff to carry out the mission of the office.  The office would educate and inform unit owners, property managers and professionals working withe associations of their legal rights and responsibilities, coordinate and assist in the preparation and publication of educational and reference materials about cooperatives and condominiums. The office would also conduct meetings and workshops to educate unit owners and managers of condominiums and cooperatives. The legislation also calls for the office to establish alternative dispute resolution programs to assist in the resolution of cooperative and condominium disputes as an alternative to litigation.

In addition to disseminating information, providing education and alternative dispute resolution, the office would also be empowered to “offer procedures, monitors and vote counting services to assure fair elections for members and officers of an executive board” of a condo or cooperative association. Under this provision, “15% of the total voting interests in a cooperative or condominium, or unit owners of six residential units, whichever is greater, may petition the office to attend and conduct an election of executive board members and officers. All costs associated with the election monitoring process shall be paid by the cooperative or condominium.”

What does this last provision mean, in layman’s terms? In short, a lawyer from the Attorney General’s office may be at your next election to make sure no one is breaking the law or violating the rules. And, your association will bear the cost of such election monitoring. Of course, the underlying assumption of this legislation is that most associations can’t conduct their own elections in a fair and trustworthy manner.

CAI met with the sponsor of the Bill and provided background material on how the concept of an Ombudsman has worked in the four states with such an office, including Florida, Nevada, Virginia and Colorado. CAI believes the efficacy of the Ombudsman offices in these states is at best, a mixed record in support of homeowners living in community associations. Such offices face several obstacles in meeting its statutory objectives. Among these obstacles are structural issues, the lack of mutuality in the ombudsman process, added cost/complexity for homeowner dispute resolution, lack of education of boards and homeowners, the lack of need for such programs and more effective alternatives to expanding state control over locally elected community association boards.

CAI’s Memorandum on Offices of Condominium Ombudsmen, prepared by the Department of Government and Public Affairs at CAI’s national office in Falls Church, VA, outlines both CAI’s objections to various Ombudsman provisions, as well as information on whether such programs are really necessary. From the Memorandum:

“Over the years, CAI has conducted national surveys on homeowner satisfaction in community associations. This survey, entitled, What do Americans say about their Community Associations, was prepared in conjunction with the survey firm Zogby International[1]. This survey is conducted every two years and the findings on owner satisfaction with their community associations have been remarkably consistent, with close to 9 of 10 residents expressing positive views of their association in 2005, 2007 and 2009. This same survey also finds that residents are consistently satisfied with the actions of their elected boards, with 99 percent of residents surveyed reporting that the board absolutely or ‘for the most part’ serves the best interest of their community. This empirical and longitudinal data demonstrates that community association boards serve the needs of their residents and that a majority of cases of complaints, as supported by the findings of the Nevada office as well, are unfounded. The notion that association problems are wide spread is not supported by national surveys.

CAI does not dismiss the fact that there are homeowners in community associations who have difficulty with their association and could benefit from mechanisms to assist in dispute resolution. CAI does believe that there are more appropriate alternatives that serve to empower residents and associations rather than expanding state government powers. CAI believes that these mechanisms work to provide greater transparency and clear processes to assist with dispute resolution in community associations.

First, CAI supports requirements that community association boards adopt an internal dispute resolution process if state law does not already impose such a requirement. Having a clear process helps manage the expectations of the board and the residents in managing and working through problems. CAI also supports the ability of the community association to adopt bylaws or amendments to their governing documents to mandate alternative dispute resolution (ADR) prior to litigation. ADR allows for a neutral entity to assist the parties in finding a resolution to a dispute outside of court and often at a lower cost to the parties. CAI also supports mandated disclosures to purchasers in community association prior to closing. CAI believes that all buyers in a community association should be provided with the opportunity to understand their rights and obligations prior to moving into a community association. Finally, in many states, the laws that govern community associations are outdated and do not adequately address the rights and responsibilities of homeowners, boards, developers and other key parties in community associations. CAI supports the adoption of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) for states currently operating under older legal frameworks for community associations.

In light of our concerns and the availability of less intrusive remedies for dispute resolution in community associations, CAI is skeptical and inclined not to support the imposition of ombudsman offices at the state level.”

Finally, there’s one big obstacle to the creation of such an office in Pennsylvania. From a practical point of view in Pennsylvania, there is no way to determine what amount of funds would be raised from the fee to support such an office, because Pennsylvania does not track, and, by its own admission in a recent Joint State Government Commission study, cannot identify, how many condominiums and cooperatives even exist in the Commonwealth. From a practical point of view, this Bill, if enacted, could not be enforced.

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee will continue to monitor this Bill and report on its progress.

Bad metaphors aside, mortgage giant Freddie Mac issued a policy bulletin (2012-2), which allows unemployed borrowers to seek forbearance on their mortgages for a period of six to twelve months. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) offers a similar program. Freddie Mac has also extended authority to lenders it works with to offer up to six months of mortgage forbearance as part of this program. CAI expects Fannie Mae to follow Freddie’s lead on this issue.

Community associations should remind residents that loan forbearance offered by FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or on behalf of any lender does not apply to association assessments. CAI also encourages all associations to work with troubled borrowers to avoid any instance of assessment delinquencies and to preserve the ability of owners to remain in their units. Boards may want to consider adding this information to delinquency notices to ensure the board is aware of any residents who are in a forbearance program. Foreclosing on such owners may invite federal regulation of association enforcement powers.

Other plans for REO properties include the Federal Housing and Finance Agency’s bulk sales to rental program. Under this program investors have been invited to bid on pools of properties owned by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA. One condition of this program is that the properties be rented for at least a year after purchase. While this program will help clear out the backlog of REO properties clogging the market, it also creates potential problems for community associations. First, as condominium associations know, FHA limits the number of rental units to no more than 49 percent of an association. It also requires that no more than ten percent of any condominium association be owned by a single entity. Thus, a bulk sale may result in an association being disqualified from some federal mortgage programs. Beyond that concern, there is the issue of the bulk seller obtaining a sizeable ownership share or even a majority of units within the community. This will create a host of governance issues and impact the rights on existing owners.

There is good news as well. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a policy bulletin outlining the responsibilities of lenders in foreclosure. That guidance (embodied in OCC Bulletin 2011-49) provided notice to lenders who foreclose that they are responsible for payment of community association assessments. CAI survey data indicates that more than three out of four REO properties do not pay required assessments. Thus the federal actions here will help force lenders to live up to their financial commitments.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org and on Twitter at @CAIGPA. CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping changing federal housing policies to ensure the perspective of community associations is heard.

For the full text of the bill, click here.

The Bill now awaits action by the Governor.

Click here to help support the advocacy work of the PA LAC.

Michael A. Smerconish is a nationally syndicated radio host, newspaper columnist, author and MSNBC contributor.

Smerconish has often been recognized for his radio work. Talkers Magazine has consistently named him one of America’s most important talk show hosts.  In 2009, prior to his syndication, Radio and Records named him the nation’s Local Personality of the Year. Philadelphia Magazine has named him the City’s best talk show host, as well as one of the City’s most powerful citizens.

In 2009, Smerconish became the first radio host to interview President Barack Obama live from the White House. The interview was televised live on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News.  Smerconish has interviewed President Obama on six different occasions.  He has also interviewed Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as Vice Presidents Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Joe Biden.

Smerconish is the author of five books, two of them New York Times’ best sellers. He donated all author proceeds from three of those manuscripts to charity. Additionally, through a promotional partnership with jeweler Steven Singer, Smerconish has raised in excess of $300,000.00 for the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Smerconish also authors a twice-weekly column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. His columns have been re-printed in various newspapers across the country.

Smerconish is also an on-air contributor with MSNBC, and has often guest-hosted Hardball for Chris Matthews  He has been a guest on virtually every television program where politics is discussed, including: NBC’s Today Show, Colbert Report, O’Reilly Factor, Larry King Live, The View, and Real Time With Bill Maher.

Smerconish became a radio and television commentator after experiences in Republican politics. While still in college he was an advanceman for (then) Vice President George H.W. Bush. At age 29, he was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to a sub-cabinet level position (Regional Administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he reported to HUD Secretary Jack Kemp).

Prior to turning to broadcasting as a full-time endeavor, Smerconish practiced law for ten years with James E. Beasley, a legendary Philadelphia-based trial lawyer, who is the namesake of the Beasley School of Law at Temple University. Today Smerconish is of counsel to the Philadelphia law firm of Kline & Specter.  He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and remains a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Smerconish was a trial lawyer specializing in complex tort litigation. His clients ranged from the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police to the City of Rome, Italy. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyer’s Association.

Smerconish is a 1984 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Lehigh University where he majored in government and journalism.  He lives in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with his wife and their four children.

Mr. Smerconish’s appearance is sponsored by State Farm Insurance – Steve DiOrio, a 2012 CAI Gold Premier Partner.

In an effort to help constituents, all too often legislation and regulations are proposed in Harrisburg with good intentions, but possibly costly and ineffective outcomes for homeowners.  Even worse, the proposed legislation could be unintentionally detrimental to homeowners living in community associations.

This is where the LAC gets involved. The LAC carefully considers legislative language, drafts position papers for legislators, and often drafts amendments to proposed legislation that will help homeowners.  Without the help of our lobbyist, the LAC would not be as effective in tracking and responding to all the legislation that is being proposed.  Lobbyists, of course, cost money and homeowners who benefit from the work of the PA LAC can help.

By supporting the LAC’s “Buck A Door” campaign, a community can aid greatly in the fulfillment of the LAC’s mission.  The money collected from the “Buck A Door” campaign goes directly to the LAC to help fulfill CAI’s advocacy role.

How will homeowners hear about this worthy cause that exists to help them?  Through CAI and through their community manager.  We owe it to our homeowners to inform them of the LAC’s work and efforts on their behalf.  Homeowners informed of LAC activities can also help educate our lawmakers through letters, phone calls and personal visits.

CAI’s PA LAC makes a strong difference in whether poorly considered and written legislation has unintended consequences.  Please consider supporting the LAC with a contribution from your community. A dollar per door (Buck A Door). Please share the “Buck a Door” information with your communities.

For up to date information on the LAC’s positions on current legislation, visit the legislative advocacy page on the chapter website.

Posted by Marianne C. Fein, CMCA
Community Manager, PA LAC Delegate

Along these lines, on Wednesday, March 14^th the Council will be joining with the Philadelphia Green Condo and CO-OP Initiative to present a program at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Click here for details of this exciting program. The Council is very excited for the opportunity to work closely with these two great groups and broaden the experiences and resources for the members of each organization in our goal to bring the best counsel and services to community associations in the greater Philadelphia area.

We hope that you will join us at the upcoming events.

Richard B. Linderman, Esq.
Council President

CAI’s members have a keen interest in the development of CFPB’s rules and regulations that could affect community associations. As a new federal agency, the CFPB is still working to define its approach to protecting consumers from abusive financial products and helping to ensure consumers have the right information to choose the financial products and services that will best meet their needs. While the CFPB’s authority extends from checking accounts to credit cards to payday loans, it also has significant authority over federal housing policy, mortgage lending standards and the home buying process.

CAI is following CFPB’s actions on: the definition of qualified mortgage, the regulation of transfer fees, association assessments, the definition of real estate settlement fees, foreclosure prevention and mortgage servicing standards. As such, the CFPB has the potential to impact community associations and the companies that serve them.

As noted, the CFPB has special authority over mortgage lending standards and real estate closings. The Dodd Frank Act gave the CFPB the responsibility of enforcing the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA), a powerful consumer protection law. As the federal enforcer of TILA, the CFPB will establish and enforce mortgage lending standards that all lenders and housing market participants must follow.

Congress also transferred rulemaking and enforcement authority under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the CFPB. The bureau is in the process of updating real estate closing disclosures and real estate closing forms.

This combination of authorities means the CFPB sets the standards that govern almost every aspect of the mortgage lending and closing process.

CFPB is unique in that Congress granted the bureau the authority to expand firms under its supervision by regulation. Given the role of community associations in our nation’s housing markets and the authority of associations to foreclose as a remedy to perfect a lien, it is reasonable to expect the CFPB to examine community associations at some point in its review of the housing market.

The CFPB has three ongoing initiatives that can affect how community associations function.

Ability-to-Repay

The first initiative is the CFPB’s work on how association assessments factor into a borrower’s mortgage payment. Under the Dodd Frank Act, all lenders must verify a borrower can afford all payments associated with a mortgage loan, including association assessments. It is the CFPB’s job to write the rules to govern this process, which could include requiring associations to forecast assessment increases and the likelihood of future special assessments.

Transfer Fees

The second initiative CAI is monitoring is the CFPB’s review of transfer fees in community associations. While the bureau has not signaled that it intends to restrict mortgages in associations with a transfer fee, it is studying the use of transfer fees.

Mortgage Complaint Portal

An important new consumer protection developed by the CFPB is an easy-to-use website for homeowners to report mortgage fraud, abusive lending practices and housing discrimination. This will significantly improve consumer protection for homeowners and allow the CFPB to keep track of new mortgage products or any new market abuses. The website will also be a means for disgruntled residents to air complaints against associations. As the CFPB has announced its future rulemakings will be influenced by the nature of complaints it receives through this system, associations should be prepared to respond to CFPB inquiries and work cooperatively with the bureau in resolving legitimate consumer and homeowner complaints.

Because of its potential impact on community associations, CAI has added the CFPB to our Mortgage Matters program. CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org.

Chapter President Gary Krimstock welcomes volunteers to the chapter's Annual Kickoff.

programs at CAI!

Volunteers were welcomed by 2012 Chapter President Gary Krimstock who asked eachvolunteer to go out and recruit one new member to help continue the growth of our chapter. After a budget presentation and review of new programs coming in the year ahead, each volunteer committee and regional council had their first meeting of the year.

The chapter has much on tap for the coming year, including a new Conservation & Sustainability Forum scheduled for June at Aldie Mansion, in Doylestown and the first annual Philadelphia Condo Congress coming this Fall. In addition, CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee, in conjunction with the Social Committee, is planning a Beer & Wine Tasting event in October. This special event will help raises necessary funds for the LAC to continue its advocacy work in Harrisburg.

With our Annual Conference & Expo in April, our Summer Networking Party, Golf Outings and all of our educational programs throughout the chapter area, we have a busy year in store!

Special thanks to all our chapter volunteers who work hard to make this chapter a terrific success. For up to date information on upcoming events, be sure to visit our chapter website, which is in the process of a complete re-design and will be re-launched soon. Stay tuned!

Chapter volunteers get down to work on a new year of programs and events.

The commission was not able to produce a list of all community associations in the Commonwealth and compile information on the types of infrastructure in these communities. Nor was it able to quantify the amount of taxes paid by those who live in community associations throughout Pennsylvania. While these results are disappointing, they are not un-expected, and the reasons why are discussed in the contents of the report. The report also contains eleven policy and statutory recommendations to the legislature.

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (LAC) provided data to the commission for its study and testified at a hearing in September, 2010 in Bushkill, PA. The LAC will review the report’s findings and recommendations in detail and make additional information available to members about the report and the LAC’s interpretation and positions on the policy recommendations. The full text of the report has been posted to our website where it can be printed, read or downloaded.

Representatives from Gwyn Ayre Residents Association accept the Gold Star Award from Gold Star Committee Chair Lynn Voorhees (right) and Executive Director Tony Campisi

Gwyn Ayre Residents Association

Legacy at Meadowcroft

Malvern Hunt Homeowners Association

Morgandale Condominium Association

Spring Mill Community Association

Traditions at Inniscrone

Traditions at Longwood

Village Grande at Millers Run

Village Greenes Community Association

Watergate Condominium Association

Wethersfield Homeowners Association

Congratulations to all!

Board members from Watergate Condominium accept the Gold Star Award

CAI was pleased to announce award winners at both our Pocono Mountains Regional Council Holiday Party and Chapter Annual Meeting & Holiday Party, held on consecutive nights in December. All award winners were nominated by CAI members.

The following awards were presented at the Pocono Holiday Party:

Dave Ingegneri (right), Manager of Big Bass Lake, accepts the Poconos Community Association of the Year Award from chapter Executive Director Tony Campisi

Chris Travis, from Village at Camelback, accepts the Poconos Staff Person of the Year Award.

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION STAFF MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Chris Travis, Village at Camelback

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
Bruce Weidenbaum, Tanglwood North

POCONOS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR
Big Bass Lake Community Association

POCONOS BUSINESS PARTNER OF THE YEAR
Appletree Management Group, Inc. AAMC

COUNCIL VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
Amy Janiszewski, AMS, CMCA, PCAM
Appletree Management Group, Inc. AAMC

These awards were presented at the Annual Meeting & Holiday Party:

CHAPTER VOLUNTEER ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Ken Ladely, board member at Wethersfield Community Association, accepts the Association Volunteer of the Year award.

Chapter Executive Director Tony Campisi and Board President Nancy Hastings present the Rising Star award to Rosy Brophy (center).

Carrie Smith, Smith Insurance Associates

CHAPTER VOLUNTEER RISING STAR
Rosy Brophy, Associa / Mid-Atlantic Management, Inc. AAMC

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
Ken Ladely, Wethersfield Community Association

BUSINESS PARTNER OF THE YEAR
Smith Insurance Associates

ROBERT H. WISE PRESIDENT’S AWARD
Stefan Richter, Esq., Clemons, Richter, and Reiss, P.C.

Congratulations to all of our award winners and thank you to all of our volunteers!

The crew from Smith Insurance Associates, CAI's 2012 Business Partner of the Year.

Outgoing President Nancy Hastings presents the 2012 Robert H. Wise President's Award to Stefan Richter, Esq.

2011 Chapter President Nancy Hastings recieves a recognition award from 2012 Chapter President Gary Krimstock

First, in early 2012, CAI expects the federal government to release the final draft regulations on QRM and QM. QRM regulations deal with the structure of mortgages and QM deals with qualification criteria for future borrowers. As drafted, both present a set of challenges to the housing markets in general and to community associations in particular.

As reported by CAI, the pending QRM proposal would have a significant impact on potential buyers. New requirements would mandate minimum down payments of 20 percent prevent financing of closing costs and realtor fees and would disqualify buyers with just one late payment on any installment account. It is estimated that 70 percent of currently qualified borrowers would not meet this standard. While it is expected that the QRM draft will be significantly revised, the ongoing uncertainty hangs like a dark cloud on the horizon.

Revised draft QM regulations will also be released in 2012. These regulations focus on a borrower’s ability to repay a mortgage and contain provisions that include community association related expenses. On the positive side, QM will require that a lender qualify a borrower not just on the mortgage amount, but also on other mandatory fees like association assessments. This should help reduce assessment delinquencies. On the downside, QM requirements may also take action on association transfer fees and require the inclusion of special assessments in the qualification calculation on the basis that the assessment will be in place for the life of the loan.

Finally, in response to CAI members’ ongoing pressure, FHA will be making additional changes to its condominium insurance guidelines. FHA has indicated that they will be issuing additional guidance to address issues with project certifications, transfer fees and management company fidelity bonding. This is good news for CAI members as FHA accounts for up to one-third of all condominium loans. On the downside, due to a pull back in bank lending and the insolvency of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHA has been forced to fill the vacuum in the mortgage market. This has stressed the agency and pushed its financial reserves to dangerously low levels. If the economy stumbles and FHA’s reserves tip into the red, the agency could need a congressional bailout. With the heated political climate super-charged by election year politics, any solvency issues with FHA would likely set of a firestorm that could sideline the critical lending role FHA is now playing.

There is one point we can be sure of among all this uncertainty and that is that CAI will be working to make sure that CAI members voices are heard in this debate.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters Program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org.

The PA-LAC needs desperately to raise funds to support CAI’s legislative advocacy efforts. The primary goal of the PA-LAC is to monitor legislation and educate state lawmakers on behalf of community associations.  The PA-LAC is proactive in introducing and advocating for legislation that is beneficial to community associations and are equally active in opposing legislation that may be adverse to the interest of community associations.

In 2011 alone, delegates to the PA LAC considered positions on more than 15 pieces of legislation that impact the governing and management of community associations in Pennsylvania. In addition, the LAC met with Federal representatives on the ongoing FHA/mortgage issue, hosted dinners for the House and Senate Urban Affairs Committees, and hosted a Town Hall in Chester County that was attended by State Senator Dinniman and State Representative Truitt to discuss issues concerning community associations. The LAC is also pressing for adoption of Bills that would provide tax credits for municipal services for community associations in the Commonwealth as well as in the City of Philadelphia. For more information on the issues currently pending before the legislative action committee, visit the legislative page of our website.

The cost of lobbying and government relations is significant, therefore, we need your help.  The LAC is hosting two Silent Auctions – one will take place during the Poconos Holiday Party on December 7 and the second will take at the chapter’s Annual Meeting & Holiday Party on December 8.  Donations such as a gift card to a restaurant, tickets to a sporting event, gift baskets,  jewelry, house and home products, electronics, and best of all a coupon for your professional services are wonderful items to be auctioned off during our holiday parties.  Please consider the important work of the PA LAC…… and click here for the auction donation form.

Special thanks to those members who have already donated to the Silent Auctions:

Appletree Management
B.C. Property Management
Clarke’s Landscaping
EHD Insurance
F. David Sylvester & Associates
Hershey’s Mill Golf Club
Ken Walton General Contractor
Kipcon Inc.
L&L Services
MAMCO Property Management
Pocono Farms Country Club Association
Rivercrest Golf Club
Steven L. Sugarman & Associates
The Arrimour Group
Vector Security
Young & Haros

In June of 2011, FHA issued major revisions to the Condominium Guidelines, which, according to FHA, would address concerns raised by CAI. While the new guidelines added some flexibility on assessment delinquencies, commercial space and rental restrictions, it also imposed new and troubling criteria on fidelity insurance, project certifications and assessment delinquency calculations.

After the release of the new Guidelines in June, CAI worked with our members to escalate our efforts to persuade FHA to engage in a more rational and transparent process in developing condominium guidelines. First, CAI sent a letter summarizing concerns about the new Guidelines to the FHA commissioner. CAI noted that the requirements FHA imposed on fidelity insurance and project certifications were in conflict with many state laws and with the best practices of condominium associations. CAI also chided FHA for putting the burden of collecting assessments from bank-owned properties on association boards rather than on the banks that get a subsidy from FHA under the condominium loan program. CAI also filed an administrative challenge against the new Guidelines, arguing that FHA failed to do minimal due diligence when drafting the new requirements. Then, working with our state Legislative Action Committees, we took our concerns directly to members of Congress in August. Additionally, when FHA announced during a public training session that it would be looking at the issue of deed-based transfer fees, CAI sent a strongly worded letter urging it to engage in outreach and research before taking any unilateral action.

The arrival of fall saw the return on the investment in our Congressional Outreach. First, FHA backed away from their costly and duplicative management company fidelity bonding mandate. This was followed a few weeks later by key members of Congress and the Senate sending letters critical of the FHA Guidelines and the lack of transparency in their development. It is through these efforts that CAI will continue to move FHA policy to more rational and fair criteria.

As the year end approaches, FHA’s financial position showed significant deterioration, with the organization well below its statutorily-mandated reserve requirements. There were whispers in Washington of a pending bailout, which would be bad news for potential condominium buyers as FHA continues to be the pre-eminent lender for condominium mortgages. This also will likely make CAI’s task for pushing for reforms of FHA lending criteria even more challenging. At the close of 2011, it looks as if 2012 will be yet another year filled with challenges on the mortgage front.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters Program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org.

Community Associations Institute (CAI) says these policies are preventing many potential buyers from obtaining FHA-backed loans to purchase homes in those communities, putting entire condominium associations at risk and further worsening the already dismal residential real estate market.

While acknowledging the need for thoughtful and financially sound lending criteria, the 31,000-member organization has expressed public concern about past FHA lending guidance that has created continued “confusion and frustration” in the marketplace. That’s why CAI sought to bring Congressional attention to the issue.

“There seems to be an invisible barrier between FHA and condominium associations,” Sen. Scott Brown (D-Mass.) said in a recent letter to Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). FHA falls under HUD’s jurisdiction.

“While both sides have been talking to each other, it doesn’t seem like there has been any movement towards a resolution,” Brown wrote. “I hope you will consider these concerns and work to bring certainty to condominium associations in what is an otherwise uncertain housing market. An obvious first step in this direction is to start the public review and comment period on (the) recently issued guidelines as soon as possible.”

Three members of the House Committee on Financial Services have also weighed in, urging FHA to reconsider mortgage approval policies that “. . . deny mortgages to condominiums associations with special assessments or that have obtained loans to do necessary improvements.” Signed by Massachusetts Reps. Barney Frank, Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch, the letter also asks FHA to reconsider the mortgage-approval requirement that no more than 15 percent of condominium units can be more than 30 days past due on their association assessments.

The House members also weighed in on FHA’s public review and comment procedures, saying that “additional opportunities for public input before policy changes are implemented would greatly improve the process.”

With lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recoiling from unprecedented mortgage-related losses, FHA has assumed a far greater role in the home-sales market, now standing behind at least 30 percent of new home mortgages. That makes FHA lending criteria especially critical, not only for individual homeowners and buyers, but also for a sustained recovery in the housing market.

CAI and other organizations have worked hard to get Congressional leaders to address FHA’s mortgage approval guidelines and what CAI calls the agency’s “insular approach to policy development.”

“The letters sent by Congressional leaders are tremendously helpful, but the issues they address are still on the table,” said CAI Chief Executive Officer Tom Skiba, CAE. “And they are still adversely affecting thousands of condominium communities, millions of current and potential homeowners, and the U.S. housing market as a whole. We will continue to urge FHA to take a new, more transparent and thoughtful approach to its decision-making.”

Visit Mortgage Matters<http://dev.caionline.org/govt/MortgageMatters/Pages/default.aspx> on the CAI website to read the Congressional letters and get the latest information about the FHA and mortgage approval guidelines.

Attendees enjoy some networking in South Jersey on Sept. 29, 2011.

The New Jersey Regional Council wishes to thank those business partners that generously sponsored the event, including sponsors Outside Unlimited Professional Landscape, Stark & Stark, FWH, Quality 1st, MAMCO, Brown & Brown Insurance, and Cherry Hill Painting.

CAI provided the following testimony at this morning’s hearing:

Good morning and thank you for this opportunity to testify before this committee.

My name is Tony Campisi and I serve as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley Chapter of Community Associations Institute. CAI is a 31,000 member national organization dedicated to building better communities. CAI provides information, education, and resources to association governed communities, including condominiums, cooperatives and homeowner associations, and the professionals that support these communities. The Pennsylvania chapter represents an estimated 15,000 such communities across the Commonwealth, including approximately 900 communities with thousands of housing units within the City of Philadelphia. Tens of thousands of Philadelphians call these association-governed communities home.

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee supports adoption of City Council Bill 110130, which would provide a credit against the tax for owners of condominiums, cooperatives and planned community units who do not receive regular City refuse, recycling and bulk item collection services. The bill would remedy the City’s failure to provide municipal trash collection to these residents.

Councilman Kenney introduced legislation over a decade ago that extended eligibility for residential municipal trash collection to include owners of cooperatives and condominiums. On June 13, 2002 the Bill was adopted by City Council.  Then-Mayor John Street returned the bill to City Council without his signature, with a letter stating that the City would not enforce the law.  In response, City Council filed suit to compel the Administration to enforce municipal refuse collection from community associations in the City. This step was supported by all members of City Council, including then-Councilmember Michael Nutter, now Mayor of Philadelphia.  In 2005, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied Mayor Street’s appeal in the case, and affirmed the Commonwealth Court’s opinion in favor of City Council as the final ruling in the case.

Unfortunately for owners of condos, co-ops and planned community units in the city, the issue of refuse collection remains unresolved.  While the City has extended an offer of weekly curbside collection, the volume of trash that these communities accumulate makes this an unsanitary solution that would cause many other health and neighborhood concerns. Therefore, the City’s condominium, cooperative, and planned community residential unit owners continue to pay for a city service that they cannot use.

It has been suggested that a tax credit such as the one provided in this Bill may not pass Constitutional muster because it may create a separate and distinct class of residential real estate. I would suggest the city has already accomplished this by its refusal to adequately provide a municipal service to what the city considers a distinct class of residential property owner. And the reason why may in fact reside in the common understanding and interpretation of what a condominium is, or is not, under state statute. Pennsylvania’s Uniform Condominium Act, adopted in 1980 by the state legislature, along with two companion acts – the Real Estate Cooperative Act adopted in 1992 and the Uniform Planned Community Act, adopted in 1997 – define the creation, management and governance of association-governed communities in Pennsylvania. It is important, however, to note here that the three forms of ownership defined under these statutes simply define a legal form of home-ownership. They do NOT define a physical structure or a type of building. This is critical to the issue we are here to discuss today in the following manner. A condominium does not translate to a high rise or mid rise building just as a planned community does not translate to a sub-division with one acre lots in a suburban setting. A condominium, under state statute, may be a 25 story building with ten units per floor in Society Hill. It may be a townhouse community with four or six units connected in a row in South Philadelphia. It may be a 396 residential unit community consisting of single-family, detached homes, townhouses and condo units currently under construction at The Arbors at Eagles Point in the Byberry section of the Far Northeast. The point I make here is simple. A condominium, cooperative or planned community unit is nothing more than a single family home. These communities are not commercial buildings comparable to apartment buildings, owned by a single owner. These communities are a series of individual homes owned by many individual owners. A condominium association, in whatever physical structure it assumes, is no different than a block of row homes in any one of your council districts. A block of row homes consists of single family homes that line the sides of a block, connected by a shared common vertical wall, and each owned by an individual owner. A high rise condominium building consists of single family homes that line a hallway and that share a common vertical wall, stacked upon each other, with another common horizontal wall consisting of a ceiling in the unit below, and a floor in the unit above. Turn a high-rise condominium on its side and all you have is a series of individually-owned row homes that you might find on an average block in South Philadelphia, University City or Fishtown. Tell me why the owner of a condo should be treated any differently than the owner of a row home? Under current city practice, condo owners are treated differently – are treated as a distinct class of residential real estate – yet they pay the same municipal taxes, and that is inherently unfair.

This is an issue not limited to the City of Philadelphia. Community associations across Pennsylvania, and in fact across the nation, deal with this very same issue. In most states, owners in community associations pay municipal taxes for services that are, in many cases, not provided to residents who live within the association, including road maintenance, refuse collection and other municipal services. The owners who reside in these community associations pay for these services twice – once through municipal or property taxes and again when they privately contract for the services not provided by the municipal government. CAI has provided council with examples of how other cities across the state and nation have dealt specifically with the municipal trash issue.

Here in Philadelphia, Councilman Kenney is proposing that the City offer a tax credit of up to $200 per residential unit to address the disparity in collection services. CAI supports this legislation as a way to erase the inequality that has been permitted to exist in the collection of municipal refuse from condominiums, cooperatives and planned communities in this city for far too long.

Thank you.

For more on this issue, including the text of the Bill, visit the legislative page of CAI’s website.

FHFA Transfer Fee Guidance: In late 2010 the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a proposal that would have banned federally backed mortgages to any property in a community association with a deed-based transfer fee. Such fees are a common funding mechanism for community associations with up to 49 percent of associations using such fees to fund reserves, capital accounts or operations. If enacted as drafted, up to 11 million homes in community associations would have been unable to obtain mortgages. Thanks to an incredible effort by CAI members, the FHFA backed down from its initial proposal and issued a revised draft regulation that specifically excludes community deed-based transfer fees from the mortgage ban. The revised draft regulation is still pending, but FHFA’s retreat on the deed-based transfer fees put CAI on the map as a major player in the mortgage reform debate.

FHA Condominium Guidelines:  FHA issued new guidance in July in an effort to correct problems created by previous guidance on condominium requirements for FHA mortgages. FHA addressed longstanding issues raised by CAI such as allowing associations to impose rental restrictions, allowing for affordable housing units and added some flexibility for delinquencies. However, rather than completely fixing the issues with the program the new guidelines created a new set of challenges for condominium buyers seeking access to the more than thirty percent of all condominium mortgages FHA currently provides. Among the issues created by the new FHA requirements are:

• A costly fidelity bonding insurance for management companies, which is commercially impractical and in conflict with some state laws;
• A requirement that the submitter to FHA agree to keep FHA abreast of any conflict in the community and to assure FHA that a board will not take any action that might impact a borrowers ability to pay their mortgage;
• Inclusion of bank-owned properties in the assessment delinquency calculation; and
• An announcement that FHA will not approve any condominium project with a deed-based transfer fee, despite the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s findings (noted above) that such fees benefit communities and homeowners.

Stepping up the pressure on FHA to engage in a more transparent rule making process, CAI members in key states set up Mortgage Matters Teams and met with members of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee during the month of August. This grassroots activity is beginning to pay dividends; FHA has already backed down from the manager bonding requirements and is now indicating it may back off its current position on deed-based transfer fees. Although progress with FHA has been slow, it is adopting the policy positions advocated by CAI and our housing allies.  Now that the debate is favoring CAI and our members, we will continue to step up our pressure on FHA and Congress to more quickly resolve the issues FHA is needlessly creating in the condominium market.

Mortgage Regulations (QRM/QM): In August, CAI submitted more than 200 pages of comments to federal regulators on proposals to tighten mortgage lending standards and reshape commercial mortgage products. Working with a coalition of housing interests that include the National Association of Realtors, the National Association of Homebuilders and consumer groups, CAI denounced the stringent proposals that would have set mortgage standards so high as to exclude up to 70% of current borrowers. CAI praised a proposal that would require a lender to factor in association assessments in the loan qualification process as such fees are mandatory.  However, CAI was critical of the proposal which would have required the lender to assume that any special assessment in place at the time of the loan qualification determination would continue for the life of the mortgage.  The comment period on these regulations closed in August and revised regulations are expected to be released in late 2011 or the first quarter of 2012.

As we fight for our members, we will work to build new avenues of communication between CAI members, federal regulators and key members of Congress. Our success depends on the ability of every CAI member to respond to calls to action to make sure that our members can get access to fair and affordable mortgage products. The market is a fickle place, and any regulation or law that creates added costs or barriers for purchasing in a community association could result in a shift away from the community association model of housing which has dominated the markets for the last 30 years. Such a result would harm all CAI members. The good news is that we have demonstrated that when we make our voices heard, we can shape the debate and achieve positive results in the face of big challenges.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters Program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org.

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Our members may recall the fierce, and successful, battle waged by CAI against FHFA on community association transfer fees earlier this year. In late 2010, FHFA proposed a draft regulation which would have cut off all federally backed mortgages to community associations with deed-based transfer fees.  A CAI national survey found that forty-nine percent of all community associations have a deed-based transfer fee. These community transfer fees are levied at the time of sale to fund reserves, capital projects or operations. The fees are typically less than $500 and are calculated as a percentage of sale price, a fixed fee or a multiple of monthly assessments. The challenge is that such fees are incorporated into the deed restrictions of the community association which typically requires a two-thirds majority of all property owners to change. FHFA sought input from the public at large and received more than 4,000 comments on their proposal. Based on the information received, FHFA revised their regulation to allow community association levied fees.

FHA has indicated that they will issue a Mortgagee Letter later this year which would disqualify condominium associations from FHA backed mortgages if they had a deed-based transfer fee in place. Unlike FHFA, FHA does not intend to solicit public input on this proposal nor do they find the information gathered by the FHFA on the same topic to be relevant to their decision. Unfortunately, this is business as usual for FHA which continues to issue requirements for its condominium mortgage insurance program without the benefit of input from the public at large. For those who have worked to get FHA approval, this has resulted in FHA requirements that have proven confusing and problematic for associations.  In a statement submitted to the House Financial Services Committee on an FHA hearing, CAI noted that FHA’s lack of stakeholder input “has resulted in underwriting criteria for condominium associations that do not comport with common association business operations, state law or common sense.”

In August, CAI members from key state legislative action committees met with members of the House Financial Services Committee to let them know the problems FHA is creating in the condominium marketplace by setting qualification criteria for condominium associations that conflict with association operations, state law or simply do not make rational sense. CAI continues to expand our grassroots efforts to force FHA to engage in a more transparent process in developing criteria for condominium mortgages. As FHA currently accounts for one in three condominium loans, getting the rules right is key to restoring confidence to the marketplace. Despite our progress on a variety of mortgage issues, FHA continues to be a needless source of confusion and frustration for condominium associations.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org. CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping the development of the FHA’s condominium underwriting guidelines to ensure that the perspective of community associations is heard. If you have any questions about the FHA’s underwriting criteria and how it could affect your community, e-mail government@caionline.org with FHA Mortgage Insurance Requirements in the subject line.

In July, CAI submitted comments on proposed regulations governing “Qualified Mortgages,” or QM for short. These regulations will set standards for a borrower’s ability to repay their mortgage. The proposed regulations require that a lender look at more than just the principal mortgage payment and include mandatory fees like insurance and association assessments as part of the lending decision. In part, this is good news for community associations as buyers will be evaluated on their ability to pay the mortgage and their association assessments, a factor that is often overlooked. Having assessments as part of the lending decision should help to reduce assessment delinquencies. However, on the down side the proposed regulations will allow lenders to rely on third parties, such as community association management companies or association boards, when verifying the assessment levels in a community. If the information provided is inaccurate, associations could face liability if the loan goes into default due to inaccurate information. Additionally, the proposal also seeks public input on the use of community association transfer fees levied at the time of sale. CAI members will recall our successful fight to block another federal agency from banning most mortgages from communities with such fees. That proposal would have made up to 11 million homes unmarketable as approximately 49% of community associations charge a transfer fee. CAI addressed these and other issues in our 52-page comment letter to the government.

In early August, CAI commented on proposed regulations which would create Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) standards. While the QM regulations would establish ability-to-pay standards, the QRM proposal would establish regulations to govern the type of mortgages available to consumers. The draft QRM regulations include provisions which would require minimum 20% down payments and remove the ability of a borrower to finance closing costs and realtor fees. In fact, a study undertaken by mortgage lenders indicates that the QRM regulations as drafted would eliminate more than 70% of currently qualified buyers. CAI’s comments express concerns on a host of issues ranging from the impact of strict rules on an already depressed housing market to an unintentional growth in the role of the FHA for buyers who do not meet the new QRM standards.

The comment periods for these proposed regulations have now closed and the federal government will be reviewing comments and issuing a revised regulatory proposal on a date yet to be determined. In the meantime, you can follow CAI’s work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org. We will continue to monitor and participate in shaping the development of the FHA’s condominium underwriting guidelines to ensure that the perspective of community associations is heard. If you have any questions about the QM or QRM regulations and how it could affect your community, e-mail government@caionline.org with QRM/QM in the subject line.

CAI Legislative Action Committees in ten states have begun to assemble teams to meet with key legislators during the August recess. Congressmen from these targeted states serve on the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, which have jurisdiction on mortgage issues. CAI members will address concerns related to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposal to prohibit Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or any Federal Home Loan Banks from buying mortgages with deed-based transfer fees, new FHA condominium underwriting guidance, and the pending rewrite of the rules applying to all mortgages – the so-called Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) regulations.

The recently issued FHA guidelines for condominium mortgage insurance will be the top issue that the Mortgage Matters Teams will discuss with legislators. The new guidance, issued on June 30, 2011, contains provisions that will make it more difficult, if not impossible, for many associations to qualify for FHA financing, which now accounts for over one-third of all condominium mortgages. The issue with the new guidance is not that the intent of the new criteria is improper, but the manner in which FHA has implemented the requirements does not comport with the reality of how condominium associations are operated or governed. FHA developed the most recent guidance without any public notice or input, and as a result it has created needless problems for associations. These issues include assessment delinquencies, fidelity bonding requirements, project certifications, and leasing restrictions. CAI will ask Congress to direct FHA to revisit the guidance and to undertake oversight hearings on FHA’s process in developing its guidance.

CAI members will also express concerns over the so-called QRM regulations. These regulations will apply to all mortgages. The draft regulations impose overly strict criteria that include a mandatory 20 percent down payment, cash payments for financing costs and realtor fees, as well as provisions that would disqualify any buyer who was 30 days late on any installment payment in the last three years. A study issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association indicated that only 30 percent of current buyers would meet the new lending standards. Close to three-quarters of CAI members surveyed indicated the new regulations went too far and would have a negative impact on the already depressed housing market.

CAI Mortgage Matters Teams will speak up to protect your community and ensure the ability of qualified buyers to purchase homes in community associations now and in the future.  You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org.

House Bill 1582 was introduced by Representative John Taylor (R-177) of Philadelphia on May 24, 2011. As written, the Bill provides Business Improvement Districts the option of adopting an alternate method of billing residential units within a condominium association.

Under current law, Business Improvement Districts (BID) assess a fee on every property within their jurisdiction based upon the assessed value of the property for real estate tax purposes. In the case of condos, each individual unit owner receives a bill for their property assessment and pays their bill directly to the BID.

Under this Bill, the billing of BID assessments to condo associations would change if elected by the BID. The value of assessments for all units within the condo association would be aggregated and one bill would be sent to the condo association. This change would mean the BID assessment would now become a common expense apportioned to each unit owner based upon percentage of ownership in the condominium. The association would be responsible for including the BID assessment in each unit owners’ monthly condo assessment, delineating the portion of the assessment that constitutes the BID fee and for collecting the BID fee along with the monthly condo assessments. In the event of a delinquent unit owner, the condo association would still have to pay the BID bill in full, meaning all owners in the building would have the added burden of paying the fee for a delinquent owner. However the legislation does allow the BID to authorize payment of this “building” assessment in equal, annual or more frequent installments over a fixed period of time at 6% interest or less. The legislation also allows the BID the option of discounting, by 50%, all residential assessments within its jurisdiction.

Practical Impact

Condo owners, like all other single family residential property owners within a BID, would receive a 50% discount on the BID assessment. However, this discount appears to be neither mandatory, nor permanent. Each condo association would now be responsible for the  billing and collections for the BID assessment. Because the BID assessment would now become a common expense allocated by percentage of ownership, all owners would have the added burden of covering the fee for a delinquent owner.

CAI’s Objections

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (PA LAC) objected to various provisions of the legislation. By aggregating assessments and billing the association, the BID assessment would have to be treated as a common expense, which could potentially alter the assessment on each individual unit within the association since it would be based on percentage of ownership as opposed to the actual assessed value of the unit. Furthermore, the association would now be responsible for collecting the BID assessment, pursuing delinquent unit owners through the collections process, and would subject the unit owners association to a claim enforceable as a judgement for money against the unit owners association. Such a claim would appear as a lien against every unit within the condo with the potential to affect resales and securing of a mortgage.

Amendments

On June 17, the following amendments were submitted to the legislature by CAI’s PA LAC.

1. The 50% residential discount be made mandatory and permanent.
2. Language be added that allows the condo association to treat the BID assessment based on the actual assessment of each individual unit and not as a common expense allocated by a percentage of ownership.
3. Language be added that clearly designates that the condo association is merely serving as the collection agent for the BID and that unit owners shall not be liable for delinquent owners who fail to pay their BID assessment. The BID would be responsible for directly pursuing any owners who do not pay.

The above amendments were agreed to in principle by the parties involved with negotiations on the Bill, including CAI and Philadelphia’s Center City District, and sent to the Legislative Reference Bureau. CAI will monitor progress of the Bill and keep members updated as the Bill works its way through the legislative process.

CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee supported this Bill and worked with a coalition of interest groups across the state including the PA Realtors Association, PA Land Title Association and PA Bankers Association to seek its adoption.

Act 8 prohibits the use of certain private transfer fees (PTFs) which are covenants attached to the deed of a property that force the seller to pay one percent of the sale price to a developer, in conjunction with an out-of-state privately held company, for 99 years. PTFs constitute an unreasonable restraint on the transferability of real property, and are a private investment vehicle without any valid development purpose designed only to benefit the developer who imposes them. Pennsylvania becomes the 19th state in the nation to ban such transfer fees.

The law preserves the rights of community associations to levy transfer fees for capital improvements which help fund replacement reserves necessary for the maintenance and improvement of the community, as well as fees which may be charged by an association, or its agent, for the statutorily-required resale certificate. CAI lobbied for a stronger exclusion for community associations and the Act includes amended language to address CAI’s concerns.

The Bill takes affect immediately. Read the text of the Bill.

Visit the legislative section of our website for up to date information on other pending legislation affecting community associations in Pennsylvania.

To the Editor:

A letter appeared in the June 10 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer with the title “Doubly taxed seniors could opt for secession.” The author, Howard Jones, was referring to the fact that residents who own homes in association-governed communities – a cooperative association, condominium association, or homeowners association – often pay twice for municipal-type services that one expects will be provided by local government.

In Pennsylvania, as in most states, municipal type services such as refuse collection, recycling, snow removal, street lighting and street maintenance are provided by the local government and paid for by taxes levied on property. An owner in an association-governed community pays the same property tax rate as his or her neighbors who do not live in an association-governed community, yet oftentimes do not receive the same level of municipal services. In these instances, the association is forced to hire a private contractor and residents end up paying for the service twice. Meanwhile, the owners in the association-governed community receive no break on their property or other local taxes.  A perfect example of this is the City of Philadelphia’s refusal to adequately provide municipal trash collection to condominium and cooperative buildings in the city.

In his letter, Mr. Jones asserts that people who live in community associations, particularly age-restricted communities, “are troubled by what amounts to double taxation – paying for municipally provided services that we do not in fact receive. The township has received a windfall from our community.” He is absolutely correct.

Community Associations Institute’s Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter (CAI) has long advocated for a solution to this in-equity. CAI supports a rebate-type program which has been utilized in New Jersey for many years whereby the municipality can either choose to provide the municipal services usually denied to community associations, or offer a rebate back to the association based on a formula. The rebate is passed on to owners in the community through reduced association assessments.

It’s time for Pennsylvania’s state government to recognize the patent unfairness that occurs when a municipal government taxes association governed communities at the same rate as all residential property owners, and reaps the profits when it refuses to provide the same level of service in return. To paraphrase Mr. Jones, this municipal windfall is wrong. Legislation is pending in City Council that would put an end to Philadelphia’s decades-long trash saga. CAI supports this legislation and other efforts to right this wrong.

CAI is a national association dedicated to fostering successful community associations. Our mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. To learn more about CAI’s positions on legislative issues affecting community associations in Pennsylvania, visit our website at www.cai-padelval.org.

Tony Campisi, Executive Director
Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter
Community Associations Institute

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has told industry stakeholders to expect a detailed update to existing condominium underwriting regulations to be released by the end of June. According to the FHA, the new guidance will provide greater detail, clarity and more flexibility for condominium associations to qualify for FHA financing. Since FHA began the process of revising condominium underwriting criteria more than two years ago, Community Associations Institute (CAI) has been critical of both the criteria adopted by FHA and the process used to develop new guidance. If FHA representations on the forthcoming guidance are accurate, the evolved requirements will show movement toward policy recommendations made by CAI and our industry allies.

On June 13, a CAI delegation led by CAI President Steven Brumfield met with Bob Ryan, acting commissioner of FHA. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss issues raised by CAI and our industry allies communicated to FHA via letter. In response to our concerns, FHA noted that it will be releasing new guidelines for the FHA mortgage insurance program, which will greatly expand on the current 21-page guidance. FHA has indicated that the new guidance will be comprehensive and written in easy-to-understand language, as well as provide greater flexibility in allowing community associations to qualify for FHA financing even if they do not meet all of the current requirements, although it did not provide further details. FHA has also indicated that the guidance will be followed by a more formal process of establishing more permanent regulations governing the condominium program. This is an important move by FHA as developing formal regulations requires FHA to seek board input from stakeholders like CAI, something it has not done in developing the current or soon-to-be-released guidance. Since 2009, CAI has called for greater transparency and more public input in the development of new FHA underwriting rules.

Since the housing crisis, FHA has become an important source of financing for many condominium buyers. In 2010, FHA-insured mortgages accounted for more than one-third of all condominium purchases. Many potential buyers seek out FHA-approved properties as a sign of sound governance in a troubled market. Many other lenders are also informally adopting FHA standards as a benchmark for condominium lending, so the impact of FHA requirements will continue to expand. CAI will post an analysis of the new regulations to our Mortgage Matters website shortly after they are released.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org. CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping the development of the FHA’s condominium underwriting guidelines to ensure that the perspective of community associations is heard. If you have any questions about the FHA’s underwriting criteria and how it could affect your community, e-mail government@caionline.org with FHA Mortgage Insurance Requirements in the subject line.

House Bill 442 would prohibit the use of certain private transfer fees (PTFs) which are covenants attached to the deed of a property that force the seller to pay one percent of the sale price to a developer, in conjunction with an out-of-state privately held company, for 99 years. PTFs constitute an unreasonable restraint on the transferability of real property, and are a private investment vehicle without any valid development purpose designed only to benefit the developer who imposes them. HB 442 preserves the rights of community associations to levy transfer fees for capital improvements which help fund replacement reserves necessary for the maintenance and improvement of the community, as well as fees which may be charged by an association, or its agent, for the statutorily-required resale certificate. CAI lobbied for a stronger exclusion for community associations and the legislation includes amended language to address CAI’s concerns.

The Bill was signed in the House on June 15 and sent to the Governor, who is expected to sign the legislation.  The Bill, once signed by the Governor, will take affect immediately. Read the text of the Bill.

Visit the legislative section of our website for up to date information on other pending legislation affecting community associations in Pennsylvania.

The breakfast was held at Maggiano’s Little Italy in King of Prussia and was generously sponsored by the companies listed below:

Event Sponsors
MAMCO Property Management
Reidenbach & Associates, LLC
Rockwell Associates
Shearon Environmental Design

Breakfast Bar Sponsor:
Wentworth Property Management

Special thanks to table sponsors Barry Isett & Associates, Brogan Landscaping, Eastern Diversified Services, Lemus Construction, Macadam Company, Smith Insurance Associates, Todd Luft & Associates, and US Lawns.

At the breakfast, the following managers were individually recognized for achieving the following CAI Professional Manager Designations this

From left: Chris Aversa, CMCA, AMS, PCAM and Kevin Brown, CMCA, AMS, PCAM

year:

Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM)

Christopher Aversa, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, CAMCO Management Company
Kevin Brown, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, CAMCO Management Company

From left: April Amrhein, CMCA, AMS; Valerie Douglas, CMCA, AMS; Cyndi McArdle, CMCA, AMS; Carrie Poster, CMCA, AMS

Association Management Specialist (AMS)

April Amrhein, CMCA, AMS, Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation, AAMC
Valerie Douglas, CMCA, AMS, Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation, AAMC
Cyndi McArdle, CMCA, AMS, Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation, AAMC
Carrie Poster, CMCA, AMS, MAMCO Property Management

The following managers also received their AMS or CMCA this year but were unable to attend this morning:

John Gorel, CMCA, AMS, Village of Four Seasons Association
Thomas E. Russell, CMCA, AMS, TR Property Services
Lynne Scotko Hartman, CMCA, AMS, MAMCO Property Management
Stephanie Stewart, CMCA, AMS, Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation, AAMC
Carolyn Carr, CMCA, Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation, AAMC
Allison Hindman-Harvey, CMCA, CAMCO Management Company
Joseph Munizza, CMCA, Holy Redeemer Health System
Nicole Bray, CMCA, Mid-Atlantic Management Corporation, AAMC

Congratulations to all managers who have made the significant investment to achieve a professional manager certification/designation! Our chapter is proud to have 126 managers with the CMCA, 88 managers with the AMS designation, 44 managers with the PCAM designation and 3 managers with the LSM, Large Scale Manager, designation.

FHFA took action on growing concern over the use of deed-based transfer fees payable to investors. Under this model, deed-restrictions require a transfer fee payable at the time of sale to the original developer or landowner for up to 99 years. As such, these transfer fees pull money out of communities and allow investors to obtain the benefits of equity or investments made by subsequent home owners. Unfortunately, the FHFA also included deed-based fees charged by community associations in its original draft regulation.

In its revised draft, FHFA specifically excludes deed-based transfer fees payable to a community association. It allows such fees when used to provide a direct benefit to the property upon which the transfer fee is levied. Under the draft, such fees may be used for support maintenance and improvements to encumbered properties, as well as cultural, educational, charitable, recreational, environmental, conservational or other similar activities that exclusively benefit the real property encumbered by the private transfer fee covenants. Such benefits must flow to the encumbered properties and its common areas or to adjacent or contiguous property. This shift in FHFA’s proposal, brought about by CAI member activism, is a critical shift in policy and one that will benefit CAI members by ensuring access to affordable and fair mortgages.

Of course, the devil is always in the details, and CAI continues to work with FHFA to ensure the final regulation, when adopted, provides associations the greatest flexibility allowed in using a variety of tools, including monthly assessments, special assessment and deed-based transfer fees to balance the financial burden of maintaining the association For now, residents in associations with deed-based transfer fees can sleep easy knowing that a potential regulatory disaster was averted.

As part of our ongoing Mortgage Matters program, CAI is working to protect homeowners in community associations and to ensure access to fair and affordable mortgage products for all current and potential community association residents. You can follow our work and share your thoughts at www.caimortgagematters.org. CAI will continue to monitor and participate in shaping the development of the final FHFA transfer fee rule to ensure the perspective of community associations is heard. If you have any questions about the FHFA Transfer Fee Proposal and how it could affect your community, e-mail government@caionline.org with FHFA Transfer Fee Proposal in the subject line.

Decisions that Congress and federal agencies are making today will determine the marketability of your home and your ability to get a mortgage in the future.

CAI’s Mortgage Matters initiative is a comprehensive response to mortgage challenges at the federal level. The common thread for Mortgage Matters is to ensure that potential homebuyers have access to affordable mortgage products and that the criteria used to determine eligibility for loans in community associations are realistic measures of an association’s financial health. As the rules being developed today will likely govern mortgages for the next several decades, the stakes could not be higher.

CAI Mortgage Matters is a hub for information on how the rules governing mortgages are changing, what CAI is doing to protect your home and your community, informative webinars and a place for you to share your thoughts on the challenges your community faces as a result of changing mortgage requirements.

You can access the site at http://CAImortgagematters.org

Why is this important?

Common-interest communities—including homeowners associations, condominium communities and cooperatives—are home to more than one in five Americans—62 million people! Because community association residents assess themselves for the upkeep of their communities and their services and amenities, associations save state and local governments more than $40 billion a year in expenses that would otherwise fall on local taxpayers. Because of resident-supported amenities and rules to protect property values, homes in community associations are also worth more than similar properties that are not located in an association.

We’ve also posted  a short webinar discussing Mortgage Matters and what it means for you. You can view this free webinar here.

We look forward to helping you stay up to date on these important issues and to engage you in our work to protect your home and your community.

Councilman Kenney introduced legislation over a decade ago that extended eligibility for residential municipal trash collection to include owners of cooperatives and condominiums. On June 13, 2002 the Bill was adopted by City Council.  Then-Mayor John Street returned the bill to City Council without his signature, with a letter stating that the City would not enforce the law.  In response, City Council filed suit to compel the Administration to enforce municipal refuse collection from community associations in the City. This step was supported by all members of City Council, including then-Councilmember Michael Nutter, now Mayor of Philadelphia.  In 2005, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied then-Mayor Street’s appeal in the case, and affirmed the Commonwealth Court’s opinion in favor of City Council as the final ruling in the case.

Unfortunately for owners of condos, co-ops and planned community units in the city, he issue of refuse collection remains unresolved.  While the City has extended an offer of weekly curbside collection, the volume of trash that these communities accumulate makes this an unsanitary solution that would cause many other health and neighborhood concerns.  Therefore, the City’s condominium, cooperative, and planned community residential unit owners continue to pay for a city service that they cannot use.

This is an issue, however, that is not limited to the City of Philadelphia. Community associations across Pennsylvania, and in fact across the nation, deal with this very same issue. In most states, owners in community associations pay municipal taxes for services that are, in many cases, not provided to residents who live  within the association, including road maintenance, refuse collection and other municipal services. The owners who reside in these community associations pay for these services twice – once through municipal/property taxes and again when they privately contract for the services not provided by the municipal government. CAI’s Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee (PA LAC) has legislation that would address this problem and continues to fight for adoption of a legislative cure for this situation. PA LAC is monitoring PA House Bill 202 which would provide a state tax credit to owners in community associations.

In Philadelphia, Councilman Kenney is proposing that the City offer a tax credit of up to $200 per residential unit to address the disparity in collection services. CAI’s PA Legislative Action Committee will study the Bill and provide testimony if and when hearings are scheduled.

The adoption of such a tax credit would give momentum to a statewide solution to this issue. Please monitor your email and other communications from CAI for updates on this important development. Visit our website for more information on CAI’s legislative advocacy efforts.

Click here to support our legislative advocacy efforts through our Buck-A-Door program and please share this information with colleagues and neighbors.

Senate Bill 353 would prohibit the use of certain private transfer fees (PTFs) which are covenants attached to the deed of a property that force the seller to pay one percent of the sale price to a developer, in conjunction with an out-of-state privately held company, for 99 years. PTFs constitute an unreasonable restraint on the transferability of real property, and are a private investment vehicle without any valid development purpose designed only to benefit the developer who imposes them. SB 353 preserves the rights of community associations to levy transfer fees for capital improvements which help fund replacement reserves necessary for the maintenance and improvement of the community, as well as fees which may be charged by an association, or its agent, for the statutorily-required resale certificate.

The Bill will now be considered by the PA House of Representatives and CAI will keep you advised of its progress. Please monitor your email in the event CAI needs you to contact your state representative regarding this Bill.

For more information, read the statement released today by Senator Wayne Fontana, chief sponsor of the Bill.

CAI lobbied the FHFA to modify its initial proposal, which would have prevented Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other federal home loan banks from purchasing mortgages for homes in communities with deed-based transfer fees.

Although modified in a positive way, the draft regulation is still subject to change. The FHFA will accept comments on the latest draft for 60 days from the date of publication on February 1.

“CAI members and staff worked tirelessly to persuade the FHFA that traditional community association transfer fees should not be included in the regulation,” said CAI President Steven Y. Brumfield, CMCA, AMS, PCAM. “This is what an effective grassroots effort can accomplish and is the kind of advocacy that makes a real difference for associations across the country.”

Traditional community association transfer fees are based on contractual agreements in which new owners pay a fixed amount or small percentage of the sales price to the communities. Associations use these fees to support operations and fund essential, long-term maintenance and capital improvement projects.

Announced in the Federal Register February 1, the proposed regulation would still bar mortgage support for homes in associations where transfer fees do not benefit the association or, therefore, properties in the community.

“This was a critical revision for the financial health of tens of thousands of community associations,” said CAI Chief Executive Officer Thomas M. Skiba, CAE. “Protecting traditional transfer fees is beneficial to homeowners, potential homebuyers, the associations and the housing market. The government should avoid doing anything that could stifle home sales and put communities in further financial jeopardy.”

Added 2010 CAI President P. Michael Nagle, Esq.: “The exclusion of deed-based transfer fees that benefit community associations is a step in the right direction for associations and the still-stagnant housing market. We are pleased the voices of community associations and homeowners were heard. We hope this isn’t reversed before the regulation is finalized.”

According to the FHFA, Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac and 12 other federal home loan banks provide almost $6 trillion in funding for U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions.

CAI is a 30,000-member, national association dedicated to fostering successful community and condominium associations. Working in partnership with 60 chapters, CAI advocates on behalf of associations and provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. CAI’s mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship-ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. Visit www.caionline.org or call (888) 224-4321.

CAI’s role of advocating at the state level on behalf of community associations is growing each year. More and more legislative proposals that would impact community associations are introduced in the state legislature each session. A critical part of CAI’s mission is to fulfill a role of advocacy on behalf of community associations – to fight legislative and executive proposals that would harm community associations and to support proposals that would help community associations. To fulfill this mission, it is critical that CAI have an ability to touch, at a moment’s notice, as wide an audience as possible with information on legislation, breaking news, legal and legislative updates, and more. Our community action center will help do just that.

These days, information flows freely, and fast. Through this blog, our twitter and facebook accounts, and our email alerts, we hope to reach as many community association participants as possible in order to have the widest impact as possible on issues that affect community association living. On our legislative pages, you can connect with your state senator and state representative, read about CAI’s positions on pending legislation, and connect with CAI’s Advocacy Center. You can also review the Legislative Honor Roll and see which members support our legislative efforts with a sponsorship or a contribution to our Buck A Door program.

How can you help? If you’re already receiving email alerts from the chapter, you are already connected to our action network. If you’re not, visit our community action center and sign up. Be sure to add tony@cai-padelval.org to your email “approved senders” or “whitelist” to be sure our email alerts do not go to your spam folder.

You can also help by putting others in contact with us. Refer your neighbors to our facebook page and follow us on twitter. Email a link to our community action center to your community association’s board members or a manager who may not know about CAI. Seek permission to post this information to your association and/or management company website or in your newsletter.

There are thousands of community associations out there…with hundreds of thousands of people living in them. Those living in community associations are constituents, and voters. The greater CAI’s ability to mobilize these constituents, the louder CAI’s voice will be in the halls of the Capitol, where it often needs to be heard the loudest.

Annual Meeting

Members gathered to elect members to the chapter board of directors. Newly elected board members include Mary Ann Mulfino, CMCA, with Wentworth Property Management and Mitch Frumkin, RS, with Kipcon Inc. Incumbent directors elected to an additional term include Jeffrey Jacobs, Esq., with Center City One Condo Association, Ed Shew, CMCA, AMS, PCAM with Shew Community Management, and Robert A. Travis, CIRMS, with CAU of America.

Robert Wise President’s Award

Steve Smith, left, accepts the Robert Wise Presidents Award from 2010 Chapter President Stefan Richter.

The Robert Wise President’s Award was established in 1996 to honor former chapter president Robert Wise, principal and owner of Wise Management Company and who was an active member of this chapter for many years. The award is given out each year by the President of the Board to a chapter volunteer who has shown outstanding service and dedication to the chapter.

This year’s winner is Steve Smith, Jr. CIRMS, with Smith Insurance Associates.  Steve has been a member since March 1, 1989. During his 21 years as a member, Steve served for many years on the Golf Committee and helped establish the annual golf outing as one of the most significant revenue centers for the chapter as well as a great networking opportunity for members. Steve has spoken at many educational programs for managers and board members throughout the years. He joined the chapter board of directors in 2005 and served as President of the Chapter Board of Directors in 2009. Congratulations to Steve Smith, Jr., 2010 Robert W. Wise Award winner!

Gold Star Awards

The chapter recognized 2 communities who renewed their Gold Star Award and 6 communities who received the Gold Star Award for the first time.

Renewing Gold Star Communities
Marsh Harbour Community Association
Summit House Condominium Association

Representatives of new and existing Gold Star communities gather for a group photo.

New Gold Star Communities
Belmont Community Association
Birchfield Community Services Association
Pine Crest Community Association
Waterfront Square-The Peninsula Tower
Waterfront Square-The Regatta Tower
Woodlake at Kings Grant Condo Association

Over 80 members attended the holiday party to help CAI celebrate the success of 2010 and look towards another event-filled year in 2011. CAI thanks and appreciates the service of all chapter committee members and regional council members who contribute an enormous amount of time and energy towards making our programs and events a success.

2010 Chapter President Stefan Richter, Esq. gives a brief year in review report.

Members network at the chapter holiday party.

Terry Clemons, Esq., left, and Diane Ramirez Clemons, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, both past presidents of the chapter.

Nancy Hastings, 2011 Chapter President, presents Stefan Richter, 2010 Chapter President, with the gavel plaque.

From left: Pat Connolly, Marianne Fein, Mary Ann Mulfino and Donna Mitchell, with Wentworth Property Management.

From left, Cheryl Schmitt and Dorisann Mooring accept the Community Association of the Year Award from PMRC Council President Amy Janiszewski and Executive Director Tony Campisi.

Community Association of the Year
Hemlock Farms Community Association was named Community Association of the Year. Located in Lord’s Valley, Pike County, Hemlock Farms consists of 3,200 homes and prides itself on being a green community. In addition to other programs, Hemlock Farms created a Conservancy whose mission is to preserve and protect the rural forested environment within and adjacent to Hemlock Farms and has worked with the Pennsylvania Rural Water Association to create a local Source Water Protection Committee that works to keep the drinking water aquifer pure and undamaged by events that occur in Hemlock Farms and the surrounding area.

Association Volunteer Leader of the Year
Bob Baechtold has provided leadership to the Lake Naomi-Timber Trails associations for years and currently serves as President of the Pocono Pines Community Association, a CAI Gold Star Community.  Bob has also served as President of the Timer Trails Community Association, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors and President of the Board of Trustees.He is also currently active in a speed awareness campaign to educate members of the association regarding speeding within the community.

Association Employee of the Year
Jeffrey Evans, PCAM, LSM, has served for 30 years as the Chief Operating Officer of Lake Naomi Club and General Manager of Lake Naomi-Timber Trails Community Association. Jeff has continuously worked to upgrade Lake Naomi’s amenities and has been very successful in

Wendi Freeman, right, accepts on behalf of Jeff Evans. At left is PMRC President Amy Janiszewski.

maintaining the strong support of the membership. He has strongly led the strategic planning of the association to make certain it will continue to meet the needs of its diverse membership for the next 50 years.

Pocono Mountains Regional Council Volunteer of the Year
Cheryl Schmitt, CMCA, AMS has excelled in her volunteer capacity and proved herself to be dedicated to the PMRC activities and meetings.  She actively participated in past years on the Poconos Programs Committee.  When needed, she voluntarily moved onto the Poconos Membership Committee and this year accepted the position as Membership Committee Chair in which she helped the team to stay focused on the committee’s goal to enhance the overall membership maintenance and membership renewals.

Cheryl Schmitt, left, accepts the PMRC Volunteer of the Year Award from Council President Amy Janiszewski.

Congratulations to all of this year’s award winners!

The hearing was held in a packed meeting room as dozens of interested parties came out to hear the state’s testimony and preliminary findings as well as that of other stakeholders. Alan Price Young, Esq., a member of CAI’s College of Community Association Lawyers, along with Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley Chapter Executive Director Tony Campisi and PA Legislative Action Committee member Alan Dolge provided testimony and answered questions on behalf of CAI.

Some highlights of the state’s findings are below. Click here to read the complete testimony provided by Karen Maynard, Economist and Project Manager of HR350. Click here to read CAI’s testimony.

1. In response to a survey sent to Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, only 18 were able to provide the state with relatively complete information requested. Four Pennsylvania counties indicated they have no common interest ownership communities (CIOCs) within the county with several others indicated only a few communities. Forty one (41) counties did not respond to the survey at all.
2. It has become evident that many counties and municipalities do not regularly collect information on common interest ownership communities due to a probable lack of staff and resources.
3. Preliminary findings indicate two primary reasons why CIOCs are prevalent in some parts of the state: 1) There is a demand for the amenities offered by some CIOCs and 2) There may be financial incentives for both municipalities and developers to build CIOCs.
4. A common issue among CIOC stakeholders is whether or not roadway maintenance within CIOCs should be paid for by the HOA or the municipality. The study also has preliminaryfindings on stormwater management, dams and other services such as school bus transportation within private communities.
5. The state has also concluded, preliminarily, that, in limited cases, it does appear that residents may be paying twice for some services. The magnitude to which this double payment occurs varies widely depending on the municipality and its relationship with the HOA.

To read the full testimony and preliminary report, click here. CAI will continue to monitor this ongoing study and provide assistance to the state as the study nears completion.

But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what members are saying about the Gold Star program:

“As a community manager, I find the Gold Star application to be a valuable tool. I use it to determine how the association and management are operating. Is the board periodically updating the reserve analysis? Does the board adequately keep homeowners informed? Is the association sufficiently insured? The application process helps me ensure the association is meeting its responsibilities.”  –Pat Connolly, PCAM, The Wentworth Group

“The Board at Traditions at Skippack view the Gold Star program as a highly regarded standard for excellence in all facets of community management. Receiving this award confirms to our residents that their community is being managed to the highest standards in the industry. This award also makes our community much more appealing to prospective residents, resulting in strong property values.” –Tom Adamski, President, Traditions at Skippack

To request an application for Gold Star Community recognition, or to learn how CAI is working for homeowners and community associations, please call the Pennsylvania & Delaware Valley Chapter office, toll-free, at 1.877.608.9777 or click here to download an application. The current application period ends October 1, 2010. Don’t delay! Apply today! The next round of Gold Star winners will be recognized at CAI’s holiday party in December.

For a list of current Gold Star Communities, click here.

The day started with Keynote Speaker Joe Conklin, a comedian and celebrity impressionist, who spoke on the importance of leaving a good impression and having a positive attitude. His impressions of Governor Ed Rendell, former President George W. Bush, Senator Arlen Specter, Phillies famed announcer Harry Kalas, and others, were dead on, and the crowd roared with laughter at his presentation! In the video below, Conklin impersonates long-time Eagles announcer Merrill Reese.

Video: Keynote Speaker Joe Conklin does his impression of Philadelphia Eagles announcer Merrill Reese

The General Session also featured three communities receiving the chapter’s Gold Star Award – Pier 3 Condominium in Philadelphia, Old Forge Crossing in Chester County, and The Hideout, in the Pocono Mountains.

Mid-Atlantic Management Reps with Phillie Phanatic

Nearly 90 exhibitors packed the exhibit hall and attendance was at a record level.  A Philadelphia ball park lunch was served including stadium hot dogs, Philly cheesesteaks and hoagies. Attendees had the opportunity to participate in four educational classes throughout the day, including Stormwater Management, Neighbors at War, Working with Your Historical Commission, and Multiple Unit Insurance Claims. Attendees also had the opportunity to tour the stadium and even had a chance to have a picture taken with the Phillie Phanatic!

At the end of the day, exhibitors gave away door prizes galore, and the cash prize grand winner was Rosy Brophy, of Mid-Atlantic Management, who won the $1000 cash prize! Congratulations Rosy!

Rosy Brophy wins the Grand Cash Prize!

After a long day of education, exhibit hall fun, and door prizes, many exhibitors and attendees joined together at the after party in the stadium’s Diamond Club for a relaxing evening unwinding after an action packed day.

CAI thanks all of our sponsors who made this event possible, including our three Grand Slam Event Sponsors, Eastern Diversified Services, Macadam Company and Lemus Construction. Our Breakfast sponsor was Sparkling Pools and Steve Diorio/State Farm Insurance. Lunch Sponsors were Stark and Stark, Lindsay Insurance and Wentworth Management. Community Association Banc and County Action Restoration sponsored our Keynote Speaker and Becht Engineering and RestoreCore sponsored our Registration Booth. The Lanyard Sponsor was Shearon Environmental Design. And our Extra Innings Evening Reception was sponsored by Roof-A-Cide, Mamco Property Management, Smith Insurance, R.V. Buric and Union Bank.

For more photos of this exciting event, visit our Facebook page.

Attendees tour the Phillies dugout

Attendees relax at the after party at Citizens Bank Park's Diamond Club behind home plate.

For the complete article and information, click here to visit CAI’s national website.

So go the lyrics in Don Henley’s song Dirty Laundry, about a media culture more concerned with sensationalism than fact.

A few weeks ago there was media buzz about a community association in the Philadelphia Suburbs which had denied an owner’s application to install a solar panel on the roof. The story hit the news and the press went wild.

On January 22, 2010, the West Chester Daily Local ran an editorial that was extremely critical of the homeowners association in question and of associations in general. The editorial board clearly did not bother to get the facts straight before they launched an unwarranted and factually-incorrect attack on community associations in Pennsylvania. The following editorial, which has yet to be published by the newspaper, was sent by CAI in response.  Click here to read the original editorial.

“I am writing in response to the editorial published in your paper on January 22, entitled “Homeowners need protection from association’s rules.”

Your statement that homeowners associations are “governed not by a democratically elected municipal government but by an autocratic group of naysayers” is unfair, uninformed and could not be further from the truth.  Under the Pennsylvania Uniform Planned Community Act, associations are governed by boards consisting of homeowners who are elected by their neighbors. The thousands of Pennsylvanians who volunteer to serve on these boards do so without compensation and are obligated to serve, according to state law, “…in good faith, in a manner they reasonably believe to be in the best interests of the association and with care.”

The vast majority of these homeowner volunteer leaders work diligently and effectively to meet the established expectations of their neighbors. In fact, national surveys conducted by Zogby International in 2005, 2007 and 2009 show that close to 90 percent of association residents believe their governing boards strive to serve the best interests of their communities.  What politician—or newspaper—wouldn’t welcome that kind of support? Fact is, if a board member is not serving in the best interest of the association and the people who live there, the owners in the community can vote him or her off the board.

Your editorial’s contention that the state should “enact laws that would restore to homeowners the rights they seem to have unintentionally signed away for the pleasure of living in neighborhoods with cute, faux rural names” displays a lack of understanding about the reason community associations exist in the first place, the advantages to residents who choose to live there and the laws that govern associations. For instance, there is a Federal law on the books that prohibits a community association from denying an owner’s right to fly the American flag. That law also correctly permits the association to govern the placement and size of the flag to insure safety and compliance with architectural and other guidelines.

Community associations deliver services at the direction of their homeowner members,  meeting the expectations of residents by working to provide a safe, well-maintained living environment, preserving the nature of the community and protecting property values.

In addition to providing amenities like pools, walking trails and clubhouses, and services including snow plowing, refuse collection and street maintenance, community associations also extend some degree of protection against neighborhood degradation and deterioration – cars on cinder blocks, dilapidated homes or yards that are not maintained. This requires not only the creation of reasonable community standards, but also the equitable and consistent enforcement of rules.

While rules differ among associations, the goals are the same: To preserve the nature of the community, protect property values and meet the established expectations of residents. These responsibilities fall to the volunteers who are elected by their neighbors to govern associations and to the professionals who often are hired to manage them.

Despite their inherent advantages, associations do face complicated issues, none more common than the challenge of balancing the best interests of the community as a whole with the preferences of individual residents. Many community associations deal regularly with conflicts involving what a resident may want to do and what established rules allow. Managing this critical and delicate balance is the essence of association governance.

But it’s important to remember that people living in an association-governed community have contractually agreed to adhere to the rules in that community. Covenants, codes and restrictions are created to maintain community standards, protect property values and encourage a sense of community stewardship. They would cease to exist if the majority of residents did not want them. The legislature would be well advised to carefully consider the constitutional ramifications of legislating away contractual agreements between two private parties.

In the case of solar panels, serious issues must be considered by a community association board. For example, in many communities that consist of townhome style houses, the homeowner may not own the roof. The roof may be owned by the association. Who is responsible for damage to the roof when the solar panel is installed? More importantly, when the roof needs to be replaced, as all roofs inevitably do, who is responsible for paying for the removal and re-installation of the solar panel? And if the solar panel is damaged in this process, who is responsible? What happens if the piping to and from the solar panel is defective and leaks occur that damage neighboring units? Who pays to fix the damage?

Community Associations Institute, an organization that works on behalf of all common-interest communities, is aware of Representative Houghton’s proposed legislation and stands ready to work with him to find a solution that preserves the ability of owners to take advantage of renewable energy sources while maintaining the association’s duty to act in the best interests of the community at large to protect property values.

As always, CAI advocates open, constructive and respectful dialogue and urges all parties to be reasonable, flexible and open to compromise when disagreements do arise.”

Tony Campisi, Executive Director
Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley Chapter, Community Associations Institute

CAI members should monitor their local media outlets, and when you see a mis-informed opinion about life in community associations in your local paper, let us know so we can correct it. Don’t let that dirty laundry hang out to dry.

The article quotes Reps. Scavello and Siptroth from the Poconos, as well CAI’s Executive Director Tony Campisi regarding the need and usefulness of this study which will take place in the coming months.  CAI believes this statewide study of private communities is the first of its kind in the nation.

The study will examine the number of association-governed communities in all 67 counties in the Commonwealth and measure the amount of state and municipal taxes paid by owners in these communities as well as the impact of any effort by the Commonwealth to provide access to public funds for infrastructure improvements within these communities. CAI will assist with the study.

Click here to read the article in the Pocono Record.

The resolution directs the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study of common interest ownership communities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to studying infrastructure, taxes, etc., the study would also count and catalogue the number of community associations in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. The data from this study, which we believe will be the first of its kind in the nation, will be invaluable to CAI as we continue to address the issues most important to community associations and residents who live in them.

CAI thanks Representative John Siptroth, (D-189, Monroe and Pike Counties) for his efforts to draft and pass this resolution.

For the full text of the resolution, please visit the legislative page of our website.

Please enjoy the July4th Holiday weekend!

The resolution, strongly supported by CAI, directs the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study of the impact of common interest ownership communities on local governments and the Commonwealth, the challenges facing the residents and governing bodies of these common interest ownership communities and opportunities for the Commonwealth to assist local governments and common interest ownership communities to deliver adequate services to their residents at an affordable cost.

CAI was an active participant in the drafting of this resolution. CAI is prepared to work closely with the Joint State Goverment Commission to successfully conduct this study and we will use the data and results to help shape public policy that may impact common interest ownership communities in the Commonwealth, including efforts to provide a remedy to those who live in common interest ownership communities and who pay municipal taxes, but do not receive certain municipal services in return for municipal tax dollars.

Click here to visit our legislative page for the full text of the resolution.