10 Signs of Co-op / Condo Financial Trouble: A Print 'Em Out Checklist

1. Your co-op / condo consistently spends more money than it receives in assessments. See Being Proactive to Avoid Assessments, Save Money and Improve Your Building .

2. You're not paying taxes or filing necessary reports when they are due.

3. You has special assessments for operating expenses, not for special projects or capital improvements. See Prioritizing Repairs When Your Co-op / Condo Board Has No Money .

4. Your accounts payables (the money you owe others) are growing and are going unpaid each month.

5. Your accounts receivable (the money others owe you) are growing and 10% of your owners owe more than 120 days or older.

6. You now regularly dip into savings, restricted funds or reserves to pay for ordinary operating expenses or when special projects are to be completed.

7. You're billing shareholders / unit-owners in advance and relying on those who prepay their assessments to pay bills or payroll.

8. You have has no consistent policy to collect past due assessments or to prevent this from happening in the future.

9. You do not know how much money you owe and do not receive the proper monthly reports to find this out.

10. At your board of directors meetings and annual meetings, lack of money has become the focus and dominant point of conversation.

If this sounds like your co-op or condo, it is past time for your board to take action. Here's some solid advice from the Habitat annals:

• Recovering from Economic Catastrophe: Lessons of Parkway Village

• Financial Disaster: How to Recover, How to Avoid: Part I

• Financial Disaster: How to Recover, How to Avoid: Part II

John R. Math i s a Florida real estate veteran with more than 35 years experience in community-association management. This checklist is adapted from his article in the APM News Express online newsletter.