Teachable Moments: More Tips About Good Relationships with Residents
Nov. 14, 2013 — Few things are more important, so it's a topic worth revisiting: An effective co-op board or condo association needs to build and maintain good relationships with shareholders or unit-owners. Not only is this practical and pragmatic from a governing standpoint, but it makes living in a cooperative or condominium much, much nicer than where there's rancor, suspicion and even lawsuits against imperious, secretive or disrespectful boards. Here, three veteran property managers offer their real-life experiences on maintaining a good board / resident relationship.
Georgia Lombardo-Barton
President, Barton Management
[The annual meeting] can be a pleasant get-together or a dreaded riot act. Our strategy is simple yet often overlooked: communication. Whether you distribute quarterly newsletters or send e-mail updates, keeping unit-owners informed regularly will result in a harmonious annual meeting. This year, we had quorums with over 80 percent in proxies, particularly in buildings with major capital improvements currently in progress. We provided those unit-owners with monthly project updates along with any other business that was noteworthy. At one 40-unit co-op's annual meeting, only three non-board shareholders attended. How easy was that?
Stuart D. Smolar
Vice President, Andrews Building Corporation
The risk of assuming that all board members, unit-owners, and/or shareholders are fully versed in every issue allows for misunderstanding and errors in the decision-making process. The opportunity to explain all components of an issue shouldn't be wasted, whether dealing with budgeting, capital projects, legal issues, or any other matter. It provides those with little understanding of the matter a background to make rational decisions, or at the very least, to ask pertinent questions. For those with an understanding, it gives them the up-to-date details necessary to understand where the matter is at that moment in time. The value of teaching an issue is rarely a waste of time, and in the long run makes the board's, building's and manager's lives more productive.
Paul T. Brensilber
President, Jordan Cooper & Associates
Buildings are living organisms, and they need to adapt to change. As long as people work with one another, and not against each other, the building will be successful. When a building has infighting, has prolonged capital projects, doesn't do things properly from the outset or is ineffective, that's when the tone of the building changes and values drop. When potential buyers go through minutes and see that there are fights over issues such as smoking, garbage, smells, and these types of things, this depresses values and makes the building more difficult to manage. Inherently, people want to be part of a success — to buy into a building that's successful — and successful buildings are happy buildings. Everybody (the board, staff, management and owners) has to work together. The goal is to make it a better building, and the better buildings are where you see higher values.
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