What the heck is a site condo anyway?
If you haven’t bought a new home in quite a while in Michigan you may be surprised when your Realtor® tells you that you’ve been looking at “site condos”, when you thought you were in subdivisions looking at houses. You were looking at houses, but you might have actually been in a condo complex. Read […]
From Good to Great: Principles for Community Association Success
Every community has its own history, personality, attributes and challenges, but all associations share common characteristics and core principles. Good associations preserve the character of their communities, protect property values and meet the established expectations of homeowners. Great associations also cultivate a true sense of community, promote active homeowner involvement and create a culture of […]
Smoking Bans in Condominiums
Most Michigan residents are familiar with the Dr. Ron Davis Smoke-Free Air Law of 2009; if not by name, then by its radical ban of smoking in Michigan’s restaurants and taverns. It is hard to imagine another law that has changed our daily lives more. The Act, and others like it around the country, is […]
Securing Co-owner Compliance: The Remedies Available to a Condominium Association
The Michigan Court of Appeals has noted that, by purchasing a unit in a condominium project, “each unit owner must give up a certain degree of freedom of choice which he might otherwise enjoy in separate, privately owned property.” The limits on that freedom are contained in both the condominium documents and the Michigan Condominium […]
So Now You’re On the Board
The first steps to superior board performance are clarifying your board’s job and then following through with appropriate plans, actions and evaluation of results. The checklists presented here are intended to assist you in those tasks. They cover a significant number of your responsibilities. The checklists will apply to virtually any association. To use them, […]
The Importance of Taking and Keeping Good Minutes
Community Associations generally are non-profit corporations. As such, they have a statutory duty to keep minutes of the proceedings of its shareholders or members, board, and executive committee. Since the Nonprofit Corporation Act and most community association documents require an association to allow members to examine the minutes and make extracts from them, it is […]