Free Community Association Seminars – February 23, 2008

On February 23, 2008 at the MAC in Edmond, the Edmond Neighborhood Alliance will be hosting its annual neighborhoods Summit from 8 a.m. to noon. I will be presenting two seminars at the Summit:

Session 1:  Community Association Fundamentals. Seminar will touch on the topics of: basics of association organization documents, their meaning, and function; meeting requirements and organization; the importance of incorporation and corporate procedure.

Session 2:  Covenant Enforcement, Legal Remedies, and Conflict Resolution of the Association. Seminar will touch on the topics of: covenant enforcement strategies; rules, fines, and penalties; collection of assessments; liens and foreclosures; proven conflict resolution techniques.

Matthew L. Winton, Oklahoma homeowner association attorney

Community Association Seminar: Covenant Enforcement & Legal Remedies

This Tuesday, December 18, 2007 from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. at the Belle Isle Library in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Matthew Winton will be hosting the final community association seminar of this year. December's seminar topic is Covenant Enforcement, Legal Remedies, and Conflict Resolution of the Association. The seminar discussion will include: covenant enforcement strategies; rules, fines, and penalties; collection of assessments; liens and foreclosures; proven conflict resolution techniques, question/answer. Light refreshments are provided.

Registration form may be found here. Cost per attendee is $20.00.

ENA Summit Conference 2007

This Saturday in Edmond, the Edmond Neighborhood Alliance will host their annual summit on City of Edmond and community association issues. I will be presenting one of the break out sessions on updates in community association law.

If you are unable to attend, the powerpoint presentation slides are available here:  Download ena_legal_seminar_2007.ppt . You may need Powerpoint or its reader to view the file.

Matthew L. Winton
Oklahoma homeowner association and condominium association attorney

Sex offenders living within 1/10 of a mile can affect property values to 4%

As a follow up to my recent post on Oklahoma housing location restrictions for sex offenders, the National Bureau of Economic Research has published a paper that reports:

We combine data from the housing market with data from the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry to estimate how individuals value living in close proximity to a convicted criminal. We use the exact location of these offenders to exploit variation in the threat of crime within small homogenous groupings of homes, and we use the timing of sex offenders’ arrivals to control for baseline property values in the area. We find statistically and economically significant negative effects of sex offenders’ locations that are extremely localized. Houses within a one-tenth mile area around the home of a sex offender fall by four percent on average (about $5,500) while those further away show no decline. These results suggest that individuals have a significant distaste for living in close proximity to a known sex offender. Using data on crimes committed by sexual offenders against neighbors, we estimate costs to victims of sexual offenses under the assumptions that all of the decline in property value is due to increased crime risk and that neighbors’ perceptions of risk are in line with objective data. We estimate victimization costs of over $1 million—far in excess of estimates taken from the criminal justice literature. However, we cannot reject the alternative hypotheses that individuals overestimate the risk posed by offenders or view living near an offender as having costs exclusive of crime risk.

You may view an abstract of the report here. Interesting, and startling research.

Second Edition - Oklahoma Community Association Handbook

The 2006 second edition of the Oklahoma Community Association Handbook is completed and is at the printer. The second edition contains over 400 pages of commentary, law, forms, and checklists on community association issues. New to the second edition are: Chapters on association insurance and special issues such as leasing restrictions, satellite dishes, and anti-speculation clauses; expanded commentary on association meetings and elections; and new forms on voting, ballots, elections, and meetings. A table of contents for the Handbook may be viewed at: http://www.vaughnandwinton.com/handbook.html.

The Handbook is sold at $64.95 per book, and may be ordered by calling 405.478.4818 and reserving your copy.

Oklahoma Community Associations Handbook - Second Edition

Many have inquired as to when I will have copies of the Oklahoma Community Associations Handbook for sale. I am in the process of completing the second edition and should have the book to the printer around the first of June, with copies available for sale before the first of July. The second edition will have over four hundred pages of commentary, forms, and law relative to Oklahoma community associations. To my knowledge, the Handbook is a one of a kind resource for Oklahoma community associations. You may pre-order your copy by contacting Sean at Vaughn & Winton (405.478.4818), and giving him your name, telephone number, email or mailing address.

Vaughn & Winton - Texas Office

Posting on the COA/HOA blog has been slow due to our opening a North Texas office of Vaughn & Winton. The office is located in the Carter Burgess building in downtown Fort Worth. Matthew Winton will be managing the Texas office. You may contact him at 817.887.8019, or any attorney in the Edmond, Oklahoma office at 405.478.4818.

Cross-post - Estate Planning

Although this does not relate to community associations, the topic of good estate planning does relate to preserving community. Check out attorney Michael Clark's timely and authoritative articles on estate planning at www.okestateplan.blogs.com.

MLW

Adding value through association

An association may get the reputation for simply collecting dues and mowing common areas. While receiving dues and maintaining common areas are two important functions of an association, a community association can offer much more. There are many ways a community association may add value to a real estate development.

For example, many associations schedule a community-wide garage sale one or more times during a year. The economic concept mirrors the familiar sight of "miles of cars," or competing big-box retailers located across the street from each other. By coordinating a community-wide garage sale on a specific day, the neighborhood increases the total traffic inside the addition, the traffic increase theoretically translating into higher sales. Higher sales means the association has added value to the individual owners' garage sales.

Another way an association may add value is by providing timely and meaningful communication to its members. One method is by publishing an annual directory. A directory is a tangible, meaningful means of communicating what may be important information to the members.

Of course, the few examples cited in this post are not exhaustive, and may not even be the best examples for your association. The best solution for adding value through your association will only arise through creative and collaborative thinking among the board members and owners. One thing is for sure: the wheel has been invented, perhaps even in your addition. This means that it is incumbent on association boards to maintain corporate memory by keeping lists of projects and evaluating where the association has succeeded and where better use of resources might be made.

Along with finding the invented wheel, a board might talk to other associations and municipalities for ideas, or search the Internet for examples of projects (or grant money) that could benefit the association.

Two informative websites for associations

Here are links to two extremely informative and helpful websites: the Community Associations Network at http://www.communityassociations.net/index.html and the Community Associations Institute at http://www.caionline.org/. Both sites have articles, law, and forms that would be helpful to any association.

Escrowing of assessments

HUD has announced that it is taking comments on whether to adopt a rule allowing mortgage companies to escrow association assessments. Read the proposed rule here: http://hudclips.org/sub_nonhud/cgi/pdf/24989.pdf. Community Associations Institute (CAI) has submitted its comments. You may read CAI’s comments to the proposed rule at http://www.caionline.org/govt/regulatory/escrowing_assessments.pdf

Welcome to the Oklahoma community association blog

This marks the initial publication of the Oklahoma community association blog - an online resource for information relating specifically to Oklahoma condominium and homeowner associations. My goal is to provide a meaningful resource for community associations, condominium associations, homeowner associations, voluntary neighborhood associations, and the people and professionals who live and work with them.