Explain the repair funding gap

Here's the math nobody wants to say out loud. You asked for $2 million. You're going to get $1 .3 million. The other $700 ,000 is a special assessment. And the only question is whether the board does it now, while it knows what the damage is and the cost, or in five years when it doesn't. And you need to get new bids and you need to come up with new dollar amounts and you possibly have new people living there. I'm not going to tell the board whether to take the offer.

That's their lawyer's conversation and it depends on things that I don't know. What I can tell you is how boards make this decision badly because I've watched it. They vote on feelings. We're tired. We don't want another assessment. Let's wait and see. And the wait and see is expensive because the damage doesn't wait. And the time you've got to do anything about it doesn't either. So as a manager, put three numbers on one page for the board.

One, what the repair costs. Two, what's on the table. And three, the gap per owner. So $700 ,000 across 100 units is $7K a door. That's a real number and people can relate to that real number. Then the honest options. Assess it now and it's paid. Borrow it and it's paid some by now, some by the next owner and it's with interest. Or wait and raise all of it later. A loan isn't free money. It's special assessment on somebody who hasn't moved in yet.

Now the sellers in the community are very concerned how it affects them. Somebody always wants out and they're scared. And I understand it. Here's what they need to hear and hear what they hear from the board versus a neighbor. You need to hear it from the board. You don't want to hear it from a neighbor. And if you know there's a problem, you've got to tell the buyer you can't sell your way around it. You have to disclose. So the best thing for the board to do for the people who want to sell is to get a decision made and the number on a paper so they can disclose the plan to the buyer instead of it being a mystery.

A buyer will buy if there's a plan. Nobody buys if it's a maybe or an unknown future special assessment. And the vote? Three weeks is plenty of time to do it right. Count on the votes before the meeting one member at a time. Figure out how to get to yes before the vote by talking to everyone and getting them information they need so they understand accept and vote for it. Go into the meeting knowing how the vote comes out. People want certainty.

Give them certainty and you will be rewarded.