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Oregon Services

HOA CONSULTING SERVICES

Bicksler and Associates offers a broad range of homeowner association consulting services including:

Management Audits

  • A review of all operational systems including written recommendations for improvement

Management Company Selection

  • Prepare an RFP detailing your management requirements and expectations

  • Identify, review and vet candidate management companies, assisting with final selection

  • Assist your attorney in preparing a management contract that clearly defines the selected management company’s duties and responsibilities

On-Site Manager Recruitment/Hiring

  • Prepare job description and recruitment advertising

  • Identify, review and vet candidates, assisting with final selection

  • Assist your attorney in preparing an employment contract that clearly defines the individual’s duties and responsibilities

DEVELOPER SERVICES

Drawing on over 40 years of experience establishing and managing homeowners associations, Bicksler and Associates will contribute valuable industry insights to your development project. Look to us for:

 

Planning Services

 Design of a homeowners association should happen in a development project's earliest stages when the relationship between the building(s) and the land is defined. This relationship will dictate the legal form of the association (e.g. condominium, townhouse, mixed use, or master planned community). When involved early, Bicksler and Associates can help work through critical, foundational business model questions such as:

 

How does this form match the buyer target market?

How will this form translate into a monthly assessment?

What are the product and marketing options provided by each of the forms?

 

Services include:

 

  • State Department of Real Estate budget preparation

  • General consulting with the development team

  • Amenity planning

  • Management review of the articles, CC&Rs and by-laws

  • Advise regarding the services to be delivered by the homeowners association

  • Planning for maximum developer flexibility

 

Formation Services

For the developer, the homeowner association begins to take on critical importance during the sales phase. Simply put, an effective HOA can mean the difference between early buyers who are your best sales ally or your toughest sales adversary.

 

Bicksler and Associates has repeatedly demonstrated that a well-considered formation and transition plan will limit the developer's liability exposure and simultaneously ensure greater buyer satisfaction.

 

Our developer formation services include:

 

  • Creation of a resident manual for use as a sales tool and new owner reference guide

  • Training a sales team on how to represent the homeowner association to prospective buyers

  • Creation of the association management scheme

  • Evaluation of the warranty services delivery program

  • Qualification and selection of the homeowners association management company

  • Creation of a transition plan for passing control of the board of directors from the developer to the homeowners

  • Preparation of a common area acceptance plan and schedule

 

Management Consulting Services

Traditionally, developers have hired management companies to set-up and manage homeowners associations while the developer controls the board of directors. In this scenario, it’s essential to note that the management company's legal fiduciary duty is to the homeowners association rather than to the developer. Such arrangements were studied in a University of California research report on which Bicksler and Associates consulted. The report revealed that one third of all California common interest subdivision developers were sued by the very homeowners associations they had created.

 

In the interest of avoiding such organizational clashes, Bicksler and Associates zealously represents the interests of the developer both on the board of directors and in the turnover and acceptance process. This advisory role can be invaluable to any developer hoping to successfully navigate the late-stage pitfalls of common interest subdivision deployment.

 

Developer management services include:

 

  • Selection and supervision of management company

  • Developer representation on board of directors

  • Provide management services for the association

RESERVE STUDY PREPARATION

Bicksler and Associates began preparing association reserve studies more than 40 years ago in Eugene, Oregon, continuing in Portland, Oregon shortly thereafter. This specialty work continued after its 1984 relocation to California where, in 1991, Mr. Bicksler first served as an expert witness in a Bay Area lawsuit involving the adequacy of a developer’s initial reserve study. Since then, he’s been hired by plaintiffs and defendants alike in over 30 lawsuits relating to the preparation and use of reserve studies.

 

Reserve studies need not be confusing or overly complex. They have three basic elements:

 

Component Study

This is the cornerstone of every reserve study. For what components is money being set aside? How long is each component expected to last? What is the present day value of each component? The reserve study is built on the answers to these questions and their accuracy is critical to everything that follows.

 

Funding Model

How much cash is currently in the reserve account? What is the budgeted annual contribution? Is that amount going into the reserve or is it being used to fund over-budget operating expenses? Will a special assessment be necessary in the future? If so, when and how much?

 

Disclosures

Transparency is key. It’s essential to document all assumptions, cite information sources, and show specific calculations. Be sure to disclose not only what is reasonably predictable, but also what is unpredictable.

Professional Management for Condo, Community & Homeowners Associations
Management Expertise for HOAs, Condominium & Community Organizations
HOA Consulting Services
Developer Services
Reserve Study Preparation
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