THE SITUATION
FirstService Residential took over the professional association management of a Minneapolis Condominium on November 1st, 2015, with the issues of staffing and past due accounts listed as major reasons behind the push for a change.
Upon take over, this Minneapolis Condominium Association had an outstanding assessment balance of $96,316.50; $86,555.88 of which, was more than 90 days past due. We discovered that although the association had a Collection Policy, it was vague and not being applied to the association’s accounting practices to enforce timely payments or to collect on delinquent accounts.
THE SOLUTION
The uncollected assessments were significantly impacting the cash position of the association. The team at FirstService Residential reviewed/updated the Collection Policy as part of the on-boarding process for associations new to FirstService Residential’s portfolio and moved forward implementing the policy. Between November 1, 2015 and November 30, 2016, the FirstService Residential Collections Department managed to decrease the amount of outstanding assessments by 77%, a total of $74,362.21. This was accomplished by following and enforcing the Association’s Collection Policy and working with owners to bring accounts current. In some cases, lien foreclosure action was required on significantly delinquent accounts.
THE RESULTS
The reduction in delinquencies has resulted in an increase in operating funds and allowed the association the ability to move forward with a few long overdue projects: upgrading the community’s light fixtures in hallways and main corridors, which leads to annual energy savings with the transition to an LED bulb, a fresh coat of paint throughout the building and favorably positioning the association to replace the corridor carpeting in the spring of 2017.
If you would like more information about how FirstService Residential could help your association reign-in outstanding balances, request a proposal today!