Many buildings in South Florida are finding themselves in a challenging situation. Many of the standard services within the building are significantly up, such as insurance costs, wages for security services, front desk, housekeeping/janitorial, landscaping, construction, and engineering costs. To make things worse, the market has been showing signs that we are going into recession if we aren't in one already. 

As a leader of your association, now is not the time to panic, but to start planning, communicating, and building the relationships, you will need to get through it all. So, where do you start? Below I've provided three simple steps to get you started. 

Step One: Financial Understanding - Talk with your management partner or CPA to see how many months of operating capital you have in your accounts. Next, if you have reserves, how much do you have, and can you of those reserves be used for your initial assessment. Finally, do a baseline of your AR (Accounts Receivables) for the past six months to understand how your collection process is doing. You need to know where we stand financially first before doing anything. 

Step Two: Vendor Relations - Contact your attorney, banker, structural engineer, and local contractors to understand the time it's taking to turn things around so you can plan accordingly. This step will be simple if you have a professional management company since relationships with multiple vendors already exist. However, it may be more challenging for self-managed associations because of the limited relationships. Don't worry; I'm here to help and glad to share my contacts. 

Step Three: Communicate - Many board members like to have everything lined up before communicating with the residents; however, I don't believe this will be the right approach with all that needs to get done. The timelines we have to complete everything doest cater to this approach. Further, the financial burden will be challenging for many communities, so it's best to let the cat out of the bag early. 

Now is not the time to fall into analysis paralysis. Start taking the necessary steps to move your association forward while also thinking about what the future holds. There are still many unknowns; however, we know that change is here and must be dealt with. Remember, you have a fiduciary duty to your owners to stay objective and do what's right for your community and its members.