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Mesa Terrace Condominium Association

1224 E Evergreen Street

Mesa, AZ 85203

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(480) 750 7075

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Frequently Asked Questions

Assessments

What options do I have to pay my assessments?

How can I find out how my association fees are being utilized?

Your community’s owner portal allows access to the Annual Budget, Board Meeting Minutes and your Newsletters (if applicable) 24 hours/7 days a week.  You are also encouraged to attend the Open Board Meetings to stay abreast of the day to day operations of your community.

Board of Directors

How can I contact a member of my HOA’s Board of Directors?

Your management company can work on your behalf with communicating to the Board.  Email communication is usually used during the process for documentation purposes.

What is the purpose of the HOA Board of Directors and what is their role?

All affairs of your Association are overseen by the Board of Directors (BOD), which are guided by the Governing Documents of the Association and State Statues.

Communicating with TCM

Who do I need to contact when refinancing or selling my home?

TCM provides a Closing Portal where title agents may request resale certificates, statements of account, and condo questionnaires for use in a sale or refinance.

How do I get answers about my community association or account?

The quickest and easiest way on a 24X7 basis is to use our Resident Portal to access information on your community or your account.  We have several other ways you can reach as well as you can see on our Resident Service Center page.

How does TCM handle issues and complaints?

Complaints should be submitted in writing to us, with the Resident Portal or our contact request form on the Resident Service Center page.  Complaints should state the problem, identify the offending homeowner, and the date(s) of the offense(s).  After confirming the report during our next regular property inspection, we will notify the owner about the violation that has occurred.  If the owner has not corrected the issue after a reasonable period of time, the matter will be presented to the Board of Directors to decide what enforcement action should be taken.

How do I update my account information?

Account information should be updated in writing, and the easiest way is to use our Resident/Owner Portal, which you can sign into from the Home Page or the Resident Service Center page.  Alternatively, you can submit your changes to us using the contact form on the Resident Services Center page.

Who do I call for after-hours emergency?

Outside our normal business hours, TCM employees a telephone answering service with operators trained to identify true emergencies with access to all local on-call personnel at all times.

Calls regarding payments, violations or other matters should wait until the next business day.

Deed Restrictions and Architectural Control

What do I need to do to get started with home improvements?

Any exterior modifications or additions to your home or any structural changes must have prior written approval from your Architectural Control Committee (ACC).  For information, applications and further details, contact us.  You should note that this approval process generally may take up to thirty days; therefore, do not schedule any construction work or purchase any equipment until written approval has been received.

Why do I need to get permission from my HOA for a home improvement?

The community association deed restrictions specify what approvals need to be sought when making improvements in order to maintain the look and feel of the overall community as well as the overall value of the homes.  Simply log onto the TCM Resident Portal to access your communities deed restrictions.

Governing Documents

What are governing documents?

A homeowner association governing documents are recorded legal documents typically set up by the declarant/builder of your community which may include Articles of Incorporation, Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, Restrictions, and Bylaws. These documents determine the overall structure of a community association and establish obligations and responsibilities of its members and elected Board of Directors.

What is the purpose of HOA rules, regulations and fees?

Many homeowners don’t understand the purpose of a homeowners association. In fact, they may balk outright at the idea of having to pay someone to tell them what they’re supposed to do with their house! Others, however, come down strongly in favor of the HOA rules and regulations put in place by the HOA. Whether you’re considering creating an HOA in your neighborhood or thinking about moving into a neighborhood where there’s already an HOA in place, you’ll quickly discover that there are a number of benefits to a homeowners association.

Do I get a copy of my governing documents?

At the time of closing on your home, your title company provides copies of your governing documents along with other closing documents.

You may also access a copy of your community’s governing documents via the Resident Portal.

General

What does a Community Association Manager do on behalf of the HOA?

A property/community association manager should be assisting your Board of Directors and association in virtually every aspect of its operation, whether you have an on-site manager, a portfolio manager or a part-time manager. The degree to which an effective manager can lead and assist you in the nine major areas of association operations are influenced by their experience, workload, management contract and professional drive.

Let’s discuss these nine essential areas of a manager’s responsibilities:

  1. General Administration – including but not limited to:
    • Maintaining the operation in a positive, effective forward path.
    • Providing a high level of customer service – timely answering of phone calls, responding to emails and other correspondence.
    • Answering questions and going the extra step to assist the client.
    • Documenting and maintaining records
    • Reviewing policy and making recommendations for policy generation and implementation procedures such as but not limited to the:
      • Areas of common area rules
      • Deed restriction enforcement
      • Collection of assessments
      • Amenity operations (pool, tennis, access, hours, guests)
      • Communications, advertising, etc.
  2. Maintenance of Common Areas – The manager is responsible for overseeing all aspects of maintenance on behalf of the board including:
    • Knowing  the common areas like the back of his or her hand and work closely with the relative service providers to ensure all common areas are:
      • Safe
      • Well maintained
      • Properly insured
    • Ensuring contracts for services are appropriate, competitive and perform according to specifications
    • Completing special projects on time and within budget
    • Ensuring services get performed within budget.
    • Educating the Board ahead of time of impending budget overruns and given options on other ways to deal with expense variances
    • Implementing effective preventative maintenance schedule
    • Documenting and revising schedules as appropriate
    • Knowing who does what, when, where and why and have a schedule and associated costs so that you can:
      • Tracking compliance with contractual obligations
      • Overseeing expense forecasting and future budgeting
      • Assisting  when coordinating multiple contractors to work in the same area or project
    • Planning, communicating, implementing, evaluating, and adjusting accordingly
  3. Provision of Common Services – The association’s governing documents; management contract; budget; and Board of Directors are the drivers for this area.
    • The manager needs to fully understand what he or she is obligated to do:
    • The manager must understand that he or she has a moral obligation to uphold the association’s governing documents which have higher authority than any board of directors.
    • Conflicts in instructions or being asked to do something that is illegal or immoral is not a contractual obligation.
    • The manager has an obligation to honestly and legally perform services and should never do anything he or she feels against the law or potentially liable to the association.
    • In providing common services, the manager is responsible for several areas including but not limited to:
    • Developing or updating contract specifications to assist in bidding out contracted services.
    • Managing contracted services.
    • Communicating any deficiencies of services to a contractor, issues to be resolved and effects of non-resolution.
    • Researching more appropriate vendors, better services, better prices (low price is not always better service), more efficiencies of services such as:
      • Share services with neighboring communities to get a better price.
      • Share maintenance or portering contract employee with other communities.
      • Reduce janitorial or other services in slow use periods.
      • When possible, buy in bulk.
      • For large scale evaluate hiring on-site maintenance person vs. all the paid out dollars to various general contractors.
  4. Internal communications – The manager is responsible for:
    • Coordinating communications amongst Board members particularly when conducted via email; summarize results and ask Board to ratify at a future meeting, so it is read into minutes.
    • Compiling to-do and action items lists for Board, Manager, and Support Staff; with updates, so all can track progress throughout the month.
    • Asking for clarification when he or she receives conflicting direction or doesn’t understand the information.
    • Managing Board communications point of contact(s):
      • A manager should not have five different ‘go to’ or ‘take direction from’ people on the board as this can create confusion
      • It is best when it can be agreed that, while the manager works all the board members, he or she funnels his or her communication via the President and/or Treasurer
  5. Financial Management
    • Understanding the association’s financial position
    • Reading and reporting on the financial statement
    • Monitoring the budget and forecasting the income and expenses monthly looking forward
    • Explaining the positive and negative variances of actual vs. budget as well as recommending how to deal with cost overrun
    • Managing effect accounts payable to ensure invoices are paid correctly and only when services are verified, etc.
    • Implementing and managing a professionally aggressive assessment collection policy that adheres to the association’s documents yet provides results
    • Exhibiting sound budgeting finesse from a historical and forward-thinking perspective
    • Conveying adaptability, flexibility, and accountability
  6. Procurement of Insurance and Loans – no contract for insurance or loan should be secured without Board review and approval. However, the manager is responsible in:
    • Assisting in seeking viable insurance bids, preparing the applications, etc. and presenting the options to the Board
    • Recommending appointment of finance committee to work with treasurer and manager when seeking a loan
    • Looking to the documents for the authority, obligation, and requirements first.
    • Knowing what maximum thresholds must be met.
    • Documenting the assets in a list, with values as well as photos.
    • Bringing competitive information and options to the Board in both arenas.
  7. Preparation of Tax Return and Other Reports
  1. Assist the Board on Policy Matters
    • Evaluating current policies to see if they:
      • Comply with governing documents and state law
      • Are effective or need to be updated or extinguished
      • Even exist or not
    • Looking at all policies with these questions in mind:
      • Is it enforceable?
      • Is it necessary?
      • Is there a better way?
      • What is the best practice?
  2. Environmental Standards – The manager should work with the board to adopt resolutions based on identifying and defining different approaches to energy conservation based on the specific needs of the community including:
    • Evaluating common areas for green operations such as:
      • Utilize more energy efficient equipment and lighting
      • Reduce schedule for exterior and landscape lighting
      • Install modern timers on filtration systems
      • Plan sustainable landscaping
    • Looking for more ways to conserve natural resources such as water and electricity without detrimental effects to services or community curb appeal
    • Implementing Horticultural practices that can reduce landfill use:
      • Reduce lawn clipping waste
      • Consider more natural herbicides and fertilizers
      • Compost clippings and tree debris
      • Re-use as mulch after it is properly cured
    • Encouraging the residents to be more energy friendly and conservation-minded:
      • Institute a recycling program to the community
      • Introduce water and electricity saving tips through newsletter and website articles
      • Seek out city and county incentive programs
    • Developing and adopting rules and procedures to address energy conservation activities including:
      • Clotheslines
      • Solar panels
      • Street lighting

What does a community association do?

A community association is responsible for the collection and management of the assessment funds, the enforcement of the deed restrictions, and the maintenance of common area property.

For more information, you may be interested in reading: Community associations: Why?

How does living in an HOA keep property values up?

Whether buying their first house, or a forever home, potential homebuyers always have the hope of continuously increasing property values. By moving into a Homeowner Association-managed community, new residents are making a key investment into improving their net-worth. In this post, we will discuss the top three ways Homeowners Associations can provide significant property value protection and growth.