Community Satisfaction

(00:01) SPEAKER: It is time for solutions today. This is where you'll find news tools and trends for condominium and association leaders.

(00:08) SPEAKER: At 87% of those that responded said that their elected governing board absolutely or for the most part, tried to serve the best.

(00:18) SPEAKER: And now here's your host, Paul K. Mengert.

(00:26) PAUL K. MENGERT: This is the HOA Solutions Today podcast. Our topic for this episode is the Community Satisfaction, and I'm very pleased to have really one of the leading experts on this in the country, as our guest today. Dawn works out of Alexandria, Virginia. She has extensive experience with not-for-profit organizations and particularly the Community Association Institute and with Government of Governmental Affairs for CAI. She's a speaker and a trainer and she's a certified association. I really appreciate the work you do with the Community Association Institute, and I particularly want to jump into talking about the survey that CAI has done about satisfaction and what you've what why have you done the survey and what have you learned?

(01:19) DAWN BAUMAN: Sure. Thank you so much for this opportunity, Paul. I really appreciate it. So, the Foundation for Com-munity Association Research 17 years ago started to launch the Homeowner Satisfaction Survey because there was this curiosity about whether people living in the community association housing model, condos, HOAs were satisfied with their communities. So overwhelmingly for the past 17 years, people who have responded to the survey indicate that they are very satisfied with their community association. As a matter of fact, 89% of the respondents say that they are overall either very good, their communities very good or good. So, these are strong numbers, and these are across the country.

(02:07) PAUL K. MENGERT: That is just super interesting because you sure don't see many news stories about how satisfied homeowners and condominium members are.

(02:18) DAWN BAUMAN: Well, that's true. And of course, it's also not interesting news to say, oh, this community association is phenomenal. What's interesting about this survey is we commissioned the Foundation for Community Association Research commissioned a Polling Agency to conduct this survey. We don't ask CAI members. We don't ask you. We don't ask your clients. We may, but we actually they we use a third party so that they reach out to their data sources to gather this information. So that is a true poll that is unbiased with its responses.

(02:52) PAUL K. MENGERT: And who are some of the I know you used a couple different polling agencies, very respected. Who are these agencies?

(03:00) DAWN BAUMAN: Well, our first one, we used the Gallup. We used Gallup for several years. We used public opinion surveys. And for the past eight years, we've used the Zogby International, which is also a well-known polling company here in the D.C. area. One of the interesting statistics in this survey is that 87% of those that responded said that their elected governing board, absolutely, or for the most part, strive to serve the best in the community. Also, not something that you hear in the news, but 87%, that's a super high number, way better than Congress and way better than most other industries.

(03:38) PAUL K. MENGERT: Well, interesting you mention Congress, because I was just doing a little reading this morning. And Gallup did a poll between September 1st and 16th of this year and found that only 23% approve of the job Congress is doing and in fact, 75% disapprove. How do you how is it that Associations are getting so much higher approval than Congress?

(04:06) DAWN BAUMAN: Well, I mean, I do think that we're in an interesting political time in our country though we often see Congress's satisfaction level, Americans’ satisfaction level with Congress is usually below 50%. But I will say another statistic is 74% of those responding say their manager provides value and support to the residents as a whole. And 68% say that their, their rules in their community protect and enhance their property value. So oftentimes you hear these aren't these you see these articles or news stories about rules, rules, rules and that they're not good. 68% like them and say that they actually protect their property values.

(04:54) PAUL K. MENGERT: Yeah, absolutely. And I know I spend a lot of time talking with our managers and association leaders about balancing of Rights. So, you're very often you have people, you know, somebody wants a car parked in their yard, other people don't want a car parked in the yard. And you really have to work through who has the right for what and what did they agree to. But a lot of the rules, people purpose-fully moved into an association that had rules. You couldn't park a car in the front yard. So, they're quite satisfied when they see the association taking action to tow the car. However, for every car you tow, there'll be at least one person that's upset that you did.

(05:34) DAWN BAUMAN: At least one. Right. That driver, that car owner.

(05:39) PAUL K. MENGERT: Yeah. Always, always a big, always a big challenge. Well, Dawn, one of the things we do here at the HOA Solutions Today podcast is a few interesting newsbreaks.

(05:51) SPEAKER: And now it's time for your HOA Solutions Today newsbreak.

(05:56) NEWSBREAK: In Fairfax County, Virginia. As part of their charge up Fairfax initiative, the local government wants to put EV charging stations for electric vehicles in public spots such as parking garages. The county hopes that by 2030, 15% of all light duty registrations will be electric vehicles. To let us know how you feel about electric vehicle charging in public spaces, please drop us a comment at HOASolutionsToday.com.

(06:23) PAUL K. MENGERT: I'm very pleased to be back with Dawn Bauman from the Community Association Institute, talking about the important surveying that CAI has done over the last 17 years. Dawn, have the results remained about the same or have they been up and down a lot?

(06:42) DAWN BAUMAN: That's a great question, Paul. Over the last 17 years, the Foundation for Community Association Re-search has conducted the survey every other year, and the survey has remained relatively consistent throughout the 17 years. In the high eighties percentages of people being satisfied with their association or neutral with their association. What we have done is, well, as we've done, we dug a little deeper state by state into and region by region into homeowner satisfaction. We have found that states with more associations, Florida, California, Texas, New York have a higher level of satisfaction with their associations than states with fewer associations. I'm not sure why that is. There could be some different theories about it. We haven't asked that question, but the more associations, the happier people are.

(07:41) PAUL K. MENGERT: Now, I have a little bit of personal insight into that. Having been doing this for the last three or four decades, unbelievably. It seems to me that as time has gone along that there are more associations, people have a better understanding and expectation of what they should get with an association. And there's been a lot of surveying done to show that expectations have a lot to do with satisfaction. So, I suspect where there are not many associations, people have less of an expectation in states with more. I think they have more of an expectation. And also, as I think you kind of have a new generation of homebuyers, the concept of community associations is maybe less foreign to them than it was to their parents or grandparents.

(08:35) DAWN BAUMAN: Sure. And it might even be one of the questions that we ask is, have you attended one of your community association board meetings? Upwards of 70% of the respondents say they have attended a community association board meeting. So, I do think if there is involvement, engagement, knowledge of how that community association works, there is going to be a higher level of satisfaction.

(08:59) PAUL K. MENGERT: It's interesting how different associations seem to have different levels of participation at board meetings. I see some associations where homeowners attend every board meeting and other associations where unless there is some issue, you don't tend to have a lot of homeowners at the at the meetings. Well that I will be curious to see how virtual meetings drive satisfaction, because I think a lot of what we're seeing at least early on, just being really a couple of years into virtual meetings is that that's pushing satisfaction up that most of the homeowners really like being able to log in from their office or dining room as opposed to having to go to, you know, go physically to a meeting. Is that right? Does the survey address that at all?

(09:49) DAWN BAUMAN: That's right. We have looked at virtual meetings and whether your community offers virtual meetings. And again, more than a majority of associations are now offering virtual meetings. We've also done some side surveys other than the homeowner satisfaction survey about whether people are seeing a great, associations are seeing a greater attendance due to the virtual meeting. And absolutely there is a greater attendance, greater participation. And I think to everybody's benefit, the meetings are shorter and they're more succinct and more business is getting done.

(10:24) PAUL K. MENGERT: Well, certainly my experience has been, it's really unusual to get a person elected to a board that doesn't have the best interest of the association in his or her serving on the board. I mean, occasionally you do get people that have a specific issue they care about, but even those folks, once they get on board, they seem to almost always be interested in furthering the betterment of the whole community. Have you had any, does the survey address or do you have any experience with folks that get on the board that are, you know, kind of bad directors?

(11:04) DAWN BAUMAN: Listen, in every business, in every industry, there are bad apples. But this survey has demonstrated through the results, 87% surveyed said that their board serves the best interest of that community association, 87%.

(11:21) PAUL K. MENGERT: That number, that’s super high. I mean Congress must lie awake at night and wonder how we get such good results.

(11:28) DAWN BAUMAN: I think, Paul, I think you're right. I think you're right. They must lie awake at night thinking about community associations.

(11:34) PAUL K. MENGERT: Of course, it's interesting to me where you see maybe less Congress and more State Legislatures. But you see these groups that have very low satisfaction themselves, often trying to come in and regulate, take authority away from board of directors that are already receiving pretty high satisfaction. It's hard to imagine that imposing additional regulation on these boards would drive satisfaction higher.

(12:06) DAWN BAUMAN: So that's one of the questions that we ask as well, is do you do you want additional government inter-vention in the community association housing model? I'm going to pull that statistic up right now, but it's approximately 60 to 70% say, no, we do not want any further regulation of our industry. We want as an association, condo, or homeowner's association, we want our neighbors to decide what works best for our neighbors.

(12:34) PAUL K. MENGERT: Well, and I think if you're doing an analysis of why Homeowner Association boards achieve this high satisfaction, certainly part of it has to be is that they live next door and they have ability to understand what will work for their community. Opposed to oftentimes it seems that members of Congress or legislators, you know, aren’t subject to necessarily the rules they're making. And in this world, in the community association world, if the directors pass a special assessment, they're paying it themselves, you know, in the community. So, it's certainly a close-up kind of form of representation.

(13:16) DAWN BAUMAN: Absolutely. And speaking about assessments, more than 50% of those that were that participated in the survey, more than 50% say that they are paying just the right amount of assessment every month, and it's approximately 40% are paying between $100 and $300 a month. So, this is throughout the country, and this is a huge range of associations, right? Small homeowners’ associations, small condominiums, up to high rise and finance. But this is interesting information.

(13:50) PAUL K. MENGERT: Yeah. I think at least in my experience, almost all associations are pretty transparent about their finances. And I think as owners understand the need for funds, they're, you know, they're willing to pay to keep the community maintained the way they want it. Of course, sometimes you get into a situation where some homeowners, you know, want higher level of services than others. And that's kind of a process that you have to work through. Again, it's a balancing of rights.

(14:26) DAWN BAUMAN: Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the one of the other statistics which we what we find interesting, we asked how people felt their community, if they were more satisfied or less satisfied during COVID. You know, people were home, and we were curious. We wanted to make sure we're asking these questions right when we're right when we're coming out of COVID. 70% said they are just as satisfied or more satisfied during COVID.

(14:58) PAUL K. MENGERT: Well, it's really interesting because I know that at our management company, our call volume, during the initial phases of COVID, when everyone was at home, the call volume went way up. We had a lot more people calling in about, Hey, the flower bed, this, or that. Well, nice to talk to you. We haven’t heard from you before. Well, usually I work. So, it was you know, there was some change with COVID. So, hey, Dawn, it's time for our HOA Solutions Newsbreak. So, let's jump right back to this in just a minute.

(15:31) SPEAKER: And here's another HOA Solutions Today Newsbreak.

(15:34) NEWSBREAK: In Greensboro, North Carolina, a married couple received a citation from their HOA for flying eight small American flags in their yard. The HOA reported that they allow flags to be flown, but only for a limited time. The HOA also claimed that the flags violated rules about political flags. The couple insisted the flags were not politically motivated, that they were to support the wife's father who served in the military. Upon further examination of the HOA rules and guidelines, the couple found that they could in fact fly the American flag. Let us know how you feel about displaying the American flag in the community. Head on over to HOASolutionsToday.com

(16:14) PAUL K. MENGERT: Dawn, it's always interesting to me what associations choose to do battle over. I know it's typically been my advice to our clients, you know, give a lot of leniencies to somebody who might want to display an American flag or maybe even a set of American flags, particularly when they have a link to our veterans. You just kind of have to pick your battles.

(16:42) DAWN BAUMAN: Well, and of course, we know that there is a federal law that prohibits an association from restricting the display of the American flag. There may be some rules and regulations around how that flag is displayed and where that flagpole is located, etc. But, of course, everyone is allowed to display the American flag under the rules of the association.

(17:07) PAUL K. MENGERT: You know, interestingly, North Carolina also has a state statute broadly allowing display of the American flag. But it's interesting to me how association boards, even if not initially, over a period of time, seem to do a pretty good job of sorting these things out. When you consider how many associations there are and you may have a number right off the top of your head, but I think in North Carolina, the last number that I heard was 18,000. But when you think about there being 18,000 in one state, the number of complaints you hear is actually, you know, fairly low. And usually, it does seem that when they get an op-portunity to maybe work with their professional manager or their legal adviser, you know, even if they get things wrong the first time, they often get it right the second time.

(18:10) DAWN BAUMAN: Sure. I think since we're talking about signs and the American flag, can I give you some statistics on voting? So, we also asked those participants in the survey three questions: Have you voted in your community association election? Have you voted in a state, a local or state election? And do you vote in the national the federal election? 70% say they vote in the community association elections. 85% say they vote in the local and or state elections and another 85, the same 85% say they vote in federal elections. So that's a lot. And I'll tell you, when CAI is talking with members of Congress and talking with state legislators, these voters make a difference. Those voices make a difference. And that's a lot of civic duty and civic engagement, which as an organization and as an industry we should be proud of.

(19:12) PAUL K. MENGERT: I know that it has made a big difference in several things I've been involved with when CAI can mobilize its members, to communicate with their legislator or their congressperson about wants and desires on legislation. It just seems to make a huge impact. And, you know, it's interesting to me that it seems that community associations are fairly united around some of what I consider to be the fundamental concepts. And, you know, one of those is certainly that community board of directors are the best equipped to make decisions for their communities.

(19:53) DAWN BAUMAN: Absolutely.

(19:55) PAUL K. MENGERT: The further you get away from the community, the harder it is to make good decisions for that community.

(20:01) DAWN BAUMAN: Well, that's part of the beauty of the community, right, is if you're in maybe you're in Raleigh, North Carolina, and that community doesn't doesn't want to have a lot of short-term rentals in that community because it's a family community, there’s a school in the community, and they feel it's the best interest of that. The owners feel it's in their best interests to only have a few short-term rentals. Great, they should be able to decide to do that. They're in Asheville and they are in a community that has a lot of tourism, and they want to have short term rentals, maybe a lot of second homes. Great. That community should decide on their own. And 70% say that their rules protect their property value. We should let these communities make their own rules.

(20:48) PAUL K. MENGERT: Yeah, totally, totally agree. Well, what about when it comes to reserve studies, Dawn? I know there's been some concern over the last year after the tragedy in Florida. Should communities be able to make their own decisions on that or is that something that we need federal or state regulations on?

(21:11) DAWN BAUMAN: So, there wouldn't be typically federal legislation because most of the land use policy is at a state level. But we are seeing trends. And CAI, Community Associations Institute supports mandating reserve studies and reserve fundings for community associations, since the tragedy in Florida. Now we also recognize that it's not that easy. There could be some associations that haven't had a reserve study or haven't saved for reserves for quite a while, so imposing that requirement on them with no time to prepare or to plan, that's unreasonable. So, we support mandatory, state mandatory reserve studies and reserve funding, but we also support the opportunity for these communities to have several years, enough time to be able to ramp up and meet those, comply with those requirements. But what's interesting is that.

(22:06) PAUL K. MENGERT: Now one of the challenges I've seen is oftentimes boards want to better fund the reserves, but the governing documents have been written in such a fashion that they need membership approval to raise the assessment or raise the reserve funding, and they have problems getting that. I think even in the tragedy in Florida, that was one of the issues that board members had recognized that they needed more money to do more work, but they had trouble raising it.

(22:38) DAWN BAUMAN: So, it is that's why having a law that mandates reserve studies and funding gives that board the backing they need to be able to make those decisions and not have to not have to respond to owners who may not understand the importance of a reserve study.

(22:58) PAUL K. MENGERT: Excellent point Dawn. Going back to the satisfaction survey. One of the things that I have the courage managers to do, and we do a lot of it at our company, is to do surveying of the members in a community so that the board members can know the wants and desires of those members. But interesting in my mind that our internal surveying is not nearly as sophisticated as the Research Foundation's, but we found similar results in surveying our individual communities. And I think the directors, even more than the managers, the directors have found this information very helpful because what they've often learned is that they have a lot of complaints from a couple of people, and the directors’ message back to me has often been, Thanks so much for this information. We thought a lot of people were upset about whatever it might be, but what the satisfaction surveys that we've done, well, there are a lot of there are there are a lot of complaints, but most of them are coming in many cases or one or two or three people. And I think that has really helped directors balance, you know, what does the whole membership want? So sometimes the squeakiest wheel doesn't represent really, the will, of the majority.

(24:20) DAWN BAUMAN: Well, absolutely. If you're in the US, there are 74 million people living in associations. And if 11% of them are dissatisfied and even a small percentage of that group voices their dissatisfaction with either the media or the manager or the board or a government official, so a lot of people, a lot of voices. We have nearly, the community association housing model has nearly 30% of the market share in housing. And that continues to grow. It's going to be 50% in likely in 2040. So, we're going to keep seeing that grow and we'll likely keep seeing the same volume of satisfaction. But then you have more people still who are participating in the conversation.

(25:04) PAUL K. MENGERT: But it's really, I think, really helpful to community leaders to look at the research that CAI has done and maybe do some of their own kind of micro research and see what the satisfaction level is within their community. Because not only is it helped as a manager, not only does it help you identify the wants and desires of a particular community, but it may also help you look at do you have a one of your communities that kind of falls outside standard deviation of that? And why? Why does that community have unusual dissatisfaction and unusual it may still not be a may not be 50% or anything like that. But if you're normally seeing, you know, a 10% dissatisfaction and then in another community, there's 20%, you know, you kind of want to start taking a look at what you know, what is that?

(26:00) DAWN BAUMAN: Right. Right. You know, you make a great suggestion. And I do want to make the offer to your listeners. If you go to our Web site, foundation.caionline.org and go find our homeowner satisfaction survey, take the questions, ask your community, and then compare it to the national standards. I think that's a great idea, Paul. We welcome the opportunity for communities to do just that.

(26:26) PAUL K. MENGERT: We'll put that link on the HOASolutionsToday.com website, so it'll be easy for people to access. And one tip I might give listeners on that is at least the way we've done it. We've tried to ask people if you're dissatisfied, tell us why. Because sometimes people are dissatisfied because a train comes by at 3:00 in the morning. I understand you're dissatisfied by that. I know I would be, but that's not something that the association could really move the needle on. So helpful for directors to not only know the dis-satisfaction, but maybe try to understand what's up under it. And I think on a micro level that's a little bit more important than it is when you're doing national statistics. But being able to compare that is just super important.

(27:18) DAWN BAUMAN: Absolutely. That's a great idea.

(27:21) PAUL K. MENGERT: So, I'm going to go to our final newsbreak today. Dawn, thank you for being with us on the HOA Solutions Today podcast.

(27:29) SPEAKER: And now our final HOA Solutions Today newsbreak.

(27:34) NEWSBREAK: WBGN reports that a homeowner in Paradise Valley, Arizona, installed artificial grass in her front and back yards in an attempt to cut down her water bill. While Arizona is in a drought, the homeowner says that by installing the artificial grass, she saves about $1100 dollars a month in watering expenses. The HOA said that they are an elite community and do not want artificial grass yards in their neighborhood. They fine the homeowner for installing the yards. This battle has called attention of state lawmakers in Arizona, including House of Representatives member John Kavanagh. John Kavanagh proposed the bill that would prevent HOAs from forbidding residents to install artificial lawns. The bill passed committee and now heads to a vote in the General Assembly. Let us know how you feel about artificial grass yards in communities. Drop us a comment at H0ASolutionsToday.com.

(28:26) PAUL K. MENGERT: Another example of, you know, you may really have to decide what's right within that particular community.

(28:34) DAWN BAUMAN: That's right. That's right. Just let the community decide. Those owners have quite have their own interests. And when you get a group of them together and you have a civil discourse and a good community conversation, you can come up with a real.

(28:47) PAUL K. MENGERT: It is, it is a challenge when you have state laws that may require one thing and community governing documents that may be at odds or at least seem to be at odds at that. Of course, the state law is going to trump the governing documents, but it's kind of up to those who are elected to lead the community to reconcile how they're going to align those two different concerns.

(29:15) DAWN BAUMAN: That's absolutely right. An excellent point.

(29:18) PAUL K. MENGERT: Well, Dawn, I always like to try to, as we wrap up our podcast, give our listeners kind of three takeaways from today's podcast. You want to give a first shot at what the three takeaways might be?

(29:33) DAWN BAUMAN: Sure, I would love to. I think first two, the board members know that you are doing a really wonderful job in your communities, right? Statistics show you're doing a great job. Your manager is doing a great job. Don't let those one or two complaints frustrate you or discourage you. Stay on track and keep doing what you're doing, which is obviously for the good of the community. So, I would say that maybe one and two, maybe even three, but just keep doing what you're doing.

(30:06) PAUL K. MENGERT: I might add to that that I think using the surveys in your individual communities can be helpful and to management companies, not only do we compare how different communities rank, but we also compare how different managers rank. It may or may not be the managers issue with something, but, you know, looking at it statistically helps. And I think more and more we're we're living in a data driven world, and this is an opportunity to take a kind of a personal services business and derive some data that really helps you run it. I love what you said on the first point, and I just want to really emphasize that in closing, that this kind of survey, the national survey and the individual surveys really do make directors feel like they're doing a good job, make managers feel like the time they put into this really is worthwhile because it's helping. It's helping get better results for our for our community. So, Dawn, I really want to thank you for all the work you do with CAI with our industry, and particularly for being with us on the HOA Solutions Today podcast.

(31:22) DAWN BAUMAN: Thank you so much, Paul. It's been my pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

(31:26) PAUL K. MENGERT: Well, this has been a lot of fun and I hope you’ll; I hope you'll come back and be with us on one of the other topics you're involved with this time.

(31:35) DAWN BAUMAN: I would love that.

(31:36) PAUL K. MENGERT: This is the HOA Solutions Today podcast. For more HOA news tours and trends, please visit the HOASolutionsToday.com and subscribe to our series. I’m Paul K. Mengert and we'll see you next time.

(31:54) SPEAKER: Thanks for listening to HOA Solutions Today. Find more information on today's topic online at HOASolutionsToday.com

(32:02) SPEAKER: This podcast is a production of Boogie ad group. Darren Sutherland is Executive Director Jacob Sutherland. Director. Matt Golden News Director. Adam Chin Raising director, producer. And Jason Gentle, Roller audio producer. All rights reserved.

• According to a national survey, 89 % of respondents say that they are satisfied/very satisfied with their community Association.

• States with a higher number of community Associations have a higher level of satisfaction with their Association.

• In the U.S. 74 million people are living in Homeowner’s Associations.

Va. Program Helps HOAs with EV Charging Accessibility

Fairfax County, VA is looking to implement their “Charge up Fairfax” program, where the county would provide support to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Under the proposed program, the county would work with HOAs, large multi-family apartment buildings, and condo associations to install EV charging stations in publicly available locations, such as parking garages and designated parking spots owned by an HOA. The county hopes that by 2030, 15% of all light-duty vehicle registrations in the county will be electric vehicles. Let us know if this is a program you would be interested in your HOA implementing by leaving a comment at HOASolutionsToday.com.

Greensboro, NC Homeowners Have Dispute with HOA Regarding Flags in their Yard

A married couple in Greensboro, NC were able to keep their flags in the yard after a dispute with their HOA. The homeowners displayed eight small American flags and were told they had to be removed. It had been reported the HOA allowed the flags for a short period of time but eventually sent a letter asking them to be taken down because they do not allow “political” flags. The wife stated that American flags are not considered political and that she had them up in support of her dad, who served in the military. After taking a closer look at the HOA covenants & guidelines, the couple discovered flags could indeed be displayed in front of homes. To read the full story, go to HOASolutionsToday.com.

Homeowner Faces Artificial Turf War with HOA

WBGN reports a homeowner in Paradise Valley, AZ installed artificial grass to her front and back yards in an effort to cut down on her water bill. While Arizona is currently in a drought, the homeowner stated they were saving around $1,100 a month, in water bills, by having the artificial grass. The HOA reportedly said, “they are an elite community and do not want artificial turf,” and fined the homeowner. This battle caught the eye of many state lawmakers, including, House of Representative, John Kavanagh, who proposed a bill that would stop HOAs from banning artificial grass. The bill passed through the committee and is headed to the full House for a vote. Let us know your opinion on having artificial grass, by leaving a comment at HOASolutionsToday.com.