Reserve Studies | Community Advisors

Reserve Studies

What is a Reserve Study?
  • A comprehensive review of your property's physical assets, their current condition, and the funds needed to replace these components over time.
  • It gives association managers and Board members the confidence that they have reviewed your association's reserves and now have a plan of action.
  • ALL common-interest properties should have a Reserve Study. In some states, it is required by law - and some states further require the report to be updated on a regular basis.
Maintenance & Replacement

A Reserve Study gives you the information you need to make important decisions about maintenance and replacement issues, the funds required, and how they are spent in the future. As an Association Manager or Board member, it also gives you the confidence that you have properly reviewed your facility's financial health, and constructed a solid plan for expenditures that will be necessary in the future.

Reserve Study Strategy

WITHOUT a current Reserve Study, your reserve fund and annual contributions may seem adequate - and they may very well be - but you need a plan for capital replacements over the long term. Another issue is that Board members change over time, and a new Board may re-think your reserve strategy. It's best to make a plan and then follow it!

Customized for Your Community

Community Advisors will prepare your Reserve Study using information that is specific to your community, plus current local replacement costs. We use the best tools available to produce your Reserve Study including custom software and aerial photo quantity analysis. We also have a network of independent consultant professionals available to provide solutions for your community. Your Study will be accurate, simple, and easy to understand.

Experience Counts

When you engage Community Advisors, you have access to our many years of experience. We have worked with associations of all kinds, including ones that were under-funded. We've solved complex issues of funding capital replacements, and developed logical, cost-effective solutions for each one. We can provide a long-term plan that is custom-made for YOUR community.

Our Process

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1. Introduction

Give Community Advisors a quick call or email us so we can discuss the specifics of your community and recommend a level of service. We will usually have your proposal ready within a day or so and once you authorize us to move ahead, Community Advisors gets to work:

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2. Site Visit

The next step is to conduct a site visit to observe your physical assets (pools, tennis courts, buildings, etc.). We measure quantities, determine the current condition of each component, its remaining useful life, and the cost to replace it. We include photos of major component to illustrate our findings. Your welcome to join us and see what we do.

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3. Operational Review

Sometimes we need more information so we discuss current operating issues such as roof and pool maintenance with you vendors and review other information you have, such as any construction plans or inspection reports. In our world: more information is better!

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4. Financial Analysis

We review your financial information - operating budgets, past expenditures for capital replacements, reserve fund balances, etc. A long term funding projection is developed that provides adequate funding for your major component replacements.

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5. Report

Your report is sent via electronic mail after we complete our final review typically to the Manager who then distributes it to Board Members.

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6. Comments & Presentations

Your comments are important, so we provide a window for your input and then make any adjustments needed then issue a final report. We are available for a conference call or video conferencing session subject to availability.

Your Report Sections - Easy to Read

Section 1: Executive Summary

This section summarized information gathered from the site visit and financial analysis on one page. Property information, current fund balance, assumptions on interest and inflation rates, current funding contribution and our recommended funding contribution are found here. Your long term funding projection and various charts are included.

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Section 2: Current Funding Summary

This section illustrates how your current year funding strategy and long term plan will perform over time with supporting charts.

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Section 3: Income & Expense Spreadsheet

This popular section shows all your components, replacement years with interest income and annual balances. A quick way to find important information.

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Section 4: Expenditure by Year

Most of our clients go here to find out when components are projected for replacement and their cost in future dollars.

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Section 5: Component Inventory

Everything builds from here as all your components are listed by category with cost and life projections based on quantities within your community. The Component Detail is where the photos are found for major components. You will find these indexed.

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Section 6: Disclosures & Information

You will find pages that help you navigate our report, methodology and other important information.

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For more information about Reserve Studies and how one can benefit your association, contact Community Advisors today.