Homeowners Association Property Management Groups like Associa! Should you BEWARE? You decide! Here's what is known and in some cases Hidden!
From The Dallas Observer 2013
Carona, who founded Associa back in 1979!
In 2001, he authored a bill to allow HOAs to foreclose on homeowners without any oversight whatsoever from the state.
In 2011, he merrily defended that law from being reformed. (In something of a Dallas politician's tradition, he also apparently ran away from Brett Shipp as the newsman was brandishing a copy of Associa's company policies at him, trying to show him a rule that said homeowners could be foreclosed on if they fall four months behind in HOA fees.
Carona had previously denied that Associa had that policy. When Shipp tried to give chase, Carona ordered him removed from the Senate floor.
and pointedly asked Carona to discuss how companies like Associa work.
"That's not anything we're gonna discuss on the Senate floor," Carona replied. And they didn't.
In 2003, when Lindsay attempted a huge overhaul of the HOA industry, Carona didn't speak directly against it. But, Root writes, "Associa dispatched droves of employees to Austin to testify against it, recalls Gary Stone, a former property manager for a Dallas-based Associa subsidiary. Stone says he and other employees were told to use the names of their nonprofit neighborhood associations when they registered in opposition to Lindsay's bill, though some did disclose their management company's affiliation, according to committee witness records."
Stone says he and other employees were told to use the names of their nonprofit neighborhood associations when they registered in opposition to Lindsay's bill,
Root points out, too, that Carona's influence and power over one industry are unusual even among Texas lawmakers:
See entire article here,
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/associa-ceo-and-state-senator-john-caronas-many-colorful-conflicts-of-interest-7109097
From D Magazine
his longtime tenure in the Texas legislature—has helped him turn Associa into one of the largest residential community management firms in the nation.
company’s low-profile headquarters on North Central Expressway, Carona has been leading Associa on a steady expansion tear, gobbling up 150 other companies in the past 20 years and now managing 12,000 communities where about 4 million people reside
Associa has grown from Carona and a gal Friday to an industry giant with 10,000 on its global payroll. Its 190 branch offices in the United States, Canada, and Mexico control $5 billion in purchasing for its communities, buying everything from sand boxes to street lights.
Associa’s revenues have nearly doubled from a reported $400 million in 2010 to $700 million in 2018.
To achieve rapid growth, it became an M&A firm and high-tech startup, too.
Carona hired former executives from PepsiCo, Humana, and other Fortune 500 companies to help him expand Associa—people picked precisely because they didn’t work in the HOA industry, so they could bring fresh, big-scale ideas to his family-owned operation.
“I didn’t know this industry existed; I didn’t understand the size and scope of the market and its growth,” says Andrew Brock, executive vice president and chief information officer. He joined Associa six years ago after working on PepsiCo’s $3.5 billion systems application products. “This is no shrinking market. It is constantly evolving. While a lot of markets and industries are shrinking, this is one that is constantly growing.
For Carona, it came down to risk-taking, and being at the right place at the right time. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a double major in real estate and insurance in 1978, Carona returned to Dallas to start his own property management company.
He financed his startup by borrowing $2,500 against his wife’s blue Datsun b210 hatchback, something his wife’s parents had given her before their marriage. Carona says he also used credit cards and anything else that would help him defer expenses. “This business was built on nothing,” he says.
but he took the two accounts anyway and went about figuring out how to “make a nickel”
Carona figured out the only way to make money in homeowner association management was by volume. By accumulating accounts, you could automate backroom processes and earn investment-grade returns.
Associa collected so many Dallas accounts, Carona decided to open a branch office in Fort Worth. After enjoying success there, he bought a firm in San Antonio—another good experience. That led him to buy another company, this time in Phoenix.
Carona had the good fortune of getting in the business at the infancy of the homeowner association management industry in the United States. Although the first known HOA was formed in Boston in 1844, they didn’t begin to take off until the last several decades,
In 1970, there were roughly 10,000 community associations across the country, encompassing 700,000 housing units and 2.1 million people. At the end of 2017, according to CAI, there were nearly 350,000 associations representing 26.6 million housing units and roughly 70 million residents. Texas ranks No. 3 among U.S. states, with 20,000 associations representing more than 4 million residents.
Although association-related homes account for less than 20 percent of the nation’s housing stock, it’s estimated that up to 50 percent of the new housing construction is under HOAs, mostly in the suburban areas of states like Texas, California, and Florida.
“I think the big reason for their growth and popularity is that they improve property values,” says Daniel Scheller, an associate professor in public administration at the University of Texas in El Paso. “You have to abide by certain rules. No cars in the front yard. Lawn mowed. But you won’t have nuisance neighbors and you can realize the profit.”
But with what Scheller refers to as a “quiet revolution” in the evolution of neighborhood associations, management complexity and more government scrutiny have also arrived.
As a result, more HOAs are outsourcing to professionals. Although there is no hard data, turning over the reins to companies like Associa is a growing trend, academics say.
And although there are random viral stories about a little old lady losing her home to foreclosure. . .
Carona has written two books on the flourishing of HOAs; the first is titled, In the Common Interest: Embracing the New American Community. At first glance, Carona, a conservative Republican in a property-rights state, seems like an unlikely champion.
Is he?
You decide!
His time as a Texas lawmaker taught him to absorb a lot of information on complex issues and act on it. Carona served for 25 years in the House and the Senate, where he became known as a liberal Republican and built a reputation for being tough, sometimes brash, and always pragmatic. “Sometimes in a relationship you have to establish your territory before you can make things happen;
After working with a Brazilian company to develop TownSq, Brock and his team walked the idea by board members on a Friday, and two business days later the full force of the company was behind it.
Associa now hopes to sell it to others in the industry.
‘I would rather you make a decision that turns out to be wrong than to ignore a problem and make no decision at all.’ ”
Although Carona doesn’t totally rule out the idea of running for public office again—something he says he loves and misses nearly every day—his single biggest priority, outside of his family, is growing and maximizing the value of Associa.
Carona hopes to expand the company to 20,000 communities within five to seven years, including a specific goal to add properties in Manhattan and surrounding boroughs, as well as foreign markets. He’s already making technology plays in British Columbia, India, and Brazil.
Doing so will help Carona reach his other milestone—$1 billion in annual revenue.
Carona thinks it’s all obtainable. Investment firms agree. It’s why they’ve come knocking. “One of the things that tells me we are on the right track is that our company has been pursued by every major player on Wall Street,” Carona says.
Carona, who will own 95 percent of Associa even after his top executive team is fully vested, plans to keep it all in the family.
Comments under the D Magazine article on Carona written in 2019,
has watered down every consumer effort on accountability). also note that the CAI and its' lobbyist are an impediment to the ability of States to implement out of court binding dispute resolution processes. let's give some comment or interview to the flip side of the property management industry and the CAI and the need for reform of this profession.
I worked for John Carona’s Principle Management Group in the 90s. It was during this time that he won his first bid to the Texas senate. I fully backed him until I was working late one night and realized that Mr. Carona was in his office. I knocked on his door so that he would know not to lock me in. It took several minutes for him to answer, at which time he introduced me to his very young, very beautiful “niece.” I left his employment soon after.
See entire article here,
https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-ceo/2019/january-february/john-caronas-steady-climb-to-1-billion/
From the Texas Tribune in 2013
He had been in a long-running spat with the Brookfield Owners Association over some mistaken fines levied against him for not taking care of his lawn. Riggs believed the letter would contain good news. For almost two years he’d been waiting for the property managers to acknowledge what he’d been saying since he’d received a nasty little notice warning him to cut his grass or else: They had gotten the wrong yard.
As Riggs had explained, it was his neighbor’s house that had been pictured in the notice he had received in June 2011. So he printed out images from Google Maps to prove it. He had emails documenting his increasingly vociferous objections.
None of that was in the letter, though. Instead, typed in capital letters across the top of the page were the words “CITATION — FORECLOSURE.”
Sons
A seasoned veteran and visionary in the association management industry, Joey serves as Executive Chairman of Goodwin & Company. Prior to Goodwin, Joey was the president and chief operating officer of Associa, where he supervised their more than 10,000 employees. He helped build and oversee the firm’s global management operations, sales and marketing efforts, mergers & acquisitions,
https://goodwintx.com/team/joey-carona/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckHOA/comments/17rm57v/im_a_former_employee_of_goodwin_company_ask_me/
Other son of owner/CEO of Associa Jeff Carona
https://www.peoplenewspapers.com/2021/03/17/dallas-county-grand-jury-declines-to-indict-preston-hollow-couple/
Coming back in!
https://acahnman.blogspot.com/2020/03/txlege-ex-senator-caronas-kid-arrested.html
Coming back in when I get a chance!
Stay safe, vigilant and ALERT out there!
Who is Kristin Carona?
Jeffrey's wife
Linked into legal help?
You decide!
Featured in this issue of Preston Hollow People
A Community Newspaper in Texas
an affiliate of D Magazine, in Dallas, Texas.
See the publication and report online archived here,
https://issuu.com/pcpphp/docs/ph_april_2020_web
Maiden name?
#AssociaPropertyManagement, #Associa, #JohnCarona, #JeffreyCarona, #JoeyCarona, #allegedchildpredators, #allegedprotectedpredators, #childsexualassaultcharges
The Truth About BOISE Homeowner's Associations (HOAs)
HOA is a legal entity.
Be Careful!
Homeowners association rents home it doesn't own
Archived info and evidence archived from a small town HOA trying to hire Associa even after being told of the roots of the CEO, Founder and Chairman along with evidence of arrested son who worked for an Executive of Associa for years prior to arrest of him and his wife.
Hey folks - here's the minutes from the last HOA board meeting. As of 6/20, the projected TOTAL annual dues associated with an outside management firm was $250.
Bruce also added some context in his email reply for me, which is pasted below. To be clear, Tracy has been doing great work for us, and she deserves to retire from the responsibilities of trreasurer ❤. I'm not sharing this as a critique of her at ALL.
"The discussion about hiring a management firm to do what we couldn't get neighbors to volunteer to do has been ongoing for all of this calendar year. For background, Tracy Nestander announced following the annual meeting in 2022 that she wanted to retire from the officer position as Treasurer. She offered to stay on for a few months while we could recruit and transition a new officer into that role. Our recruiting and notices have failed, No neighbors want to do the role of the Treasurer. Tracy has been more than a saint to keep us going into 2024. We need to be fair to Tracy.
The treasurer role is not an optional role. There are legal, tax and fiduciary requirements in our covenants. We have been interviewing management firms and have met with 3. Our best option on cost / benefits is Associa which I hope you will get to see first hand at the meeting on Monday."
The president made it clear she and others wanted better enforcement and follow through. In the past homeowners have said some rules are enforced and others are not. There were a few people asking after the meeting who all were even complaining about enforcement because some of us said none of us in our areas nor the people directly around us were concerned.
That's interesting that it's in the paperwork from Associa's estimate and people talking after the 2nd meeting were still talking about the $250 estimate and also the fact that could very well go up from there. Wondering why there were so many talking about that number? An increase hike makes sense though as Associa is a unicorn [privately owned co. worth 1 billon] and can only operate
The estimate was mentioned at the July meeting we were all at.
Many took notes and some questioned the negative reviews of the chosen management company.
As seen in my post, it does not say the Board gave the estimate.
[The claim that I stated otherwise is incorrect]
As we were told in the meeting $250 as the number that came from Associa, the company the board wishes to proceed with.
This is a fact, as when some homeowners mentioned searching smaller, local based companies, we were all told the President and the board wanted Associa.
I do know after the August meeting we all also attended, many were still discussing the higher price tag that was originally suggested.
Do you find it interesting that Associa runs a "non profit" for kids when one of their executives and his wife was arrested on Child ____ charges?
This executive is the son of the founder, CEO and chairman John Carona as evidenced in the article above.