September 1, 2025 • 40 mins
Ever wondered what it’s like to run a private club that functions more like a municipality than a clubhouse?
In this episode, GM Joe Smith takes us deep into the world of Florida HOAs where leadership isn’t just about member experience… it’s about navigating state law, statutes, and real legal accountability.
You’ll hear how HOA-run clubs operate under public scrutiny, manage board meetings where anyone can speak, respond to official record requests, and even enforce rules about house colors and driveway parking. Joe breaks down the legal landscape, the operational headaches, and the leadership strategies it takes to succeed in this unique model.
If you’ve ever stepped into an HOA-run club, thought about taking a GM role in one, or just want to know what it’s like to run a club where members have rights protected by law this episode is essential listening.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show where we give you thescoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering, leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show In thisepisode bringing back on one of
my good friends, good friends ofthe show, good friends of the
industry and all around greathuman, joe Smith.
Josiah Smith, gm of CountrysideGolf and Country Club, and we
were chatting a few weeks agoabout Management in Motion.
He's one of my speakers andcoming up.
If you haven't heard about it,management in Motion it is my
(00:42):
leadership event for clubprofessionals at the Monticello
Motor Club.
It's going to be an absoluteblast a day of ripping up BMWs,
M2s, 3s and 4s and then alsohearing real, relevant education
from club professionals on howwhat we're doing at the day and
on the day relates back to clubleadership and management.
It's going to be a blast.
If you want to learn moreprivateclubradiocom, slash
(01:03):
management in motion.
Or if you just go toprivateclubradiocom.
Go up to the top bar.
You'll see it right there.
Details for management inmotion.
Anyway, I was talking with Joeand he was telling me about some
of the HOA things and justthings that he is dealing with
and what they have coming up.
(01:23):
And I found it fascinating,cause something that I don't
hear too many people talk aboutbecause a lot of clubs don't
have HOAs but I think it's themagic in me, cause I I love
learning about a lot and I likejust learning and just being
able to understand how thingswork and why things work, and I
think it's the magic is.
You know, magic is about aproblem that you can't solve.
That's all magic really is.
So when we were just chatting Iwas like, hey, would you come
on and do an episode and justkind of giving a peek behind the
(01:45):
curtain on what goes into notjust managing a club but a club
that has an HOA attached to it?
Now, this is specificallyFlorida HOAs.
I realize every state and areascan be different, but we talk
about the different rules andregulations and statutes and
(02:06):
things that he has to follow andthe homeowners have to follow.
He's also a CAM CommunityAssociation Manager and he also
runs 34 sub-HOAs within hiscommunity, because at this point
you're not just running aprivate club, you're basically
running a small city.
We dive into the Floridastatutes that govern his club
(02:44):
Record-keeping rules, publicboard meetings, strict
regulations on almost everythingfrom the color of your house to
the maintenance, to thelandscaping and so much more.
My favorite part is we talkabout what happens when
anonymous complaints come in.
We dive into how to handleboard politics, committee
(03:05):
dynamics and the fine linebetween enforcing rules and
managing relationships in afairly legally structured
community.
And I think what makes thisepisode special and valuable
isn't the technicalities, it'show Joe leads through it all and
(03:30):
his approach on how to staycalm, informed, focused and
organized and building trustthroughout all of this.
So if you've ever been a littlebit curious on to what goes
(03:52):
into running a club with an hoaand kind of getting a peek
behind the curtain here, thisepisode is for you.
It is so good I I just lovelearning, so it's just a cool
experience for me to just todive into and learn a little bit
more about the club space fromone of our own and one of our
favorites Real quick before weget to the episode.
(04:13):
Big thanks to some of our showpartners, appreciate all of you
and if you are looking for anyof the products or services that
our show partners have to offer, please reach out and let them
know.
Hey, you appreciate theirsupport here.
On Private Club Radio, and alsoone more shameless plug my 2025
(04:43):
is almost basically sold out.
I have a couple couple of datesleft very, very few, but, more
importantly, I am now bookingwell into 2026.
So if you or your club islooking to have one of the most
fun member events nightspossible, reach out.
We have the Denny Corbyexperience.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
Also there's magic, mindreading and comedy.
I am an absolute crowd workexpert.
(05:04):
Your members are going to haveso much fun.
So if you want to learn more orcontact about a 2026 date, head
on over to DannyCorbycom.
Enough about that Private ClubRadio listeners.
Let's welcome to the show.
Joe Smith, I'm excited for thisone.
I'm excited for all my episodes, but I like I like learning
(05:26):
about weird stuff, like I justlike I think it's like the magic
in me too a little bit, like Ijust enjoy knowing a little bit
about a lot of things.
And when we were chatting, justyou know, and I just think I
realized the weird, like Irealized HOAs are a unique beast
, but how unique they are andthe details, and I'm sure every
state is different and we'regoing to be talking about
(05:47):
Florida here but just wild HOA.
Are they rules, laws,regulations?
Is it a mixture of all of them?
Is it a mixture of all three?
Are there HOA laws that youhave to follow?
Is it a law?
What's the?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
proper phrase Like what's the yeah?
So it's, it's Florida statute.
There's there's two chapters inFlorida statute that govern
HOAs.
There's chapter 720, which ishomeowners associations, and
there's chapter 718, which iscondo associations.
(06:25):
So my club, for example this ishow I explain it to new board
members Think of it like we're asmall town and your dues are
your taxes and the board is thelike county commissioners and
(06:49):
I'm the city manager.
So in my situation, for example, like the clubhouse, golf
course, all the amenities areassets of the master association
and then I have 34 individualsub associations that are a mix
of single family homes andcondos.
(07:10):
Some communities are all condos, so they have a uh, you know
clubhouse which is a in a, anasset of the condo association,
of the condo association.
But that's yeah, it's a wholenother layer of law and it is
law.
Florida's the most restrictive,I would say, and I think it was
(07:39):
prior to like 1995, therereally was no HOA law.
So here locally they refer toit as the Sunshine Law and it
governs all HOAs throughout thestate and the purpose of it was
to create some protection forhomeowners and for the HOA and
(08:00):
the board of directors really,because in the HOA you have no
choice.
You buy in, you're required topay dues, you're required to pay
your HOA fees and there's nochoice.
So, yeah, it's prettyrestrictive and I think when we
were talking, I think I wastelling you some of the I don't
(08:22):
remember how it came up, but itwas something about-.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I do.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I think I was telling you some of the.
I don't remember how it came up, but it was something about
like, yeah, I don't want to gointo detail, but just like the
importance of, you know, like my, my board members, you know
staying current with their, withtheir club fees, like that's
not a club rule, that's a floorof statute, you know.
So a director on a master HOAboard needs to be current with
(08:47):
their association fees to remainan active director and that's
per floor law.
So we're subject, our types ofclubs are subject to a whole
other level of governing in lawversus the, the typical country
(09:07):
club, and there's a whole realmof other oddities that come with
that.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
and I can go down the rabbit hole if you'd like me to
yeah, no, yeah, yeah, and andand just to, just to go back, uh
, to that first part, uh, if amember is delinquent, how like,
how like, what's that graceperiod?
So it's a grace period like, isit like you know, you know if
it's due, you know 30 days andit's like the first day after,
(09:34):
like, you're out.
Is it like 60 days, 90 days,like how, what's, what's the
what's?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
the statute law say per statute they abandon their
position at 90 days past due andthere's a whole collection
process we have to follow.
That's also governed by law.
Um, so there's, you know, wehave to send certain notices.
And the other thing that'sinteresting is hoa clubs like
mine.
We have lien rights so again wecan lean, we put we will place
(10:04):
a lien on their home when theyfall past due.
Yeah yeah, the collectionprocess is much more involved
and, again, governed by Floridalaw.
There's weird things, like whenI have new board members come to
(10:28):
join the board.
I specifically discuss thedifferences with you know
Boardroom Magazine Notable,which was private club advisor.
Any best practices or any youknow industry material that is
(10:55):
applicable I share with my boardmembers and a lot of times
they'll come to me and they'llsay well, look at, you know this
is a best practice and you knowwe should do this.
We should implement this withour how we recruit for board
members or have a selectioncommittee or and I have to
remind them that a lot of thestuff that comes across in these
(11:19):
publications isn't applicableto us or it only is at a certain
level.
I cannot have private boardmeetings unless the meeting is
to discuss pending litigation ora personnel issue.
Otherwise, all of our boardmeetings are open, open forum
(11:41):
board meetings, and I have toallow anyone who's in attendance
three minutes, up to threeminutes, to discuss any item on
the agenda.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So so if you have so.
If so, if all them.
If a bunch of people are madabout something or just want to
make their voice known and ahundred of them show up, they
all have the right to talk forthree minutes, and you have to
sit there.
Yep this is like an episode ofParks and Rec.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, I have to publicize my board meetings,
need a 48-hour notice by law.
So every board you know we holdboard meetings on Thursdays I
have to publish it, publish theagenda by Tuesday and last
(12:42):
summer there was a new statutethat passed where I need to not
just publish the agenda but anydocument that the board receives
as part of the meeting I needto make available to the
community.
I cannot restrict anyone fromrunning for the board unless
there's two items they're eithera convicted felon or they're
not current on their HOA dues.
Otherwise, a lot of clubs willhave selection committees or
(13:06):
they will curate new boardmembers.
I cannot.
I could certainly have a groupof members recommending making
recommendations on who theywould like to see voted into the
board, but I cannot restrictanyone from running for the
board.
Under law there's a whole slewof and if you really we just did
(13:49):
a document rewrite last yearwhich is subject to vote there's
specific requirements andstatute that I need to have
available to members when we'reproposing new documents and then
, once the documents areapproved and voted in, they have
(14:11):
to be filed with not only thecounty that our business
operates in but the state ofFlorida and their public record.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, Wasn't there just something I I was doing
like some research for this.
Wasn't there just uh like a uhum statue, whatever you know,
whatever you want to call it lawum, where you can't like be
real petty with like fines?
Now there's like a like alonger grace period or something
with like garbage cans, likeholiday lights, like stuff like
(14:45):
that.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah.
So the funny thing is is thatsome of those laws changed for
condo associations but not HOA.
So, for example, I'll use mycommunity as an example so we
for years restricted you couldnot park a commercial vehicle or
(15:09):
pickup truck outside of yourhome overnight for more than six
hours.
Okay, so if you owned a pickuptruck and it could have been a
$85,000 Lincoln Navigator pickuptruck or whatever You're
dating- yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, I know they haven't made those in about 15
years bud.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I don't drive pickup trucks either, but you couldn't
park them.
You had to park it in yourgarage.
Yeah, so Florida statutechanged and they say that
homeowners associations can nolonger restrict that.
However, condo associations can.
So I'm the licensed associationmanager for the club which is
(15:59):
the subject to homeownersassociations.
So I have members in theircondo units who will come to me
and say the law changed and whyare we still allowing people to
park pickup trucks in our condos?
And I have to explain that's alocal rule.
It didn't change under Chapter718.
(16:22):
It didn't change under Chapter718.
Single-family homes, which areaccountable to me.
It did change for them.
So the master association canno longer restrict that, but
locally in your condo.
If it's still in your bylaws,you should be restricting it.
You can change it.
You don't have to.
But the law just says that anHOA can no longer say that you
(16:47):
cannot park your pickup truckoutside, or first responder
vehicles if you're a policeofficer, or commercial vehicles.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Which is basically telling people don't have
cluttered garages, yeah, so youcan park your vehicle in there.
Yeah, yeah, it's got to bedifficult to be both GM.
You know HOA leader, how do youkeep that friendly host that
middle of the ground?
Because it's got to bedifficult when they're coming to
(17:21):
the club, but then also there'sstuff going on with the.
It's got to be a uniqueposition to be in.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, it's tough at times and in that sense having
Florida's statue as difficult asthat makes it, it also gives
those of us in my position anopportunity to say listen, it's
not my rule, it's not the club'srule, it's law.
So we refer to that oftentimes.
(17:51):
A lot of clubs now mine inparticular doesn't operate this
way, but some clubs have anon-site CAM Community
Association Manager which is alicense that you have to hold
through the state of Florida asa department head.
So you know, I do do a role,I'm the general manager and I
(18:11):
also hold the CAM license forthe master association.
But I could very well hire adepartment head to run the HOA
and you know, at some point wemay end up doing that and it's
just, you just operate it asanother department.
Where it really becomes achallenge is back to committee
(18:37):
discussion, the topic ofcommittees.
We have committees like everyother club, but we also have an
architectural control committee,which is the only committee
that has some authority in theeyes of the statute, the state
of Florida and our documents,and that's a committee of club
(18:58):
members, homeowners, who enforceall of our exterior
architectural requirements thatyou would find in an HOA.
So colors of your home,replacing your roof, I want to
put a new pool cage on so thatall flows through the club as
(19:19):
well.
There's a request process,there's an approval process and
that's a committee that acts ona monthly basis, very active in
the club.
That you don't often see in alot of clubs, unless you're
you're an hoa club yeah, what'swhat was one of the?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
most obscured, what was one of the most obscure hoa
violations or like situationsyou've had to deal with that's
technically within the rules butfelt ridiculous to enforce.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Oh gosh, I mean up until last summer the whole
truck rule I always thought waskind of ridiculous, you know to
me again.
You know that was such a.
You know the rule in ourdocuments, my community is 40
years old, you know so, back inthe 90s, 80s and 90s, you know
(20:17):
the rule in our documents, mycommunity is 40 years old, you
know so, back in the nineties,eighties and nineties, you know,
pickup trucks were pickuptrucks.
And now, um, you know you canbuy a truck.
That's, you know, very, verynice, right, so I'm like what's?
And then where do you draw theline?
You know, um, I've got oneowner who has a a very nice,
(20:39):
very well restored classic ElCamino.
Um, and that's always a point ofcontention with other
homeowners Like, uh, is that atruck or a car?
You know, is that a truck or acar?
You know, so I always thoughtthat was like ridiculous, trying
(21:00):
to, you know, enforce that andtell someone they've got to pull
.
You know they can't park their.
You know, um, eddie baueredition, whatever inside that.
You know, to me I'm just like,really, um, and then some of the
paint colors.
You know that's an issue, it'salways a challenge where, you
know, in our community we haverequired paint colors that you
(21:23):
can paint the outside of yourhome.
And if you're going to do thatwork, you need to get your
neighbors to sign off on itbefore you make the request for
approval through thearchitectural committee.
You make the the request forapproval through the
architectural committee.
Um, and then you, you know, youend up with someone who just
drives by the house, who doesn'tlike the color paint, and I'm
like what do you want me to say?
(21:46):
yeah like one, it's approved andtwo, the neighbors are okay
with it.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
So don't look at it when you drive by, it's you know
face the other way, take facethe other way, go around the
other side of the loop yeah haveyou ever had all?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
kinds of crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
All kinds of crazy stuff ever, ever any like weird
vehicles, like monster trucks orpeople.
I'm sure you have people wholike push the envelope, who like
, who just like to push buttons,like have you ever had like I
don't like monster trucks orjust like limos parked like just
weird, weird stuff never hadany monster trucks.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Um, you know, I've had some atvs in past
communities.
Like you know, they'll keepthem in their garage and then
they'll drive them through thecommunity like not not atvs, but
like the uh, they look like acar.
Um, they have like doors onthem.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, yeah, uh, are you?
Uh, I think I know what youmean.
It's like there's slingshotslike the trikey things yeah or
otherwise.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Um, it's like an off-road vehicle, but it's got
four seats in it.
You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yep, yep, yep, I can see them, yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It's crazy, One of the communities I managed years
ago in the documents we also hadlandscape authority, meaning we
determined what you could andcouldn't plant in front of your
house, and I had one owner inparticular who just didn't agree
(23:21):
with that and, you know, made apoint to turn the front of his
house into a jungle.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Just out of spite.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Just out of spite, yeah, out of spite.
And one of the authorities thatstatute gives you is if someone
doesn't fix their house, perwhatever the requirements are
whether it's overgrown landscapeor their front lawn's not mowed
or whatnot we can't or saytheir roof needs to be pressure
(23:55):
washed.
The HOA can hire someone tojust do the work and then bill
them the cost.
I mean, within a certain periodof time you have to provide
notice.
We can fine you up to I believethe maximum is $100 a day,
(24:16):
capped at $1,000 for every dayyou don't rectify an issue with
the outside of your home.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
How bad is.
Have you had to deal with asituation like that, or do you
normally get it rectified andhandled before?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
it gets to that level here.
I've never had to find anyone.
I've never had to find anyone.
I've never had to find anyoneand you know a lot of it goes
back to education.
Yeah, we had some challengesduring COVID where you know,
people were buying from thenorth down here in Florida sight
(24:52):
unseen and didn't really havethe experience or the knowledge
of what an HOA is.
So there was some of that thatwe just had to educate new
owners on how the club and anHOA operates.
And then it's different state tostate.
I know some states really don'thave, they don't have statute
(25:17):
like Florida does.
Florida is the most restrictiveI shouldn't say restrictive,
but most involved in with havingstate statutes.
Other states refer to them asPOA property owners associations
.
So that's a common term.
But I think from an industrystandpoint we don't down here in
(25:39):
Florida I would say probablyhalf of the clubs throughout the
state are HOAs and bundled themembership is bundled with the
home and we don't really talkabout it all that much from an
industry standpoint.
We don't talk about the otherlevel of complexity we have as
(26:04):
operators and what we can andcan't do in clubs like HOA clubs
because of the law, hoa clubsbecause of the law.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, what's harder to manage the rules and things
itself or the personalities ofthe people trying to like not
fight the rule but, like youknow, who don't agree with it?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, it goes hand in hand.
I mean typically thepersonalities of the ones who
don't want to follow the rulesor want to push the issue, are
the difficult personalities.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, or an understandingpersonality if they question the
(26:53):
rule or the statue and youexplain it, they're like okay, I
get it Right, I get it, it'sjust the way it is, I get it.
The ones with the personalitythat just isn't as
understandable.
They're going to be difficultand it sucks.
(27:13):
You know it's difficult tomanage sometimes yeah, how do
you handle anonymous complaints?
um, I like to file them in myfiling cabinet, honestly
(27:45):
anonymous, and this has nothingto do with HOA or not HOA, but
I'm like, if you're going tocomplain, put your name on it so
we can respond.
You know, like that's a.
You know, give us theopportunity to respond.
When I started here, we stillhad comment cards, the
handwritten comment cards, andwe've since gone away with them
(28:07):
and I explained to our board atthe time.
I was like you know so many ofthose comment cards you can't,
they're not legible, you can'tread it, or there's no name.
You read one that says theburger sucked no name.
And it's probably the sameperson who's sitting at the bar
saying, well, I fill out acomment card never heard from
(28:28):
anyone.
Well, you know.
I mean, if you're going to makea complaint, regardless of what
it is, and you want to remainanonymous, that's fine.
Just come in and sit with us.
Like, listen, I just want tolet you know I've got an issue
with this or I saw this.
I don't want to make a big deal, but you need to know about it.
(28:49):
Whatever, like, as a manager,give us the opportunity to
resolve or respond to the issue,because we want to.
I genuinely want to.
The other interesting item wedeal with is records requests.
So, per Florida statute,because it's a mandatory
(29:13):
membership, every document, soit's all public information for
our owners.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Okay, but not public to outside the HOA, or can
anybody see it?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
No, no, no, it's just within the HOA.
So anyone wants a copy of anydocument, any contract that was
signed by the HOA employmentcontracts I had last year or a
year before.
I had a member who wanted acopy of my employment contract.
(29:49):
They fill out a request recordsrequest.
By law, we have to provide itback to them within 10 days.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Anything.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, any contract that is in excess of 10% of the
overall association operatingbudget we need to provide.
We need to gather and providethree or multiple proposals.
So if we're going to sign acontract for I don't know
(30:20):
something crazy like, well,here's a good one.
We manage and bill cable TV andinternet for all 1,133 homes.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Really.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And that's common down here in HOAs.
So we have one contract with mysignature on it and it's a $10
million-plus contract for it's a10-year deal.
You know, $10 million pluscontract for it's a 10-year deal
and through the MasterAssociation you are billed for
(31:00):
your cable TV and your internetservice in your home and
something like that.
We need to show that we did ourresearch and we got multiple
proposals for a service likethat and that's stipulated in
Florida statute.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Wow, Now can people still get their own if they want
, but you provide.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
They're paying anyways for ours.
They have no choice.
And if you want to go out andget direct TV, that's fine, but
you're still getting billed forthe cable TV and the internet
that the master associationprovides.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Wow, it's like a small town.
That's the best analogy that Ican make for people is like the
annual dues are like your taxesand you know the board is your
commissioners and I'm the citymanager ever had people just
like request records, just toalmost like waste time or like
(32:04):
you know they have their own.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You know.
You know trying to grind apersonal act.
You know they're just like outthere's, like I'm just gonna do
every little petty thing and youhave to comply yes wow yes,
yeah so.
So they can just as soon asthey get a new thing, just go
yeah, and you know what?
Can I get that please too?
Yeah, can I.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And then we have 10 days and what I've done?
10, 10 business days or 10 fulldays 10 business days and I'll
usually wait till the 10th dayif that's the case, but yeah,
$449,000.
Yeah, it's crazy.
It's crazy.
(32:46):
The one thing that I talk toother GMs is the open door board
meetings, because a lot ofprivate equity membership clubs,
the traditional country clubtheir board meets behind closed
doors.
They're not open meetings, youknow, and you have a nominating
(33:12):
committee for board members.
It doesn't exist.
And it makes you a whole Ithink in many regards it makes
you a better general managerjust because you really have to
be prepared and any topic that'son that board agenda that is
(33:35):
controversial.
I remember one of the biggestboard meetings we had here as
far as attendance was when theboard was going to approve
allowing denim, you know, in thebar.
This was years ago, but youknow I think we had like 40 or
50 people show up to that boardmeeting and all of them wanted
to voice their concerns and thereason why they disagreed.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Fedoras yeah fedoras.
Yeah, so anything on thatagenda as a manager, as a gm,
you've got to be ready to talkto, to speak to in a public
forum?
Yeah, and and you have tochallenge stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, yeah, because you know, at that point, you've
got to be and and and.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Now you know with, with the, the.
I don't know if you'veexperienced it or seen it, but
like these people who are likethe first amendment style
auditor, people who bring videocameras and, and they know laws
and rules and regulations betterthan anybody because they just
prepare and they have nothingelse to do, like you got to be
ready and you know, if you don'tknow an answer, you probably
(34:39):
have to have a great, a good wayto communicate.
Like, oh, let me figure thatout, or at least so you don't
know an answer, you probablyhave to have a great, a good way
to communicate, like, oh, letme figure that out, or at least
so you don't sound dumb oranything that's.
That's so wild.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, we're required by statute.
You said audit.
We're required by statute to doan annual audit with third
party firm and present theresults for those the audit.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Is that just making sure money's not getting through
the cracks?
No one's, you know, trying to.
You know, use the.
Use the hoa debit card.
To, you know, get, get somecoffee, yeah yeah what do you?
You know, a let's say, a fellowgm calls you tomorrow and says
(35:20):
hey, about to, you know, berunning a club that's about to
inherit in HOA.
What do you tell them?
What advice, what word to thewise besides Godspeed?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Well, I've had that happen twice.
My friend, robert Serecci, whowas at Medina for seven years,
moved down to I believe it's inSouth Carolina and he's at a POA
and he called me like what do Ineed to learn, what do I need
(35:56):
to know?
And you know I said I'm not.
Yeah, well, I'm not.
I wasn't familiar with the lawsin, you know, in the Carolinas,
but I know they have.
I'm like, just do your research, man, you know, reach out to
you know our club attorney is anHOA attorney.
You know that's their practiceof law, you know.
(36:17):
So, I know, when I got to thisclub and I had the past
experience because I worked fora developer for nearly all my
career, but the first person Ispent time with was the attorney
that we used for, you know,gosh, he was involved here for
30 years.
Talk me through the history,the challenges with you know HOA
(36:45):
, some of the HOA issues thathave you know, come up over the
years.
But that's your biggest, that'syour biggest resource,
especially if you've neverstepped foot in the HOA world,
because you are operating undera different, different premise,
under a different premise.
So we operate, we're directlygoverned by Chapter 720 and
(37:12):
Chapter 617, which isnot-for-profit business, and
then we indirectly work throughChapter 718, which is condo
associations.
So those governing bodies,those Florida laws, really take
precedent.
First over our membershipdocuments.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, it's a lot of work, it's a ton it's a ton.
People can't like call you likeall day.
Is there like you still havelike hours right?
Like you can't like call youlike all day?
Is there like you still havelike hours right?
Like you can't like they can'twake you up at like 11 for like
a silly thing.
No no, no, no, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
But there are areas in the community Like one of the
things I refer to all the timeis the county property appraiser
website.
To all the time is the countyproperty appraiser website
because there's constantquestions on who maintains this
piece of land versus this pieceof land.
And I'm a homeowner and youknow where does my property
start and the masterassociations begin.
(38:15):
So I'm no joke.
At least once a week I'm on theproperty appraiser website just
using that to help educate anew homeowner on, you know, a
question like that Because we,you know my team maintains
certain areas that we considercommon areas versus what the
(38:41):
homeowners are responsible for,versus what the homeowners are
responsible for, and do youthink the laws and the statutes
and all those things are movingin the right direction,
protecting owners from I don'twant to say crazy boards, but do
you think they're moving in theright direction?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Or do you think it's maybe getting a little too a
little trying to tie your handstoo much or getting too hands-on
?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I don't know.
You know, I think, some of thechanges that happened last July
the pickup trucks, for example Ithink that was a move in the
right direction because itbasically says that you know,
hoas can no longer enforce it.
Yeah, so it can't be a rule, bea rule, and in the condo world
(39:23):
it still can be, but they havethe flexibility to say, well, we
don't want that rule.
In other words, like your localdocuments can be more
restrictive than statute, butnot less restrictive, right?
So I think that's a move in theright direction, because I
always thought that was a sillyrule.
(39:57):
But again, I don't know dowhether it's a highly involved,
amenitized club like mine orit's just the community I live
in.
We've got a small littleclubhouse.
There's no restaurant oranything, but either way we're
required to pay dues to it andyou've got a board of nine,
(40:18):
essentially, that has someauthority to decide how tens of
millions of dollars are used.
And as a board member, there'sa risk taking that position.
You know, and you have to be.
You know we carry a director'sand officer's policy to cover
(40:40):
our board members and officerspolicy to cover our board
members, and as a homeowner,there's a risk.
You don't really know ifthey're doing things correctly
and statute is meant to ensurethat.
So it's challenging.
Yes, I've just, over the years,just said, you know, I'm going
(41:02):
to embrace it and try and learnas much as I'm constantly
learning, um and I.
I know that if I were ever togo to a more traditional club
you know, at this point in mycareer I think I'm I think I
bring a whole nother element ofexpertise, um, and knowledge
that could help any, any club.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Yeah, thanks for any club.
Yeah, thanks for coming onAlways.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
It's the highlight of my day, man.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Joe, thank you so much for coming on and sharing
the behind the scenes detailsabout the HOA world when it gets
combined with the club crazy,fascinating stuff.
Thank you so much, listeners.
Thank you all for listening.
Hope you got something from it.
If you're interested in mymanagement leadership events,
head on over toprivateclubradiocom.
Slash management in motion.
(41:53):
That's this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, danny Corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show where we give you thescoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering, leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show In thisepisode bringing back on one of
my good friends, good friends ofthe show, good friends of the
industry and all around greathuman, joe Smith.
Josiah Smith, gm of CountrysideGolf and Country Club, and we
were chatting a few weeks agoabout Management in Motion.
He's one of my speakers andcoming up.
If you haven't heard about it,management in Motion it is my
(00:42):
leadership event for clubprofessionals at the Monticello
Motor Club.
It's going to be an absoluteblast a day of ripping up BMWs,
M2s, 3s and 4s and then alsohearing real, relevant education
from club professionals on howwhat we're doing at the day and
on the day relates back to clubleadership and management.
It's going to be a blast.
If you want to learn moreprivateclubradiocom, slash
(01:03):
management in motion.
Or if you just go toprivateclubradiocom.
Go up to the top bar.
You'll see it right there.
Details for management inmotion.
Anyway, I was talking with Joeand he was telling me about some
of the HOA things and justthings that he is dealing with
and what they have coming up.
(01:23):
And I found it fascinating,cause something that I don't
hear too many people talk aboutbecause a lot of clubs don't
have HOAs but I think it's themagic in me, cause I I love
learning about a lot and I likejust learning and just being
able to understand how thingswork and why things work, and I
think it's the magic is.
You know, magic is about aproblem that you can't solve.
That's all magic really is.
So when we were just chatting Iwas like, hey, would you come
on and do an episode and justkind of giving a peek behind the
(01:45):
curtain on what goes into notjust managing a club but a club
that has an HOA attached to it?
Now, this is specificallyFlorida HOAs.
I realize every state and areascan be different, but we talk
about the different rules andregulations and statutes and
(02:06):
things that he has to follow andthe homeowners have to follow.
He's also a CAM CommunityAssociation Manager and he also
runs 34 sub-HOAs within hiscommunity, because at this point
you're not just running aprivate club, you're basically
running a small city.
We dive into the Floridastatutes that govern his club
(02:44):
Record-keeping rules, publicboard meetings, strict
regulations on almost everythingfrom the color of your house to
the maintenance, to thelandscaping and so much more.
My favorite part is we talkabout what happens when
anonymous complaints come in.
We dive into how to handleboard politics, committee
(03:05):
dynamics and the fine linebetween enforcing rules and
managing relationships in afairly legally structured
community.
And I think what makes thisepisode special and valuable
isn't the technicalities, it'show Joe leads through it all and
(03:30):
his approach on how to staycalm, informed, focused and
organized and building trustthroughout all of this.
So if you've ever been a littlebit curious on to what goes
(03:52):
into running a club with an hoaand kind of getting a peek
behind the curtain here, thisepisode is for you.
It is so good I I just lovelearning, so it's just a cool
experience for me to just todive into and learn a little bit
more about the club space fromone of our own and one of our
favorites Real quick before weget to the episode.
(04:13):
Big thanks to some of our showpartners, appreciate all of you
and if you are looking for anyof the products or services that
our show partners have to offer, please reach out and let them
know.
Hey, you appreciate theirsupport here.
On Private Club Radio, and alsoone more shameless plug my 2025
(04:43):
is almost basically sold out.
I have a couple couple of datesleft very, very few, but, more
importantly, I am now bookingwell into 2026.
So if you or your club islooking to have one of the most
fun member events nightspossible, reach out.
We have the Denny Corbyexperience.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
Also there's magic, mindreading and comedy.
I am an absolute crowd workexpert.
(05:04):
Your members are going to haveso much fun.
So if you want to learn more orcontact about a 2026 date, head
on over to DannyCorbycom.
Enough about that Private ClubRadio listeners.
Let's welcome to the show.
Joe Smith, I'm excited for thisone.
I'm excited for all my episodes, but I like I like learning
(05:26):
about weird stuff, like I justlike I think it's like the magic
in me too a little bit, like Ijust enjoy knowing a little bit
about a lot of things.
And when we were chatting, justyou know, and I just think I
realized the weird, like Irealized HOAs are a unique beast
, but how unique they are andthe details, and I'm sure every
state is different and we'regoing to be talking about
(05:47):
Florida here but just wild HOA.
Are they rules, laws,regulations?
Is it a mixture of all of them?
Is it a mixture of all three?
Are there HOA laws that youhave to follow?
Is it a law?
What's the?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
proper phrase Like what's the yeah?
So it's, it's Florida statute.
There's there's two chapters inFlorida statute that govern
HOAs.
There's chapter 720, which ishomeowners associations, and
there's chapter 718, which iscondo associations.
(06:25):
So my club, for example this ishow I explain it to new board
members Think of it like we're asmall town and your dues are
your taxes and the board is thelike county commissioners and
(06:49):
I'm the city manager.
So in my situation, for example, like the clubhouse, golf
course, all the amenities areassets of the master association
and then I have 34 individualsub associations that are a mix
of single family homes andcondos.
(07:10):
Some communities are all condos, so they have a uh, you know
clubhouse which is a in a, anasset of the condo association,
of the condo association.
But that's yeah, it's a wholenother layer of law and it is
law.
Florida's the most restrictive,I would say, and I think it was
(07:39):
prior to like 1995, therereally was no HOA law.
So here locally they refer toit as the Sunshine Law and it
governs all HOAs throughout thestate and the purpose of it was
to create some protection forhomeowners and for the HOA and
(08:00):
the board of directors really,because in the HOA you have no
choice.
You buy in, you're required topay dues, you're required to pay
your HOA fees and there's nochoice.
So, yeah, it's prettyrestrictive and I think when we
were talking, I think I wastelling you some of the I don't
(08:22):
remember how it came up, but itwas something about-.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I do.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I think I was telling you some of the.
I don't remember how it came up, but it was something about
like, yeah, I don't want to gointo detail, but just like the
importance of, you know, like my, my board members, you know
staying current with their, withtheir club fees, like that's
not a club rule, that's a floorof statute, you know.
So a director on a master HOAboard needs to be current with
(08:47):
their association fees to remainan active director and that's
per floor law.
So we're subject, our types ofclubs are subject to a whole
other level of governing in lawversus the, the typical country
(09:07):
club, and there's a whole realmof other oddities that come with
that.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
and I can go down the rabbit hole if you'd like me to
yeah, no, yeah, yeah, and andand just to, just to go back, uh
, to that first part, uh, if amember is delinquent, how like,
how like, what's that graceperiod?
So it's a grace period like, isit like you know, you know if
it's due, you know 30 days andit's like the first day after,
(09:34):
like, you're out.
Is it like 60 days, 90 days,like how, what's, what's the
what's?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
the statute law say per statute they abandon their
position at 90 days past due andthere's a whole collection
process we have to follow.
That's also governed by law.
Um, so there's, you know, wehave to send certain notices.
And the other thing that'sinteresting is hoa clubs like
mine.
We have lien rights so again wecan lean, we put we will place
(10:04):
a lien on their home when theyfall past due.
Yeah yeah, the collectionprocess is much more involved
and, again, governed by Floridalaw.
There's weird things, like whenI have new board members come to
(10:28):
join the board.
I specifically discuss thedifferences with you know
Boardroom Magazine Notable,which was private club advisor.
Any best practices or any youknow industry material that is
(10:55):
applicable I share with my boardmembers and a lot of times
they'll come to me and they'llsay well, look at, you know this
is a best practice and you knowwe should do this.
We should implement this withour how we recruit for board
members or have a selectioncommittee or and I have to
remind them that a lot of thestuff that comes across in these
(11:19):
publications isn't applicableto us or it only is at a certain
level.
I cannot have private boardmeetings unless the meeting is
to discuss pending litigation ora personnel issue.
Otherwise, all of our boardmeetings are open, open forum
(11:41):
board meetings, and I have toallow anyone who's in attendance
three minutes, up to threeminutes, to discuss any item on
the agenda.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So so if you have so.
If so, if all them.
If a bunch of people are madabout something or just want to
make their voice known and ahundred of them show up, they
all have the right to talk forthree minutes, and you have to
sit there.
Yep this is like an episode ofParks and Rec.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, I have to publicize my board meetings,
need a 48-hour notice by law.
So every board you know we holdboard meetings on Thursdays I
have to publish it, publish theagenda by Tuesday and last
(12:42):
summer there was a new statutethat passed where I need to not
just publish the agenda but anydocument that the board receives
as part of the meeting I needto make available to the
community.
I cannot restrict anyone fromrunning for the board unless
there's two items they're eithera convicted felon or they're
not current on their HOA dues.
Otherwise, a lot of clubs willhave selection committees or
(13:06):
they will curate new boardmembers.
I cannot.
I could certainly have a groupof members recommending making
recommendations on who theywould like to see voted into the
board, but I cannot restrictanyone from running for the
board.
Under law there's a whole slewof and if you really we just did
(13:49):
a document rewrite last yearwhich is subject to vote there's
specific requirements andstatute that I need to have
available to members when we'reproposing new documents and then
, once the documents areapproved and voted in, they have
(14:11):
to be filed with not only thecounty that our business
operates in but the state ofFlorida and their public record.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, Wasn't there just something I I was doing
like some research for this.
Wasn't there just uh like a uhum statue, whatever you know,
whatever you want to call it lawum, where you can't like be
real petty with like fines?
Now there's like a like alonger grace period or something
with like garbage cans, likeholiday lights, like stuff like
(14:45):
that.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah.
So the funny thing is is thatsome of those laws changed for
condo associations but not HOA.
So, for example, I'll use mycommunity as an example so we
for years restricted you couldnot park a commercial vehicle or
(15:09):
pickup truck outside of yourhome overnight for more than six
hours.
Okay, so if you owned a pickuptruck and it could have been a
$85,000 Lincoln Navigator pickuptruck or whatever You're
dating- yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, I know they haven't made those in about 15
years bud.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I don't drive pickup trucks either, but you couldn't
park them.
You had to park it in yourgarage.
Yeah, so Florida statutechanged and they say that
homeowners associations can nolonger restrict that.
However, condo associations can.
So I'm the licensed associationmanager for the club which is
(15:59):
the subject to homeownersassociations.
So I have members in theircondo units who will come to me
and say the law changed and whyare we still allowing people to
park pickup trucks in our condos?
And I have to explain that's alocal rule.
It didn't change under Chapter718.
(16:22):
It didn't change under Chapter718.
Single-family homes, which areaccountable to me.
It did change for them.
So the master association canno longer restrict that, but
locally in your condo.
If it's still in your bylaws,you should be restricting it.
You can change it.
You don't have to.
But the law just says that anHOA can no longer say that you
(16:47):
cannot park your pickup truckoutside, or first responder
vehicles if you're a policeofficer, or commercial vehicles.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Which is basically telling people don't have
cluttered garages, yeah, so youcan park your vehicle in there.
Yeah, yeah, it's got to bedifficult to be both GM.
You know HOA leader, how do youkeep that friendly host that
middle of the ground?
Because it's got to bedifficult when they're coming to
(17:21):
the club, but then also there'sstuff going on with the.
It's got to be a uniqueposition to be in.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, it's tough at times and in that sense having
Florida's statue as difficult asthat makes it, it also gives
those of us in my position anopportunity to say listen, it's
not my rule, it's not the club'srule, it's law.
So we refer to that oftentimes.
(17:51):
A lot of clubs now mine inparticular doesn't operate this
way, but some clubs have anon-site CAM Community
Association Manager which is alicense that you have to hold
through the state of Florida asa department head.
So you know, I do do a role,I'm the general manager and I
(18:11):
also hold the CAM license forthe master association.
But I could very well hire adepartment head to run the HOA
and you know, at some point wemay end up doing that and it's
just, you just operate it asanother department.
Where it really becomes achallenge is back to committee
(18:37):
discussion, the topic ofcommittees.
We have committees like everyother club, but we also have an
architectural control committee,which is the only committee
that has some authority in theeyes of the statute, the state
of Florida and our documents,and that's a committee of club
(18:58):
members, homeowners, who enforceall of our exterior
architectural requirements thatyou would find in an HOA.
So colors of your home,replacing your roof, I want to
put a new pool cage on so thatall flows through the club as
(19:19):
well.
There's a request process,there's an approval process and
that's a committee that acts ona monthly basis, very active in
the club.
That you don't often see in alot of clubs, unless you're
you're an hoa club yeah, what'swhat was one of the?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
most obscured, what was one of the most obscure hoa
violations or like situationsyou've had to deal with that's
technically within the rules butfelt ridiculous to enforce.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Oh gosh, I mean up until last summer the whole
truck rule I always thought waskind of ridiculous, you know to
me again.
You know that was such a.
You know the rule in ourdocuments, my community is 40
years old, you know so, back inthe 90s, 80s and 90s, you know
(20:17):
the rule in our documents, mycommunity is 40 years old, you
know so, back in the nineties,eighties and nineties, you know,
pickup trucks were pickuptrucks.
And now, um, you know you canbuy a truck.
That's, you know, very, verynice, right, so I'm like what's?
And then where do you draw theline?
You know, um, I've got oneowner who has a a very nice,
(20:39):
very well restored classic ElCamino.
Um, and that's always a point ofcontention with other
homeowners Like, uh, is that atruck or a car?
You know, is that a truck or acar?
You know, so I always thoughtthat was like ridiculous, trying
(21:00):
to, you know, enforce that andtell someone they've got to pull
.
You know they can't park their.
You know, um, eddie baueredition, whatever inside that.
You know, to me I'm just like,really, um, and then some of the
paint colors.
You know that's an issue, it'salways a challenge where, you
know, in our community we haverequired paint colors that you
(21:23):
can paint the outside of yourhome.
And if you're going to do thatwork, you need to get your
neighbors to sign off on itbefore you make the request for
approval through thearchitectural committee.
You make the the request forapproval through the
architectural committee.
Um, and then you, you know, youend up with someone who just
drives by the house, who doesn'tlike the color paint, and I'm
like what do you want me to say?
(21:46):
yeah like one, it's approved andtwo, the neighbors are okay
with it.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
So don't look at it when you drive by, it's you know
face the other way, take facethe other way, go around the
other side of the loop yeah haveyou ever had all?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
kinds of crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
All kinds of crazy stuff ever, ever any like weird
vehicles, like monster trucks orpeople.
I'm sure you have people wholike push the envelope, who like
, who just like to push buttons,like have you ever had like I
don't like monster trucks orjust like limos parked like just
weird, weird stuff never hadany monster trucks.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Um, you know, I've had some atvs in past
communities.
Like you know, they'll keepthem in their garage and then
they'll drive them through thecommunity like not not atvs, but
like the uh, they look like acar.
Um, they have like doors onthem.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, yeah, uh, are you?
Uh, I think I know what youmean.
It's like there's slingshotslike the trikey things yeah or
otherwise.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Um, it's like an off-road vehicle, but it's got
four seats in it.
You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yep, yep, yep, I can see them, yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It's crazy, One of the communities I managed years
ago in the documents we also hadlandscape authority, meaning we
determined what you could andcouldn't plant in front of your
house, and I had one owner inparticular who just didn't agree
(23:21):
with that and, you know, made apoint to turn the front of his
house into a jungle.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Just out of spite.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Just out of spite, yeah, out of spite.
And one of the authorities thatstatute gives you is if someone
doesn't fix their house, perwhatever the requirements are
whether it's overgrown landscapeor their front lawn's not mowed
or whatnot we can't or saytheir roof needs to be pressure
(23:55):
washed.
The HOA can hire someone tojust do the work and then bill
them the cost.
I mean, within a certain periodof time you have to provide
notice.
We can fine you up to I believethe maximum is $100 a day,
(24:16):
capped at $1,000 for every dayyou don't rectify an issue with
the outside of your home.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
How bad is.
Have you had to deal with asituation like that, or do you
normally get it rectified andhandled before?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
it gets to that level here.
I've never had to find anyone.
I've never had to find anyone.
I've never had to find anyoneand you know a lot of it goes
back to education.
Yeah, we had some challengesduring COVID where you know,
people were buying from thenorth down here in Florida sight
(24:52):
unseen and didn't really havethe experience or the knowledge
of what an HOA is.
So there was some of that thatwe just had to educate new
owners on how the club and anHOA operates.
And then it's different state tostate.
I know some states really don'thave, they don't have statute
(25:17):
like Florida does.
Florida is the most restrictiveI shouldn't say restrictive,
but most involved in with havingstate statutes.
Other states refer to them asPOA property owners associations
.
So that's a common term.
But I think from an industrystandpoint we don't down here in
(25:39):
Florida I would say probablyhalf of the clubs throughout the
state are HOAs and bundled themembership is bundled with the
home and we don't really talkabout it all that much from an
industry standpoint.
We don't talk about the otherlevel of complexity we have as
(26:04):
operators and what we can andcan't do in clubs like HOA clubs
because of the law, hoa clubsbecause of the law.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, what's harder to manage the rules and things
itself or the personalities ofthe people trying to like not
fight the rule but, like youknow, who don't agree with it?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, it goes hand in hand.
I mean typically thepersonalities of the ones who
don't want to follow the rulesor want to push the issue, are
the difficult personalities.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, or an understandingpersonality if they question the
(26:53):
rule or the statue and youexplain it, they're like okay, I
get it Right, I get it, it'sjust the way it is, I get it.
The ones with the personalitythat just isn't as
understandable.
They're going to be difficultand it sucks.
(27:13):
You know it's difficult tomanage sometimes yeah, how do
you handle anonymous complaints?
um, I like to file them in myfiling cabinet, honestly
(27:45):
anonymous, and this has nothingto do with HOA or not HOA, but
I'm like, if you're going tocomplain, put your name on it so
we can respond.
You know, like that's a.
You know, give us theopportunity to respond.
When I started here, we stillhad comment cards, the
handwritten comment cards, andwe've since gone away with them
(28:07):
and I explained to our board atthe time.
I was like you know so many ofthose comment cards you can't,
they're not legible, you can'tread it, or there's no name.
You read one that says theburger sucked no name.
And it's probably the sameperson who's sitting at the bar
saying, well, I fill out acomment card never heard from
(28:28):
anyone.
Well, you know.
I mean, if you're going to makea complaint, regardless of what
it is, and you want to remainanonymous, that's fine.
Just come in and sit with us.
Like, listen, I just want tolet you know I've got an issue
with this or I saw this.
I don't want to make a big deal, but you need to know about it.
(28:49):
Whatever, like, as a manager,give us the opportunity to
resolve or respond to the issue,because we want to.
I genuinely want to.
The other interesting item wedeal with is records requests.
So, per Florida statute,because it's a mandatory
(29:13):
membership, every document, soit's all public information for
our owners.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Okay, but not public to outside the HOA, or can
anybody see it?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
No, no, no, it's just within the HOA.
So anyone wants a copy of anydocument, any contract that was
signed by the HOA employmentcontracts I had last year or a
year before.
I had a member who wanted acopy of my employment contract.
(29:49):
They fill out a request recordsrequest.
By law, we have to provide itback to them within 10 days.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Anything.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, any contract that is in excess of 10% of the
overall association operatingbudget we need to provide.
We need to gather and providethree or multiple proposals.
So if we're going to sign acontract for I don't know
(30:20):
something crazy like, well,here's a good one.
We manage and bill cable TV andinternet for all 1,133 homes.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Really.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And that's common down here in HOAs.
So we have one contract with mysignature on it and it's a $10
million-plus contract for it's a10-year deal.
You know, $10 million pluscontract for it's a 10-year deal
and through the MasterAssociation you are billed for
(31:00):
your cable TV and your internetservice in your home and
something like that.
We need to show that we did ourresearch and we got multiple
proposals for a service likethat and that's stipulated in
Florida statute.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Wow, Now can people still get their own if they want
, but you provide.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
They're paying anyways for ours.
They have no choice.
And if you want to go out andget direct TV, that's fine, but
you're still getting billed forthe cable TV and the internet
that the master associationprovides.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Wow, it's like a small town.
That's the best analogy that Ican make for people is like the
annual dues are like your taxesand you know the board is your
commissioners and I'm the citymanager ever had people just
like request records, just toalmost like waste time or like
(32:04):
you know they have their own.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You know.
You know trying to grind apersonal act.
You know they're just like outthere's, like I'm just gonna do
every little petty thing and youhave to comply yes wow yes,
yeah so.
So they can just as soon asthey get a new thing, just go
yeah, and you know what?
Can I get that please too?
Yeah, can I.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And then we have 10 days and what I've done?
10, 10 business days or 10 fulldays 10 business days and I'll
usually wait till the 10th dayif that's the case, but yeah,
$449,000.
Yeah, it's crazy.
It's crazy.
(32:46):
The one thing that I talk toother GMs is the open door board
meetings, because a lot ofprivate equity membership clubs,
the traditional country clubtheir board meets behind closed
doors.
They're not open meetings, youknow, and you have a nominating
(33:12):
committee for board members.
It doesn't exist.
And it makes you a whole Ithink in many regards it makes
you a better general managerjust because you really have to
be prepared and any topic that'son that board agenda that is
(33:35):
controversial.
I remember one of the biggestboard meetings we had here as
far as attendance was when theboard was going to approve
allowing denim, you know, in thebar.
This was years ago, but youknow I think we had like 40 or
50 people show up to that boardmeeting and all of them wanted
to voice their concerns and thereason why they disagreed.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Fedoras yeah fedoras.
Yeah, so anything on thatagenda as a manager, as a gm,
you've got to be ready to talkto, to speak to in a public
forum?
Yeah, and and you have tochallenge stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, yeah, because you know, at that point, you've
got to be and and and.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Now you know with, with the, the.
I don't know if you'veexperienced it or seen it, but
like these people who are likethe first amendment style
auditor, people who bring videocameras and, and they know laws
and rules and regulations betterthan anybody because they just
prepare and they have nothingelse to do, like you got to be
ready and you know, if you don'tknow an answer, you probably
(34:39):
have to have a great, a good wayto communicate.
Like, oh, let me figure thatout, or at least so you don't
know an answer, you probablyhave to have a great, a good way
to communicate, like, oh, letme figure that out, or at least
so you don't sound dumb oranything that's.
That's so wild.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, we're required by statute.
You said audit.
We're required by statute to doan annual audit with third
party firm and present theresults for those the audit.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Is that just making sure money's not getting through
the cracks?
No one's, you know, trying to.
You know, use the.
Use the hoa debit card.
To, you know, get, get somecoffee, yeah yeah what do you?
You know, a let's say, a fellowgm calls you tomorrow and says
(35:20):
hey, about to, you know, berunning a club that's about to
inherit in HOA.
What do you tell them?
What advice, what word to thewise besides Godspeed?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Well, I've had that happen twice.
My friend, robert Serecci, whowas at Medina for seven years,
moved down to I believe it's inSouth Carolina and he's at a POA
and he called me like what do Ineed to learn, what do I need
(35:56):
to know?
And you know I said I'm not.
Yeah, well, I'm not.
I wasn't familiar with the lawsin, you know, in the Carolinas,
but I know they have.
I'm like, just do your research, man, you know, reach out to
you know our club attorney is anHOA attorney.
You know that's their practiceof law, you know.
(36:17):
So, I know, when I got to thisclub and I had the past
experience because I worked fora developer for nearly all my
career, but the first person Ispent time with was the attorney
that we used for, you know,gosh, he was involved here for
30 years.
Talk me through the history,the challenges with you know HOA
(36:45):
, some of the HOA issues thathave you know, come up over the
years.
But that's your biggest, that'syour biggest resource,
especially if you've neverstepped foot in the HOA world,
because you are operating undera different, different premise,
under a different premise.
So we operate, we're directlygoverned by Chapter 720 and
(37:12):
Chapter 617, which isnot-for-profit business, and
then we indirectly work throughChapter 718, which is condo
associations.
So those governing bodies,those Florida laws, really take
precedent.
First over our membershipdocuments.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, it's a lot of work, it's a ton it's a ton.
People can't like call you likeall day.
Is there like you still havelike hours right?
Like you can't like call youlike all day?
Is there like you still havelike hours right?
Like you can't like they can'twake you up at like 11 for like
a silly thing.
No no, no, no, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
But there are areas in the community Like one of the
things I refer to all the timeis the county property appraiser
website.
To all the time is the countyproperty appraiser website
because there's constantquestions on who maintains this
piece of land versus this pieceof land.
And I'm a homeowner and youknow where does my property
start and the masterassociations begin.
(38:15):
So I'm no joke.
At least once a week I'm on theproperty appraiser website just
using that to help educate anew homeowner on, you know, a
question like that Because we,you know my team maintains
certain areas that we considercommon areas versus what the
(38:41):
homeowners are responsible for,versus what the homeowners are
responsible for, and do youthink the laws and the statutes
and all those things are movingin the right direction,
protecting owners from I don'twant to say crazy boards, but do
you think they're moving in theright direction?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Or do you think it's maybe getting a little too a
little trying to tie your handstoo much or getting too hands-on
?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I don't know.
You know, I think, some of thechanges that happened last July
the pickup trucks, for example Ithink that was a move in the
right direction because itbasically says that you know,
hoas can no longer enforce it.
Yeah, so it can't be a rule, bea rule, and in the condo world
(39:23):
it still can be, but they havethe flexibility to say, well, we
don't want that rule.
In other words, like your localdocuments can be more
restrictive than statute, butnot less restrictive, right?
So I think that's a move in theright direction, because I
always thought that was a sillyrule.
(39:57):
But again, I don't know dowhether it's a highly involved,
amenitized club like mine orit's just the community I live
in.
We've got a small littleclubhouse.
There's no restaurant oranything, but either way we're
required to pay dues to it andyou've got a board of nine,
(40:18):
essentially, that has someauthority to decide how tens of
millions of dollars are used.
And as a board member, there'sa risk taking that position.
You know, and you have to be.
You know we carry a director'sand officer's policy to cover
(40:40):
our board members and officerspolicy to cover our board
members, and as a homeowner,there's a risk.
You don't really know ifthey're doing things correctly
and statute is meant to ensurethat.
So it's challenging.
Yes, I've just, over the years,just said, you know, I'm going
(41:02):
to embrace it and try and learnas much as I'm constantly
learning, um and I.
I know that if I were ever togo to a more traditional club
you know, at this point in mycareer I think I'm I think I
bring a whole nother element ofexpertise, um, and knowledge
that could help any, any club.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Yeah, thanks for any club.
Yeah, thanks for coming onAlways.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
It's the highlight of my day, man.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Joe, thank you so much for coming on and sharing
the behind the scenes detailsabout the HOA world when it gets
combined with the club crazy,fascinating stuff.
Thank you so much, listeners.
Thank you all for listening.
Hope you got something from it.
If you're interested in mymanagement leadership events,
head on over toprivateclubradiocom.
Slash management in motion.
(41:53):
That's this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, danny Corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
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