August 4, 2025 • 36 mins
Experienced HOA board members are the key to strong, harmonious communities! Learn from real-life board hero, Lynn Ochberg and her years of experience!
✅ Is a Reserve Study right for you? 👉 https://www.reservestudy.com/
What makes an HOA board truly effective? Experience. Lynn Ochberg shares how her extensive background shapes her successful leadership in Florida. She shares with Robert her stories of navigating special assessments and infrastructure repairs to building community unity through open communication. Lynn hopes to pass on her extensive knowledge to other like-minded HOA Board members tuning it!
Chapters From Today's Episode:
00:00 What makes a good HOA board member?
01:01 Introduction to this week’s HOA Board Hero - Lynn Ochberg
04:23 How is Lynn's condo board structured?
05:57 Why is professional management crucial for HOA success?
09:45 What inspired Lynn to become a board member?
11:32 How did Florida legislation change HOA responsibilities after Surfside?
13:24 Is Lynn's board united on important decisions?
14:46 Why is pet policy such a challenging issue for HOAs?
16:49 How do HOA subcommittees help board decision-making?
19:05 Ad Break - FiPhO
19:59 What qualities make someone an excellent board member?
24:22 How did Lynn handle a significant unexpected expense?
30:50 What's Lynn’s proudest accomplishment as a board leader?
32:10 How did Lynn’s board achieve unanimous approval for a major project?
33:59 What's Lynn’s advice for other HOA board members?
The views & opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts & Guests, intended to provide general education about the community association industry. The content is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or organization. Please seek advice from licensed professionals.
Podcast Links:
Full Episode List
Watch On Youtube
Engage in the conversation!
Call our 24/7 voicemail line at (805) 203-3130 or send an email or voice memo to podcast@reservestudy.com
Nominate yourself or a Board Hero you Know!
Board Hero Nominations
Shop!
HOA insights now has its very own merch store! Our team has whipped up some hats, mugs, T-Shirts, & more that we think Volunteer HOA Boardmembers are gonna love. We also offer dozens of FREE zoom backgrounds. Available in our Boardmember Merch Store!
Connect with Hosts on LinkedIn
Julie Adamen
Kevin Davis, CIRMS
...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lynn Ochberg (00:00):
Well, a good board member is like a good parent,
(00:03):
and I really look for that. Andmost of our owners here are
seniors, so they have a lot ofexperience in raising their
kids. Many of them aregrandparents already, and those
kinds of caring and the ideathat you're investing in the
future of your child is broughtright over to investing in the
(00:26):
future of your condominium.
Here.
Announcer (00:31):
A regular highlight of the HOA insights podcast is
our board heroes feature, wherewe dedicate one episode each
month to celebrate theremarkable efforts of HOA board
members to us, a board hero isone of the 2 million elected
volunteers who deserverecognition for excelling in a
role that often goes unnoticed.
Today, we're excited tospotlight one of these
exceptional board heroes andshare their inspiring story. If
you match our definition of aboard hero, or know someone who
(00:54):
does, please reach out to us.
Our contact details and those ofour sponsors are provided in the
show notes.
Robert Nordlund (01:01):
Welcome back to HOA Inisghts
Common Areas. I'm RobertNordlund, and I'm here today for
episode number 117 with anotherone of the board heroes. We're
proud to celebrate. Lynnauchberg is a regular listener
and a board member of herFlorida Community Association.
She wanted to share some of herobservations and insights from
her years of experience. She'sbeen a Florida board member, a
(01:25):
Michigan board member, and wasformerly in Michigan a city
councilwoman, so we jumped atthe opportunity to have her on
the program so she could shareher experience with you. Well, I
hope you enjoyed last week'sepisode number 116 with regular
co host and insurance expertKevin Davis, seeing the world
through his eyes as a leadingDNO insurance provider. In that
(01:47):
episode, we spoke about theactual cost of the incivility
that we are seeing more and moreof all around us. If you missed
that episode or any other priorepisode, you can find them on
our podcast website, Hoainsights.org, on your favorite
podcast platform or on ourYouTube channel, but better yet,
subscribe to the podcast inorder to get every episode
(02:09):
delivered to you right to yourphone or mobile device. Well,
those of you watching on YouTubehave the advantage of seeing us,
and you can see that I've got myHOA insights mug here, one of my
favorites, and you can getsomething like that from our
merch store, which you canbrowse through from our Hoa
insights.org website or the shownotes, and you'll find we have
(02:31):
plenty of free items there, likeboard members, Zoom backgrounds
and some specialty items forsale, like mugs. But you can get
this one for free, just go toour merch store and pick out the
mug you'd like and email me atpodcast, at reserves, a.com
mentioning episode 117 muggiveaway, and if you're the 10th
person, we'll ship it to youfree of charge. Well, we enjoy
(02:54):
hearing from you, and mostepisodes are in response to a
topic you've recommended. So dostay in contact letting us know
what questions you have aretopics that you'd like to hear
more about. So leave us avoicemail at 805-203-3130, leave
a comment on the YouTube videoor send us an email at podcast
(03:16):
at reserve study.com but back totoday's episode. Lynn Ochberg is
the president of her 91 unitFlorida waterfront condo
association down in the FloridaKeys. They were built in 1978 so
just under 50 years old. Theassociation consists of seven,
five story buildings on the Gulfside. And I realized that's not
(03:39):
a lot of difference. That's justacross the street for you,
Lynn Ochberg (03:42):
Yeah. Key Largo is a very skinny little island,
yeah, okay, called Margo forbeing long, not not enormous,
Robert Nordlund (03:51):
yeah, so being on the Atlantic side is for you,
just across the street. Anyway.
She's a lifetime learner, and wewanted to take advantage of her
observations on working withthings as crazy as dog owners,
running meetings, financialoperations and everything else
that comes from her years ofexperience as being a board
member. And you board membersknow that the things you touch,
(04:12):
the subjects you touch, arediverse, and so we just wanted
to have Lynn on the program. SoLynn, let's start out by telling
us about the board at yourassociation.
Lynn Ochberg (04:23):
Our board is consists of nine members. We
have one from each of ourtownhouses and two from our tall
building, which has the extra 35people in it. And then we have
two at large members, so thatthey represent the spirit of the
whole community. Supposedly
Robert Nordlund (04:45):
got it, because I was thinking for 91 units,
nine seemed like a lot of boardmembers, but that's actually
kind of a good thing. Now, theway you describe it, because
it's building representatives,yes, and then plus a couple of
at large, kind of. Blend thingstogether is that a lot of people
to handle, a lot of people towork with, or
Lynn Ochberg (05:06):
little or boards and bigger boards. What the main
virtue of it is, it's an oddnumber, so that a vote can be
dispositive. There's always aneither more or less yes or nos.
Robert Nordlund (05:24):
I like that.
Now I'm going to stereotype hereis your community, one that is
full time residents or parttimers like Do you have a
problem with a lot of peoplebeing out of town or not on
property?
Lynn Ochberg (05:37):
Actually, we have a mix of both, but most of our
members are Miami residents whocome here for the weekends.
Interesting, how far of acommute is that? It's a one hour
unless the traffic is bad, yeah,not bad,
Robert Nordlund (05:53):
okay? And then just the organizationally you're
professionally
Lynn Ochberg (05:57):
managed? Yes, we are fortunate to have an
excellent professional manager.
He came from managing a veryextensive golf club that had its
own restaurant and many otherfacilities as well, and he's
just wonderful. We've had himnow for three years, and it was
such a pleasure negotiating hisemployment contract.
Robert Nordlund (06:21):
I like that is your manager, an employee of a
larger management company. No,no,
Lynn Ochberg (06:28):
he's my employee.
Robert Nordlund (06:32):
Ouch, ouch, president of the association, my
employee.
Lynn Ochberg (06:35):
Well, I got to do the the interviews and, and, you
know, composing the contract
Robert Nordlund (06:43):
got it okay. So works for the association. And
how big of a team is there a lotof maintenance? Or, oh, yeah,
Lynn Ochberg (06:51):
we have the usual amount of maintenance here in
the tropical South East. Thingsgrow even without rain, which is
what's been happening. So wealways have to have landscapers
and regular maintenance peoplefor everything from the elevator
to keeping the, you know, theleaves off the road and
(07:12):
everything like that. But ourtotal of seven, and two of them
are in the office. We have aregular assist associate manager
and weekly an auditor who comesin to help us with the books.
Robert Nordlund (07:27):
Fantastic. So you have, I want to say you've
got some professionals stackedaround you to ensure that you
are as board members, makingdecisions, not doing tasks. It
sounds like, right? I like that,okay? And that's an asterisk for
everyone to remember. Boardmembers are there, and maybe I
(07:48):
should have you articulate this.
My sense is that board membersare there to help make decisions
and guide not be volunteer
Lynn Ochberg (07:55):
labors. Oh, definitely I don't let anybody
do any work other than thinkingand talking and discussing
possible new projects orglitches in old ones as we
manage to get through each yearwithin our budget. Yeah, well,
Robert Nordlund (08:14):
obviously, and then you've set the budget so
you have room for that kind ofpayroll to get those things
done, right? I like that. Okay,some things cost money, and you
Lynn Ochberg (08:25):
sure do, especially insurance these days,
Robert Nordlund (08:29):
we that's an asterisk for me. We can talk
more about that. And remember,Lynn's in Florida, so there's a
lot of legislative things goingon. There's a lot of storm
related damage and insurance isexpensive. How long have you
been at your association?
Lynn Ochberg (08:48):
Well, we rented here during the vacation season,
which is winter time for threeyears, and then I bought a
place, bought a unit, and itjust having to coincide when
covid happened. So we juststayed. Got it okay. So it's
been six years ago now,
Robert Nordlund (09:09):
and this sounds like you are pretty darn happy
being full time resident there.
Oh yes,
Lynn Ochberg (09:15):
I love it here.
It's like living in paradise.
Robert Nordlund (09:19):
I like that.
What's a Michigan winter do toyour spine at this point in
time, it's
Lynn Ochberg (09:27):
really good to be away from it. I don't have to
shovel snow anymore. I
Robert Nordlund (09:32):
like that.
Okay, so you're there as arenter. Kind of testing the
water, testing the environment.
What got you interested in beinga board member at this new
place? Well, new for you,
Lynn Ochberg (09:46):
I attended a lot of the meetings of when I was
just a renter, which, of course,you're not really supposed to
do, but I'm nosy enough to havedone anyway, and I noticed there
were so many infrastructurerepair projects that. Hadn't
been done, and our manager atthat time was unable to get
three bids, which is required bythe the Florida condo law, you
(10:10):
need three bids on a majorproject, and he was unable to
get them. And I thought, well,if I were on the board, I'd be
able to get them. And so I ranfor the board. And sure enough,
I've been able to get an awfullot of things done since I've
had the privilege of being onthis board.
Robert Nordlund (10:28):
Got it okay?
Well, I've been in the keys afew times, once, I think, for a
wedding, and then a number oftimes doing a reserve site
inspection. And yes, to a degreeit is. You could say it's
remote, but that depends whereyou are. But you are just an
hour from Miami, so it seemslike with a little bit of
diligence, you can get people toget things done, right?
Lynn Ochberg (10:52):
Well, it depends on, for instance, how recent the
latest hurricane was, and thenthere's competition for various
kind of repair contractors andeven and recently, we had the
Surfside buildings fall down and21 and new and new legislation
that requires all of our majorinfrastructure to be able to
(11:16):
meet a milestone inspection, andthat made everything more
difficult to compete forcontractors to meet those new
requirements. So that's thebackground that just happened to
occur when I became resident.
Robert Nordlund (11:32):
Yeah. Well, let me if I can step in for just a
moment and tell everyone from 49other states in Florida their
legislative response to theSurfside tragedy was twofold.
One was there needs to be amilestone inspection, a
structural inspection, and thenthey upgraded the standards for
(11:53):
what a reserve study is, andfinally, put some teeth into
that, some mandatory elements ofthat. So yes, the milestone
inspection needs to be donebecause Florida legislators
wanted to make sure thatbuildings were structurally
sound. And wasn't that threestories and taller?
Lynn Ochberg (12:12):
Yes, it was. And we have, as you noted, six,
seven buildings, and they allhave they're all over three
stories, or they're five of themare three stories and one is
five stories,
Robert Nordlund (12:27):
and you have incredible salt water exposure
from, oh yeah,
Lynn Ochberg (12:33):
we've always had a spalling item on our annual
budget to deal with whatever theSalt Water has done to our
concrete but, you know, year toyear, but that was a major part
of the milestone inspectionprocess.
Robert Nordlund (12:48):
When I talk to my clients, I always remind them
that mother nature and FatherTime are the bad guys here. It's
not the legislation, it's notthe board, it's not an
individual who's pushing forrepairs. It's just Mother Nature
and Father Time are harsh, andyou've got salt air environment,
it's warm, it's moist, andthat's going to do a lot of
(13:10):
damage, and you've got to stayahead of that, or your building
is going to suffer. That is thetruth. Yeah, okay, well, let's
go down that path. Does yourboard see the truth pretty
clearly?
Lynn Ochberg (13:24):
I think they do.
Yes. In fact, I've had noproblem when we need to approve
a contract, it's always aunanimous decision to go
Interesting,
Robert Nordlund (13:38):
okay, because a moment ago, you spoke about you
enjoyed, or you liked the ideathat there was an odd number so
you could always have minorityjust in case. Yeah, right. Are
many? Or can I say, well, aremany, or most of the decisions
you make unanimous as a board?
Yes,
Lynn Ochberg (13:57):
yes, they are.
It's only on very personalissues, such as whether dogs
should be allowed on the beach,kind of thing, they're going to
be really two sides to certainkinds of issues that deal with
the personal preferences ofpeople, but on issues like
whether your building is goingto fall on you now. Unanimity is
(14:20):
is very reliable.
Robert Nordlund (14:25):
Yeah, it's nice to know that you're all when it
comes down to fundamental orfoundational type issues. The
board is of one mind that welike living here and we want to
keep this place sound Yes, okay,that's right. Do you want to
tell me about it? Sounds likethis might be interesting dog
walking.
Lynn Ochberg (14:45):
Well, we're currently on
Robert Nordlund (14:46):
topic you don't want to touch,
Lynn Ochberg (14:48):
yeah, well, I'll be happy to touch it. But
recently, the feds have madethis interesting distinction
between pets and animals,especially service and. Animals
and emotional support animals.
The federal law, the ADA, theFHA and HUD rules now have
determined that those twocategories, service animals and
(15:11):
emotional support animals arenot pets, and we have a we had a
very old rule regarding how toyou know whether you're allowed
to walk your dog here or there,and enough weight limit on pets,
but we never anticipated, atleast not 50 years ago, when the
rules were written, it wasn'tanticipated that there would be
(15:33):
this, these new categories ofdogs. So people here who've been
looking out their windows. I'veseen these a lot of really big
dogs, because we have a 15 poundlimit on pet dogs, and so they
say, Oh, where did that dog comefrom? That really large dog? And
(15:53):
it's, it's so it's created anissue that has to be addressed,
and we're in the process ofdesigning new not just pet
rules, but animal rules.
Interesting. Just yesterday, wehad a subcommittee meeting on it
where I got to hear all theemotional feelings of not just
(16:16):
board members or committeemembers, it's a subcommittee of
the buildings, grounds andsecurity committee. So far, I've
just been recording everybody'sdruthers, and we're on draft
number eight, and I'm now, afteryesterday's meeting, I plan to
conduct a survey. We use SurveyMonkey to find out what people
(16:37):
really want. And after that,draft number nine will occur,
and hopefully we'll reachcommunity unity, always my
favorite phrase, and proceed.
Robert Nordlund (16:50):
Okay, well, I want to point out something that
you said there, that I don'twant to let it pass. You said a
subcommittee. So you've got ninepeople on the board. You have a
subcommittee that's feeding theboard information, advising and
you stopped in to hear what theyhad to say. So you have people
doing your research, do yourcommittee structures, they end
(17:11):
up being training ground for newboard members.
Lynn Ochberg (17:15):
I sure hope so, because I'm not going to last
forever, and I I work very hardto encourage people to try
volunteering, to join committeesand to help me with various
research projects. Look this up,look that up. You know, ask your
whole floor what they feel about
Robert Nordlund (17:37):
it. Yeah, and there's two sides of that. One
is, it's an opportunity for themto get involved in community,
take a take hold of what do wewant to do here at our
community, and also gives them ataste of how they can help. And
it's not going to beoverwhelming. It could be help
(17:57):
me with the pet versus dog typeissue, do the research on Ada,
Florida laws, whatever, and comeup with some reason. And you're
also, if you're on draft eight,is very clear that you're
listening to them. Theirfeedback matters. And they
again, it becomes theircommunity. You've you've
(18:19):
probably heard, I hope you'veheard and I'm talking to
everyone here. When Kevin Davisis on the program, he talks
about trying to lower thetemperature, taking away
people's anxiety. And whenyou're listening to people, and
when Julie's on the program, shetalks about, you can never have
enough communication. What arewe thinking? What are we doing?
(18:40):
How can we hear from you? Andthese are all, these are all
good things. I want to hear moreabout your board. What drives
it, what board membercharacteristics you're looking
for, but I'm looking at theclock here, and I think it's
time to take a quick break andhear from one of our generous
(19:00):
sponsors, after which we'll beback to hear more from Lynn
ochberg,
Paige Daniels (19:05):
numbers matter, and we need numbers like game
scores and bank balances to letus know where we stand. The same
is true for your association. Isyours thriving or struggling?
Let me introduce you to theFiPhO health score, like your
own personal FICO credit score.
Now in one simple number, ownersand boards can learn the
combined financial, physical andoperational health of their
association. The good news, it'sfree at ourFiPhO.com that's our
(19:27):
f, i, p, H, o.com Learn how yourassociation measures up and
Robert Nordlund (19:36):
we're back.
Well, Lynd, before the break, westarted talking about the board
members and the feeder sourcethat you have of committees, and
how you're hearing from people.
And by golly, if you're on theeighth draft of a policy, you're
certainly listening to peopleand responding to them and
communicating. But tell me, whatdo you look for in a board
member, or what do you thinkmakes for a good board member?
Lynn Ochberg (19:59):
Well, a good. A board member is like a good
parent, and I really look forthat. And most of our owners
here are seniors, which is trueof all over Florida in
condominium associations. And sothey have a lot of experience in
raising their kids. Many of themare grandparents already, and
(20:22):
those kinds of caring and theidea that you're investing in
the future of your child isbrought right over to investing
in the future of yourcondominium. Here, I don't have
any trouble at all trying to,you know, in getting people to
volunteer, and we usually havethree or four people for each
(20:45):
position, that is, they run forin our annual elections. So
that's good, because then therest of the people pick the one
that they think will serve themthe best.
Robert Nordlund (20:55):
You know, I'm almost to the point of being
stunned we hear so much aboutpeople struggling to find board
member candidates and having toappoint them and having to
cajole people, but I thinkyou've done so much preparation
in having committees, havingstaff delegation,
Lynn Ochberg (21:15):
delegation of parts of jobs, so that I don't
have to do Everything. I mean, Idon't, it's not about me, it's
about the whole community. And
Robert Nordlund (21:25):
you don't have a man killer job, yeah, you have
how many, how many hours a weekare you spending doing
Lynn Ochberg (21:32):
board work varies, and depending on what kind of
issues are coming up, if, ifthere's a big contract to be
let, I have to read it verycarefully. That's, I guess I'm a
little compulsive about somethings, just from having a legal
education, and I'm not going tosign anything that I haven't
read. And that takes quite awhile, because you have a
(21:53):
million dollar contract, youdarn well better read every
word. Yep, that's all ourmembers contributions
Robert Nordlund (22:01):
you're talking about. It's an okay, part time
job, okay, it's notoverwhelming. It's not a full
time job. So it's hours, and itvaries a little bit, because
your hobby avocation. You're apainter, right?
Lynn Ochberg (22:15):
That? Well, yeah, an artist, yes, yeah. So ever
since I was three years old,yeah,
Robert Nordlund (22:20):
so you like to do that, and that gives you
peace, that gives youfulfillment, and you're
literally a parent, and you'realso a board member at this
association, and so it justseems like that almost comes
kind of natural for you.
Lynn Ochberg (22:36):
Yeah, well, I've been doing it all my life. I
love to do volunteer work. I didsome undergraduate work at
Harvard. And when I first gotthere, the house mother in the
dorm I was in said, Okay, youngladies, your job in life will be
to be community volunteers.
Robert Nordlund (22:56):
Oh, gee.
Lynn Ochberg (22:59):
First, you know, find a good husband here at
Harvard and then prepareyourself to be his support and
communicating yourself. I know,I know, but actually it went
right to my heart, because I'dalways been aware of the concept
of a social contract. You know,we get a lot of good things from
(23:21):
living in communities, and it'sonly fair that we pay back by
volunteering. So it all madesense to me, yeah, my parents
read Jean Jacques Rousseausocial contract to me when I was
12 years old. Yikes. I had aground in, yeah.
Robert Nordlund (23:40):
Well, but then again, it's not just living in
community. You've been investingin this community. You've
created peace, you've createdcommunication channels. You've
created subcommittees. Peoplefeel like they're involved. Each
building has a voice for theassociation. They have their
building representative. I'mbuilding five. I'm building two,
that kind of stuff. You've gotthose communication channels,
(24:01):
and it sounds like it's abeautiful place to live, and a
nice, not nice physically, butnice operationally, place to
live. And that has taken aninvestment of time over years to
create that community there.
Lynn Ochberg (24:19):
Well, it always has room for improvement, too.
Robert Nordlund (24:22):
Yeah. Well, you said million dollar contract.
You hinted to me earlier thatyou either have or just recently
had a big project at yourassociation. Tell me about that.
Lynn Ochberg (24:34):
Yes, we, I've signed the contract, not only
three quarters of a million fora new dock, which was a very
interesting experience, becausealthough we've employed your
company Association reserves formany, many years, and I've
memorized the reserve plan, thedock that we have had, you know
(24:59):
very sense. Full amount of moneyput aside for repair, repair,
repair, repair, but in 50 years,the dock is ready to be
replaced. Interesting localcontractors in docks say there's
no more possibility for repair.
Got it and so that was a bigchallenge, because it wasn't on
our reserve plan, and convincingthe community to have a special
(25:23):
assessment to pay for threequarters of a million dollars
project. You know, it wasn'tthat hard, because the need was
very obvious, and our managertook photographs that showed in
what terrible condition it wasin, and once it was obvious that
it threatened the safety ofusers, that made the issue very
(25:46):
easy to convince the rest of thepeople that it had be
Robert Nordlund (25:53):
done. Yeah, well, I just pulled my
calculator out here to doublecheck. So that's better part of
$10,000 per home, and it wasn'tin the reserve study. And I, I
take the hit on that we tend tobe in the repair, repair, repair
type business. It's hard toanticipate that eventual life
failure. But, um, another thingI heard was photographs, because
(26:18):
a picture speaks 1000 words. Oh,yes. And well, as an artist, I I
know, of course, of course. Andso you said, here's where we
are, here's the the money thatwe have, here's the pictures
that make our point. And it'sgoing to take a special
assessment. But then again, Iwould trust that home values
would support that specialassessment and maybe even
(26:41):
benefit from a brand new doc,
Lynn Ochberg (26:43):
yeah, that is what part of the advocacy that was
conducted by my colleagues andme
Robert Nordlund (26:51):
Excellent, okay, and I keep coming back to
being so impressed by yourcommunication skills and the way
you've been organizing thingsand directing things, and does
that come from city council andyour time in Michigan also, or
is that just innate to who youare?
Lynn Ochberg (27:11):
Well, I'm so old that I've had a lot of
experience with all thosethings. Let's
Robert Nordlund (27:17):
get back to characteristics of a board
member. We've talked on theprogram about the C's, how you
need to be someone who cares,someone who's curious, someone
who is able to be courageous, tosee that, like you did, that
we're past repairing. It's timeto face the fact that we need a
new doc and that communicateeffectively. You're touching on
(27:41):
those things you mentioned,being a good parent, where
you're caring for and you'reinvesting in their future, their
future that will outlive you asa parent, right? What do you see
as board member characteristics?
Lynn Ochberg (27:55):
Well, all those you mentioned, but also, to be a
good board member, you shouldbe. Patient, productive,
precise, I'm taking notes hereall your day, your notes so
you'll have to watch your ownprogram.
Robert Nordlund (28:11):
I got my pen is smoking. I'm taking so many
notes.
Lynn Ochberg (28:15):
Patient, patient, productive, precise, prepared,
professional. Perspicacious.
Robert Nordlund (28:26):
You're going to force me to Google to spell that
correctly. Well, go right ahead.
Lynn Ochberg (28:31):
Do that later. And finally, you have to learn to be
as pleasant as possible.
Robert Nordlund (28:38):
I like your voice. I
Lynn Ochberg (28:40):
Oh, no, wait a minute. I like your voice.
Robert Nordlund (28:45):
Uh, oh, okay.
Mutual admiration society here,
Lynn Ochberg (28:48):
ever since I watched this program, you've
been a voice model. For me, it'sa very good voice for helping
people do their jobs in a goodmood.
Robert Nordlund (28:59):
Well, you're very kind, but just the way you
said that last phrase before wewent down this tangent, reminded
me there's a golf course I playat that the starter is a woman,
and she just has the mostpleasant voice. It's like
Nordland Johnson, Fredericksonparty of two time to be on the
(29:21):
first tee and you like, you feellike she's calling you to
dinner. And it's just, it's funto have that.
Lynn Ochberg (29:29):
Well, it's the mom voice. It's important to have to
be like a mom, like I fed aparent. But in my case, I've
only been a mom, and it's, it's,you get a lot of experience in
managing people, just managingyour children and as well your
spouse. So it's all part of asystem that we have in our
(29:52):
country, all over the world,good moms make good managers, in
my not very humble opinion.
Robert Nordlund (30:00):
Cool, yeah, well, for everyone listening,
I'll get Lynn's list of P wordsin the show notes, so you're not
having to play this over andover and over and memorize it if
you're driving. So I'll havethis for you in the show notes.
But as we're starting to I'mlooking at the time we need to
start wrapping this up. Arethere any particular victories
(30:22):
or proud moments from your Howmany years have you been on the
board so far?
Lynn Ochberg (30:27):
Stick on the board, four and a half, five,
okay,
Robert Nordlund (30:32):
and you time out after how many years? Eight?
Lynn Ochberg (30:35):
Yeah, okay, I find a replacement by the eighth
year. Well, it sounds
Robert Nordlund (30:39):
like you've got people competing to be on the
board, so I think you'll bedoing fine, but as you look back
on what you've brought to thetable so far, tell me some high
points.
Lynn Ochberg (30:50):
Well, actually, the high points for me, other
than managing to get everythingdone that needs to be done, are
when people say, thank you. Justwarms the cockles of my heart,
and I so grateful that peoplerecognize that it that we're
doing well and that we'remeeting our budget goals, and
(31:12):
we're also creating a lot of newassets for the community, which
helps to maintain theinvestments of new owners, and
we have a good supply of those.
Florida is suffering from adownturn at the moment in our
real estate industry, but, butwe've been fortunate to have a
continuous supply of newinvestors, and I think that what
(31:34):
the board does makes thathappen. And I'm very grateful to
the board and and the boardoccasionally even shows their
gratitude to me. And I can't,can't tell you, there's nothing
better than that. Fantastic.
Robert Nordlund (31:49):
Well, you said earlier you've been making some
goodwill investments, and Isometimes think of that as
political capital. And thepolitical capital floats things
forward. It moves it fuelsprogress. Can I ask you, what
the yes, what your percentage ofyes votes were for that big
special assessment?
Lynn Ochberg (32:10):
Oh, on the board, not
Robert Nordlund (32:14):
does the we have to pass a special
assessment, or
Lynn Ochberg (32:17):
did the board only the board in Florida, just the
board does do has the authorityto do that? And it was
unanimous, no, I make. I makepersonal investments using my
hobby of art, okay? And I make.
I draw everybody's grandchildrenand pets and wedding pictures
and whatever comes to myattention. And I love framing
(32:38):
them nicely and just giving themaway. And then I do a lot of
acrylic painting to decorate ourour clubhouse. And we I got
everybody to join me to create amural on our Clubhouse wall of
the scenery all around us, andinclude all the indigenous
(33:03):
animals that that we enjoywatching and caring for. So
those are my peculiar mypersonal investments that are
just because I happen to havehad art is a hobby all my life.
It's wonderful to share it.
Robert Nordlund (33:23):
Well, just to think of you walking around the
community, people know thatyou're Lynn, the Board
President. Good things arehappening under your tenure on
the board. People are saying,Thank you. You're making me
think, next time I'm in SouthFlorida, I'm gonna have to look
you up and take that one hourdrive from Miami if I'm there,
(33:44):
and come and visit. This lookslike a fantastic place. Well,
Lynn, want to thank you fortaking the time to join us on
today's program. Any finalthoughts to share on your board
member or experience to sharewith our audience today?
Lynn Ochberg (33:59):
Well, I just recommend every board member in
a condo association or an HOA towatch your programs, because you
can learn a lot and be betterprepared to make your
constituents much happier.
Robert Nordlund (34:13):
Well, let me actually, let me follow up on
that. Haven't you been kind of alifetime learner taking
advantage of lots of things outthere.
Lynn Ochberg (34:22):
Oh, sure, I even learned Mandarin when I was 41
Robert Nordlund (34:26):
Oh, yikes.
Okay, well, that's also just anopenness to what is there out
that's that curiosity that wetalked about earlier. Well, we
want to publicly acknowledgeLynn for performing a thankless
job well in what sounds like aphysically beautiful place to
live. We're glad she's there onthe board to keep it
operationally sound, to buildcommunity, to match the
(34:48):
property's natural beauty. Well,we hope you gain some HOA
insights from Lim's observationsand experience helps you bring
common sense to your common areaand remember. If you match our
definition of a bored hero, orknow someone who does, please
reach out to us. We love havingbored heroes on our program. Our
contact details are provided inthe show notes. Thank you for
(35:09):
joining us, and we look forwardto another great episode next
week.
Announcer (35:17):
You've been listening to Hoa insights, common sense
for comment areas. If you likethe show and want to support the
work that we do, you can do soin a number of ways. The most
important thing that you can dois engage in the conversation,
leave a question in the commentssection on our YouTube videos.
You can also email yourquestions or voice memos to
podcast at reserve study.com orleave us a voicemail at
(35:40):
805-203-3130, if you gain anyinsights from the show, please
do us a HUGE favor by sharingthe show with other board
members that you know. You canalso support us by supporting
the brands that sponsor thisprogram. Please remember that
the views and opinions expressedin this program are those of the
hosts and guests with the goalof providing general education
(36:02):
about the Community Associationindustry, you'll want to consult
licensed professionals beforemaking any important decisions.
Finally, this podcast wasexpertly mixed and mastered by
stoke light. Video andmarketing. With stoke light on
your team, you'll reach morecustomers with marketing
expertise that inspires action.
See the show notes to connectwith stoke light. You.
Well, a good board member is like a good parent,
(00:03):
and I really look for that. Andmost of our owners here are
seniors, so they have a lot ofexperience in raising their
kids. Many of them aregrandparents already, and those
kinds of caring and the ideathat you're investing in the
future of your child is broughtright over to investing in the
(00:26):
future of your condominium.
Here.
Announcer (00:31):
A regular highlight of the HOA insights podcast is
our board heroes feature, wherewe dedicate one episode each
month to celebrate theremarkable efforts of HOA board
members to us, a board hero isone of the 2 million elected
volunteers who deserverecognition for excelling in a
role that often goes unnoticed.
Today, we're excited tospotlight one of these
exceptional board heroes andshare their inspiring story. If
you match our definition of aboard hero, or know someone who
(00:54):
does, please reach out to us.
Our contact details and those ofour sponsors are provided in the
show notes.
Robert Nordlund (01:01):
Welcome back to HOA Inisghts
Common Areas. I'm RobertNordlund, and I'm here today for
episode number 117 with anotherone of the board heroes. We're
proud to celebrate. Lynnauchberg is a regular listener
and a board member of herFlorida Community Association.
She wanted to share some of herobservations and insights from
her years of experience. She'sbeen a Florida board member, a
(01:25):
Michigan board member, and wasformerly in Michigan a city
councilwoman, so we jumped atthe opportunity to have her on
the program so she could shareher experience with you. Well, I
hope you enjoyed last week'sepisode number 116 with regular
co host and insurance expertKevin Davis, seeing the world
through his eyes as a leadingDNO insurance provider. In that
(01:47):
episode, we spoke about theactual cost of the incivility
that we are seeing more and moreof all around us. If you missed
that episode or any other priorepisode, you can find them on
our podcast website, Hoainsights.org, on your favorite
podcast platform or on ourYouTube channel, but better yet,
subscribe to the podcast inorder to get every episode
(02:09):
delivered to you right to yourphone or mobile device. Well,
those of you watching on YouTubehave the advantage of seeing us,
and you can see that I've got myHOA insights mug here, one of my
favorites, and you can getsomething like that from our
merch store, which you canbrowse through from our Hoa
insights.org website or the shownotes, and you'll find we have
(02:31):
plenty of free items there, likeboard members, Zoom backgrounds
and some specialty items forsale, like mugs. But you can get
this one for free, just go toour merch store and pick out the
mug you'd like and email me atpodcast, at reserves, a.com
mentioning episode 117 muggiveaway, and if you're the 10th
person, we'll ship it to youfree of charge. Well, we enjoy
(02:54):
hearing from you, and mostepisodes are in response to a
topic you've recommended. So dostay in contact letting us know
what questions you have aretopics that you'd like to hear
more about. So leave us avoicemail at 805-203-3130, leave
a comment on the YouTube videoor send us an email at podcast
(03:16):
at reserve study.com but back totoday's episode. Lynn Ochberg is
the president of her 91 unitFlorida waterfront condo
association down in the FloridaKeys. They were built in 1978 so
just under 50 years old. Theassociation consists of seven,
five story buildings on the Gulfside. And I realized that's not
(03:39):
a lot of difference. That's justacross the street for you,
Lynn Ochberg (03:42):
Yeah. Key Largo is a very skinny little island,
yeah, okay, called Margo forbeing long, not not enormous,
Robert Nordlund (03:51):
yeah, so being on the Atlantic side is for you,
just across the street. Anyway.
She's a lifetime learner, and wewanted to take advantage of her
observations on working withthings as crazy as dog owners,
running meetings, financialoperations and everything else
that comes from her years ofexperience as being a board
member. And you board membersknow that the things you touch,
(04:12):
the subjects you touch, arediverse, and so we just wanted
to have Lynn on the program. SoLynn, let's start out by telling
us about the board at yourassociation.
Lynn Ochberg (04:23):
Our board is consists of nine members. We
have one from each of ourtownhouses and two from our tall
building, which has the extra 35people in it. And then we have
two at large members, so thatthey represent the spirit of the
whole community. Supposedly
Robert Nordlund (04:45):
got it, because I was thinking for 91 units,
nine seemed like a lot of boardmembers, but that's actually
kind of a good thing. Now, theway you describe it, because
it's building representatives,yes, and then plus a couple of
at large, kind of. Blend thingstogether is that a lot of people
to handle, a lot of people towork with, or
Lynn Ochberg (05:06):
little or boards and bigger boards. What the main
virtue of it is, it's an oddnumber, so that a vote can be
dispositive. There's always aneither more or less yes or nos.
Robert Nordlund (05:24):
I like that.
Now I'm going to stereotype hereis your community, one that is
full time residents or parttimers like Do you have a
problem with a lot of peoplebeing out of town or not on
property?
Lynn Ochberg (05:37):
Actually, we have a mix of both, but most of our
members are Miami residents whocome here for the weekends.
Interesting, how far of acommute is that? It's a one hour
unless the traffic is bad, yeah,not bad,
Robert Nordlund (05:53):
okay? And then just the organizationally you're
professionally
Lynn Ochberg (05:57):
managed? Yes, we are fortunate to have an
excellent professional manager.
He came from managing a veryextensive golf club that had its
own restaurant and many otherfacilities as well, and he's
just wonderful. We've had himnow for three years, and it was
such a pleasure negotiating hisemployment contract.
Robert Nordlund (06:21):
I like that is your manager, an employee of a
larger management company. No,no,
Lynn Ochberg (06:28):
he's my employee.
Robert Nordlund (06:32):
Ouch, ouch, president of the association, my
employee.
Lynn Ochberg (06:35):
Well, I got to do the the interviews and, and, you
know, composing the contract
Robert Nordlund (06:43):
got it okay. So works for the association. And
how big of a team is there a lotof maintenance? Or, oh, yeah,
Lynn Ochberg (06:51):
we have the usual amount of maintenance here in
the tropical South East. Thingsgrow even without rain, which is
what's been happening. So wealways have to have landscapers
and regular maintenance peoplefor everything from the elevator
to keeping the, you know, theleaves off the road and
(07:12):
everything like that. But ourtotal of seven, and two of them
are in the office. We have aregular assist associate manager
and weekly an auditor who comesin to help us with the books.
Robert Nordlund (07:27):
Fantastic. So you have, I want to say you've
got some professionals stackedaround you to ensure that you
are as board members, makingdecisions, not doing tasks. It
sounds like, right? I like that,okay? And that's an asterisk for
everyone to remember. Boardmembers are there, and maybe I
(07:48):
should have you articulate this.
My sense is that board membersare there to help make decisions
and guide not be volunteer
Lynn Ochberg (07:55):
labors. Oh, definitely I don't let anybody
do any work other than thinkingand talking and discussing
possible new projects orglitches in old ones as we
manage to get through each yearwithin our budget. Yeah, well,
Robert Nordlund (08:14):
obviously, and then you've set the budget so
you have room for that kind ofpayroll to get those things
done, right? I like that. Okay,some things cost money, and you
Lynn Ochberg (08:25):
sure do, especially insurance these days,
Robert Nordlund (08:29):
we that's an asterisk for me. We can talk
more about that. And remember,Lynn's in Florida, so there's a
lot of legislative things goingon. There's a lot of storm
related damage and insurance isexpensive. How long have you
been at your association?
Lynn Ochberg (08:48):
Well, we rented here during the vacation season,
which is winter time for threeyears, and then I bought a
place, bought a unit, and itjust having to coincide when
covid happened. So we juststayed. Got it okay. So it's
been six years ago now,
Robert Nordlund (09:09):
and this sounds like you are pretty darn happy
being full time resident there.
Oh yes,
Lynn Ochberg (09:15):
I love it here.
It's like living in paradise.
Robert Nordlund (09:19):
I like that.
What's a Michigan winter do toyour spine at this point in
time, it's
Lynn Ochberg (09:27):
really good to be away from it. I don't have to
shovel snow anymore. I
Robert Nordlund (09:32):
like that.
Okay, so you're there as arenter. Kind of testing the
water, testing the environment.
What got you interested in beinga board member at this new
place? Well, new for you,
Lynn Ochberg (09:46):
I attended a lot of the meetings of when I was
just a renter, which, of course,you're not really supposed to
do, but I'm nosy enough to havedone anyway, and I noticed there
were so many infrastructurerepair projects that. Hadn't
been done, and our manager atthat time was unable to get
three bids, which is required bythe the Florida condo law, you
(10:10):
need three bids on a majorproject, and he was unable to
get them. And I thought, well,if I were on the board, I'd be
able to get them. And so I ranfor the board. And sure enough,
I've been able to get an awfullot of things done since I've
had the privilege of being onthis board.
Robert Nordlund (10:28):
Got it okay?
Well, I've been in the keys afew times, once, I think, for a
wedding, and then a number oftimes doing a reserve site
inspection. And yes, to a degreeit is. You could say it's
remote, but that depends whereyou are. But you are just an
hour from Miami, so it seemslike with a little bit of
diligence, you can get people toget things done, right?
Lynn Ochberg (10:52):
Well, it depends on, for instance, how recent the
latest hurricane was, and thenthere's competition for various
kind of repair contractors andeven and recently, we had the
Surfside buildings fall down and21 and new and new legislation
that requires all of our majorinfrastructure to be able to
(11:16):
meet a milestone inspection, andthat made everything more
difficult to compete forcontractors to meet those new
requirements. So that's thebackground that just happened to
occur when I became resident.
Robert Nordlund (11:32):
Yeah. Well, let me if I can step in for just a
moment and tell everyone from 49other states in Florida their
legislative response to theSurfside tragedy was twofold.
One was there needs to be amilestone inspection, a
structural inspection, and thenthey upgraded the standards for
(11:53):
what a reserve study is, andfinally, put some teeth into
that, some mandatory elements ofthat. So yes, the milestone
inspection needs to be donebecause Florida legislators
wanted to make sure thatbuildings were structurally
sound. And wasn't that threestories and taller?
Lynn Ochberg (12:12):
Yes, it was. And we have, as you noted, six,
seven buildings, and they allhave they're all over three
stories, or they're five of themare three stories and one is
five stories,
Robert Nordlund (12:27):
and you have incredible salt water exposure
from, oh yeah,
Lynn Ochberg (12:33):
we've always had a spalling item on our annual
budget to deal with whatever theSalt Water has done to our
concrete but, you know, year toyear, but that was a major part
of the milestone inspectionprocess.
Robert Nordlund (12:48):
When I talk to my clients, I always remind them
that mother nature and FatherTime are the bad guys here. It's
not the legislation, it's notthe board, it's not an
individual who's pushing forrepairs. It's just Mother Nature
and Father Time are harsh, andyou've got salt air environment,
it's warm, it's moist, andthat's going to do a lot of
(13:10):
damage, and you've got to stayahead of that, or your building
is going to suffer. That is thetruth. Yeah, okay, well, let's
go down that path. Does yourboard see the truth pretty
clearly?
Lynn Ochberg (13:24):
I think they do.
Yes. In fact, I've had noproblem when we need to approve
a contract, it's always aunanimous decision to go
Interesting,
Robert Nordlund (13:38):
okay, because a moment ago, you spoke about you
enjoyed, or you liked the ideathat there was an odd number so
you could always have minorityjust in case. Yeah, right. Are
many? Or can I say, well, aremany, or most of the decisions
you make unanimous as a board?
Yes,
Lynn Ochberg (13:57):
yes, they are.
It's only on very personalissues, such as whether dogs
should be allowed on the beach,kind of thing, they're going to
be really two sides to certainkinds of issues that deal with
the personal preferences ofpeople, but on issues like
whether your building is goingto fall on you now. Unanimity is
(14:20):
is very reliable.
Robert Nordlund (14:25):
Yeah, it's nice to know that you're all when it
comes down to fundamental orfoundational type issues. The
board is of one mind that welike living here and we want to
keep this place sound Yes, okay,that's right. Do you want to
tell me about it? Sounds likethis might be interesting dog
walking.
Lynn Ochberg (14:45):
Well, we're currently on
Robert Nordlund (14:46):
topic you don't want to touch,
Lynn Ochberg (14:48):
yeah, well, I'll be happy to touch it. But
recently, the feds have madethis interesting distinction
between pets and animals,especially service and. Animals
and emotional support animals.
The federal law, the ADA, theFHA and HUD rules now have
determined that those twocategories, service animals and
(15:11):
emotional support animals arenot pets, and we have a we had a
very old rule regarding how toyou know whether you're allowed
to walk your dog here or there,and enough weight limit on pets,
but we never anticipated, atleast not 50 years ago, when the
rules were written, it wasn'tanticipated that there would be
(15:33):
this, these new categories ofdogs. So people here who've been
looking out their windows. I'veseen these a lot of really big
dogs, because we have a 15 poundlimit on pet dogs, and so they
say, Oh, where did that dog comefrom? That really large dog? And
(15:53):
it's, it's so it's created anissue that has to be addressed,
and we're in the process ofdesigning new not just pet
rules, but animal rules.
Interesting. Just yesterday, wehad a subcommittee meeting on it
where I got to hear all theemotional feelings of not just
(16:16):
board members or committeemembers, it's a subcommittee of
the buildings, grounds andsecurity committee. So far, I've
just been recording everybody'sdruthers, and we're on draft
number eight, and I'm now, afteryesterday's meeting, I plan to
conduct a survey. We use SurveyMonkey to find out what people
(16:37):
really want. And after that,draft number nine will occur,
and hopefully we'll reachcommunity unity, always my
favorite phrase, and proceed.
Robert Nordlund (16:50):
Okay, well, I want to point out something that
you said there, that I don'twant to let it pass. You said a
subcommittee. So you've got ninepeople on the board. You have a
subcommittee that's feeding theboard information, advising and
you stopped in to hear what theyhad to say. So you have people
doing your research, do yourcommittee structures, they end
(17:11):
up being training ground for newboard members.
Lynn Ochberg (17:15):
I sure hope so, because I'm not going to last
forever, and I I work very hardto encourage people to try
volunteering, to join committeesand to help me with various
research projects. Look this up,look that up. You know, ask your
whole floor what they feel about
Robert Nordlund (17:37):
it. Yeah, and there's two sides of that. One
is, it's an opportunity for themto get involved in community,
take a take hold of what do wewant to do here at our
community, and also gives them ataste of how they can help. And
it's not going to beoverwhelming. It could be help
(17:57):
me with the pet versus dog typeissue, do the research on Ada,
Florida laws, whatever, and comeup with some reason. And you're
also, if you're on draft eight,is very clear that you're
listening to them. Theirfeedback matters. And they
again, it becomes theircommunity. You've you've
(18:19):
probably heard, I hope you'veheard and I'm talking to
everyone here. When Kevin Davisis on the program, he talks
about trying to lower thetemperature, taking away
people's anxiety. And whenyou're listening to people, and
when Julie's on the program, shetalks about, you can never have
enough communication. What arewe thinking? What are we doing?
(18:40):
How can we hear from you? Andthese are all, these are all
good things. I want to hear moreabout your board. What drives
it, what board membercharacteristics you're looking
for, but I'm looking at theclock here, and I think it's
time to take a quick break andhear from one of our generous
(19:00):
sponsors, after which we'll beback to hear more from Lynn
ochberg,
Paige Daniels (19:05):
numbers matter, and we need numbers like game
scores and bank balances to letus know where we stand. The same
is true for your association. Isyours thriving or struggling?
Let me introduce you to theFiPhO health score, like your
own personal FICO credit score.
Now in one simple number, ownersand boards can learn the
combined financial, physical andoperational health of their
association. The good news, it'sfree at ourFiPhO.com that's our
(19:27):
f, i, p, H, o.com Learn how yourassociation measures up and
Robert Nordlund (19:36):
we're back.
Well, Lynd, before the break, westarted talking about the board
members and the feeder sourcethat you have of committees, and
how you're hearing from people.
And by golly, if you're on theeighth draft of a policy, you're
certainly listening to peopleand responding to them and
communicating. But tell me, whatdo you look for in a board
member, or what do you thinkmakes for a good board member?
Lynn Ochberg (19:59):
Well, a good. A board member is like a good
parent, and I really look forthat. And most of our owners
here are seniors, which is trueof all over Florida in
condominium associations. And sothey have a lot of experience in
raising their kids. Many of themare grandparents already, and
(20:22):
those kinds of caring and theidea that you're investing in
the future of your child isbrought right over to investing
in the future of yourcondominium. Here, I don't have
any trouble at all trying to,you know, in getting people to
volunteer, and we usually havethree or four people for each
(20:45):
position, that is, they run forin our annual elections. So
that's good, because then therest of the people pick the one
that they think will serve themthe best.
Robert Nordlund (20:55):
You know, I'm almost to the point of being
stunned we hear so much aboutpeople struggling to find board
member candidates and having toappoint them and having to
cajole people, but I thinkyou've done so much preparation
in having committees, havingstaff delegation,
Lynn Ochberg (21:15):
delegation of parts of jobs, so that I don't
have to do Everything. I mean, Idon't, it's not about me, it's
about the whole community. And
Robert Nordlund (21:25):
you don't have a man killer job, yeah, you have
how many, how many hours a weekare you spending doing
Lynn Ochberg (21:32):
board work varies, and depending on what kind of
issues are coming up, if, ifthere's a big contract to be
let, I have to read it verycarefully. That's, I guess I'm a
little compulsive about somethings, just from having a legal
education, and I'm not going tosign anything that I haven't
read. And that takes quite awhile, because you have a
(21:53):
million dollar contract, youdarn well better read every
word. Yep, that's all ourmembers contributions
Robert Nordlund (22:01):
you're talking about. It's an okay, part time
job, okay, it's notoverwhelming. It's not a full
time job. So it's hours, and itvaries a little bit, because
your hobby avocation. You're apainter, right?
Lynn Ochberg (22:15):
That? Well, yeah, an artist, yes, yeah. So ever
since I was three years old,yeah,
Robert Nordlund (22:20):
so you like to do that, and that gives you
peace, that gives youfulfillment, and you're
literally a parent, and you'realso a board member at this
association, and so it justseems like that almost comes
kind of natural for you.
Lynn Ochberg (22:36):
Yeah, well, I've been doing it all my life. I
love to do volunteer work. I didsome undergraduate work at
Harvard. And when I first gotthere, the house mother in the
dorm I was in said, Okay, youngladies, your job in life will be
to be community volunteers.
Robert Nordlund (22:56):
Oh, gee.
Lynn Ochberg (22:59):
First, you know, find a good husband here at
Harvard and then prepareyourself to be his support and
communicating yourself. I know,I know, but actually it went
right to my heart, because I'dalways been aware of the concept
of a social contract. You know,we get a lot of good things from
(23:21):
living in communities, and it'sonly fair that we pay back by
volunteering. So it all madesense to me, yeah, my parents
read Jean Jacques Rousseausocial contract to me when I was
12 years old. Yikes. I had aground in, yeah.
Robert Nordlund (23:40):
Well, but then again, it's not just living in
community. You've been investingin this community. You've
created peace, you've createdcommunication channels. You've
created subcommittees. Peoplefeel like they're involved. Each
building has a voice for theassociation. They have their
building representative. I'mbuilding five. I'm building two,
that kind of stuff. You've gotthose communication channels,
(24:01):
and it sounds like it's abeautiful place to live, and a
nice, not nice physically, butnice operationally, place to
live. And that has taken aninvestment of time over years to
create that community there.
Lynn Ochberg (24:19):
Well, it always has room for improvement, too.
Robert Nordlund (24:22):
Yeah. Well, you said million dollar contract.
You hinted to me earlier thatyou either have or just recently
had a big project at yourassociation. Tell me about that.
Lynn Ochberg (24:34):
Yes, we, I've signed the contract, not only
three quarters of a million fora new dock, which was a very
interesting experience, becausealthough we've employed your
company Association reserves formany, many years, and I've
memorized the reserve plan, thedock that we have had, you know
(24:59):
very sense. Full amount of moneyput aside for repair, repair,
repair, repair, but in 50 years,the dock is ready to be
replaced. Interesting localcontractors in docks say there's
no more possibility for repair.
Got it and so that was a bigchallenge, because it wasn't on
our reserve plan, and convincingthe community to have a special
(25:23):
assessment to pay for threequarters of a million dollars
project. You know, it wasn'tthat hard, because the need was
very obvious, and our managertook photographs that showed in
what terrible condition it wasin, and once it was obvious that
it threatened the safety ofusers, that made the issue very
(25:46):
easy to convince the rest of thepeople that it had be
Robert Nordlund (25:53):
done. Yeah, well, I just pulled my
calculator out here to doublecheck. So that's better part of
$10,000 per home, and it wasn'tin the reserve study. And I, I
take the hit on that we tend tobe in the repair, repair, repair
type business. It's hard toanticipate that eventual life
failure. But, um, another thingI heard was photographs, because
(26:18):
a picture speaks 1000 words. Oh,yes. And well, as an artist, I I
know, of course, of course. Andso you said, here's where we
are, here's the the money thatwe have, here's the pictures
that make our point. And it'sgoing to take a special
assessment. But then again, Iwould trust that home values
would support that specialassessment and maybe even
(26:41):
benefit from a brand new doc,
Lynn Ochberg (26:43):
yeah, that is what part of the advocacy that was
conducted by my colleagues andme
Robert Nordlund (26:51):
Excellent, okay, and I keep coming back to
being so impressed by yourcommunication skills and the way
you've been organizing thingsand directing things, and does
that come from city council andyour time in Michigan also, or
is that just innate to who youare?
Lynn Ochberg (27:11):
Well, I'm so old that I've had a lot of
experience with all thosethings. Let's
Robert Nordlund (27:17):
get back to characteristics of a board
member. We've talked on theprogram about the C's, how you
need to be someone who cares,someone who's curious, someone
who is able to be courageous, tosee that, like you did, that
we're past repairing. It's timeto face the fact that we need a
new doc and that communicateeffectively. You're touching on
(27:41):
those things you mentioned,being a good parent, where
you're caring for and you'reinvesting in their future, their
future that will outlive you asa parent, right? What do you see
as board member characteristics?
Lynn Ochberg (27:55):
Well, all those you mentioned, but also, to be a
good board member, you shouldbe. Patient, productive,
precise, I'm taking notes hereall your day, your notes so
you'll have to watch your ownprogram.
Robert Nordlund (28:11):
I got my pen is smoking. I'm taking so many
notes.
Lynn Ochberg (28:15):
Patient, patient, productive, precise, prepared,
professional. Perspicacious.
Robert Nordlund (28:26):
You're going to force me to Google to spell that
correctly. Well, go right ahead.
Lynn Ochberg (28:31):
Do that later. And finally, you have to learn to be
as pleasant as possible.
Robert Nordlund (28:38):
I like your voice. I
Lynn Ochberg (28:40):
Oh, no, wait a minute. I like your voice.
Robert Nordlund (28:45):
Uh, oh, okay.
Mutual admiration society here,
Lynn Ochberg (28:48):
ever since I watched this program, you've
been a voice model. For me, it'sa very good voice for helping
people do their jobs in a goodmood.
Robert Nordlund (28:59):
Well, you're very kind, but just the way you
said that last phrase before wewent down this tangent, reminded
me there's a golf course I playat that the starter is a woman,
and she just has the mostpleasant voice. It's like
Nordland Johnson, Fredericksonparty of two time to be on the
(29:21):
first tee and you like, you feellike she's calling you to
dinner. And it's just, it's funto have that.
Lynn Ochberg (29:29):
Well, it's the mom voice. It's important to have to
be like a mom, like I fed aparent. But in my case, I've
only been a mom, and it's, it's,you get a lot of experience in
managing people, just managingyour children and as well your
spouse. So it's all part of asystem that we have in our
(29:52):
country, all over the world,good moms make good managers, in
my not very humble opinion.
Robert Nordlund (30:00):
Cool, yeah, well, for everyone listening,
I'll get Lynn's list of P wordsin the show notes, so you're not
having to play this over andover and over and memorize it if
you're driving. So I'll havethis for you in the show notes.
But as we're starting to I'mlooking at the time we need to
start wrapping this up. Arethere any particular victories
(30:22):
or proud moments from your Howmany years have you been on the
board so far?
Lynn Ochberg (30:27):
Stick on the board, four and a half, five,
okay,
Robert Nordlund (30:32):
and you time out after how many years? Eight?
Lynn Ochberg (30:35):
Yeah, okay, I find a replacement by the eighth
year. Well, it sounds
Robert Nordlund (30:39):
like you've got people competing to be on the
board, so I think you'll bedoing fine, but as you look back
on what you've brought to thetable so far, tell me some high
points.
Lynn Ochberg (30:50):
Well, actually, the high points for me, other
than managing to get everythingdone that needs to be done, are
when people say, thank you. Justwarms the cockles of my heart,
and I so grateful that peoplerecognize that it that we're
doing well and that we'remeeting our budget goals, and
(31:12):
we're also creating a lot of newassets for the community, which
helps to maintain theinvestments of new owners, and
we have a good supply of those.
Florida is suffering from adownturn at the moment in our
real estate industry, but, butwe've been fortunate to have a
continuous supply of newinvestors, and I think that what
(31:34):
the board does makes thathappen. And I'm very grateful to
the board and and the boardoccasionally even shows their
gratitude to me. And I can't,can't tell you, there's nothing
better than that. Fantastic.
Robert Nordlund (31:49):
Well, you said earlier you've been making some
goodwill investments, and Isometimes think of that as
political capital. And thepolitical capital floats things
forward. It moves it fuelsprogress. Can I ask you, what
the yes, what your percentage ofyes votes were for that big
special assessment?
Lynn Ochberg (32:10):
Oh, on the board, not
Robert Nordlund (32:14):
does the we have to pass a special
assessment, or
Lynn Ochberg (32:17):
did the board only the board in Florida, just the
board does do has the authorityto do that? And it was
unanimous, no, I make. I makepersonal investments using my
hobby of art, okay? And I make.
I draw everybody's grandchildrenand pets and wedding pictures
and whatever comes to myattention. And I love framing
(32:38):
them nicely and just giving themaway. And then I do a lot of
acrylic painting to decorate ourour clubhouse. And we I got
everybody to join me to create amural on our Clubhouse wall of
the scenery all around us, andinclude all the indigenous
(33:03):
animals that that we enjoywatching and caring for. So
those are my peculiar mypersonal investments that are
just because I happen to havehad art is a hobby all my life.
It's wonderful to share it.
Robert Nordlund (33:23):
Well, just to think of you walking around the
community, people know thatyou're Lynn, the Board
President. Good things arehappening under your tenure on
the board. People are saying,Thank you. You're making me
think, next time I'm in SouthFlorida, I'm gonna have to look
you up and take that one hourdrive from Miami if I'm there,
(33:44):
and come and visit. This lookslike a fantastic place. Well,
Lynn, want to thank you fortaking the time to join us on
today's program. Any finalthoughts to share on your board
member or experience to sharewith our audience today?
Lynn Ochberg (33:59):
Well, I just recommend every board member in
a condo association or an HOA towatch your programs, because you
can learn a lot and be betterprepared to make your
constituents much happier.
Robert Nordlund (34:13):
Well, let me actually, let me follow up on
that. Haven't you been kind of alifetime learner taking
advantage of lots of things outthere.
Lynn Ochberg (34:22):
Oh, sure, I even learned Mandarin when I was 41
Robert Nordlund (34:26):
Oh, yikes.
Okay, well, that's also just anopenness to what is there out
that's that curiosity that wetalked about earlier. Well, we
want to publicly acknowledgeLynn for performing a thankless
job well in what sounds like aphysically beautiful place to
live. We're glad she's there onthe board to keep it
operationally sound, to buildcommunity, to match the
(34:48):
property's natural beauty. Well,we hope you gain some HOA
insights from Lim's observationsand experience helps you bring
common sense to your common areaand remember. If you match our
definition of a bored hero, orknow someone who does, please
reach out to us. We love havingbored heroes on our program. Our
contact details are provided inthe show notes. Thank you for
(35:09):
joining us, and we look forwardto another great episode next
week.
Announcer (35:17):
You've been listening to Hoa insights, common sense
for comment areas. If you likethe show and want to support the
work that we do, you can do soin a number of ways. The most
important thing that you can dois engage in the conversation,
leave a question in the commentssection on our YouTube videos.
You can also email yourquestions or voice memos to
podcast at reserve study.com orleave us a voicemail at
(35:40):
805-203-3130, if you gain anyinsights from the show, please
do us a HUGE favor by sharingthe show with other board
members that you know. You canalso support us by supporting
the brands that sponsor thisprogram. Please remember that
the views and opinions expressedin this program are those of the
hosts and guests with the goalof providing general education
(36:02):
about the Community Associationindustry, you'll want to consult
licensed professionals beforemaking any important decisions.
Finally, this podcast wasexpertly mixed and mastered by
stoke light. Video andmarketing. With stoke light on
your team, you'll reach morecustomers with marketing
expertise that inspires action.
See the show notes to connectwith stoke light. You.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.