2021 Surfside building collapse<\/a>. Those laws require milestone inspections and fully funded reserves for repairs, prompting some associations to levy steep special assessments.<\/p>\nBrandes said the FCCA is designed to function like a \u201cCarfax for condos,\u201d reviewing hundreds of pages of documents \u2014 including financial records, board meeting minutes, and required state reports \u2014 to assign ratings to buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re reviewing their financials, their board minutes. We\u2019re reviewing their required reports from the state. We\u2019re really doing a deep dive,\u201d Brandes said. \u201cHonestly, it\u2019s about 600 to 700 pages of information that we\u2019re ingesting, reviewing, and coming up with the ratings with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters say the goal is to give buyers insight that is often unavailable before closing.<\/p>\n
Phil Piser, treasurer of the Bacopa Bay Condominium Association in Pinellas County, said when he purchased his unit six years ago, little financial information was provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was virtually no financial information provided prior to the buying,\u201d Piser said. \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piser\u2019s association is among a dozen taking part in the FCCA pilot program. He said proactive steps, like completing required inspections early, can help distinguish well-managed associations from those struggling to keep up.<\/p>\n
The push for transparency predates the new laws. Bill Blazowski, founder of the Alliance for Bayway Communities, said his group has spent more than a decade helping associations share best practices and better understand financial and regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen it. There have been some extra costs that we\u2019ve all had to bear,\u201d Blazowski said. \u201cSome of it has to do with confusion over what the requirements really are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, not all associations are equally prepared to meet the new standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd not all associations are having an easy time with that because they\u2019re playing catch-up,\u201d Blazowski said. \u201cBut our intention with the FCC is to identify the associations which are already doing a good job, and help the associations that aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandes said the stakes are high in a state with roughly 27,000 condominium associations and about 1.5 million condo owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese 30-year-old buildings aren\u2019t getting newer. Their challenges are just getting more complex over time,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s so important, we believe, to have an independent review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Participation in the FCCA is voluntary. Associations can choose to seek certification as a way to demonstrate transparency, financial discipline, and long-term stability to buyers, residents, insurers, and lenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A new, consumer-focused effort is launching in what some call Florida\u2019s troubled condominium market,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[16022,274,2375,276,1644,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-316194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-housing","tag-app-top-stories","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-housing","tag-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}