Association Maintained Living

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Troy Burne Village Photo Courtesy of Troy Development

Lifestyle.

In a word, that’s what association maintained living is about. Association maintained communities afford their residents the comfort and equity of owning a home, often with access to beautiful recreation spaces, but without maintenance burdens.

“Association maintained is as simple as that,” says Jason Budzynski, vice president of TJB Development Companies. “It starts out as a little bit of lawn care, and from there it goes to a community gathering area.”

Depending on the association, duties from shoveling to mowing or landscaping and roof repair are provided. When it’s time for a trip, residents of association maintained communities depart with no worries about who will take care of the lawn.

“The biggest attraction is that it frees up more of your time,” says Kris Kilgard, marketing director for Tradition Companies.

Read on as we look at how “association maintained living” is evolving in Minnesota, and discover some of the finest association maintained communities in the Twin Cities area.

The concept of the association maintained lifestyle is common in many parts of the country, though Minnesota has only recently seen variations of the original model of townhome or condominium communities, such as association maintained single-family home neighborhoods or master-planned developments.

“This is nothing new to the United States in general,” Budzynski says. “This is just new to the Midwest.”

By definition, an association maintained community is a neighborhood where the homeowners have a common interest legally defined in their titles. Typically, this includes an association responsible for upholding protective covenants and performing exterior maintenance in common areas. Associations are not required to own property, but they typically do, whether a simple neighborhood entry monument or a clubhouse, pool or 10-acre park.

“The greatest advantage is joint purchasing power and, most prominently, a standard of living or lifestyle,” says Deborah Ho-Beckstrom, CPA, chief manager at Community Association Group, LLC, a Minnesota association management company. The association has “corporate obligations, such as financial accountability and maintenance...they have the fiduciary responsibility to maintain my investment as a member.”

Neighborhood residents are elected to a board that oversees the association’s business. Most associations hire management companies like Community Association Group to advise the board and ensure the association is successful and effective in its governance.

“We provide consultation for developers and builders and help design and define the community,” Ho-Beckstrom says. “In addition, we do ongoing property management for associations that are existing, up and running, or in a build-out phase.”

Associations collect monthly or annual assessments (often referred to as “dues”) from residents to pay for the upkeep of common areas and structural insurance. They also maintain reserve accounts to pay for capital improvements such as roof repairs or
driveway replacement.

Today, most Minnesota association maintained communities are one of several types:

Condominium residents own the interior space of their homes but not the structure or land. These developments often include common community rooms, fitness areas, patios, pools, or other building amenities.

Townhomes are perhaps the most commonly pictured type of association maintained living. Here, homeownership includes the home and the land underneath it. Each home shares at least one common wall. Full exterior maintenance, from snow removal to lawn care and structural maintenance, and structural insurance are included in association dues. Dues also usually include water costs and garbage service. Detached townhomes are similar to townhomes but do not share common walls.

While they share some similarities to townhome associations, association maintained single-family homes are distinctly different. Chiefly, a homeowner owns his or her home and property and is responsible for all exterior structural maintenance, garbage collection and water usage costs. The neighborhood association may oversee some outdoor maintenance, often as lawn care and snow removal, or maintenance of common areas.

Increasingly, sophisticated community planning in today’s larger association maintained neighborhoods offers anything from a community clubhouse to a pool, neighborhood programs, or living on a golf course. These master-planned communities are common in the southern Sun Belt states, but have made their way to the Midwest more recently. Typically, one master association oversees the operating and maintenance costs of the common areas and assesses a monthly fee to all residents within the community. In turn, each distinct housing type neighborhood has its own, separate sub-association. Some may provide exterior maintenance with an additional fee assessment, as in the case with townhomes. All sub-associations elect resident boards, which send representatives in the master association.

Master-planned communities have been hugely popular in Minnesota in the last several years. A combination of friendly, walkable neighborhoods, trail systems, private parks, community clubhouses, and some type of retail component have proven to be a winning combination across the metro area.

Association Maintained Living

Association Maintained Living Listings » Bridgewater » Considering Moving to an Association Maintained Community? » Jackson Meadow » Lakeside » Ron Clark Construction and Design » Spirit of Brandtjen Farm » St. Andrews Village » Stonemill Farms » The Bluffs on Sans Pierre » Troy Development »

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