Canfield Consulting

02/03/2026

Hello Friends and Associates! A few weeks back, you may have seen a post from Canfield Consulting, highlighting the importance for Homeowners to participate in their Home Owner’s Association’s (HOA) regular meetings and to learn about the budget process for your individual Condo Association. There weren't many comments concerning the topic, maybe because we would all be in agreement about the importance of protecting one of the largest investments in your life? Yet owners do not participate and/or are not informed or educated on the process.

Coincidentally, fast forward to a week ago…A homeowner of a condominium in the Dimond area reached out to Canfield Consulting for assistance. Apparently, the client at this particular Condo Association had experienced several increases to their monthly dues over the last few years and this client experienced some difficulties getting budget and reserve analysis prior to the Annual meeting. The increases may or may not have been necessary, or maybe should have been larger, but without tranparency the owner simply doesn't know.

When investigated, it was learned the HOA Management company had not provided to owners the budget nor the budget reserve analysis data prior to the Annual meeting – in any format (online or hard copy) for several budget cycles. Further, when attempts were made to secure said data, the HOA Mgt Company stated that “the only way for homeowners to obtain said information, was for the request to be made in writing, and pay a fee to obtain.”

This reply came as a surprise to me, as throughout my 20 years’ experience with varied Homeowner Association (HOA) Management companies across Anchorage, the practice of NOT including this information prior to the Annual or Budget meeting was NOT common practice. The Budget and Budget Reserve information were NEVER excluded from an Annual or Budget Meeting notice packet. These were always distributed to each owner. The fact that this information is not provided within this specific HOA, may bring up legal questions that, in my opinion, should be investigated further.

Ultimately, the Board of Directors (BOD) has the authority to make budgetary decisions related to an HOA, but upon whose advice is that BOD relying? Even if this information is part of the actual meeting packet, which I believe was not distributed for those who attend the meeting, it does not allow the homeowner time to do analysis and ask legitimate questions during the meeting. At this client's Annual meeting last year, the only people present at the meeting were the three Board members and the Property Manager. The quorum was aquired from proxies. This is a recipe for disaster. Does this sound familiar?

Canfield Consulting, LLC was created to advocate and educate Homeowners and associated Homeowner Association Board Members just like yours on owning/living in an HOA managed property. If your HOA Budget and Budget Reserve Analysis are in desperate need of review, I’m willing to offer the first 5 HOAs to email me in response to this post a 2-hour initial consultation for only $150! OR, if you are a homeowner, I’m willing to provide a 1-hour consultation for $100 + a cup of coffee! You can
reach me via the following email: [email protected]

Please LIKE and SHARE my Canfield Consulting posts to help everyone stay more informed about HOA matters!

More to come on this and other related topics…
Ed’
Canfield Consulting, LLC

01/08/2026

Happy New Year. I am Ed Canfield and I have been involved with HOA's for almost 20 years. I have worked for many property manangement companies and I am recognized for evaluating and preparing budgets for condominiums in Anchorage, the Valley, Eagle River, and Girdwood.
If you own a condo in this local, you know that December and January is budget time. I have directly worked on hundreds of budgets and have studied countless more. One of the most common budget challenges is a shortage in the Reserves. If you are a Board member in this local, you probably realize that a very large amount of Associations are so underfunded, that if may impact the ability to sell units.
But do Board members know how their Association got to this point? This past year, my consulting company was contracted to review and advise on several large Associations with budgets over a million dollars. Their funding was below 30% for the reserves. I reviewed the current budget and financials for the past several years. I created a new budget with a 5 year plan to fund the shortage. I attended the Association's annual meeting to present to the owners the budget and plan. At every meeting the Board and owners thanked me as they stated "no one had ever explained every aspect of the budget process as I had." All budgets I worked on were unanimously approved.
If you are a Board member or an owner of a HOA, or know of a family member of friend in one, I can provide valuable analysis or educate you the budget process. I can provide a budget if that is what is requested, which can include a plan to fund shortages.
For the rest of January, I will do a complete analysis of the past three budgets and finacials for your Association for $500.00. Contact me through my phone number or email.
Look for more of my posts on HOA's including an upcoming one on the insurance challenges that may affect your condo, especially if it was built prior to 2000. Ed

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