Do your Association’s Use Restrictions Bar Political Yard Signs? Like mushrooms after the rain, they appear out of nowhere. What? Advertising for candidates for political office, of course. While few people would want to thwart the democratic process, do we really have to look at yards with multiple yard signs for months at a time?

How Residential Associations Relate to their Commercial Neighbors: With the downward turn in the economy and the upcoming trends regarding environmental and life-style concerns, a new focus has been brought on the concept of developing projects to include both residential and commercial components.

SOME HINTS AND GUIDELINES TO CONSIDER WHEN USING E-MAIL: LOL, $0.02, B4N, F2F* Do you recognize any of these expressions? If so, you may be spending some time “on-line” communicating with others. E-mailing has become a part of many people’s daily personal and professional lives.

Some Things to Know when Planning and Preparing for an Annual Meeting: At this time of year, the boards of directors of many community associations across the state have already begun to plan for their association’s annual meeting. Holding an annual meeting is required by law for any community association established under the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code

Using Initiation Fees as a New Source of Income for your Community: How many Associations are looking for a way to raise revenue without increasing the annual assessment? Without having to organize a bake sale, there is one method Associations can borrow from real estate developers who have devised and incorporated into the Declarations for their projects the means to

The who, what, where, when and how of choosing your community’s Board of Directors and Officers: There is little doubt that when a community buildout goes as It must be that time again. The familiar buzz is in the air about the upcoming election. We’re not talking about Republicans and Democrats, but your association’s own exercise in the democratic process

A Cautionary Tale: The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided an interesting case which had nothing to do with community associations but which has some interesting implications on how an association’s board of directors may operate.

Taking on Additional Maintenance Obligations: The exterior lights outside of each unit in the Passé Pointe Townhome community were past their prime. In connection with giving the community a “face lift,” the Passé Pointe Townhome Association wanted to update the exterior light fixtures to something more modern.