Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Reserve Study Companies

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Oct 29, 2015, at 7:49 PM, sharihirst13 [at] gmail.com wrote:
> 
> Did your community use a Reserve Company to do a Reserve study?  How often 
> did have a Study done, and did you have a site visit each time or did you 
> intersperse with non-site visits?  
> 
> We used Reserve Associates for our first Reserve Study.  We are interested in 
> knowing if someone worked with a better company.

If you search the archives there are many posts on this. I also have the 
materials from my reserve study presentation at the annual conference here:

http://www.sharonvillines.com/reserve-study-information/

I think Reserve Associates uses many reserve study specialists out in the field 
and then they do all the calculations and produce a report. You should let them 
know if your study was deficient. They do have a website with lots of very 
helpful information.

Our best studies have been done by an architectural consultant. Our worst from 
a reserve study company. There are different philosophies about what a reserve 
study is or needs to be. The architectural consultant (and I) think they should 
help you manage your property. Detailed, all inclusive.

Some believe that they just need to be sufficient to keep the board from being 
sued for not maintaining adequate reserves. They are very minimal and don’t 
look at the conditions of various elements — and charge just as much as those 
who do. 

The local chapter of CAI should be able to help you find a good person.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org