David Gladstone is a business banking professional at Brookline Bank with expertise in all facets of lending origination and cash management for small businesses and condominium associations. David has extensive experience helping condominium associations with their banking and borrowing needs.
1. When choosing condo association board members, what is the most important thing to consider?
Managing a condo association is a demanding process. Legally, an association must appoint trustees and have a certificate of appointment filed with the Registry of Deeds, whatever the size of the association. Larger condominiums will hold elections for board members, while smaller groups may have all owners as members. There should be a mix of expertise among condo association board members with a cross section of skill sets to balance out the board. Ideally, the trustees should have a good mix of skills including financial proficiency, organization, communication, record keeping and long-term strategy.
2. How does a condo association oversee the fiscal management of the association?
An effective board of trustees needs to ensure strong controls of record keeping, tracking of income and expenses, and leverage a budget to be able to stay within planned expenses and income inflows. In addition, a good board prioritizes planning for ongoing infrastructure maintenance, major capital improvements, day to day business, insurance risk management, and disaster restoration planning.
3. When should a condo association consider an external management/property management partner?
Condo association management is not for the faint of heart. There is an immense amount of work on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Most associations greater than 20 units have management companies provide oversight and direct management of the association’s business. There are a lot of moving parts including collecting assessments, setting up budgets, negotiating with contractors and vendors – as well as planning for long term improvements and updates.
4. How does a condo association board handle legal issues such as non-payment of association fees by condo owners?
Most condo associations will consult with their law firm to deal with a difficult owner who hasn’t paid or is refusing to adhere to condo bylaws. Most law firms representing condo associations are experienced in holding individual owners who won’t listen to the other trustees accountable. Condo boards may also have to send a difficult owner to collections if they refuse to pay their assessments.
5. What does Brookline Bank offer to condo associations to help manage their associations?
Brookline Bank has proven expertise in banking services for condo associations and management companies for over 40 years, longer than any other bank in the region. We are experts in providing capital improvement financing, as well as the means to collect and disperse funds for the association’s day-to-day needs – giving it strong controls in dealing with receivables and payables. Many technical innovations in the banking arena now allow associations and management companies the ability to view transactions in real time. This is a game changer versus waiting for your monthly statement to reconcile weekly or monthly transactions. What I consistently tell any prospective client is that there hasn’t been much we haven’t seen, and we pride ourselves on taking care of their needs, going above and beyond to give them an exceptional level of service.
We are pleased to announce that on September 1, 2025, Brookline Bank became a division of Beacon Bank & Trust. Learn More Here.