FREQUENTLY ASKED
Answers before the
board meeting.
Straightforward answers to the questions condominium boards and property managers across Florida ask us most about association financing. If your question isn't covered here, call us. We are always glad to talk it through.
A special assessment is a charge levied on unit owners, in addition to their regular monthly dues, to cover a specific expense that the association's operating budget and reserves cannot absorb. The most common triggers are major structural repairs, insurance shortfalls, and compliance work required by Florida's building-safety laws.
Assessments can be collected as a lump sum or in installments, and many associations pair a special assessment with a loan so owners can spread a large cost over several years instead of facing it all at once.A residential mortgage is a loan to an individual, secured by a lien on the home itself. An association loan is made to the association as a corporate entity, and it is secured primarily by the association's right to collect assessments from its unit owners rather than by a lien on the building. That changes everything about how the loan is evaluated: lenders study the financial health of the association, its budget, collections, delinquency rate, and reserves, instead of ordering an appraisal. No individual owner's credit is pulled, and no lien is placed on any individual unit.
In practice they usually work together rather than compete. A loan allows the association to fund the full project now, while a special assessment collected in monthly installments repays it over time. A cash-only special assessment avoids interest but concentrates the entire cost on owners up front, which can create hardship and collection problems. The right structure depends on the urgency of the work, the size of the project, and what your owners can realistically absorb. We help boards model both paths before deciding.
Yes. Financing the repairs that Florida's inspection and reserve requirements bring to light is one of the most common reasons associations borrow today. A well-structured loan lets your community begin required work on schedule while keeping monthly payments manageable for owners, instead of postponing repairs until the costs and the risks have grown.
Lenders typically request the association's governing documents, current annual budget, recent year-end financial statements, a current balance sheet and income statement, a delinquency report, insurance certificates, the engineer's report or scope of work for the project, and the board resolution or meeting minutes authorizing the financing. Assembling this package well matters more than boards expect. We prepare it with you so your association's story is told clearly and completely the first time a lender sees it.
It begins with a conversation about your project and your community's finances. From there we assemble the financial package, present it to the institutional lenders best suited to your situation, and bring back term sheets for the board to compare. Once the board selects a lender and any owner approval required by your governing documents is obtained, the file moves through underwriting and loan committee to closing. After closing, we remain available for the life of the loan, so your board always has an experienced voice to turn to as questions arise.
Lenders look at the association as a business. The factors that weigh most are the delinquency rate, the health and realism of the budget, reserve funding, the collections history, insurance coverage, any pending litigation, and the overall profile of the community, including its size and the mix of owner-occupied and investor-held units. Every lender weighs these differently. Part of our role is to evaluate your association against these criteria before any lender does, tell you candidly where you stand, and help you strengthen the file where it needs it.
The most costly mistakes we see are waiting until a deadline forces a rushed decision, approaching lenders with an incomplete or disorganized financial package, accepting the first term sheet without comparing alternatives, structuring the loan without aligning it to the assessment that will repay it, and overlooking the approval requirements in the association's own governing documents. All of them are avoidable with preparation and enough lead time, which is exactly what we bring to the table.
It depends on the size of the loan, the condition of the association's financials, and the lender's process, but most transactions move from a complete application package to closing within a few months. The single biggest factor a board controls is starting early. The sooner we begin the conversation, the more options remain open.
No, and that distinction is the heart of what we do. LTM Group is a specialized consulting firm, led by a licensed community association manager (LCAM), that represents the association's interests in the financing process. We work exclusively with institutional lenders, and because we are not lending our own money, our only incentive is to secure the structure and terms that serve your community best.
It means the relationship does not end at closing. Boards change, property managers change, and questions come up years into a loan: about draw schedules, about refinancing, about how a new project fits alongside existing debt. We stay available as your community's point of reference for all of it, so institutional knowledge about your financing never walks out the door.
We serve community associations across South Florida. Broward and Miami-Dade counties, from Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, and Fort Lauderdale down through Miami, Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Aventura, and the rest of the greater Miami area.
Our focus on this market is deliberate: the legislation, the lenders, and the pressures facing condominium communities here are unlike anywhere else, and we know them firsthand.Call us at
(+1) 305-699-4097
Tell us about your community, the project or requirement you are facing, and where you are in the process, and we will schedule a conversation to review your situation and outline your options. There is no obligation, and the earlier we talk, the more we can do for you.