Is $135 Cai annual membership worth it? Is it per board member?

Started by MarkR21 • 7 replies • 265 views

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MarkR21 (North Carolina)
Posts: 710

Posted:

Is $135 Cai annual membership worth it? Is it per board member? Can we just get one membership for the prez ?

Is their online forum any good? Closest chapter is 5 hrs away from me so won’t be going back o local events

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Didn't you go to the website and look for the membership information? Here's a link to the membership application:

https://www.caionline.org/JoinNow/Documents/cavlapp.pdf

If you scroll halfway through the form, you will see there's an option for several members - the $135 is for an individual membership, so you could designate one person, as our community did. I was the representative and when I saw useful articles in the magazine, I'd photocopy them and distribute them to the board. I know our presidents read them, not sure about everyone else.

I'm no longer a member and haven't see the online forum, so if you join, take a look at the conversations and decide for yourself.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061

Posted:

Some people think it is.
Some people think it isn't.
Only you can really make that determination.

I would suggest what it is that you would expect to get out of the membership.
Information Resources - many resources are free.
Referrals - Perhaps, but you would still need to determine if the referral is a good fit for your Association
Lobbying efforts to change laws - depends if you concur with the proposed legislation
Forum - If you think it's worth spending the money (would you join it with your own funds is a question I like to ask myself).

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 501

Posted:

Why pay for something that is available for free?

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 501

Posted:

I think the lobbying comment is really important to consider.

While I believe we should have a good HOA if we have to have one at all, I am not in favor of increasing the power and strength of HOAs in general. Thus, I am at odds with the CAI position on lobbying.

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MarkR21 on 06/08/2022 3:41 AM
Is $135 Cai annual membership worth it? Is it per board member? Can we just get one membership for the prez ?

Is their online forum any good? Closest chapter is 5 hrs away from me so won’t be going back o local events

Mark,

There's little to no benefit. That benefit largely depends on your local chapter (sometimes state level and other times subdivided by smaller geographies). In Washington State, the WSCAI chapter provides zero value-added material / access / resources as part of what you pay every year (whether individually or as a CIC group membership). Certain other chapters actually offer some free events and education supported by your dues and a litany of business partner advertising. If your local chapter does not provided value-adds, your membership is going to buy you access to the CAI Exchange discussion forum which is like this message board, but subject to quite a bit of additional censorship.

CAI is in business to support management companies and other businesses that make money from the $100B+ in annual assessments paid by CIC homeowners. There's a certain amount of free material published (much of which I've collected here: https://www.(LINK-NOT-ALLOWED-PER-POSTING-RULES)/governance#h.g3vnru8enru7).

Regards,
Steve

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

I think the lobbying piece depends on where you are. In my state, I asked a local CAI representative about this around the time the state legislature was considering the HOA legislate that eventually passed. He said to really make a dent in the legislature, you really needed a full time lobbyist and the local chapter didn't have the money. And we know money will get a politician's attention faster than anything else.

I don't have a big issue with lobbying, but for a group like CAI, I think its best that they tailor their approach to what's going on in a specific state, and I don't know if the always do thst. For example, California and Florida have some extensively HOA regulations so what happens there or not would be different from my state because we don't have a lot of legislation to begin with. There could also be a question as to who makes the most noise within the chapter - if property management companies dominate, the individual HOAs may not get the attention they really need.

This is why I usually stick to CAI's educational materials. If an HOA wants to work with their local representative an issue that's fine, as long as they're careful not to favor one party over the other or make campaign contributions - that's best left for individual homeowners.

Another way for HOAs to get involved is to join a neighborhood assoc. We have this in my area and it usually chimes in when the city or county is considering zoning issues that affect the entire area, such as a gas station that's trying to go pun n an area that will wreck traffic and bring in too much noise. A few may extend this to speaking up on state HOA bills, but that might be limited together writing because people don't always have time to take time off to go to a legislative committee meeting to testify.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SheliaH on 06/08/2022 11:11 AM
I think the lobbying piece depends on where you are. In my state, I asked a local CAI representative about this around the time the state legislature was considering the HOA legislate that eventually passed. He said to really make a dent in the legislature, you really needed a full time lobbyist and the local chapter didn't have the money. And we know money will get a politician's attention faster than anything else.

I don't have a big issue with lobbying, but for a group like CAI, I think its best that they tailor their approach to what's going on in a specific state, and I don't know if the always do thst. For example, California and Florida have some extensively HOA regulations so what happens there or not would be different from my state because we don't have a lot of legislation to begin with. There could also be a question as to who makes the most noise within the chapter - if property management companies dominate, the individual HOAs may not get the attention they really need.

This is why I usually stick to CAI's educational materials. If an HOA wants to work with their local representative an issue that's fine, as long as they're careful not to favor one party over the other or make campaign contributions - that's best left for individual homeowners.

Another way for HOAs to get involved is to join a neighborhood assoc. We have this in my area and it usually chimes in when the city or county is considering zoning issues that affect the entire area, such as a gas station that's trying to go pun n an area that will wreck traffic and bring in too much noise. A few may extend this to speaking up on state HOA bills, but that might be limited together writing because people don't always have time to take time off to go to a legislative committee meeting to testify.

... OR ... you could direct your spending (which, let's face it, is extraordinarily nominal compared to an individual real property investment and/or the collective annual assessments of most CICs) toward homeowner-centric organizations.

The next time you are proactively asked to contribute to one of CAI's efforts (legislative or otherwise) in any material way other than to lobby your representative, please let us know!

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