The two articles just published—one about reserve studies and the other about reserve funding—have been in the works for a while. I wanted to wait until I was sure before I published them, because they challenge conventional wisdom. Big time.

Most of California’s condominiums are more than 30 years old. A lot are 40, 50, even 60 years old. They are facing repairs that they have never needed before, expensive repairs.

Volunteer boards are expected to recognize what types of repairs their buildings need and then get their homeowners to pay for it. In this uphill battle, they face legislative requirements that are confusing and even counterproductive.

If we get this part wrong, California could lose a good chunk of its affordable housing stock. That’s a public policy concern.

Right now, I’ve written about how our reserve study missed $1 million in needed repairs, and why human beings have such a hard time putting money into reserve funds. It’s a continuing story that I hope will start debate about how to best help condo boards preserve their buildings.

CondoWonk will keeping telling other stories, too.

I want to write about managers, so if you want to talk about your relationship with your manager, good or bad, let me know. We’ll chat.

I haven’t told you yet about the box of luxury toilet paper that was stolen from the mail room, but I will. Or about the guy who’s serviced our pool for 30 years and used to play golf in the hallway with the former president. Those stories are true, and they are coming.