In the United States, there are over 358,000 neighborhoods that have an HOA. With those HOAs, there tends to be some sort of manager at the core of it.
Depending on your HOA, you could have a licensed community association manager (LCAM) or a community association manager (CAM).
What are the biggest differences between an LCAM vs. CAM? This guide breaks it down.
CAM
The community association manager tends to have less power than one that is licensed. That is because they are someone who acts as some sort of middleman between the HOA and the homeowners.
This is someone who can help an HOA organize a budget and keep track of the minutes during HOA meetings. Also, they are someone that knows all of the rules in the HOA community and someone that homeowners can turn to if they need help.
Essentially, a CAM is someone who takes on a more individual role with homeowners. That is because a CAM is a person that addresses individual concerns.
For example, let's say that one neighbor had a complaint about the other neighbor making too much noise. The CAM would be the person that evaluates this situation and then takes the next course of action from there. They may see if the loud neighbor is violating any community rules and if they are, they may tell that neighbor to keep the volume down.
The CAM is essentially acting as a neutral representative for all parties in the community.
LCAM
An LCAM tends to have a little more authority than a CAM because this is someone specifically hired by an HOA board to make decisions that benefit the community. They typically have the power to create rules for the community and create specific budgets for said community.
This person may notice that the community is not charging the appropriate HOA fees to cover costs for the organization. This can be general upkeep for common areas as well as annual maintenance that has to be done on homes around the neighborhood.
Since HOAs are typically responsible for this, an LCAM may dedicate one percent of the average home's value in the community for maintenance.
Then, they will go and find vendors to do tasks for the community such as landscaping, pool maintenance, fixing minor repairs, and waste management.
On top of this, an LCAM may walk around the neighborhood and perform routine inspections to make sure everything in the neighborhood is in order.
LCAM vs. CAM
So, what is the difference between an LCAM vs. CAM?
Think of a CAM as someone that represents all parties around the neighborhood. They not only have the HOA's interests at heart but also know how to handle individual concerns around the community. This can be the person to help solve minor disputes.
As for an LCAM, this is the person that has a bigger vision to make the community more valuable. This can be anything from creating a new HOA budget as well as hire specific vendors.
For more information on this in Morristown, reach out to us here.
