Community Manager Bruce Ratliff is a Champion for Bay Area Residents

A well-educated HOA community manager is a champion for the communities they serve. They make a huge difference in a homeowner’s quality of life and the value of their property.

Certified by the California Association of Community Managers (CACM), the state’s leading community association management education organization, Bruce Ratliff, vice president of High Rise Operations for Action Property Management, is a champion for 10 HOA-managed high-rise communities in the Bay Area, including locations in San Jose and San Francisco. He is one of nearly 2,000 Certified Community Association Managers (CCAM®) in California who has completed CACM’s rigorous educational training focusing on California law, ethical standards and best practices for community association management.

CACM recently launched a Community Champions awareness campaign in the Bay Area to highlight the importance of state-specific education, obtaining the CCAM designation, and ultimately the benefits that professional community management provides to HOA boards and homeowners.

CACM caught up with Ratliff to discuss the valuable role community managers have in managing the nearly 50,000 common interest developments (CIDs) or homeowners associations (HOAs) in California.

Q: What makes you a Champion for your community?

A: Experience is the key to being a Champion for any community—that, and knowing about best practices in the community management industry. Because of my training, I am better prepared to help guide boards to make policy decisions that can be more easily and effectively administered. By delivering a product and service that enable a board to make informed decisions through policy governance, we can provide service at a higher level.

Q: What is the most rewarding thing about your job?

A: I enjoy the diversity of work, but the “people” part is most rewarding. I also enjoy the tangible service component and the ability to improve the quality of people’s lives.

Q: What is the most challenging thing about your job?

A: I find the biggest challenge is educating community members and embracing change in this industry. Things change every day, and people’s expectations are a moving target. Being at the forefront of what is coming is very important. Technology is one of the most challenging aspects of what we do. Already we are meeting resident demands by providing apps that they can use to communicate with management. This has been one of our larger challenges, but we are beginning to see a return on our efforts.

Q: How long have you been in the community management industry? How long have you been a CCAM?

A: I have served in the community management industry for 30 years plus. I first obtained my certification with the California Association of Community Managers in 1992, and I have maintained my certification ever since.

More than 14.3 million people, about 38 percent of the state’s population, live in an HOA-managed community, many of which are run by professionally trained community association managers. These professionals act as champions and have tremendous responsibilities for the residents they serve. They guide volunteer HOA boards through complicated issues like finances, state legislation and dispute resolution, and they oversee all aspects of property maintenance. They have a huge impact on the lives of thousands of Californians, and it’s time they are recognized for the important role they play.

To find out more about community association management and the responsibilities of HOA board members, or to nominate a community manager and enter to win $500, consumers can visit www.MyCommunityChampion.com. For more information on CACM, please visit www.cacm.org.