People from all over the country who want to escape a cold and dreary winter have been flocking to Florida for years. The mild weather, abundant sunshine, and relaxed Florida lifestyle annually brings more than 800,000 snowbirds to community associations across the state. While this influx of residents within a community can put a strain on resources, there are actions that community association managers can take to ease the transition for their residents. Manager’s Best Practices As community association managers, we should be conscientious of the increase in demand and make adjustments where needed. Here are a few tips for staff members who want to make the return of the snowbirds easier on everyone include: Anticipate an increase in architectural review applications and attendance at monthly board meetings. Create a streamlined process to ensure mailing addresses are updated and important documents are not being sent to residents’ northern homes. Ensure

In the 2018 elections, Florida citizens approved Amendment 2, which legalized the use of medical marijuana, by a 71% margin. Florida is on track to log more than $1 billion in medical marijuana sales by the end of the year, according to a report compiled by marijuana industry analysts New Frontier Data and Arcview Market Research. The full extent of this decriminalization of a Schedule 1 substance remains to be seen and much will depend on the rules governing medical marijuana which have yet to be passed by the State Legislature and the Department of Health. In terms of your community association, it is a safe bet that you now have owners or residents using marijuana in their unit or in the common elements or that they will request the use of same as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. On March 18, 2019, the Florida governor signed the new

Since before recorded history, people have celebrated events, often decorating homes and public spaces to mark this or that special day or event. We still love to adorn our doors, windows, and other areas with festive décor at different times of year, but in a modern, densely-populated setting like a condominium or HOA, the diversity of faiths, ethnic backgrounds and traditions can make knowing what to display and how to display it more complicated than just hanging a wreath on the door or placing some poinsettias in the lobby. Whether your community is a high-rise tower in the heart of a major city, or a sprawling suburban development, it’s important for boards to approach holiday decorating like they approach any other element of governance; with fairness, consistency, and community well-being firmly in mind. There are many arguments for and against allowing holiday decorations; the former including the cohesive and morale-boosting

As the year comes to a close, holiday season is reaching it’s peak and cooler temperatures are beginning to reach the sunshine state. Most South Florida landscapes will do fine in a “normal” Florida winter, however unexpected below-average temperatures may do damage to some of your plants. With that being said, it’s important to know how to properly care for your lawn during the winter months. Here are a few South Florida Winter landscaping tips you should consider to keep your lawn in tip top shape for the winter season: As the holiday season ends, take care when removing any festive lighting and/or decorations. Be careful to safely disconnect any power cords, take precaution when removing elevated decorations, and remove decorations from vegetation with care to not harm the plant, bush, etc. If you wish to add some color to your outdoors, add poinsettias to your landscape. These bright red

Leading residential property management company honored as industry leader alongside sister company RKW Residential KW Property Management & Consulting, a premier residential property management company, has been honored in the Daily Business Review’s “Best of 2019” as the Best Multi-Family Property Management Firm for the sixth year in a row. Sister company RKW Residential, a leading apartment management firm, was also recognized alongside KWPMC. This year’s win ensures KWPMC’s place in the “Best of Hall of Fame,” which is reserved for companies that have been ranked in the top two in a given category for at least the past three years. With six straight wins, KWPMC further strengthens its position as an industry leader in South Florida. Companies honored on the list are voted on by the publication’s readers, who had the ability to vote on more than 50 categories, from accounting and financial services to litigation and marketing. The