RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE : Community Manager Group to Hold First Conference in Irvine

The California Assn. of Community Managers--the new trade group representing the people who enforce the rules and collect the dues at condominium complexes and in master-planned communities--has picked Irvine, the nation’s preeminent master-planned community, for its first conference.

The 13-month-old group, also based in Irvine, wants to improve professional standards in the industry and has developed a manager certification program its officers hope will do just that.

“We believe this will be an important advancement in the field of association management, since it provides a uniform set of standards protecting homeowner associations” against conflicts of interest, misuse of funds and other transgressions by their hired managers, association president Karen Conlon said.

To be certified, a manager must join the association, attend a series of special courses on legal, financial and property-management issues, record-keeping and the proper operation of community association meetings. Certification also requires that a manager pass a written exam and participate in a continuing education program.

The conference, at the Irvine Marriott hotel, begins Sunday and runs through Tuesday. Clark Wallace, commissioner of the state Department of Real Estate, is scheduled to deliver the main address at a breakfast Tuesday. He is expected to discuss homeowner association issues.

Conlon said there are an estimated 25,000 homeowner associations in California. About 300 community management specialists are expected to attend Tuesday, she said.

“We have a long way to go” before the managers of all of those associations have a CACM certificate to hang on their office walls, she said. “But we’re going about it at full speed.”