Dr. J. Mike Minnix
Vice President
Cedar Management Group

Let me share a true story with you that illustrates how important it is to prioritize in the correct manner. George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi was going to bed one evening when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed. She knew the light was on in the shed because she could see it from the bedroom window. George didn’t remember leaving the light on but he opened the back door to go turn off the light when he saw people in the shed stealing things.

George phoned the police and told them that there were burglars in his shed, but the officer who answered the call simply asked if any intruders were in the actual house from which George was calling. George told him that no intruders were in the house but they were in his shed. The officer told George that all the patrols were busy and he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when one was available. Click here to read full article...

Rob Finger, CMCA, AMS
Vice President
Community Management
Cedar Management Group

Many community members feel secure in knowing that they know most if not all of their neighbors, and may easily recognize any strangers who may be lurking around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, you can’t always rely on our personal eyes to evaluate the safety of the community, which is why The Neighborhood Watch program is so effective. It’s a great way to get the community involved in crime prevention and elimination. Who knows better, what is going on in the community than the residents that live there? Click here to read full article...

Scott Hines, CMCA
Director of Facility Care
Cedar Management Group

Here at Cedar Management Group, we strive to keep our communities aware of the most effective ways to avoid unexpected costs, in particular with maintenance. Reserve studies and historical trends are two very helpful tools that can be used when planning maintenance costs in your budget. The Reserve study can be used to look at the future costs of planed maintenance repairs and replacements while the historical trends can be used to look back at the past for the costs of maintenance repairs and replacements. When both the past and the future costs of maintenance are considered, you will be able to paint a pretty good picture of what needs to be budgeted for your current maintenance costs. Click here to read full article...

Paul Greiner, CMCA, AMS
President
Cedar Management Group

The rumor around the office is that, “I am not an Attorney, but I did stay at a Holiday inn Express last night.” All joking aside, please note that I am certainly not an Attorney and therefore am not in any position to give any formal legal advice. I can however offer some common sense rules of thumb, which could potentially spare your community a legal nightmare.

In our ever increasing litigious society, people are often quick to throw out phrases like: “Talk to my lawyer”, “I will have my lawyer handle this”, or even, “I’ll just sue you”. It’s important to understand what exactly is being disagreed upon before exchanging these types of words with anyone. Even if you are on the receiving end of these legal threats, you should also evaluate what risks you may have placed yourself in. All too often when two parties disagree on something substantial (or not), they immediately go to their lawyers to formally fight out the situation. Click here to read full article...

Mary Christy
Manager, Community Support
Cedar Management Group

Cedar Management Group thrives at not only being at the cutting edge of technological advances, but also at doing so in the most environmentally responsible manner possible. One of the most effective methods of accomplishing this is to abolish all paper faxing, and documents whenever possible. Most of the documents received such as ARC’s, closings, changes of address, contact sheets etc. are scanned into a PDF format and saved in each homeowners file. Our goal is to progressively go “paperless”. Documents are filed both in the owner’s file in our software and in the “L drive” (a remote database which is backed up daily). Click here to read full article...