Association Reserves Ohio & Northeast

Reserve Studies in Ohio & Across the Northeast

Turn long-term property needs into a practical funding plan.

Association Reserves helps organizational leaders understand what their properties will require, what it may cost, and how to prepare. Our Reserve Studies connect physical needs with long-term funding so community boards, managers, facility leaders, and other decision-makers have a clear, well-supported plan they can understand, explain, and act on.

Association Reserves has served clients throughout Ohio and the Northeast for more than 30 years. Our Ohio & Northeast team supports properties across Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine.

Plan for the Costs You Know Are Coming

Roofs wear out. Pavement needs replacement. Mechanical systems age. Interiors, amenities, building envelopes, and other shared assets all have useful lives. The exact timing can change, but the need to plan for them does not.

A Reserve Study brings the physical and financial sides of long-term property planning together. Rather than relying on last year’s budget, a generic percentage, or an emergency response when something fails, leaders can make decisions using a property-specific view of future needs.

A Reserve Study helps clarify:

The result is a clearer basis for budgeting, setting priorities, discussing tradeoffs, and preparing before predictable expenses become urgent.

What Is a Reserve Study?

Ohio Reserve Funding: What Community Associations Need to Know

Ohio law addresses reserve funding for condominium associations and planned community associations. Current statutes require annual budgets to include reserves adequate to repair and replace major capital items in the normal course of operations without the necessity of special assessments, subject to the exceptions and owner-waiver provisions that apply under each statute.

Ohio’s current statutes do not expressly require a professional Reserve Study. A Reserve Study can provide the property-specific physical and financial analysis community leaders use to determine what adequate reserve funding should look like for their actual assets, costs, timing, and current reserve position.

Older Ohio resources may still refer to a 10% minimum annual reserve contribution. The current versions of Ohio Revised Code Sections 5311.081 and 5312.06 do not state that former 10% minimum. They require adequate reserves, subject to the provisions and exceptions in each statute.

Association Reserves provides reserve planning guidance, not legal advice. Associations should consult counsel regarding requirements that apply to their community and governing documents.

Three Questions a Reserve Study Should Answer

01

What will need major repair or replacement?

The component inventory identifies the major components the organization is responsible for and the repair and replacement projects that belong in the long-term plan.

02

When will the work be needed, and what is it likely to cost?

The physical analysis connects current condition, remaining useful life, and estimated replacement costs so leaders can see when significant expenses are expected.

03

What funding path supports those needs?

The financial analysis evaluates current reserves and recommends a contribution plan designed to keep predictable projects fundable over time.

Choose the Right Level of Reserve Study

The right level of service depends on whether reliable reserve information already exists, how current it is, and how much has changed since the last study.

For properties without a reliable existing Reserve Study. The component inventory, physical analysis, and funding plan are developed from the ground up.

For properties that need an on-site assessment of common area components, including their current condition and remaining useful life, along with updated costs and a revised Reserve funding plan.

For properties that need their Reserve Study updated without a site inspection, using information provided by the association to update project history, Reserve balances, replacement costs, and funding recommendations.

A client-assisted option for appropriate properties. The client develops the component information and Association Reserves prepares the financial analysis.

A three-year recurring update option designed to keep reserve information current while creating continuity as leadership, projects, and budgets change.

A Plan That Stays Useful After Delivery

A Reserve Study should support decisions after the report is delivered. Association Reserves helps clients understand the findings, work through funding questions, and keep the plan current as project timing, costs, reserve balances, and leadership change.

Community managers can also use Association Reserves’ Reserve Study Road Map for Managers, a practical resource focused on using reserve information throughout the year to support budgeting, planning, and conversations with community leaders. The program features Ohio & Northeast President Co-Lee Grev alongside founder Robert Nordlund.

Professional Association Reserves clients receive access to uPlanIt, an interactive planning tool for testing “what-if” scenarios around funding levels, project timing, replacement costs, and other assumptions. It gives decision-makers a practical way to see how changes today may affect the long-term plan.

For Condominiums, Reserve Information Can Matter Beyond the Annual Budget

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have tightened project standards around condominium reserve funding and the reserve information lenders use during project review. For condominium associations and community managers, current, well-supported reserve planning can therefore become relevant to financing and project eligibility as well as long-term budgeting.

Association Reserves maintains a current resource explaining the 2026 changes and what condominium communities should understand as the standards take effect.

Reserve Planning for Many Types of Properties

The same core planning challenge exists anywhere leaders are responsible for buildings, infrastructure, amenities, and other long-lived assets. Association Reserves serves a range of property and organization types throughout Ohio and the Northeast.

Image icon supporting Reserve Studies for association-governed communities including condos, co-ops, HOAs, POAs, PUDs, and townhomes

Condominiums, co-ops, HOAs, POAs, PUDs, townhomes, high-rises, and master-planned communities.

Image icon representing Reserve Studies for private clubs, recreation centers, and organizations that own and maintain property

Country clubs, golf clubs, yacht clubs, recreation centers, and other member-based facilities.

Image icon supporting Reserve Studies for worship facilities and properties owned by faith communities

Churches, synagogues, temples, and other faith communities planning for long-term property stewardship.

Image icon representing Reserve Studies for private schools, public schools, school districts, colleges, and universities

Educational institutions responsible for campuses, buildings, infrastructure, and other long-term physical assets.

Image icon Reserve Studies for municipalities, government facilities, commercial properties, and mixed-use developments

Government facilities, commercial properties, mixed-use developments, and other organizations with long-term capital needs.

Image icon representing Reserve Studies for camps, retreat centers, and charitable organization properties

Camps, retreat centers, and charitable organizations responsible for facilities and shared property.

Image icon supporting Reserve Studies for vacation ownership resorts, timeshares, fractionals, travel clubs, and vacation clubs

Timeshares, fractionals, travel clubs, vacation clubs, and resort properties.

Why Organizations Choose Association Reserves

Nearly 40 years of Reserve Study leadership.

Decades of experience have shaped a proven approach to turning complex property obligations into practical long-term funding plans.

A sound, defensible basis for funding.

Recommendations are grounded in detailed property analysis, transparent assumptions, and an independent third-party perspective.

Clear information decision-makers can use.

Association Reserves makes complex property and funding information easier to understand, discuss, and apply to real planning decisions.

Guidance beyond delivery.

Education, planning tools, recurring updates, and access to experienced specialists help keep the Reserve Study useful after the report is complete.

Long-term relationships.

Many clients return to Association Reserves as their properties, budgets, priorities, and leadership change over time.

Meet the Ohio & Northeast Team

The Ohio & Northeast team brings experience in reserve analysis and community management. That mix of technical and practical experience helps clients connect the findings in a Reserve Study to the decisions that follow.

President

Co-Lee joined Association Reserves in 2022 with more than 20 years of community association industry experience. Her background includes community management and reserve analysis across HOAs, condominiums, private clubs, churches, campgrounds, schools, and water districts. She also serves on the National Reserve Study Standards Committee.

Charianna Miller, EBP

Project Manager

Charianna brings firsthand community management experience, including budgeting, capital projects, maintenance planning, and board support. Her perspective helps connect long-term funding plans with the day-to-day realities of managing shared property.

Bernadeth Arriola

Project Coordinator

Bernadeth brings a civil engineering background and experience in construction quality control, site inspections, project coordination, and construction documentation, supporting thorough and well-organized project evaluations.

What Clients Say About Working With the Team

Ohio & Northeast Reserve Study FAQs

Ohio’s condominium and planned community statutes require annual budgets to include adequate reserves for major capital repairs and replacements, subject to applicable exceptions or annual waiver provisions. The statutes do not expressly require a professional Reserve Study. A Reserve Study can provide the property-specific analysis community leaders use to determine an appropriate funding level.

The current versions of Ohio Revised Code Sections 5311.081 and 5312.06 do not state the former 10% minimum annual reserve contribution. They require adequate reserves, subject to the provisions and exceptions in each statute. Older materials online may still reflect prior statutory language.

Reserve Studies are useful for organizations responsible for long-lived property assets and future capital needs. Association Reserves works with community associations, clubs, worship facilities, schools, resorts, camps, commercial properties, municipalities, and other organizations that need a structured way to plan for repair and replacement costs.

A Reserve Study evaluates the components an organization is responsible for, anticipated project timing and costs, current reserve balances, and future contributions. That creates a property-specific basis for deciding what to fund and when instead of relying on a generic percentage or historical budget.

We recommend an Update – With Site Visit every third year, with an Update – No Site Visit in each year between. Property condition, project timing, construction costs, reserve balances, and contributions change every year, so an annual update keeps the funding plan current for each budget. Your governing documents or state law may also set a schedule.

A Full Reserve Study is generally appropriate when there is no reliable existing component inventory. An Update – With Site Visit refreshes the physical and financial analysis. An Update – No Site Visit updates the financial plan when the existing physical information remains sufficiently current.

Yes. The office currently serves Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine.

It can. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac project standards include reserve funding and Reserve Study considerations for condominium project review. Association Reserves maintains a current explainer on the 2026 requirements.

Helpful Reserve Planning Resources

Want to learn more before requesting a proposal? Start with these existing Association Reserves resources:

Videos

Association Reserves service level comparison for Full Reserve Study, With-Site-Visit Update, No-Site-Visit Update, and DIY Reserve Study options

Which Level of Service Is Right for My Property?

Association Reserves Reserve Study process showing what happens after requesting a Reserve Study proposal

What Happens Next?

Landscape image showing properties needing three key Reserve Study results: component list, Percent Funded reserve fund strength, and custom funding plan

Three Key Results of a Reserve Study

Build a Clearer Plan for Your Property’s Future Needs

Major repair and replacement needs are predictable even when exact timing and costs move. A current Reserve Study gives the people responsible for a property a clearer basis for deciding what to fund, understanding why it matters, and preparing before those needs become urgent.

Association Reserves turns complex property obligations into clear funding plans leaders can understand, explain, and act on.

Association Reserves.

Fund honestly. Avoid a crisis.

Co-Lee Grev, AMS, PCAM, RS

President
Co-Lee joined Association Reserves in 2022, bringing over 20 years of expertise in the Common Interest Development industry. She has managed and provided reserve analysis consultations for a diverse range of developments, including HOAs, condominiums, private clubs, churches, campgrounds, schools, and water districts. Since shifting her focus to the Midwest and Northeast, Co-Lee has applied her extensive experience to help associations with long-term planning and sustainability in these regions. For the past two years, she has also served on the National Reserve Study Standards Committee, playing a key role in shaping industry standards. Her professional qualifications include the prestigious Association Management Specialist (AMS) #4859, Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) #1963, and Reserve Specialist (RS) #367 designations, awarded by the Community Association Institute (CAI).

Charianna Miller, EBP

Project Manager

Charianna Miller joined the Association Reserves team in October 2023 as a Project Manager and Business Development Manager serving the Ohio and Midwest region. She began her career in San Diego and Orange County, California, where she managed a large portfolio of community associations of varying sizes. In that role, she oversaw budgeting, capital projects, maintenance planning, and board support, giving her firsthand insight into how long-term financial decisions impact the daily operations of a community.

Her background in community association management naturally led her into reserve study work. With experience navigating real-world operational challenges, vendor relationships, and asset maintenance cycles, Charianna brings a practical, management-focused perspective to long-term financial planning. This unique combination allows her to bridge the gap between on-site community needs and strategic capital planning, ensuring clients receive clear, actionable guidance tailored to their specific properties.

At Association Reserves, Charianna manages reserve study projects across the Midwest while also leading regional business development initiatives and supporting industry partnerships.

Bernadeth Arriola

Project Coordinator

Bernadeth Arriola is a Civil Engineering graduate who brings hands-on experience in construction quality control, site inspections, and project coordination to her role at Association Reserves. With a strong background in QA/QC and compliance with plans and safety standards, she supports accurate, well-documented, and technically sound project evaluations.

Her experience as a Construction Quality Control Engineer with DMCI Homes and as a Project Site Engineer has strengthened her attention to detail, documentation, and understanding of building systems and construction practices. Proficient in AutoCAD, project scheduling, and construction documentation, Bernadeth helps ensure projects are organized, efficient, and aligned with client expectations.

At Association Reserves, Bernadeth’s technical foundation and commitment to quality make her a valuable resource in delivering reliable, thorough reserve studies that clients can confidently depend on.