PATScore™
The condo risk score buyers, boards, and lenders were never given.
A condominium’s real financial condition is buried across its reserve study, audited statements, tax returns, and operating budget — documents most buyers never see and few boards fully read. PATScore distills all of it into a single 0–100 score: a condo CARFAX that tells you, at a glance, how much financial risk you’re actually taking on.
What PATScore Is
PATScore (Property Asset Transparency Score) is a 0–100 rating produced from an independent review of an association’s latest reserve study, audited financial statements, tax returns, and operating budget. It weighs five factors — emphasizing long-term capital sustainability and owner risk exposure — and turns dense documents into one accessible signal a buyer, lender, board, or owner can act on without being an accountant.
What It Measures
Reserve funding adequacy
Is the reserve balance sufficient for the long-term replacement schedule?
Inspection recency
How current is the reserve study’s site inspection?
Funding discipline
Do actual contributions match the recommended funding plan?
Governance practices
Are decisions, controls, and disclosures sound?
Financial reporting quality
Are the audit, tax returns, budget, and reserve study consistent and complete?
The Rating Scale
Scores run from 0 to 100, assigned in 5-point increments, across six rating bands:
Associations rated Poor face substantial unfunded capital obligations, a high probability of special assessments or sharp assessment increases, and elevated risk of deferred maintenance.
Who It’s For
Buyers
Estimate your share of unfunded obligations before you buy.
Lenders
Screen association risk during underwriting.
Boards
Benchmark your association and track improvement over time.
Owners
See what the consolidated summary hides.
How It Works
You provide the documents: reserve study, audited financial statements, tax returns, and operating budget.
CIA computes the PATScore and writes the report.
You receive the PATS Report: score and rating, the five-factor analysis, current and projected unfunded liabilities, the gap between adopted and recommended reserve funding, an owner-exposure note, and association/vendor detail.
See It in the Real World
175 East Delaware Place HOA scored 15 — Poor. Its current unfunded reserve liability is about $30 million, and the association’s own reserve study projects that figure to reach at least $100 million over the 30-year horizon. Its budget funds reserves at $1,020,000 against a recommended $2,453,400 — a gap that would require roughly a 14.6% assessment increase just to reach the (still flawed) recommended path. PATScore made all of that visible in a single number.
As of June 2026, the most expensive condo listing in all of Chicagoland — a 92nd-floor penthouse asking $9.5 million — is in this same building. Its buyer inherits a share of those unfunded obligations. No listing sheet mentions that.
Led by Michael J. Novak, CPA, CMA, CFA
Michael J. Novak is Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Common Interest Advisors. He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and brings more than four decades of accounting experience, including more than thirty years serving community associations and nonprofit organizations.
Common Interest Advisors provides independent financial, governance, budgeting, reserve funding, and forensic advisory services to condominium, homeowners, and cooperative associations.
PATS Tools for Smarter Community Association Oversight
The PATS framework provides boards and owners with a transparent, data-driven approach to association oversight. By standardizing how financial and governance health is measured, these tools transform complex data into a clear roadmap for long-term stability.
PATS Reference
This guide defines your legal right to a clear and full financial picture of your community. It provides a working list of key documents—from Board Meeting Minutes to Related Party Transactions—designed to help owners challenge management control and protect shared assets.
Download PATS ReferencePATS Runbook
This playbook provides a systematic process for identifying fraud, poor spending, or illegal actions. By following these phases, you will learn how to verify your legal rights, audit monthly reports, check for insider self-dealing, and build the evidence needed to take formal action.
Download PATS RunbookPATS in the News
PATS has been featured in Inside Publications, where financial forensics expert Michael J. Novak addresses the critical question: "What to do to find the facts?" His answer: Ask PATS. The article highlights how the PATS framework empowers homeowners and associations to uncover the truth about their finances, providing the tools needed to verify legal rights, audit monthly reports, detect mismanagement, and protect their investments through transparency and accountability.
Novak, Michael J. "What to do to find the facts?: Ask PATS" Inside Publications, 4-10 February 2026, Commentary section.
Article
What You Get & Pricing
A PATScore engagement delivers the full PATS Report (a sample is the published 175 East Delaware report) plus the PATScore Reference Guide explaining how the score and bands are calculated. Report fee: $2,000.
The Property Asset Transparency Score (PATS) is an independent analytical assessment based on financial, reserve, and governance information available as of the report date. It does not constitute an audit, appraisal, engineering report, legal opinion, or investment advice. Prospective owners, investors, lenders, and other stakeholders should perform their own due diligence and consult qualified legal, financial, engineering, and tax professionals before making decisions, and should not rely solely on this report.
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