It’s important for an HOA board to work on ending the year well. It doesn’t matter if your homeowners association plans around the fiscal or calendar year, the questions below apply to both. It’s not too late to ask yourself some of these questions and make a resolution to do these things in the New Year to come.

1.  Did you send out required annual disclosures?

The more complex a homeowners association community is, the earlier it needs to start this process. There are certain disclosures that need to go out at the end of the year as directed by the Davis-Stirling Act. Make sure you understand what these are. It’s the law!

2.  Did you update the reserve study or reserve study site visit?

This is a great reason to have an HOA manager because they can do most of the work related to the reserve study for you. They have the Association records and the relationship with reserve specialists and can pull board members in as needed to ask questions.

3.  Did you finalize major projects?

If any major projects were done this year in the homeowners association, make sure you have the bills of what the project actually costs (painting, new roof, etc.) to help update your reserve budget.

4.  Did you put your budget together?

Speaking of the budget, have you put next year’s budget together? Remember, you must have a reserve budget and an operating budget, and understand how the funds are used for each.

5.  Have you looked at your rules and regulations?

As an HOA board, ask each other: are the rules and regulations in the homeowners association working? Do we need to make any adjustments? Abandon or add any rules? Remember to send the rules and regulations out with the year-end disclosure packet.

6.  Did you have board elections/new board members?

The positions that are turning over tell you what positions you’ll need to fill in the New Year. Start to think through who in the Association would be a good addition to the board, then start recruiting them!

7.  Have you considered planning a social gathering?

You can easily plan a potluck-style gathering to kick-off the New Year, get to know others living in the Association, and ask for thoughts about the community and what homeowners would like to see happen in the next year.

8.  Have you planned the next year?

The end of the year is a great opportunity to think ahead and get things scheduled on the calendar such as:

• Training opportunities
• Board meetings
• Community events
• Annual meeting

Giving people plenty of advance notice leaves no room for their excuses of why they weren’t there!

9.  Did you set goals for the coming year?

These will widely depend on your specific homeowners association, but some examples are to build community, have better communication with homeowners, and plan more social events. Try to make these measurable goals too.

10. Do you need to hire an HOA manager?

If you didn’t do any of the above last year – or even knew to do it – and want to be prepared for the next year, an HOA manager can help because:

• They're informed
•  It’s their job
• They know what you need to do
• They can help manage timelines
• They can help with communications
• They can encourage HOA board members

As you experience things over the course of time in the Association, certain things can be anticipated, especially if you have a manager because they understand the flow and the day in and day out of the homeowners association community.

Use these questions at your next HOA board meeting to make sure you are starting of the year well.