Finding and keeping good people on the board in your homeowners association is possibly one of the toughest jobs you’ll have as an HOA board member.
As a current member of the board one of your responsibilities is to recruit homeowners to become part of the board, which is no easy feat. That’s why you should be prepared to have answers to common questions and excuses you’ll probably hear when inviting homeowners to join the board.
As a homeowners association board member, you have many responsibilities to the community you oversee . Homeowners look to their board to keep their community safe, well-maintained and properly managed. Board members are obligated to do everything in their power to meet its members needs while complying with the community’s CC&Rs, as well as any state and local regulations.
Unfortunately, there are instances where your HOA board may unknowingly be putting the community at risk. Hiring an HOA manager can take the pressure off of your board members. Let’s take a closer look at the pitfalls that can exist and how you can avoid them.
There's often a lot of talk about the governing documents of a homeowners association, but what are they, why are they important, and what do they say?
How does the reserve fund in your homeowners association look? If your fellow HOA board members tend to look the other way, not want to deal with the reserves, or simply refuse to fund them, you’re not alone. Many Associations across the country aren’t saving enough in their reserves to make major repairs which can cause a multitude of problems. The community can fall into disrepair, you may be faced with having to enforce a special assessment on homeowners, or eventually losing control of the entire Association.
As another year begins, HOA board members should consider offering some thoughts about how the Association can make the community an even better place to live in the New Year and beyond.
One of the benefits of living in a homeowners association is having access to common areas and certain maintenance responsibilities covered for you as part of the HOA fees you pay to live in the Association. Do homeowners in your Association know the maintenance items they’re responsible for and the items the Association is responsible for?
A new member has been elected to your HOA board. Suddenly, you learn that they seem to have a general mistrust of any current vendors of the association, perhaps because they did not choose them. They call for at least three bids on every project, no matter how small. This person seems to be trying to fix something that may not have been broken in the first place.
A board of directors will have its fair share of challenges with new board members automatically calling for new vendors, even when the ones they are working with are really solid.
Purchasing a home is a big deal, so when you do, you want to make sure it’s somewhere you can actually live. Just like in any neighborhood, living in a homeowners association has its pros and cons, but the positives outweigh the negatives. That being said, it’s good to consider both.
You live in a homeowner’s association. You have a great idea. You’re not on the board, and elections are months away. What next? Present it! Presenting a good idea, whether to the HOA board, a boss, or anyone else in the position to approve it, isn’t about them or you -- it’s about the idea.
When you live in a homeowners association, you become a member of a community. When you're a member of a community, you want to remain in good standing and do your part. Below are ways that you can receive a gold star, so to speak, in your HOA.
