HOA Management Blog
As an HOA board member you're faced with issues in your homeowner’s association day in and day out. Sometimes you have questions that you don’t know the answer to or scenarios where you aren’t sure how to respond. Odds are, other board members are in the same boat. We’ve compiled some questions we’ve recently received and provided expert answers from an HOA manager. Read them below and maybe you’ll be able to relate.
An important role of a homeowners association is to maintain and enhance property values by enforcing neighborhood covenants and maintenance of common areas. For this to happen the Association must have a strong Board of Directors and each person who sits on the Board must perform their job. This will also help homeowners find value being a part of the Association community.
An HOA board has three significant roles: to protect, maintain and enhance the Association. Everything the board is responsible for in a homeowners association can be placed into at least one of these three categories.
The purpose and protocol for executive sessions in a homeowners association are often misunderstood by both homeowners and board members. HOA Board members may call an executive session to discuss important matters and make crucial decisions involving privileged and private information.
Below are some frequently asked questions that you might have about executive sessions that will help to increase your knowledge and fulfill your duty to be informed as a member of the Board and Association.
When it comes to the annual budget for your homeowners association, it can feel cumbersome to understand and plan. It can also seem like an overwhelming task because you just don’t have a lot of accounting knowledge.
The budget planning process is a lot of work and a large responsibility for the HOA board to prepare. It’s a complex activity that has to start early so the budget can be finalized and approved prior to the beginning of the new Association fiscal year.
We’ve all heard the term “read the small print before signing on the dotted line” but how often do we really do this? An HOA board will be considering and entering into contracts on a regular basis and it’s not uncommon for otherwise cautious people to become jaded by the terms and conditions and just quickly glance over the documents.
You don’t want to be that guy (or gal) do you? You know the one – unreliable, uninformed, and unmotivated. It seems like every Association or organization has this type of person that everyone just puts up with or secretly doesn’t like at all. Do yourself a favor: look at the following list and be honest with yourself. If you do any of these things, maybe it’s time to change or step down. If you can think of a fellow HOA board member who does this, maybe you could help them!
It’s a Wednesday evening in spring. As you walk the few blocks from your home to your monthly HOA board meeting you find yourself smiling at what you see. The sun is setting, giving just enough light for residents to finish walking their dogs. You hear the giggles of kids playing catch in their front yard. The smell of freshly cut grass, coupled with someone barbecuing, is in the air. Amidst the mundane details of budgets, laws, rules, and maintenance waiting for you at your meeting, you're reminded that you are an HOA board member because you value your community. You care about the quality of life in your neighborhood, and making it a safe place for residents.
Governing a homeowners association is no easy task. There are budgets to make, reserve studies to do, laws to understand, meetings to prepare for, and day-to-day tasks to tackle. Below are some helpful resources every HOA board member should know are available to reference.
Have you ever been to a Board meeting that was equivalent to going to the circus? You know the type. Everyone clowning around, trying to out-perform the other to get their point noticed. Pencils and papers flying through the air as if they were popcorn and peanuts. The tension in the air when an important issue is being discussed feels thicker than watching a tightrope walker. Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but you get the idea. The kind of meeting you leave feeling like you put out more fires caused by the jugglers flaming batons than made onlookers smile and leave happy.
