HOA Management Blog
Whether your homeowners association operates on the calendar year or fiscal year, now is a good time to set a date for your annual HOA board meeting if you haven’t already done so. Annual meetings are a common best practice to keep members informed and get them involved. You may be thinking that it’s going to be a waste of time because the majority of members don’t come to any meetings. There’s no doubt that this is one of the most challenging parts of planning the meeting, but there are ways to encourage members to attend.
When you’re recruiting members to be part of your HOA board, it’s important to know how to reach them and to be prepared for common push backs you’ll hear when you ask a homeowner to join the Board. But once you find good board members, you don’t want to let them go. So how do you keep them on the Board?
You’re a board member of a lovely homeowner’s association. On most days as you drive through your community you wave at fellow neighbors, share a friendly smile with passersby, and enjoy the neat landscapes and well-kept houses. This particular day seems to be no different. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. You appreciate the peaceful feeling and aesthetically pleasing views you’re coming home to after a long day at work.
But then there’s a fluttering of feathers from the treetops as you turn the corner onto your street. There, at the end of the street, staring back at you is a purple monster of a house. PURPLE. You’re pretty sure it was gray when you left…how did it get to be PURPLE?
As a volunteer HOA board member or homeowner within an association, elections, quorums, secret ballots and things related can be very confusing. They can even be confusing to those trained to work in this industry. If nothing else, you should understand that not all elections are equal.
The success of a homeowners association is based on the members and Board working together. If the community is not taken care of, it will start to affect property values, decrease the quality of living, and create a disharmonious environment. If there's a disconnect between the Board and homeowners it takes action by both parties to create a relationship of open communication. Is your Board guilty of one of the 5 reasons below that creates a division with homeowners?
Every HOA's number one priority is the legal fiduciary responsibility to enhance and maintain their property. The only way to do that is by collecting HOA fees. That's why a clear collection policy is a must-have for your HOA board.
Sounds like fun, right? Maybe not. However, it's important to communicate a detailed collection plan for HOA fees. By managing homeowner expectations about fees and the need for timely payment, you can help your board (and especially your treasurer) meet their goals and reduce the need for costly fee collection.
People and organizations are often afraid of evaluation because they’re afraid of failure. If we don’t fail we can’t learn, and if we aren’t given the opportunity to learn, we can’t grow. It’s in the best interest of the association for the HOA board to take the time to intentionally evaluate the HOA manager, ask questions, give honest feedback, and decide how the relationship can improve or if it’s time to part ways. Below are questions to help guide the evaluation process.
A homeowners association and its members disagree from time to time. When there's a dispute, the HOA board must provide the homeowner an opportunity to meet and confer with the board. Members must be provided with a fair, reasonable and expeditious procedure for resolving disputes with the Association without being charged a fee. The process is referred to as "Internal Dispute Resolution" (IDR).
Doing good may be its own reward, but most homeowners association volunteers would probably agree that it’s also nice to be recognized for the time, effort, and commitment they put into serving others, particularly in what can sometimes seem to be thankless roles.
As a homeowners association member, it’s important to understand that committees are an integral part of the operations of your community. Committee members help keep a community vibrant; and by augmenting paid staff, they can save an association hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year.
