HOA Management Blog

Maintaining the common area in your California Homeowner Association is one of the board's most important responsibilities. Some maintenance requires consistent upkeep. Landscape maintenance falls into that category and it is usually in the board's best interest to contract with a professional company to provide HOA landscape maintenance services in order to save on cost, and have consistency within the look of the community. While some homeowners might complain that the cost of professional landscaping is unnecessary, we would like to offer you several reasons why we believe that it is worth every penny.

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series, my chosen 'foreign' language of study in High School was Latin. Honestly, I had enough trouble with English at the time, yet Latin did become more interesting when I discovered that many of our English words came from Latin. When we consider California Homeowners Association governing documents and legal issues related to them, Latin terms can actually help give us some needed understanding. More on this later.

Is your California Homeowners Association thinking of embarking on a maintenance or construction project that will require the services of a contractor? If the project needs association approval, the first thing before you get to the place of interviewing Contractors in California is to make sure you follow the steps of your design review process.

With summer days right around the corner, I have been thinking about swimming pools and summer sun. When I was young, every summer my friends and I would look for a pool in the local area to swim in during hot days. We would jump the fence of the local high school until someone kicked us out or we would sneak into one of many apartment complexes until we were escorted out. I know, you are completely shocked that I would number myself among those wild fencehopping, rule breaking boys of summer (or maybe not if you know me well) but now you know. Many of the pools we raided were packed with families swimming so we were able to enjoy them for quite a while before they figured out that we did not belong.

Do you find yourself annoyed by the persistence of solicitors' unwelcome knocks on your door? It seems like no matter what they are selling or promoting they always manage to show up on your porch. They come with fliers, door hangers, a rehearsed speech and the distinct ability to ignore the polite decline of the products they are peddling to every person they can reach in your homeowners association - cleaning supplies, appliances, cosmetics, magazine subscriptions, home improvement products, coupons for local businesses and other unwanted items - sometimes even making you feel trapped in your own home.

Some homeowners associations who carry property/general liability insurance extend their coverage to include residential insurance in a portion of homeowner's association fees. If you are in a situation where you have HOA insurance coverage, does that mean you as an individual homeowner don't need an additional insurance policy on your residence? The answer is a resounding NO.

You're a member of a homeowners association as a nonresident owner who leases some units to renters. How many times have you been at a community homeowners association board of directors meeting and heard, "It's the people who rent that don't follow the homeowners association rules" or "Our homeowners association fees are increasing because the people who rent don't care about our buildings and rules."

Burnout is more than just stress - it is how your mind and your body tell you a change is needed. Whether you are a homeowners association property manager, board member or a homeowner who is part of a homeowners association, the pressure to work harder to the point of exhaustion can be a reality. Do you find yourself often working mechanically or just going through the motions? Then try these ways to relieve stress before it turns into burnout.

Many people would argue that graffiti is art, but when it is defacing property within the community of your homeowners association, it's considered vandalism. A homeowners association monitors and immediately removes graffiti from common areas and encourages residents to do the same with their property. If you've had several incidents of graffiti in your neighborhood recently, or just want to be prepared if you ever do, the homeowners association recommends these steps for dealing with graffiti.