HOA Management Blog

This is the third post in a three-post series. Read the first post Real Questions from Members with Answers from an HOA Manager and the second post Questions Your HOA Board May Relate to Now or Later.

Your homeowners association probably has its share of complaints or concerns from members. It may be parking, barking dogs, or a defiant neighbor – the possibilities are actually endless. Below is a real question submitted by a member of a homeowners association relating to a rule about garbage cans. Learn how an HOA manager might handle the issue and think about how your HOA board would handle it for your community.

All members of the HOA board are responsible for the Association’s overall financial health; but the treasurer has specific duties to protect the Association’s assets. These duties—and the authority to exercise them—are found in the homeowners association’s governing documents and also in state laws. It’s a big responsibility, but fortunately an HOA manager can help with many of the details.

This is the second post in a three-post series. Read the first post Real Questions from Members with Answers from an HOA Manager.

We get quite a few questions from many different Association members and members of the HOA board of directors. Each Association is unique, but more often than not your Association has at some point in the past – or will in the future – experience questions similar to the real-life issues addressed below. Continue reading to see if any of these real-life questions and expert answers from an HOA manager apply to your Association.

Have you, as a member of a Board of Directors for a homeowners association, ever had a special meeting called for your Association? Special meetings are unscheduled meetings called from time to time by the HOA board or others for a specific purpose. Special meetings usually address issues that need immediate attention or that need more time and discussion than can be handled in routine meetings.

We’re always talking about the governing documents of a homeowners association, but what are they, why are they important, and what do they say?

Associations have rules to preserve the appearance of the community, protect the value of the common property and individual homes, and make the neighborhood more harmonious for all. What you may not know is that in some rare instances, the homeowners association will waive some rules and regulations.

The homeowners association is a home and community. When you chose to be a member, you agreed to some unique obligations to the community and to other residents within it.

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.

Your community within your homeowner's association is more than just a neighborhood. In many ways, it’s a lot like a business. Collectively, the regular assessments that each homeowner pays amounts to tens of thousands of dollars that need to be budgeted carefully and spent wisely.

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!

Deer browsing in the back yard is charming. Birds are beautiful, graceful and melodic.  Seeing coyote in the distance and hearing them calling to one another at night gives a sense of being close to nature and adds to the feel of your community. But too much of any one thing is never good, and the feeding and encouraging of wildlife in the homeowners association is not in their best interests, yours and especially the association’s.

In homeowner’s associations, you and every board member are considered a fiduciary and are duty bound to act in the best interests of all residents, not your own best interests.