HOA Management Blog

When you think of an age-restricted homeowners association, you might conjure up a picture of elderly couples in Hawaiian print shirts and khaki shorts, riding on golf carts, sipping drinks by the pool, or playing cards in the clubhouse. While sometimes this isn’t far from the truth, age-restricted Associations are much more than that!

An HOA board is responsible for many things in a homeowners association. One of the most important is the safety of residents. In addition to just encouraging residents to watch out for each other, a Board can be proactive about educating homeowners too.

A great way to do this is in a monthly communication, such as a newsletter. If your Association doesn’t have a newsletter, consider getting one started and including safety tips such as easy preventative steps to avoid a house fire.

Do you want to be the best Board you can be? Then you’ve found a goldmine because we asked a seasoned and experienced HOA manager what he hoped all HOA board members would learn early on to help them run an efficient, lawful, and successful homeowners association.

Does your homeowners association have guidelines/specifications for installation of artificial turf?

Bill AB 349 makes the governing documents, architectural or landscaping guidelines, or policies of an Association void and unenforceable if they prohibit the use of artificial turf or any other synthetic surface that resembles grass.

It’s always convenient to have some tools in your tool belt – you never know when you might need one. Instead of a hammer, nails, screwdriver and measuring tape, there are tools that are handy for an HOA board to have access to because you never know when you might need to refer to them.

In homeowners associations, residents are encouraged to attend and observe HOA board meetings. Does your Association have many residents attend the board meetings? Some Associations have many residents that participate and attend meetings and other communities may never have a resident attend a meeting. This entirely depends on the Association.

Does your homeowners association have wildlife that has taken up residency in your community, specifically birds? Birds are beautiful, graceful and melodic. They give a sense of being close to nature and add to the feel of a community.

But too much of any one thing is never good. Whether it’s a trail of droppings, territorial aggression or destructive nesting and feeding patterns, birds can make life more expensive and a little more difficult or unpleasant for members living in your Association, maintenance crews, and managers.

Here are some solutions to help HOA board members be proactive.

The most important thing a Board needs to know is that it cannot give away the authority to make decisions. The manager is an integral part of a homeowners association, but there are some things the HOA board is ultimately responsible for and can’t delegate to a manager.

The California Drought is bringing more than just water woes. Some members of homeowners associations are having a harder time conserving water than would be expected, especially in the area of watering landscapes.

One new idea is drought-tolerant landscaping, which usually consists of visually appealing cement, rock, sand, dirt, and plants that need minimal to no water. However, this option doesn’t always align with the policies and procedures of the homeowners association. Below is an excerpt from an article that provides a good example:

A homeowners association and its members disagree from time to time. 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).

You don’t want to be bored with numbers, spreadsheets, dollars and cents. You already know that’s what a budget is made up of. Instead, what actions are the most important for you to actually do to ensure financial success in your homeowners association? There are a lot of pieces and parts that come into play, but following this advice will help you get started in the right direction of financial health for your community.

Americans who live in community associations are overwhelmingly pleased with their communities. They are expressing strong satisfaction with the HOA board members who govern their homeowners associations and the community managers who provide professional support.