HOA Management Blog

It’s that time again in your homeowners association – time for the Annual Director Election. To be proactive and try to drum up participation from the membership, the HOA board may want to send out a notice to the members asking for volunteers to assist in this process. The notice could include the following:

Does your HOA board dread the annual meeting because it’s boring, no one shows up, and it seems completely and utterly pointless? If so, your Board is not alone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, the annual meeting in your homeowners association can actually be – dare we suggest – fun?!

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.

You live in a homeowner’s association. You have a great idea. You’re not on the board, and elections are months away. What next? Present it. Presenting a good idea, whether to the HOA board or to a boss or to anyone else in the position to approve it, isn’t about them or you -- it’s about the idea.

In any organization meetings often seem like a necessary evil. Many people feel like they go to meetings to discuss what they met about at the last meeting or that they simply turn to mayhem and nothing gets resolved. But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially in your homeowner’s association.

For many people, meetings are a fact of life. Whether it’s an HOA board or member meeting in your homeowner’s association, a volunteer meeting at your child’s school or a department meeting at work, being adept at participating effectively and managing meetings is a useful skill.

Whether you’re out of town or out of commission, you can still attend the homeowners association board meetings by tuning in online. This is not to be confused with a meeting via email, this is not allowed.

It’s required by law that time be set aside at each HOA board meeting for members to address the Board. This time for open comments allows members to have a voice about issues in the Association; however it’s important to understand what can and cannot be done during this time.

What’s the difference between a homeowners association board meeting and an annual meeting, or an executive session and an emergency meeting? Confused? Here’s some clarification.

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.