Your HOA Board Needs D&O Insurance!
Aug/16/2013 02:17 PM
If you serve on a homeowners association (HOA) board—or are considering it—then you need to know about Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability insurance. While your HOA has general liability insurance, this does not mean that you are personally covered from claims made against you while serving on your association’s board.
But D&O insurance does. This type of liability insurance covers directors and officers in their individual or group capacity as acting board members against third-party financial damages...
Read More About: Your HOA Board Needs Directors and Officers Insurance!
How To Deal With Noise Complaints In Your HOA...
Jun/14/2013 03:25 PM
Noise complaints can be a headache for everyone involved. For you and the board of your HOA, it’s important to understand your responsibilities and how you can help avoid noise issues in the future.
Know your responsibilities as an HOA when it comes to noise complaints between neighbors.
Read More About: How to deal with noise complaints in your HOA...
Should Your HOA Allow Rentals?
May/14/2013 03:06 PM
A homeowners association (HOA) has the right to institute rules allowing or restricting the ability of its owners to rent or lease their units. Language regarding such a policy can be found in your HOA’s bylaws.
Although it can be difficult to change your HOA’s rules, whether or not you should will likely cause a hot debate—with valid points made for both cases. This article discusses the pros and cons of allowing rentals in your HOA or Association.
Read More About: Should Your HOA or Association Allow Rentals?
Why Have A Professional Reserve Study?
Jan/18/2013 02:51 PM
As a business, the Board needs a business plan for the maintenance of the assets of the association. Which assets or parts thereof (i.e. partial pavement replacements, phasing roofing replacements) will require repair or replacement, when will they need replacement, and at what cost are the most important questions one must ask in determining a forecast of future capital projects.
When managing the contributions (assessments) of hundreds of homeowners, it is essential to provide as accurate a forecast as possible. Professional Reserve Study providers have the extra expertise from conducting hundreds of assignments each year to apply engineering success stories from other associations and determine the most reasonable reserve budget that is consistent with Board objectives.
Read More About: Why Have A Professional Reserve Study?
How To Raise Your HOA Dues...
Nov/16/2012 02:45 PM
It is the responsibility of your homeowners association’s board to set a budget each year, which includes the monthly income from homeowners, or association dues. While raising dues is never popular, it is a necessary step to properly maintain your community—and maintain the property values of those who are part of it.
Proper planning and open communication can help ease the pain of increasing monthly homeowners association dues. So how do you raise your HOA’s dues without receiving backlash from homeowners? Follow these five steps...
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What Happens If You Don't Pay Your HOA Dues?
Oct/12/2012 03:07 PM
Your homeowners association has bills to pay: heat, electricity, landscaping, maintenance, repairs, employees and possibly more depending on your community’s unique features. As a homeowner, you pay a portion of those fees—your HOA dues—each month.
When you fall behind on your payments, it becomes harder for the HOA to maintain the community, and other homeowners usually end up paying more to cover your missed payments. To help recover these funds, HOAs can take a number of different avenues, depending on the association’s governing documents and state and federal laws.
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Qualify Your HOA For FHA Loans...
Mar/09/2012 01:28 PM
Ensuring that your condo or townhome association is on the FHA approved list is important to everyone.
It’s important to potential buyers who may not otherwise qualify to purchase a home in your association. It’s important to current owners who may want to sell one day and want a larger pool of buyers for their unit. And it’s important to the association itself, as that larger pool of buyers helps create more competition, which raises unit prices.
In the past, whether or not an association qualified for FHA loans wasn’t so important, as lenders could do “spot loans” for specific units. New laws changed that, however. So that FHA-approved pool of buyers can now only purchase in FHA-approved associations.
Read More About: How To Qualify Your HOA For FHA Loans...
Investing Your HOA's Reserves??
Feb/10/2012 02:17 PM
Your homeowners association has diligently been adding to its reserves account and now would like to invest that money to possibly grow it even more.
As a nonprofit, your HOA has the ability to generate income on your reserves. But should you? The answer depends on several factors...
Read More About: Should Your HOA Invest Its Reserves?
Tip: Promote Your Superbowl Party...
Jan/24/2012 05:18 PM
With the power to share comes the ability to spread the word, increase awareness, and accomplish your goals.
Use your website to promote any noncommercial event:
- Meetings
- Parties
- Rallies
- PTA fundraisers
- Reunions
- School Events
Many of the Neighborhood Link features can be used to promote your events. Try:
- Posting the event in the online calendar
- Using the announcement box on the homepage
- Uploading a PDF Flyer
- Creating a professional webpage with our simple editor
- Starting a new interactive website with its own discussions, calendar, etc.
- Use Email Blast to notify everyone (Premium Feature-Learn More...)
Examples of real promotional efforts:
Broadway Station
Ballard Football Boosters
NAP-Neighborhood Alliance Pawtucket
San Gabriel Valley Football Officials Association
Keeping Your Community Safe
Jan/10/2012 02:04 PM
You know the saying: the best defense is a good offense. The same applies to the safety and security of your community. Gates, alarms, guards—these are all great measures for deterring would-be thieves.
But there are other ways to keep such unwanted individuals from even making that first attempt.
Take these simple steps to help keep your community safe and secure...
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Tip: Make Your Community Safer
Nov/22/2011 02:08 PM
Did you know that within your existing website, you can create an unlimited number of pages promoting safety?
What kinds of pages can I create to make my neighborhood safer? Try:
- Warning neighbors about potential door-to-door scams
- Alerting neighbors to local criminal activity
- Organizing/advertising a neighborhood cleanup (criminals are attracted to neighborhoods that appear dirty or unkempt.)
- Adding pictures/bios of the police officers who patrol your community.
- Organizing an alley numbering or curb numbering project (to help speed response from police, fire and paramedics)
- Creating a page of useful govt. and police contact information
- Sharing information about recent criminal activity
- Facilitating a neighborhood party, walk, or anything else where neighbors get to know one another.
Examples of how real organizations have made their neighborhood safer:
Madison Park
Camelot Neighborhood Association
Valley Park Civic Association
Marlborough Mesa
How To Choose The Right HOA Management Firm
Nov/08/2011 01:56 PM
Your homeowner association’s management firm acts as your community’s fiduciary, which means it must do what is in the best interest of your HOA. That could involve preparing financial statements, hiring contractors, dealing with homeowner complaints, negotiating contracts and numerous other tasks to ensure your HOA is properly maintained in all respects.
It’s a big task, so you want to be sure you’ve selected the right firm for the job. Here are four tips to help you find the right HOA management firm for your community.
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How To Collect Delinquent HOA Dues and Fees
Oct/11/2011 02:31 PM
If you own property that is managed by a homeowners association, then you know the importance of the fees that are collected from each owner.
Those association fees cover common expenses, help maintain the property and finance any amenities your property affords.
So when some owners in your association don’t pay their fair share, it affects everyone—and could have negative financial consequences such as deferred maintenance, shuttered amenities and decreased property value.
But there are ways to collect.
Read More About: How To Collect Delinquent HOA Dues And Fees
Reserve Studies-Planning and Funding...
Oct/15/2008 02:22 PM
More and more of our Neighborhood websites are being utilized by organized community associations such as HOAs and Condo Associations. A hot topic for these groups is Reserve Studies.
One of the primary duties of a community association is to maintain and preserve the market values of both the residential property and the common area property. In order to do this correctly, the Board of Directors of an association will need to do develop a funding plan for future repair, maintenance and possible replacement of common areas such as swimming pools, decks, asphalt surfaces, fencing and much more. Thus, a reserve fund will need to be created for these future expenses.
The first step in planning for the correct reserve funding is having a professional Reserve Study performed. A reserve study is essentially a "blueprint" of future funding needs. Due to the technical details involved, a community association is best served by having the reserve study performed by a professional.
Once the reserve study is created, the association will have to determine how to to create and maintain the reserve fund. Reserve funds can be funded by special assessments, monthly dues, or even loans.
Below we have highlighted a number of articles in the Neighborhood Link Resource Guide that go into the specific details of Reserve Studies and their creation and funding.
One of the primary duties of a community association is to maintain and preserve the market values of both the residential property and the common area property. In order to do this correctly, the Board of Directors of an association will need to do develop a funding plan for future repair, maintenance and possible replacement of common areas such as swimming pools, decks, asphalt surfaces, fencing and much more. Thus, a reserve fund will need to be created for these future expenses.
The first step in planning for the correct reserve funding is having a professional Reserve Study performed. A reserve study is essentially a "blueprint" of future funding needs. Due to the technical details involved, a community association is best served by having the reserve study performed by a professional.
Once the reserve study is created, the association will have to determine how to to create and maintain the reserve fund. Reserve funds can be funded by special assessments, monthly dues, or even loans.
Below we have highlighted a number of articles in the Neighborhood Link Resource Guide that go into the specific details of Reserve Studies and their creation and funding.