The responsibilities of a homeowner association (HOA) to manage and govern a community can become seemingly overwhelming at times. Even before the events surrounding the pandemic, which have complicated work processes, an HOA Board of Directors had a lot on their plate. They had to ensure they fulfilled all regulations while nurturing a community that people love to live in and that grows in value.
To assist with these responsibilities, many HOAs have partnered with an HOA management company. As a result, these partnerships have yielded significant benefits for the HOAs. Here are seven ways your HOA could also benefit:
1. Ease financial, administrative, and operational workloads
One of the biggest benefits of an HOA management company is their ability to take on much of the workload. These companies come with substantial resources in the form of staff who can handle invoices, collect dues, oversee vendors, impose fines, and maintain records.
Many of these tasks are extremely time-consuming, so having someone else to oversee them frees up time to focus on Board decisions and community building activities.
2. Leverage deep experience and diverse knowledge
Since HOA management companies have worked with so many different types of HOAs and dealt with a diverse set of situations and challenges, their expansive experience can help an HOA that only has their own community as context for decision-making. Their knowledge is also beneficial because they are able to interpret rules and regulations based on past experiences with similar situations to what an HOA may be experiencing. All staff are experts in areas that impact your HOA, including HR, finance and accounting, information technology, community and vendor management, and marketing.
Leveraging an HOA management company’s experiences and knowledge could help address everything from conflict in the community, to emergency repairs or questions about CC&R changes.
3. Tap into professional connections
Finding reliable contractors to do repairs or service providers to handle landscape and pool maintenance can be a job in itself – not to mention the time it then takes to manage those vendors.
Yet, this is easy to check off the HOA to-do list when you partner with an HOA community management company. They have an extensive network filled with vetted contractors and service personnel who they can trust to continually deliver exceptional work. They can suggest suitable vendors to the board of directors after assessing the work. Since these are established relationships, it’s the HOA management company that also supervises the jobs or projects as well as negotiates rates and handles contracts on behalf of the HOA.
4. Access solid legal expertise
An HOA Board position does not necessarily come with built-in knowledge and understanding about the state and local laws that impact the community. And, there is not much time to beef up that knowledge. That’s where an HOA management company can fill another need by providing updated information about pending and new legislation, including what it means for the community. They also provide advice on what to do or change with Association laws as well as decisions and actions.
For example, this type of legal advice was especially important during COVID when state and local laws, as well as mandates, seemed to change on an almost weekly basis. With so many unknowns, having a community management company on speed dial alleviated those concerns about whether a community was following the new laws.
5. Ensure consistency and rapid response
A Board of Directors is volunteering their time, which most likely means they have a regular job and personal commitments to address on top of their HOA duties. The overload often means they may not be able to provide a quick response or even be consistent in how they communicate or act.
Rather than leaving community members unhappy, an HOA management company can step in and provide this consistent communication and rapid response. It’s in their best interest to do so as they are solely focused on serving the community.
6. Continually drive process improvement
With so many tasks and situations to handle, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities and never get the time to work on process improvements. There is often no time to explore technology to make work more efficient or tools that enhance the resident experience. However, with assistance from an HOA management company, you will be able to start implementing the technology, tools, and solutions they have already tested and used such as a community website, online payment portal, and apps that promote communication and convenience.
This is a partnership that not only saves you time and money, but it also provides a way to start making changes right away that residents will appreciate.
7. Provide unbiased advice
As an external organization, the HOA management company enforces rules and policies in a way that does not favor one resident over another. They have no bias or agenda because they do not live in the community nor have they made friends with others there that could cloud their judgement during critical decisions.
Instead, an HOA community management company wants to uphold the rules and enact initiatives that make the community a great place to call home for everyone.
A Higher Standard of Conduct
Finally, HOA management companies are required to have a specialized license in many states around the country. This license ensures that they have achieved a higher level of education and training, and must adhere to ongoing testing and education requirements to maintain that level of conduct and service to their HOA clients. Make sure that the HOA management company you select has the licensing that backs up their professional pitch.
As a co-op, we believe there is strength in numbers and empower independent community management companies all across the country. If you are looking for the type of assistance mentioned in this article, feel free to get in touch with us so that we refer you to an Innovia member that can help take your community to the next level!.
