There are many benefits to having an association help manage your community. A homeowners association (HOA) helps to protect property values and keep the neighborhood’s common areas nice. For this to work, somebody needs to run the Association. While volunteers are the heart of the Association, professional community association management can help volunteers make the most of their time and resources.
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Services Provided by Community Association Management
Community association management providers offer many services. Your community may or may not need all of them. Here are some things you can expect from a “full service” contract.
Financial Management
Often the most obvious obstacle that community associations face is budget constraints. Most of the Association’s funds likely come from membership dues, which usually places strict limits on what the Association can and cannot do. In some cases, an association may be able to generate extra funds by levying emergency assessments or fees, but heavy reliance on this strategy can put unnecessary strain on the community.
Community association managers can help an HOA operate within its budget in two ways.
First, an association management firm can provide the board of directors with accounting expertise that would otherwise only be available if one of the board members is a CPA. A professional can help the association board find more efficient ways to manage their budget, prioritize expenses, and plan for future needs.
Second, community management firms may have more experience working closely with contractors than individual associations. Professional managers often develop relationships with landscapers or other maintenance providers and can negotiate better prices than the HOA’s directors can manage independently.
Property Management
One of an HOA’s primary responsibilities is maintaining the common areas and facilities in the community. Association managers can help a volunteer board meet this obligation. As with financial management services, a management firm can utilize existing contractor relationships to help the Association get the most out of its budget.
Professional management services often have more experience with this category of maintenance. They can help the HOA identify issues that need or will need attention. Dealing with maintenance needs before they become a bigger problem can save the Association money in the long run.
Interface with Community Membership
Serving as an intermediary between the community’s residents and its board is another service commonly included in a community association management contract. Professional managers can save the directors time and stress by handling the minutia involved with addressing resident questions and concerns.
Many community managers also provide access to a web-portal or communication hub. Tools like these make it much easier to communicate upcoming community needs or events to the residents. It also helps the board understand and address community feedback.
Experienced Consultants
Another responsibility the board of directors must address is maintaining the Association’s restrictive contracts and other governing documents.
Legal pitfalls can undermine a well-meaning board’s efforts. Local, state, and federal laws limit what a community association can and cannot do within the rules they put in place. How these laws restrict community associations are not always obvious. If the directors enact or amend a rule that violates the law, it can cause legal trouble.
Community association management providers are well-versed in the relevant laws. They can help a board of directors know what changes can be legally implemented to achieve community goals.
Management providers also have experience with different communities and their governing documents. They can help the community association understand which policies will likely work as they intend, and which will not.
Help Conducting Day-to-Day Business
One of the greatest ways an association management firm can help an association save time is by handling the daily details of a community. The following are a few examples of what a management provider can do to save the volunteer directors’ time.
- Oversee maintenance projects.
- Coordinate and prepare meetings.
- Conduct site reviews and compliance enforcement.
- Address architectural requests.
Dealing with small details like these is an unavoidable facet of running a community association. The Association’s board of directors can save a lot of time and stress by giving their community association manager guidelines for addressing these tasks and letting them handle things.
Community Association Management Helps Board Members Stay Involved
Many people find volunteering with their community association’s board of directors to be a rewarding experience. The ultimate goal of such a service is to make their community a better place to live. Under a full management contract, professional community association management providers can help volunteers improve their community and still have time to enjoy themselves.
