Category - HOA Website

Almost every homeowner association website will stress that a community can only thrive when the HOA board and members collaborate on projects.  Yet, a divide seems to exist between these two entities in many communities.  Often, this separation prevents them from working for the common good of everyone.  Though there are a variety of causes for this, identifying and resolving them is usually the only way to make progress.

 

Typically, this is the starting point.  HOA board members and homeowners rarely work together in some communities because neither side makes much of an effort to reach out.  Obviously, HOA board members have a duty to put channels of communication in place.
But homeowners also have a responsibility to use these channels once they have been implemented.  Otherwise, the HOA board and homeowners will struggle to see any real progress beyond using the homeowner association website.

 

Open lines of communication aren’t necessarily required to bring board members and residents together.  If HOA board members and homeowners are divided, it might be because the residents don’t participate when it comes to making decisions in their community.  An effective HOA board must listen to the issues that members of the community raise and try to act upon them.

 

The idea of open communication channels and friendly dialog between HOA board members and homeowners assumes that the board members are active in the community.  In some HOA’s, board members only do what’s required of them.  They take no interest in challenging matters of the community and other issues that homeowners raise.

Overbearing board members can be extremely difficult to deal with because they pay no attention to the voices of homeowners.  This sort of approach doesn’t just separate HOA board members and homeowners, it creates feelings of hostility.  The relationship between board members and homeowners is delicate and it requires a lot of work.  Otherwise, any progress may be lost and the community will suffer.

Almost every volunteer that makes up the board of any homeowners association will tell you their job is a difficult one.  Often, people fail to understand the role these individuals are supposed to play.  The messages that residents leave on the community website prove as much.  There’s a negative perception about HOA boards that probably stems from all the time they spend enforcing rules.

A majority of homeowners don’t like being told what to do or where they can’t go.  But, the HOA board plays a far greater role than most residents realize and your community would deteriorate rapidly without their direct involvement.

 

The HOA board is responsible for managing the assets in your community.  They must replace worn out items and initiate repairs when the need arises.  Such undertakings require money and this is where the board enters the picture.  Board members are responsible for keeping the HOA solvent by collecting necessary funds from the community.  An HOA board is also expected to manage the association’s finances to ensure that contributions made by residents don’t get wasted.

 

As a resident, no one expects you to keep the community pool clean or to fix the road in front of your house.  The HOA is responsible for maintaining the quality of life in your community.  However, they don’t do this by merely collecting HOA fees from residents but by managing every asset of the community.
Each time you reach out to the board on the community website to fix an area of the association or to settle a dispute, the board takes action by hiring attorneys and locating contractors to resolve the challenges.  You can trust board members to do this work to the best of their ability because they are also members of the community.  As a result, any steps they take to improve the lives of residents will benefit them as well.