Strategies for Successful HOA Management

1/6/2025 (Permalink)

HOA House Group

Strategies for Successful HOA Management

Running a homeowners association successfully takes the right amount of grit and hospitality. While you want to maintain a well-organized, productive ship, you don't want management to come across as authoritarian. There's also the concern that residents simply won't engage. Many people assume that the purpose of HOA board members is simply collecting dues and enforcing rules. In reality, community management is the true core task of HOA leaders. You are creating an enjoyable, safe place where residents feel like they are getting their money's worth. Do you want an active, engaged, and accountable HOA? Start implementing these strategies for successful HOA management.

1. Get Everyone on the Same Page With Effective Communication

Nobody wants to feel like they're out of the loop. Unfortunately, poor communication within an HOA can lead to distrust and rumors. People can get offended and defensive when they feel like they aren't "in the know." You can solve this by creating clear channels for communication.

Create a communications standard when relaying critical information about governing documents, policies, procedures, rules, or key dates and deadlines on the HOA's calendar. Achieving this might require you to invest in a software platform that allows for posting, sharing calendars, and direct messaging. You can also develop your system using simple and free technology tools from Microsoft or Google. In addition, resident-facing communication should include a mix of monthly newsletters, routine email updates, a website with a login portal, and social media pages. Creating a strong sense of community where all residents feel seen, heard, and kept in the loop is one of the best ways to improve tenant retention for the long-term vitality and financial viability of an HOA.

2. Don't Leave the Legalities to Guesswork

Some HOA managers are far too relaxed when it comes to compliance issues. They end up in hot water because they don't take time to bring in the right people to advise them on regulatory compliance. Be proactive with compliance to avoid controversies that impact the entire HOA's reputation. What does this look like? As you know, HOAs must comply with a number of environmental, housing, and zoning rules. It's important to build relationships with regulatory authorities in order to stay abreast of new developments with local, state, and federal laws and regulations that impact your HOA. Additionally, it's crucial to consult with local legal experts specializing in HOAs to ensure that you're properly interpreting your obligations. It's far easier to stay current with compliance rules than it is to try to catch up!

3. Be Serious About the HOA's Reserve Fund

For residents, HOA fees represent a sizable investment in their quality of living each year. That's why responsible financial management is one of the core responsibilities of an HOA's leadership team. An HOA's financial health is summed by its reserve fund. As you know, HOA reserve funds are funds that are set aside for large projects or emergency responses. Most HOAs cut it close with these funds because this is an "easy" category to ignore. As a result, they are forced to levy special assessments on HOA members when urgent or major repairs are needed. This is demoralizing for residents. It can also make them distrust HOA leadership. By taking the slow and steady approach of building up the HOA reserve account, HOA leadership can demonstrate to members that they are being good stewards of their money.

4. Add Better Signage

Are you constantly dealing with squabbles about residents or visitors violating rules? Consider the fact that the rules aren't clear enough. When it comes to clarifying rules in outdoor spaces and common areas, visual communication is key. Think about adding more signs regarding parking restrictions, pet policies, smoking policies, and more. If your community has a pool, hot tub, or outdoor court area, be sure to add signs with clear rules regarding who can use the facilities, hours of operation, and behavior policies. These signs remove ambiguity. They can also help to cut down on the number of questions and disagreements that end up on your doorstep as an HOA manager.

5. Don't Be Afraid to Use Professionals

One of the strategies for successful HOA management is simply understanding when the HOA team is biting off more than it can chew. Many HOAs around the country now use professional management services. Property management companies bring "corporate" capabilities for things like technology, payment processing, and legal oversight to HOAs of all sizes. In most cases, services can be scaled based on the needs of an HOA management team. You may only want to pay a company to handle background work tied to payment collection and processing. If your HOA management team is short on both time and people, you might want a full-service company that offers marketing services, legal services, and financial services. Full-service companies often provide proprietary software for operating your HOA's website and member communication portal.

6. Create a Foolproof System for Collecting Dues

When members don't pay dues on time, HOA boards get backed into corners. Dues are crucial for covering monthly payments for utilities, maintenance, community events, management fees, and overall operating expenses. HOA leadership never wants to make residents feel like they're being pestered for payment. However, they must be firm about payment deadlines. Here are some ways to boost on-time complete HOA payments every month:

1. Send out friendly reminders as payment due dates approach.
2. Create an online payment portal for easy payments.
3. Add reminders about payment deadlines to all newsletters.
4. If you're doing a special collection for a major renovation or upgrade, share the deadline for payment as far in advance as possible. Some residents may need to budget for a few months in order to come up with the unexpected lump sum.
5. Offer convenient payment options. By expanding options to include checks, cards, and digital payment options, you give residents the ability to pay using the method that allows them to transfer funds in the fastest way possible. Consider also setting up a system for monthly recurring payments using credit cards.
6. Provide a grace period for delayed payments.
7. Offer temporary payment plans for homeowners who are struggling with financial hardship.

Of course, residents must be gently reminded of the consequences of failing to pay HOA fees on time. Send reminders of the escalating consequences of failure to pay. While offering a small grace period can help to maintain positive relations between management and residents, it must be made clear that ongoing failure to pay will result in fines that can eventually end with legal action.

Good HOA Management Starts With Creating a Good Place to Live

HOA leadership has a million details to deal with on a monthly basis! Fortunately, the right steps can ensure things run smoothly at your HOA. Of course, even the best management plans will be futile if you're not creating a safe, attractive environment that residents are proud to call home. If units or common areas in your HOA are showing signs of mold infestation, remediating the issue takes priority over everything else.

The best strategies for successful HOA management always include the best vendors. If you're nervous about mold in the community you manage, let your local SERVPRO® team help you get the problem handled. Offering 30 years of experience locally, SERVPRO has mold specialists standing by to help you create a clean, safe environment. Reach out today!

Innovative Property Maintenance Staff Hiring Strategies

5/29/2024 (Permalink)

Hiring Maintenance Staff

In the world of property management, having the most beautiful and desirable properties means nothing if you don’t have professional staff to maintain those properties. When it comes to maintaining your own personal property, you can let maintenance issues slide if you want, but commercial properties are different.

When someone is paying to rent or lease a piece of commercial real estate, your job as a property manager is to ensure your organization meets its contractual obligations. This usually means maintaining properties for safety, security, and function. Failure to maintain managed properties can result in accidents, injuries, lawsuits, and a host of other problems.

Finding the Right Team Members Can Be Difficult

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find property maintenance workers. This may be due to a lack of skilled workers in your area or a lack of time to search nearby candidates thoroughly. Whatever the reason for your difficulty in finding property maintenance workers, the good news is that there are innovative strategies you can try that are more effective than simply placing an ad in the newspaper.

If you’re having a hard time getting the right maintenance service professionals onboard at your commercial properties, below are some strategies to consider:

Use Dedicated Job Boards

Online job boards can be effective when you need to hire someone to fill a general position, but the role of someone who works for a property management company is often demanding and specific. Maintenance professionals will need to have a keen eye for detail and have the ability to work alone. Additionally, these jobs typically require maintenance staff members to possess customer service skills since they often interact with tenants at commercial properties.

Consider looking for industry-specific job boards instead of posting job openings on a general job board. General job boards attract applicants across various industries, so they may not target professionals with the skills your role demands. A job board dedicated to commercial property maintenance professionals or professionals in a complementary field may yield better and faster results than a general job board. Also, the caliber of applicants calling your office may be higher when you post to job boards dedicated to property management and maintenance.

Check Out Social Media and User-Generated Content Sites

Remember that job boards also exist outside of dedicated hiring and career sites. Some social media platforms host job boards, and you might also find job boards on user-generated content sites like Reddit. These options, in particular, can help you to drill down on the specific audiences you want to target. This approach may yield more effective results since you can advertise available maintenance positions to people in communities that are already interested in commercial property maintenance issues.

Consider Part-Time Positions

Maintenance work keeps tenants happy at rental properties, but there are usually only so many full-time positions within your budget. If your full-time maintenance staff cannot handle everything in a day, you may need to consider hiring a maintenance technician on a part-time basis to fill in the gaps.

This can be advantageous in cases where you have one-off repairs that need to be completed but not enough work to keep a full-time employee busy. For example, if your property has suffered damage from a fire, restoration will be needed, but this will usually only require temporary help.

Fire damage restoration may be a job best left to a contractor or third-party company specializing in disaster recovery and cleanup. Still, your part-time workers can be directed to help as well. This keeps you from hiring a full-time maintenance worker who may need to be laid off after completing the project.

Why Hiring a Contractor May Make More Sense

Working with a contractor can also benefit when your staff lacks the adequate equipment or training to handle one-off situations. Investing in novel equipment or specialized training may not be worth it unless you deal with a maintenance issue regularly. Instead, bringing in a contractor for temporary work may make more financial sense and keep you from hiring mistakes.

Audit Your Existing Workforce Before Hiring

In some cases, it’s better to conduct an audit of your existing staff before beginning your search for property maintenance workers. It can be easy to think that hiring is the right move when you’re feeling overwhelmed with work orders, but an audit may reveal that all you need to do is manage your existing staff more efficiently.

For instance, if you have three general maintenance professionals on-site during the day but only one at night, the worker on the night shift may fall behind when work gets heavy. By conducting an audit to examine what workloads look like at various times of the day in different areas of a commercial property, you might find some room to move people around.

Shifting Staff May Buy You Some Time

If less work is required during the day and two workers will be sufficient, consider moving one of your daytime workers to the night shift. This balances out your labor and can buy you time to find property maintenance workers. You may discover you don’t need to hire anyone because your new scheduling and management system has smoothed out any kinks in your commercial property maintenance plan.

SERVPRO of Arcadia Helps Property Managers in Times of Need

If you’ve found it difficult to find the right team members to help with cleanup after a fire or other disaster, SERVPRO® restoration is the answer. Our Arcadia restoration specialists serve as an extension of your team to put the pieces back together. Contact us today to discuss how we can help at your managed property.