A lovely home with an attractive yard has been a highly regarded lifestyle for many decades. This view of the “American Dream” makes it easy to see why homeowners’ associations have become so popular. A successful HOA requires an investment of time and money from the people living in the community. Professional community association management can help homeowners get the best return on that investment.
3 Things Community Association Management Can Do for a Single-Family Housing Community
Many people find the benefits provided by an HOA appealing, but someone needs to manage it. Serving on the board of directors for a homeowners’ association can be a frustrating demand on the volunteer’s time. A community management service can help ease the burden of these responsibilities in many ways. Here are three examples:
Maintain Common and Natural Spaces
Well-maintained common areas and green spaces are advantages of living in a community governed by an HOA. Not every community has parks, swimming pools, or other amenities, but common areas and paths still require maintenance.
Keeping up with the maintenance of these areas provides two benefits for the community. First, keeping these areas nice contributes to the community’s overall appeal. An appealing community benefits the value of the homes within it. Second, well-maintained common areas contribute to the residents’ peace of mind; poorly maintained common areas can leave residents wondering if their HOA is using its resources wisely.
A community association management firm can help an HOA Board of Directors with this aspect of their duties. Management firms can provide financial services to support the directors. They can also prepare a budget for landscaping and other maintenance expenses. Careful planning is the best way to make sure that the HOA has the money it needs to accomplish its goals.
Preparing the budget is only the first step. Association management services can also help the HOA save money in two ways: First, they can work with the HOA directors to design attractive but low-maintenance landscaping for common areas. Second, they can help the board of directors find landscaping service providers.
Facilitate Alteration Request Processing
The houses in the community will eventually need exterior renovation. Whether adding a new deck or repairing the facade, external changes to the property need to be submitted to the HOA as an alteration request.
The HOA’s founding documents and board of directors maintain architectural controls on the community. These controls outline the acceptable materials, color palettes, and other elements of a home’s exterior. The constraints imposed by architectural controls protect the value of both that home and neighboring homes. These constraints verify that the houses contribute to a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing environment.
Before work can begin on the planned renovations, a homeowner’s alteration request needs to be reviewed for compliance with established architectural controls. Once the HOA’s Architectural Controls Committee is satisfied that the request will contribute to the community’s overall appearance, they will approve the request, and work can begin.
This process can be time-consuming and frustrating for the homeowner requesting changes and the committee reviewing the plans. Community association management services can provide tools and services that make submitting, reviewing, and approving alteration requests much more straightforward for a volunteer committee of people with other demands on their time.
Manage Compliance Violation Measures
Just as the HOA is responsible for maintaining the community’s common areas, the homeowners are responsible for maintaining their own houses and yards. These are equally influential to the community’s overall appeal and value as any parks, paths, or amenities. For this reason, homeowners’ associations are empowered to take measures to enforce these standards.
Whether a homeowner has ignored the architectural controls and the alteration request process or allowed their yard to grow unkempt, the HOA’s directors must take steps to correct the situation. The HOA’s founding documents outline the specific measures that the directors need to take. Still, even simple measures can be unpleasant to employ against someone the board members know personally.
A community association management service can relieve some of this stress. The management service can provide neutral, third-party assistance to directors who need to address a situation with one of their neighbors. This can help keep a minor compliance violation from becoming a personal conflict between residents. They can also provide tools and services for appealing and resolving compliance violations efficiently. The HOA’s responsibility to the homeowners and the community is central to the appeal of living in many housing developments. Working with a community association management provider helps the HOA’s directors and residents get the most out of the time and money they invest in their community.
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