How To Start an HOA - Homeowners Association

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This is a Guide to Setting up a Community or Homeowners Association

It is fairly easy to form a homeowners association or HOA. Some call it a neighborhood organization or community association.

These are the steps:

You need to notify people of the intention to form the group. This can be by email, telephone, mail, or hand-delivered notices.
You need to elect officers. Typically President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Sometimes you will form committees and try to appoint every person who comes to some committee.
You need to form by-laws. It is easiest to start from by-laws already written, modify them as necessary, then present to the group. Otherwise you can get bogged down writing bylaws.
You need to establish a group meeting time and place. I recommend once a month. A public place is better if you want to increase participation. A home might be better if you want more control initially.

General Structure

Homeowners associations are formal legal entities created to maintain common areas and enforce private deed restrictions (CC&R's). Most condominium and townhome developments and some newer single-family subdivisions have homeowners associations, which are usually created when the development is built.

Features of a Homeowners Association:

Membership is mandatory for all property owners within the boundaries of the development.
Members are usually charged mandatory fees.
Homeowners associations have the legal authority to enact and enforce maintenance and design standards in addition to those established by City ordinances.
Homeowners associations are corporations with formal bylaws - there is usually a governing board which hires a property management company to handle maintenance and enforcement issues.
Many homeowners associations publish a newsletter, which is sent to members at the association's expense.

People

About a half dozen at a minimum. You will need officers, typically a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. In a bigger group, you might have a historian, a parliamentarian, a webmaster, and various membership committee chairpersons.

Covenants and By-laws

Created by the builder or developer, the community's rules and regulations take form in a document usually called the "Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions." The document spells out how the organization that governs the community (the Homeowners Association or HOA) will be created and operated, to whom the rules apply and how much each member will be assessed initially and on an ongoing basis. The document also spells out the actual rules and regulations of the community.

Meeting Places

To start out, have meetings in someone's home, but it will give power to that person unless you rotate among homes. An alternative is local churches, schools, or libraries. Restaurants are okay, especially if you want publicity, but they tend to be distracting.

Meeting Times

It is best to be regular - "The #th xxxday of every month." If you don't meet monthly, you will lose focus.

Procedures and Rules

Procedures used during HOA meetings should be made to fit the particular organization. Robert's Rules of Order suggests that the formal procedure used by larger groups like the United States Congress could actually hinder business in a homeowner association board meeting.

So, more informal procedures are encouraged. If a particular matter is important or controversial, the board can always follow more formal procedures.

Procedures in the annual meeting, however, should be more formal due to the number of members present. Unless formal rules are followed, members may believe the President is showing favoritism. Limits on debate must be observed to keep the meeting on time. Formal votes help avoid legal challenges to actions taken.

HOA Website

As your community grows, so do your responsibilities and costs for effectively handling documents, forms and important information that pertain to your residents. At Squid Internet, we make it easy for you to provide the material that you need to your association at the right price.

Providing useful information about the Association promotes compliance with rules, enhances participation in the community and fosters positive and consistent communication between the homeowners, the board members, and the committees.

In spite of the fact that the HOA website provides a wealth of reference material, an effective community website must provide owners with more than information. Convenience and interactive features are the elements that will keep residents coming back. Features such as the ability to place a service request, download an application for architectural changes, or reserve the clubhouse for a private party online are all significant conveniences for the homeowners.

HOA Fees

The funds needed to pay for the upkeep of common property are derived from fees collected from homeowners. The fees will vary depending on the amenities in the community. But they will either be spelled out in the subdivision regulations or supplied in writing from the builder or developer.

Why Do Some HOA Websites Fail?

Most homeowners association websites that fail are out-of-date and show little signs of life. They may have started out strong with high resident interest, but was neglected or forgotten over time.

Common causes are...

Inexperience - The enthusiastic neighbor willing to gather information might not have enough computer experience to create a website.
Poor Design & Layout - Previous web designer (resident or professional) designed a site that wasn’t user-friendly.
Creator Leaves - The neighborhood webmaster moves or loses interest with no one left to replace him/her.
Not Updated - Updating the website is too hard so it never changes. Therefore, neighbors loose interest and don't bother to return.
Not Useful - The website doesn't have enough features to really make an impact.