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Is your community prepared to weather a storm? June 1st marks the beginning of the 2016 hurricane season running through November 30th. The National Weather Service reports that, of an average of 12 tropical storms that form over the Atlantic Ocean each year, six become hurricanes. In the Central Pacific, an average of three tropical storms form, with two escalating to full-blown hurricane status. Figures like these make hurricanes a very real threat for many communities and homeowners. In fact, 2016 promises to be anything but your average year. Let’s take a look at why you may want to approach this year in a way that’s as unique as the weather conditions themselves.

Part of your job as a board member is ensuring the safety of residents in your community association. To that end, it’s important to educate homeowners about possible fire risks and the steps they can take to prevent fire hazards in their homes. Chances are that fire safety isn’t top of mind for residents. However, home fires are more common than most people realize.

You’ve been there before. You meet with a vendor, they seem like a great choice, and then after a month or so, you find yourself in a dispute.

For most of us, storm season means prepping our residences to mitigate potential damage caused by high winds and heavy rains. But there’s a part of our homes and neighborhoods we often overlook – sometimes with disastrous results. That often-forgotten place is right outside your front door: it’s your landscaping.

Summer is a great time to hit the road! Travelers will be taking advantage of the warm weather to go to beaches, campsites, on cruises and more. Learn how to protect your home and preserve your peace of mind while you're away.

Enhance your community by putting more play in your community - learn more about how to put a park or playground in your neighborhood.

Community members join committees because they want to make a difference. That’s great, but sometimes, as they say, life gets in the way. Let’s not forget that committee members are all volunteers, which means it might take something a little extra to keep them motivated.

Learn how community members are making a difference in their communities with socially distant celebrations during COVID-19 spring holidays.

Neighborhood Watch programs can provide significant benefits to communities – after all, they boost community awareness, communication and involvement, while reducing opportunities for neighborhood crimes to occur. But if you’re interested in getting started, there are many important factors to consider. Here’s an overview.

All homeowner and community associations are different from one another, as they are comprised of a collaborative group of board members. Just as associations differ so do the special committees that fall under the association. You can have as many different types of experiences with committees as there are kinds of committees themselves.

Community committees are a great way to involve more residents in the activities of their homeowner association, help ensure the rules and regulations of the association are followed, and help lighten the workload of volunteer board members. Some common committees include beautification, architectural, landscaping and grievance committee. At their best, committees are finely tuned engines for getting things done in your community. When there is a breakdown or discord, they’re agents of confusion, wreaking havoc on progress and operating as the figurative wrecking balls for a few overbearing committee members.

Whether you’re on the board of a single-family homeowners association (HOA) or a high-rise condo association, your community depends on volunteers to operate successfully. However, finding residents who are willing to be on your board of directors, join a committee or help at an event can be challenging.

Tornadoes are fearsome because of their unpredictable nature. Although there are certain weather conditions that make tornadoes more likely, such as severe summer thunderstorms, tornadoes can also be created by snowstorms and blizzards. They can strike at any time of year and almost any place, even forming on the water and moving onto land.

In the past, when planning for emergencies, a global pandemic was likely not on your list. While most board members did not anticipate a pandemic as something that needed a plan before COVID-19, it's now clear that communities need to develop a plan to address this and any future pandemics. Read on to learn how to build a community emergency preparedness plan with a possible resurgence of coronavirus and other potential pandemics in mind.

Here are some tips to manage your HOA vendors more effectively & and get the results you're looking for.

Chances are, you joined the board at your HOA or condo because you’re extremely passionate about the community and want to improve the experience of the other residents within it. Part of adding value to residents in your community is offering classes and programs for them to participate in to get to know their neighbors and offer opportunities for them to stay happy and healthy. Read on to find some suggestions for great virtual programs for communities like yours.

Community spirit: that intangible thing that binds associations together. But building it happens in very tangible ways. Best of all, it’s not as daunting as you might think. A tightly knit community can be created by having your association follow just a few simple steps. Let’s go over some of those ideas right here.

Finding a property management company to partner with your board isn’t easy. Find out how we can help you.

Every year about the same time, your community association board is most likely creating its budget for the following year. Learn about seven commonly neglected items in community association budgets that you may be missing.

Public Mass shootings have unfortunately become common place in America and around the world. From schools and movie theaters, to businesses and homes, shootings have occurred in a mix of environments. But what should you do if you unexpectedly find yourself in the middle of this kind of emergency at your residential building?

2016 saw the United States swamped in a record year of flooding, the most since record keeping began in 1980. Devastating flooding swept Louisiana, West Virginia, Texas and Maryland, costing billions in damage. In Canada, about half of all natural disaster costs are incurred from flooding, reaching into the billions of dollars in recent years.

Your community or condominium association is there to protect the interests of all of its members. However, there may be situations when one or more residents don’t believe that the association is on their side. Hopefully, everyone involved can come to a reasonable solution, but if you can’t, it’s possible that your association – and even your board members – could become the target of a lawsuit.

Whether you live in a high-rise condominium in Chicago, a homeowners association (HOA) in Houston or an active adult community in Las Vegas, emergencies can happen. Do you think your residents would know where to go or whom to contact in an emergency situation? Does your onsite staff know what to do to protect residents and the community’s property in the event of a major storm like a hurricane, tornado or severe blizzard? How well would they handle a flood, a fire or a violent outbreak?

You may be unaware that you are opening up all of your emails to scrutiny. When using a personal or work email address to conduct association business, there is a potential liability involved.