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  • 5 Surprising Reasons to Raise Your HOA Assessments

    If your main concern is to avoid increasing assessments, you may want to reconsider. As a board member, one of your primary fiduciary responsibilities is to protect property values, and assessments are an investment that helps do just that.
  • Post-Crisis HOA Cash Management: 3 Tips for Your Association

    How do you manage collections and HOA funds after a crisis? Get 3 tips to help you plan for the future
  • Reserve Funds, Assessment, or Loan: 3 Ways to Pay for a Capital Improvement Fee

    Great capital improvements lead to better property values. Read on to see the three ways to pay for them and the pros and cons for each.
  • The Facts about Synthetic Turf

    Considering synthetic turf for your community common areas? Understanding the facts on what it's made of, benefits and disadvantages, and how it will affect children or pets will make all the difference when determining if synthetic turf is the right choice for your community!
  • Smart Financial Planning

    Safeguarding a strata corporation’s operating and reserve funds is one of the main fiduciary duties of all board members, not just the treasurer. This means strata councils must protect the financial interests of the strata corporation and its members.
  • Reserve Funds, Assessment or Loan: 3 Ways to Pay for Capital Improvements

    Strategic capital improvements lead to better property values. Read on to see the three ways to pay for them and their pros and cons.
  • Contractor Tips: How to get the best from your contractor

    When you hire a contractor, it could either be the best decision you ever made, or the worst. The stakes are high; a good contractor will execute your vision on time and on budget, whereas a not-so-good one will be the source of bad workmanship, unexpected delays, inconvenience and a whole lot of headaches.
  • HOA bidding procedures: Simplification tips

    Picture this: your homeowners association has a big job that needs to be done, so you’ve got to find a qualified contractor to do it. How do you manage your vendor selection process to make sure you find the best one to fill your needs?
  • FirstService Residential Keeps Energy Costs on a Tight Leash During Dog Days of Summer

    High summer temperatures bring high electric bills – especially this summer, as heat waves and soaring temperatures continue to blaze across the U.S. and Canada. But FirstService Residential’s innovative FS Energy program is keeping residents cool, curbing electric bills and lowering energy emissions and usage – and it saved $1.5 million in energy costs for NYC residents last summer. Now, the program is rolling out to multifamily buildings in Chicago and Miami.
  • Five reasons to use quality HOA vendors

    When you have a large-scale project slated for your community, it’s tempting to select a vendor based on price. After all, what’s more important than saving your association money?
  • What is vendor management? Communication, tips, and processes

    Vendor management is a large part of serving on the board of a managed community. Every community has outside partners for services like landscaping, sanitation, cable and Internet provision, pool maintenance, valet services and more. Open and effective communication among the board, the management company and the vendors employed by the association is an important part of making the most of any community’s operating budget and improving the lifestyles of its residents.
  • What to consider when hiring property management vendors

    Your Board of Directors oversees the many day-to-day tasks required to operate and maintain your community…but they can’t do it alone. Your property management team will be expected to hire a wide array of vendors, including painters, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, repairmen for equipment maintenance or emergencies, exterminators, and more.
  • Four ways to fund an HOA capital improvement project

    Living in a residential community means around-the-clock routine maintenance to preserve the community and its assets. But there comes a time when one of your assets will reach the end of its useful life and require a replacement or significant repairs.
  • Six summer energy conservation tips

    Summer’s longer days mean more time to enjoy warm weather and sunshine, but they also mean higher energy bills. There is a bright side, however: by implementing an energy management program within your community, you can help keep costs down without sacrificing comfort.
  • Keeping HOA and Condo Common Areas Clean During the Coronavirus Pandemic

    During these unprecedented times, residents are spending the majority of their time at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect themselves and their loved ones from infection. One of their primary contact points with the outside world is in your HOA or condo common areas, where they can be at risk of contact with lingering coronavirus or even spread existing virus to other areas of the property. Read on for a comprehensive list of places to clean and how to clean them.
  • Capital improvements vs repairs and maintenance: What’s the difference?

    Maintaining your buildings’ assets is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. The common areas require a broad range of routine maintenance and repairs to keep them looking good and operating smoothly.
  • Preventing Fires: Fire safety in your community association

    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.
  • Hiring a reserve study company: Five things to know

    In our guide to capital improvements , reserve studies and their relationship to capital improvements and preventive maintenance were discussed at length.
  • Handling vendor contract disputes and conflicts: A step-by-step guide

    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.
  • Updating Your Community Emergency Preparedness Plan for Pandemics

    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.
  • HOA Vendors: Vendor management tips for great results

    Here are some tips to manage your HOA vendors more effectively & and get the results you're looking for.
  • Why association boards chose FirstService Residential

    Finding a property management company to partner with your board isn’t easy. Find out how we can help you.
  • 15 Things You’ll Want to Do Before Selecting an Insurance Agent

    Insurance is one of the most important line items on your association's budget, but it is oftentimes the most expensive. Do you know how to select the right agent?
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