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Tips to Manage an Exceptional HOA Event
No matter what the reason, bringing residents and owners together for an event in your Texas community can be a lot of fun. To help make the planning as fun as the function itself, we’ve put together a list of simple tips. Whether you live in a high-rise condo, or a master-planned community, applying these strategies will make your event a memorable occasion for all the right reasons. -
New Ruling on Short Term Rentals in Texas May Impact Your Community
Short-term rentals continue to be a battleground for associations as well as city and state governments. Recently passed Texas state legislation concerning short-term rentals may now impact your community. If your HOA governing documents do not address rentals or minimum lease terms, then now is a good time to work with your community association management company and legal counsel to make amendments. -
Prioritizing and Managing Your Community's Property Maintenance and Improvement Needs
Handling day-to-day maintenance and making necessary improvements are critical responsibilities for any homeowners association (HOA). And when your serve on your association’s board of directors, they can quickly become overwhelming if you don’t have a good system in place to manage them. So how do you make sure that your maintenance staff is able to handle that long list of tasks that need to get done so that your community runs smoothly and retains its appeal? -
HOA Home Security Tips: Protecting Your Home from Holiday Grinches
Before you book that vacation or buy the perfect gift, here are a few holiday home security tips to keep you and your community safe. -
Quick Tips to Preparing an Annual Association Budget
The half-year mark has come and gone and we’re now staring budget preparation season in the face. With just a little preparation you can charge forward to tackle this budget with confidence. As North America’s leading association management company we are no strangers to annual budgets. In our experience the first step to successful budget planning is a little preparation. Here are a few quick tips to get you started on the right foot. -
Rebuilding Your Community After a Major Storm
As homeowners associations (HOAs) in south Texas recently discovered first hand, it doesn’t always matter what kind of preparation your community makes before a powerful hurricane strikes. The effects can still be devastating – even after the storm loses strength. Learn more about the steps your HOA board should take to expedite the recovery process and how your management company can make a difference in helping to rebuild your community. -
HOA Landscape Budget: Seven Ways to Lower Your HOA Landscaping Cost
What can you do to reduce landscaping costs and use your dollars more effectively? Fortunately, a lot! Discover seven simple ideas to help preserve the green around your grounds and in your budget. -
The Long-term Effects of Short-term Rentals, Texas on Your High-Rise Community
The fact is, money matters—and frugally stretching every dollar has become a popular trend. So it should come as no surprise that condo owners are now leveraging their homes as short-term rentals to make a little extra money. However resourceful this may be, renting out your home on a short-term basis has the potential to negatively impact property values, the quality of life for residents in your building and the overall morale of your community. Let’s talk about proactive, practical solutions to combat this rising trend before it becomes a real problem. -
Texas Supreme Court: Short-Term Rentals in Communities
Online rental businesses like Airbnb and VRBO have been actively supporting the shared economy and petitioning for standardized regulation of short-term rentals in Texas and across the US. Learn how this trend can impact your community. -
The Ups and Downs of HOA Rental Restrictions, Texas: What Every Association Should Know
Rental restrictions, like many other association policies, have their ups and downs and can be a hot topic of conversation for homeowners association (HOA) boards. While governing documents sometimes address this issue, more often the intricacies of individual communities and the specific character of residents can make this a more subjective matter. If your community is considering implementing or updating its community rental policy, here are a few things you should consider. -
Ways of Choosing a Vendor That Won't Put Your HOA at Risk
No matter what kind of vendor your HOA needs – a caterer for your onsite party, a roofer to repair post-hurricane damage or a painter to spiff up your lobby – your board should never take a casual approach to the hiring process. -
Top Five Tips for Board Member Success
After partnering with thousands of board members like you, we've identified 5 tips to help you be successful this year. -
What You Need to Know About Short-Term Rental Liability
Online access to user-friendly host platforms like Airbnb & HomeAway have contributed to skyrocketing numbers of short-term rentals. While a vast majority of rental stays are uneventful, the sheer number of travelers who use these services mean that accidental or even fatal injuries can occur. Take action to make sure that your homeowners' association is educated on insurance risks and coverage for the unexpected. -
What Your HOA Needs to Know About Community Insurance
How much do you know about community association insurance? Although your bylaws and declarations include requirements to provide community association insurance coverage, most board members don’t know as much about it as they should. -
Email Communication
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. -
Email Communication
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. -
3 Facts About Insurance Your Condo Corporation Should Know
You and your fellow board members want what’s best for your condo corporation. You’re serious about your fiduciary duty and about protecting the corporation’s interests. Misunderstanding some important facts about insurance can actually put your community may be at risk. -
4 Ways Your Board Can More Effectively Communicate Your Condo’s Budget
Creating your condominium corporation’s annual budget is one of the most important responsibilities your board has. It takes a lot of hard work and may require spending decisions that won’t be popular with unit owners. Consequently, owners may voice strong objections or even question the board’s ability to manage the corporation’s money. -
Building Security Tips for the Holiday Season
Security risks increase exponentially during the holiday seasons for high-rise buildings. Many residents travel for the holidays, move to warmer weather during the winter months, or have an influx of guests and family members in and out. These factors make it easy for intruders to make it into the building, especially if there are no procedures in place to track the many people and deliveries in and out of the building. -
Creating a Condo Flooring Policy to Address Noise Issues
When people live in close quarters, it is inevitable that they will hear sounds from neighbouring condos from time to time. Noise between units can be minimized in many ways. One of the most effective tools for a condominium board to implement is a flooring policy that guides owners when they want to replace their floor coverings. Choosing the right products makes a big difference when it comes to the transfer of noise between condominium units. -
Cyber-Security Part One: How Residents in Condo Communities Can Protect Their Tech
Like it or not, we have become very dependent on our technology. Whether it’s a cell phone, tablet or computer, our devices enable us to stay connected, conduct business and access information anywhere, anytime. Yet as convenient as these devices may be, cyber security is simply not a priority for the majority of tech users—despite the increased prevalence of cyber attacks. One recent attack even occurred in our own backyard at the University of Alberta. In part one of our two-part series, we look at why cyber security is so important to condo associations. We also provide important steps that residents in your condo community can take to protect their technology so that sensitive information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. -
Cyber Security Part Two: Board Member Tips for Keeping Your Condo Association Safe
In part one of this two-part series, we discussed the importance of cyber security to your condo association and the steps that residents can take to protect themselves and their association. In this article, we look at your board’s responsibility in preventing cyber attacks. -
Does Your Condo Corporation Have A Plan For Fostering A Sense Of Community?
Humans are social creatures. Since the dawn of time, we’ve had a deep-seated yearning for connection and community. This is particularly evident in a condo corporation, where a strong sense of community can be the difference between long-standing residency and high turnover. -
Eleven Tips to Improve the Security of your Home
Don’t make it easy for criminals to get into your home. These 11 common sense tips will help homeowners improve the security of their property and make it safer for their families.