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FirstService Residential is Growing and Hiring; Positions Include Property Managers, #2 Happiest Job
Are you happy at your current job? -
Five Tips for Effectively Marketing Your Association
Are there vacancies in your community? Empty homes can decrease the curb appeal of your community, lead to compliance issues and have a negative impact on your association's feeling of community. -
Vendor Communication Best Practices: The Do’s and Don’ts
Open and effective communication among the board, management company and vendors is an important part of any community's operating budget and for improving residents' lifestyles. -
How Your Property Management Company Can Help Your Community Prepare for Tornadoes
Tornadoes are fearsome because of their unpredictable nature. They can strike at any time of year and almost any place. Here's how to stay prepared! -
How Can Our Association Board Avoid Common Mistakes?
It takes dedication to your community to want to run for the board of your association. Common mistakes that board members make can be addressed quickly and avoided! -
How to Be an Effective Association Board Secretary
Every board of directors needs a great secretary and is required, by law to maintain certain records. The secretary is responsible for maintaining those accurately, including meeting minutes, bylaws and membership records. -
How to Enhance Your Residential Building Entrance Lobby Design
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. What about the lobby of your building? Here are tips on optimizing your residential building entrance lobby design. -
Nine Ways to Build Community Spirit
Community spirit is not something that just happens; it requires an association where residents contribute and enhance the living experience of their neighbors. -
Using Mediation and Arbitration to Resolve Conflict in Your Community
Disputes may arise in your homeowners or condo association. Often times, the parties involved can settle their differences directly with each other, through honest and open communication -
Want to Make Your Community Smoke-Free? Four Tips to Help
The dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke have been highlighted in recent years. Smoking also affects our physical environment by increasing risks of fire and property damage, raising insurance rates and increasing legal liability. -
How to Communicate: What Your Board Should Know and Do
You want your community association to be successful. Do you think about effective board communication as an ingredient in your recipe for success? -
6 Ways HOAs Partner with Management Companies
The distinct roles of the board and manager can shed some light on the ways the board can develop an effective partnership. -
Communicating Your Association Budget
Budgeting is the time for making tough decisions for how your association spends its money, and sometimes those decisions can, unfortunately, lead to contention. Clear communication about the association budget should be provided to all homeowners throughout the year to help solve problems before they begin and smoothly pave the way for needed changes. -
Creating Condo and HOA Policies That Make Sense
It’s a common problem that many condo and homeowners’ associations (HOAs) face: rules that simply don’t work as they were intended. Sometimes it’s because they are enforced inconsistently or aren’t enforced at all. Other times it’s because they go too far. At their worst, poorly instituted HOA policies can even cause neighborhood discord. -
Does Your Association Have A Plan For Fostering A Sense Of Community?
Humans are social creatures with a deep-seated yearning for connection and community. This is particularly evident in a condo association or HOA, where a strong sense of community can be the difference between long-standing residency and high turnover. -
Five Steps to Running More Effective HOA Board Meetings
One of the most challenging aspects of being on the board of your homeowners association (HOA) can be running board meetings. It’s not always easy to keep everyone tuned into the business at hand. In addition, you have to manage the inevitable disagreements among board members. How do you keep these meetings running smoothly? -
Four ways to set decoration policies for your community association without being a grinch
The holiday season is upon us, and nothing puts you in a festive spirit like pulling your holiday decorations out of storage. Many people derive a sense of community and comfort from seeing familiar decorations at the same time each year. -
How to Communicate so Residents Listen
Are residents in your community always aware of upcoming events, construction projects and board meetings? Do they understand their responsibilities and the policies they need to comply with? -
How to Communicate: What Your Board Should Know and Do
You want your community association to be successful. All board members do. You know that means watching the finances carefully and maintaining the property. But do you think about effective board communication as an ingredient in your recipe for success? It is! -
How to Improve Communication in Your Association
As a homeowner, you can do your part to make communication in your community association better. Find out how. -
Planning Your High-Rise Maintenance and Capital Improvements
Your association should never have to rely on a special assessment for a capital expense that could have been foreseen – or even prevented. Here are five tips to keep your Chicago high-rise condominium association's budget in the black and keep up with maintenance and capital improvements. -
The Six Secrets to Building Your HOA’s Volunteer Pool
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. -
Great Service: Does Your Property Manager Have What It Takes?
Not all property managers have what they need to give you great service. Learn what it takes to be a great property manager. -
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.