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  • HOA board vs management company: 6 ways to work together

    Homeowner and condo association board members know that their collective actions yield lots of great results. Just take a look at the minutes from your last couple of meetings and you’ll see all the evidence you need.
  • Understanding the duties during property management staffing changes

    Sooner or later, most community associations face some kind of management change. If your community has a great manager, you probably want them to stay forever. But how realistic is that?
  • Ways to Provide Reasonable Accommodation by Creating a Fair Living Space

    Are you familiar with the term “fair living space”? If you’re not, you should be – it can have a profound effect on your community, your association and your residents. A fair living space involves providing an environment in which people with disabilities enjoy the necessary accommodations in their homes and community amenities. It’s really all about access, and something the law calls “reasonable accommodation,” which means “a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice or service.” While the law may require you to make some accommodations, there are other things your association may be able to do which can further enhance the lifestyle of those who reside in your homeowners association. While it will directly and positively impacts the quality of life for those residents with challenges and disabilities, it will also positively impact the overall image of your community.
  • Seven Ways the ACA Can Impact Your Association

    Read about the Affordable Care Act (or ACA) and the ACA will have on the association and its vendors/service providers.
  • Six organization tips for HOA paperwork

    Let’s face it: nobody puts “organizing paperwork” at the top of his or her favorite-things-to-do list. But maintaining good records is essential to the critical functions of your homeowner association (HOA), and following a system of organization can streamline your operations by increasing efficiency, providing transparency and preserving a history of communication.
  • Six Stats That Should Make Homeowner Association Board Members Proud

    As a board member, you can measure your success in a lot of different ways. The projects you’ve completed, the financials you’ve strengthened, the long-term plans you’ve put in place – all of these are clear indicators that you’ve done your job, and you’ve done it well.
  • Six Things to Know About the Millennial Housing Boom

    Millennials (also called “Generation Y”) are making a big impact on communities. Comprising the youngest adult population in America (think people born between about 1980 and 1995), these individuals now constitute 31% of all new home and condo sales, according to the National Association of Realtor’s Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study 2014. Here’s a breakdown that puts it all into perspective:
  • Six benefits of hiring a property management company

    Maybe you're self-managing your community. And maybe things are going just fine. But maybe they could be better...and just maybe, that could happen through full-service property management.
  • Talking the talk: Communication between your community and property management company

    The relationship between a community and its property management company is like most relationships in your life: its success hinges on communication.
  • The Four Myths of Reasonable Accommodation vs Modification

    You've heard the terms reasonable accommodation and reasonable modification before. But do you know the specific definitions of the terms and how they apply to your association?
  • Understanding and improving HOA governance

    What does the future hold? Unfortunately, not the jet packs and flying cars we all thought we’d have, but there are important changes in practice and perspective in store for community association governance. To get at the heart of these upcoming changes and trends, Common Ground , an official publication of Community Associations Institute (CAI), brought 50 experts, members and stakeholders together to paint a picture of the future. The results from this panel have been published in the March/April 2016 edition of this publication. We’ve summarized the high points for you in this article, and we’ve added some insight from FirstService Residential, too.
  • The truth behind HOA rental restrictions

    Owning a home within a homeowner's association (HOA) comes with the advantage of having a supportive association that takes care of maintaining common areas and promoting a sense of order within the community.
  • Tips for selecting a landscaping partner for your community

    The best property management companies agree that meticulously groomed landscaping is vital to enhance your property’s curb appeal. Industry research shows that investing in green spaces is among the top five property improvements that increase ROI return on investment for homeowners, communities and homeowner associations. It is clear that selecting the proper landscaping company is of the utmost importance, but how do you determine which company is right for your community?
  • Tips for creating a no-smoking policy in your apartment or high-rise building

    The dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke are well known, and tobacco use is now the leading cause of disease and preventable death in the United States. But smoking doesn’t just impact our personal health – it also affects the buildings we live in, potentially increasing the risks of fire and property damage, raising insurance costs, increasing legal liability and more. In addition, property management companies, condominium associations and property owners often field complaints from homeowners about how smoking doesn’t just affect their health and safety, but also their lifestyle – issues like secondhand smoke drifting into their units, increased litter and fire hazards from discarded cigarette butts, smelly and unsightly ashtrays ruining the aesthetics of common areas, and more.
  • Self-managed HOAs: Switching to a management company

    How can I get the best service for my property? That’s a question community associations wrestle with regularly. Some self-managed community associations believe they can’t afford to hire a professional property management company to manage and maintain their community’s operations, assets, finances, common areas and other day-to-day activities.
  • HOA transition checklist: Changing property management companies

    In this article, we will explore the key aspects of transitioning to a new property management company and discuss the best ways that the chosen company can support your community throughout the process.
  • What do HOA Board Members Really Want? 7 Top Service Issues

    Whether you're on the board of a high-rise or community association. you want to hire a property management company that will provide the best service for their community. What does that really mean?
  • 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.
  • Community Landscapes: A guide to planning community landscaping

    Beautiful landscaping is integral to any community. The right community landscaping can enhance your property values and make the area more enticing to prospective homebuyers and residents. Whether you’re investing for the first time or revamping your community landscaping, here are four considerations to keep in mind when choosing what to plant, when to plant and how to maintain what you’ve planted.
  • Master association management – one company or several?

    If you live in a master-planned community, you are a member of its master association. As the umbrella association for the community as a whole, the master association maintains common areas such as community roads, entrances, and amenities.
  • Should you partner with a property management company? Understanding the benefits

    Hiring a professional property management company for your homeowners’ association is the best way to increase property values and enhance the lifestyles of residents within your community. However, finding the management company that best fits your association’s needs can be a challenge. Should you be looking to partner with a company that has extensive resources drawing from a national presence? Or should you work with a smaller company?
  • What are property management certifications?

    When a property manager presents you with their business card, you might have observed a series of acronyms following their name. These abbreviations, such as CAM, PCAM, CMCA, and others, represent property manager certifications obtained, indicating their level of education and expertise in the field.
  • Changing HOA management companies: A team approach

    Even in the best of times, transitioning from one property management company to another is a work-intensive and stressful process. Things can go bad quickly if the transition is carried out without the necessary resources and strict attention to detail. To avoid potentially serious financial missteps during a management transition, homeowners associations (HOAs) should consider bringing aboard a management company that provides a team of experts to guide the process.
  • The importance of your front desk staff and building reception

    Your front desk staff is the “face” of your building – the first point of contact for homeowners and guests. As a result, each members plays a crucial role in creating your building’s image, as well as shaping the perceptions and experiences of everyone who enters. Consequently, when a resident or visitor walks through the front door – whether it’s their first time or hundredth – the reception and greeting they receive and the way they are treated can significantly impact their entire experience.
Showing 73 - 96 of 369