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Reserve Fund, Assessment or Loan: How to Pay for Capital Improvements
Great capital improvements improve property values. Read on to see the three ways to pay for them and the pros and cons. -
Condo Capital Improvements: Lending Solutions for Condominium and Co-op Boards
FirstService Residential and FirstService Financial work in tandem to help our clients successfully finance capital improvement projects and save money without compromising quality of service. -
Are EV Charging Stations Worth the Investment?
FirstService Energy's experts answer common questions about EV chargers, including costs, incentives, revenues, and curb appeal. -
Rules are Rules: How to Enforce Neighborhood Covenants
Managing association covenant enforcement can be difficult in any community. Restrictions for every community can be different, and it can be a challenge to keep the rules fair, reasonable and equally applied to all homeowners. Read on for some basic guidelines that will make navigating through these issues a little easier. -
Electronic Voting in Arizona - What You Should Know
These days, you can do almost anything online—buy groceries, look for a job or even find love. But what about voting on issues that affect your community? -
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. -
Don’t Be the HOA Bad Guy: 4 Proven Policy Enforcement Tips
Enforcing HOA policies is nobody’s cup of tea, but having good policy enforcement in place helps improve the resident experience and elevates your reputation. Follow these 4 principles for healthy policy enforcement: -
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. -
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. -
Are You a Snowbird Heading South for the Winter? Learn How to Prepare Before Flying the Coop!
Do you escape to warmer weather down south once there’s a chill in the air and the leaves start to turn? If you’re a snowbird (or Winter Texan!), you need to know how to protect your home up north while basking in the southern sunshine -
Electronic Voting: Can an HOA Board Vote By Email?
For a growing number of community associations across the United States and Canada, statute changes are making electronic voting a possibility for boards. If your state or province permits online voting – or will soon – does that mean that your board should make this option available to homeowners in your community? -
5 tips for fire safety for buildings in your community
Living in a high-rise, condominium or co-op certainly has its perks. You get the convenient location, the dramatic views, attentive concierge services and a range of amenities. However, vertical living also means added challenges when it comes to fire safety. Fortunately, there are measures that both your association board and residents can take to improve safety. -
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. -
Creating community policy: How to enforce the rules of a community
Good rules make good community members. The most important factors in association policy making, whether for a condo, co-op, townhome or master-planned community, are clarity and sensibility. The board must be clear – and united – on the policy being created and then must communicate that policy to all residents. Whether the policy is about overnight guest parking, designated smoking areas, amenity usage or approved flooring, the basic steps to creating good policy and enforcing it successfully are the same. It’s important that everyone involved, including board members, residents and the management team, understand who is responsible for the various roles that are part of policy creation, enforcement and compliance. -
How to prepare for floods in your high-rise building
Floods are one of the most common types of natural disasters. They can also be the most detrimental for high-rise buildings. The nature of these buildings makes them particularly vulnerable to flooding caused by severe storms. -
5 HOA annual meeting requirements to keep your meeting on track
Your board should give residents the opportunity to have their voices heard, but you also have a responsibility to keep the meeting moving forward. Use these 5 HOA annual meeting requirements to stay on track. -
Maintenance and Repairs vs. Capital Improvements – 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. -
5 steps to choosing the best reserve study specialists
In our guide to capital improvements , reserve studies and their relationship to capital improvements and preventive maintenance were discussed at length. -
5 Ways to Encourage a Sense of (the Larger) Community in Your Association
Your association doesn’t function in a vacuum. It’s part of a larger community. Having members actively engaged in your town or city is good for the association and adds to residents’ sense of community. Find out what your board can do to encourage residents to get more involved in their larger community. -
Energy Efficiency for Community Associations
Many community association boards and residents would like to implement energy efficiency measures in their communities. But what about the cost to get started? -
Five Simple Tips for Marketing Your Association
Nothing says a healthy community like full homes/units and bustling activity in common areas. Painting a pretty picture of a dynamic community to potential buyers takes minimal effort on the part of the board. -
3 Ways to Pay for an Association Capital Improvement Project
When your association has to invest in its property, whether for repairs or a new construction project, the financing for that work must be considered as carefully as the work itself -
Is Installing Electric Vehicles Charging Stations the Right Choice for Your Community?
The number of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) on the road is quickly growing, which means the need for conveniently located battery charging stations is also on the rise. What does this mean for your association?