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What to look for in a property management company
Let’s face it: being a board member of your homeowner association isn’t easy. Neither is self-managing your property. For many boards, hiring a professional property management company is the best decision they’ll make for their community. -
HOA Cleaning: Four ways to keep your community clean
You love your managed community or high-rise building! But obviously, living in proximity to other people can come with challenges, especially during cold and flu season. As a board member, you want to help keep your residents healthy and your community running smoothly. Read on to learn 4 ways to do that. -
5 steps to increase resident engagement in your HOA
In many community associations, residents lack interest in getting involved. Getting residents to attend meetings, volunteer on committees or help run events can be like pulling teeth for many boards. Turn that around with these 5 simple steps. -
Five ways to improve board member communication in your HOA
How well your board communicates has a tremendous impact on your community association. Great communication can lead to better relationships with residents – both homeowners and renters – and helps build a stronger sense of community. -
FAQs for annual meeting and HOA special meeting notice
Annual and special meetings can have their own set of rules and needs. Read on to learn more about these two important types of meetings for your HOA or condo association board. -
“Be Genuinely Helpful": Giving Back to Our Communities
Learn how associates and residents are making a difference in their communities, providing grocery delivery and food delivery, during the COVID-19 pandemic. -
HOA Meetings: What to do and how to prepare
Regardless of how you feel about them, board meetings are more than just something your community association chooses to do. They are something your community association must do. Board meetings are crucial to the governance of your community association. If they aren't run effectively, chances are your association won't function well either. -
What Makes a Great Board Member
Dale Young, director of portfolio management at FirstService Residential, and other industry experts reveal the common characteristics of effective and functional boards. -
Renter and tenant communication: Why it matters to your association
Does your board and management team communicate to the renters in your community? If no, why not? In communities where renters makeup a significant portion of the residents, they are often overlooked by the people running the community. -
Tips to improve community awareness in your HOA
There’s a big difference between being a busybody and having a general awareness of your neighbors’ regular activities. Knowing their routines enables you to quickly realize when something is awry, especially for residents who live alone. And in a true emergency, that awareness could literally save a life. -
Property management tips for board members
Whether you’re a new or current board member, you can avoid major issues and make your term more fruitful, rewarding and, above all, effective by following these 9 tips for board members. -
Coronavirus HOA Communications Strategies to Residents
Developing a comprehensive HOA communications strategy during this pandemic will help your board members and management team inform the community in a timely manner. -
COVID-19: Making Virtual Connections in Crisis
Learn how associates, residents and board members are making a difference in their communities with interactive online activities, during COVID-19. -
HOA committees: Understanding HOA committee roles and responsibilities
Thriving HOA committees have typically attributed “success by committee" as a factor for their growth. But what are actual HOA committee roles and responsibilities? -
Crystal Vision: Why Communication Between a Board and Management Company Matters
As a board member, you want your community to grow and thrive. Having a vision for your community—the aesthetics of it, its reputation, the kinds of programming it offers and amenities it provides—is critical to its long-term well-being. A well-crafted vision will transcend board and resident turnover and keep your community on track. -
Cyber Security Part One: How Community Residents 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. In part one of our two-part series, we look at why cyber security is so important to community associations. We also provide important steps that residents in your 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 Community Association Safe
In part one of this two-part series, we discussed the importance of cyber security to your community 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. -
Great Service: Community manager duties
The right support, the right personality and the right set of expectations from your community are critical for your community association management team to deliver exceptional results. Does yours have what it takes? -
Effective tips to enhance your apartment building lobby design
As a Board member, you want your building’s lobby to be aesthetically pleasing and inviting, but also safe and functional – after all, as the hub of your building, it provides essential services and can even become a social gathering place for residents and guests. So if your building lobby isn’t as attractive or functional as it could be – and doesn’t portray the impression you’d like it to – we have some suggestions that can help. -
Community association manager duties and responsibilities
Serving as a homeowner association (HOA) board president is an honor, a privilege, and an experience that many across North America take great satisfaction in. But before you make the leap from resident to board member, it’s essential to understand exactly the duties of an HOA president. -
How to create your HOA emergency preparedness plan
No board ever wants to find itself in the midst of an emergency, but they happen. Whether you face an outbreak of illness, an earthquake, a hurricane, a fire, the impact of any devastating event can be minimized by good emergency preparedness planning. -
HOA online 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? -
HOA pet rules: 4 things to know
If you live in a pet-friendly community, it’s essential that your association board set boundaries to keep order within your community. Many of the issues that become problems in pet-friendly communities have very little to do with the pets – after all, they can’t clean up after themselves. -
5 reasons to continue your board member education
You’ve just been elected to your HOA or condo association board. Congratulations! Now you can celebrate...with some time back in the classroom.