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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?

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.

Not sure which components you should fix and which you should replace entirely? You're not alone. Get the answers to some of your top questions about maintenance, capital improvements, and useful life.

Considering synthetic turf for your community common areas? Understanding the facts on what it's made of, benefits and disadvantages, and how it will affect children or pets will make all the difference when determining if synthetic turf is the right choice for your community!

There are often valid reasons to raise assessments, but in some cases, you may want to take a different route. Here are three cost-saving strategies.

How does your Arizona association handle maintenance? Discover your association's unique maintenance style.

Like changing the oil in your car, regular maintenance on a building helps keeps everything working properly and safely. For stratas, some tasks are not optional, they are mandatory.

As strata managers begin their inspection, they note the necessary repairs for winter damage as they make their rounds through the community.

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.

Some community associations simply get three proposals and price quotes, and go with the lowest bidder. That sounds easy, but buyer beware – there is much more to the bidding process than many board members realize. Sometimes simply choosing a vendor by its low price will get you exactly what you pay for. Here are some best practices on simplifying the bidding process and maximizing the value your association receives.

How does your California association handle maintenance? Discover your association's unique maintenance style.

Water conservation is on the minds of all California homeowners. As summer is quickly approaching, homeowner association (HOA) leaders throughout California need to be proactive in making the necessary changes within their communities.

Is your maintenance job turning into a capital improvement? Are you ready for a big capital improvement expenditure? Read on to get answers to your top questions about maintenance, capital improvements and useful life.

Strategic capital improvements lead to better property values. Read on to see the three ways to pay for them and their pros and cons.

Landscaping makes an immediate statement about the brand of your community. The right landscaping can set your community apart from others and enhance property values. Here our four landscaping considerations.

There are often good reasons to raise assessments, but in some cases, you may be able to take a different route. Here are three strategies to help save your HOA money and keep assessments stable.

Eco friendly high-rise initiatives are not only good for the environment, but can be green for your association budget. How does close to $50,000 in annual savings sound? Here are suggestions you can implement for little to no cost.

When you hire a contractor, it could either be the best decision you ever made, or the worst. The stakes are high; a good contractor will execute your vision on time and on budget, whereas a not-so-good one will be the source of bad workmanship, unexpected delays, inconvenience and a whole lot of headaches.

Creating and executing a comprehensive building maintenance plan for your high-rise community should be a top priority for your board and property management company.

Picture this: your homeowners association has a big job that needs to be done, so you’ve got to find a qualified contractor to do it. How do you manage your vendor selection process to make sure you find the best one to fill your needs?

While community preventative maintenance keeps systems running in a way that keeps future problems from happening, predictive maintenance entails using existing data to determine when systems might fail. Creating your community preventative maintenance schedule will help you budget for these occurrences – and eliminate most of those nasty surprises. Here’s how you can do it.

Your pool is a source of fun for all of your community’s residents. Yet when it comes time to resurface it, it can quickly become a source of headaches. Knowing the facts about your pool resurfacing options can help minimize the hassle – and ensure your community enjoys a quality pool experience for years to come. The best decision is an informed decision. An excellent community association management company will be experienced in this area and can weigh in with some really good insight – and make a recommendation for a reliable pool specialist, too. But before you get to that point, you can start with these pros and cons.

Summertime is swim time, and for the most part, it’s a plunge into carefree fun. But without the right swimming pool safety practices, your residents and association could be at risk.

NYC's Organic Food Waste Recycling Pilot Program includes Morningside Heights Housing Corp., a cooperative building managed by FirstService Residential’s New York office. This exciting program is designed to reduce the amount of post-consumer waste sent to landfills.