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  • How to run an HOA: 10 habits to improve your community association

    While the start of the new year is typically heralded as the best time to change old habits and commit to new ones, the reality for community associations and their board members is that there’s no time like the present. These 10 changes will help you get your board and your community association on the right track for the rest of the year.
  • Ten steps on how to plan a community event

    You’re planning an event for your homeowner (HOA) or community association. Congratulations! After the initial excitement comes growing panic, right? Well, not necessarily.
  • Creating and enforcing HOA rules: A step-by-step guide

    They say that good fences make good neighbors. Rules can work the same way – putting the right parameters in place can help keep everyone happy. Too few rules result in anarchy, and too many rules start to feel onerous to residents.
  • 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.
  • How to be a successful property manager: 12 key qualities

    When choosing the right property management company for your community, you will be asking a variety of questions to assess whether the company or manager will be the right fit for your board and your residents.
  • Tips for managing building projects & community construction projects

    So your homeowners association is going to undertake a construction or improvement project for your community. That can be exciting – and more than a little daunting, too. The construction project management process can be fraught with complications and frustrations – after all, with so many moving pieces, there are a number of things that can go wrong. To smooth your way, you can consult with an experienced property management company to obtain proven guidance and advice. But to get started, we’ve put together a dozen pointers to help your community construction project build towards success.
  • Twelve tips for spring cleaning in your community

    This winter, much of the country was hunkered down under thick layers of snow and temperatures so low that even the groundhog thought twice about going outside. But thankfully, spring is here, and with the blooming fruit trees and sunnier days comes the need to clean up, spruce up and get your community ready to enjoy the season.
  • What to expect from your property management company: Services to look for

    For many communities, responsive service from a property management company is the best they can hope for when it comes to issue resolution. But what if you required more from your property management team? What if you held them to a higher standard, demanding that they address challenges early enough so that they never become full-blown issues at all?
  • Finding a property management company: 5 things to consider

    Your homeowner association (HOA) board has decided to hire a property management company. That’s a big step, and one not to be taken lightly. You might think because your board made this decision your community’s future is in good hands. But has your board done its research?
  • 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.
  • Avoiding risks of short-term rentals

    The sharing economy continues to grow, and this, in turn, is fueling the proliferation of home-sharing websites like Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway. In our previous article on this growing trend, we discussed how the interest in short-term rentals is impacting multi-family buildings throughout the U.S. and Canada. Now we’re back with a game plan to help your condo board or strata council protect its interests.
  • Airbnb and short-term rentals: How the sharing economy can affect your multi-family building

    One of the most recent societal shifts has been a move towards a sharing economy – and if you’ve ever been driven home in an Uber car, or reserved a distinctive blue CitiBike for a few hours to pedal across town, you’ve experienced this practice first-hand. In this article, we discuss how the quick growth of the sharing economy – particularly, home sharing – is impacting buildings in large cities, and we’ll follow up next week with valuable advice on how your Board or Strata council can address this mushrooming trend.
  • 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.
  • Four steps to creating building maintenance schedules

    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.
  • Understanding how property management software can help

    Can cutting-edge property management software increase personalized customer service? It’s not a trick question, at least when it comes to the property management industry.
  • 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.
  • How Property Management Experts are Making a Difference in Today's Competitive Housing Market

    FirstService Residential’s Tasso Eracles discusses Toronto’s building boom and the important role property management experts play in helping condominium developers and builders overcome challenges and compete in this dynamic marketplace.
  • Communication in the Community: Do you have a plan?

    Is your community always aware of upcoming events, scheduled construction projects and upcoming board meetings? Do they understand their responsibilities and the policies they need to comply with? Clear, effective communication from the board to the residents makes a difference in the overall well-being of any community. Poor communication, on the other hand, is a real problem that can negatively impact your community’s reputation and even your operating budget and property values.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 5 steps to create your preventative maintenance schedule

    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.
  • A guide to community swimming pool resurfacing options

    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.
  • 6 essential HOA pool rules to enforce in your community

    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.
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