The treasurer is the owner of the accounting software. The president has a folder of governing documents that are stored in cloud storage. Residents’ emails are scattered across the inboxes. Someone has photographs of violations on their phone. The board member also has the password to the website for the community.
All things exist in an technical sense
The right choice is a different matter.
For a self-managed homeowners association the administrative burden can increase by one tiny workaround at each time. A spreadsheet solves one problem. Another problem is solved by an online chat. The board will then add online payment, shared accounting software, software for storage and a website to its list of communication tools.
Eventually, volunteers spend almost equally time managing equipment as they do coordinating the community.
The problem isn’t with self-management.
Self-management gives an association direct control over its activities. The problem is that board members are volunteers and not full-time administrative staff.
They must still collect assessments, maintain information about the owners, keep records of expenditures, contact residents and record violations. They must organize their the files, make documents and preserve the records.
HOA management software that works well can reduce the burden of administration without taking control away of the association.
Perfect HOA does this by the integration of unit records, finances and communications, as well as payments documents and violations, the resident portal, and meeting minutes into one cloud-based environment.
Consider what happens when the homeowner moves.
Centralized records are a great way to oversee the administrative tasks of the association. Instead of updating an address in a spreadsheet, updating a different contact list, checking another payment system manually and adjusting access to websites, the information can be utilized across all of the administration of the organization.
The Treasurer shouldn’t have to reconstruct the Financial Picture
If information isn’t centralized, it could cause similar problems.
All bank transactions take place at one place. Assessments are paid elsewhere. Budgets are spreadsheets. Treasurers must come up with an answer to a question about the actual expenses when compared to the annual plan.
HOA accounting software becomes much more useful when bookkeeping is connected to the association’s everyday activity.
Perfect HOA allows you to sync your bank and credit card activity with Plaid. It is possible to categorize transactions and create reports, like Profit and Loss, Actual vs. Budget, and Cash Flow. The operating, reserve and special-assessment fund can be tracked independently.
This is important since HOA Accounting isn’t just about making the year-end balance. Boards may want to know how much is in the reserve fund or if they are on the budget for landscaping.
The easier it is for answers to be retrieved, the less dependent a community is on spreadsheets of volunteers.
Residents shouldn’t have to inquire questions about all things
Centralization can enhance the resident experience too.
Consider the questions that an HOA is regularly asked. Where are the documents that I need for my neighborhood? What is my current payment? What can I do to find the latest information? Where can I find more information on the Association?
A reputable HOA site builder will provide more than a home page for the general public. Perfect HOA connects the community website with a resident portal so owner information and documents are always connected to the underlying management system.
That reduces the requirement of keeping a list of information for the board and another for the website.
This allows residents to locate the appropriate person prior to calling a volunteer member on an organization for something in place.
If there is a problem the records are important
The most reliable test for an HOA’s management system comes months after.
A resident challenges an infraction. A person wants to know whether an official notice was actually sent. A new board is trying to comprehend the reasoning behind an old decision. An auditor needs financial information. Then, unexpectedly, the treasurer quits.
Memory is not enough.
Perfect HOA will keep track of communications histories including delivery information, documents, and violation timelines. Photographic evidence, notices of escalation, fines, as well as other information can be included in violations rather than having to reconstruct it using scattered emails.
Even board meetings create documents that need to be preserved. AI-generated minutes of meetings can ease the burden of manually turning a lengthy meeting into a usable written record.
It is always the responsibility of homeowners to make decision when they manage their own HOA. Software can’t take away that responsibility.
It should remove the unnecessary research and investigation that surrounds it.
Board members can take less time thinking “Who is this?” and more time solving the issues that require their judgement.
This is the most important technology for a board of volunteers.