6 New Year’s Resolutions for Your HOA

December 21, 2021

2021 is headed out the door and it’s time for your association to start making some new year’s resolutions that benefit the greater good of your community.

While all HOA board members know that budgetary planning is essential for a new year, there are several other promises you can keep and make for your board and community that will make the next year happier and more efficient.

Review and Make Any Potential New Rules

Although your association’s CC&Rs may be extensive, there is always room to add more rules and regulations. Over the last year, your board may have experienced some issues that it didn’t have a concrete rule for.

From the ordinary home update requests to adjusting your rules to any new laws that were passed in your jurisdiction, you want your Board to be prepared to answer any request.

We suggest meeting as a Board and discussing the issues you’ve faced in the last year and considering what could be around the bend for 2022. Making revisions now will make answering your constituents easier in the future.

Step Away From Personal Disputes

If you are a board member who has a dispute with an owner that is bleeding into the new year, take a step back and examine your situation. Is the HOA resolution going nowhere because you genuinely can’t come up with a viable solution or are your personal feelings about the community member clouding your judgment?

If you realize that your personal bias is holding back a peaceful resolution, it’s time to hand over the reins to another board member that isn’t connected to the individual or the problem.

Create Some Committees

As board members, you lead busy lives on top of your responsibilities to your community. As much as you’d like to be able to do it all for your association, the truth is that you can’t!

Creating committees to handle different aspects of your leadership can help lighten the load off of your shoulders and get other promising community members involved in important decisions.

Get Collections Under Control

Collecting funds from owners is one of the biggest ways that your association makes its money. When money comes in late, that deficit directly affects the ability to meet the annual goals you’ve created for the community.

Meet with your community management team and put a collections plan in place. Delinquencies have no place in your community management, and it may require some aggressive action on your part to get the message across to some owners.

Whether you set stricter deadlines or hire more legal help for the collections process, having a plan in place can help you set up your community for long-term financial success.

Review Your Contracts

Saving money should be the ultimate new year’s resolution for your association. So, start saving at the source; your vendor contracts.

Take some time to review your contracts and make sure that your vendors are offering you the best bang for your budget. Don’t be afraid to renegotiate contract lengths if you find that your current vendors aren’t giving you fair rates for your services.

In fact, when approached with the idea of contract length negotiations, your long-term vendors may be willing to work with your contract needs in order to retain you as a customer.

Get Association Management Help From Goodwin & Company!
Finally, even with committees on board, your board members should never try to travel the road to success alone. An association management team like Goodwin & Company makes being a board member a smoother and more rewarding experience.

We have worked with associations of all sizes for decades and excel in being the driving behind-the-scenes force that allows board members to put on their best face and get out from behind the desk and into direct community involvement.