When it comes to technology, many HOAs are stuck squarely in the past. Though there is so much out there that can make a board’s life easier, from online payment portals to automated complaint request forms, few boards take advantage, and even fewer reap the benefits that can come from these technical elements. If you are on one of these boards that needs that shot in the arm that only the 21st century can give, or if you are wary about taking that next step, here are just a few technological advancements your board can make, and how they can help you; trust us, technology may be scary, but including these aspects can be the best thing you’ve ever done for your community!
HOA Websites
Over the past few years, more and more board members like you have started requesting that their HOA management company provide their community with a website for the residents. At Spectrum Association Management, we feel that it’s imperative that we provide this service for each of our communities, and include it in our HOA management fee.
So what are the benefits of a community website? First and foremost, it’s a place for the homeowner to make their assessment payment. Offering this service is a must these days, and we include it on every community website. Additionally, our clients love the ability to look at items and information pertaining to their address. These items would include balance, payment, and violation information.
Futhermore, it’s a place for community information. Our clients want access to HOA documents, including the by-laws, the covenants, the declaration, or any resolutions. All of these documents can be uploaded to the site, so that residents have access to them at all times. You can also post all of your meeting dates, both board meetings and annual meetings, in the calendar section of the website. Posting your newsletter on the site cuts down on costs to the association. It’s a great way to get info out to your residents for no charge at all.
Our clients have also enjoyed the functionality of sending an email blast to the community for upcoming events or if an emergency situation comes forward, and needs to be communicated to the residents you have a place to perform this function.
Email Communication
Clear, effective communication between HOA management community managers and an HOA’s Board of Directors is also a vital component of a successful community. Horror stories abound about lawsuits, financial troubles, and other problems that resulted not from incompetence or bad intentions, but from poor communication.
It can be difficult to communicate effectively among several people. For example, if a manager is negotiating a telecom contract and must explain each aspect of the negotiations to each board member at every step along the way, somewhere along the line, someone is going to misunderstand something.
One of the best tools you have at your disposal to organize communications between your manager and board is email.
Why is email so effective? Although email isn’t always the best way to communicate, for some circumstances, it’s better. Email automatically creates a record that you can refer to in case of a disagreement, complete with a record of the date and time of each communication. In this respect, email can prevent disagreements from turning into lawsuits.
In order to maximize the benefits of email, there are several actions that HOA board members and community managers can take. Above all, always request confirmation of receipt. Email without a confirmation of receipt is not as persuasive in a lawsuit. One party or the other can deny ever receiving the email.
You’ll also want to keep track of what questions you’ve asked in your emails. To communicate clearly, both managers and board members must know what questions they’ve asked and answered. Some people don’t read through the entire email before responding, so it’s a good idea to keep track of what was asked and answered in each email.
Your email use should be combined with an organized chain of communications between the board and manager. Try to everyone understand that email communication will be clearest if it stays structured. It makes no sense to repeat the same question or message several times, and it increases the opportunity for mistakes.
Online Ballots
Getting enough member participation in the voting process for HOA communities can be like pulling teeth. Community associations are always looking for ways to increase member participation in voting processes, for everything from the election of board members to special assessments, but often come up short. Communities often run smoother when the members feel they are more involved in decisions; members who feel out of the loop are the ones who are more likely to feel dissatisfied.
Many HOA communities have already created website and e-mail communication, but few have jumped on the online ballot bandwagon. Giving members an option to vote online is an effective way to increase participation, save paper, and reduce costs. In a nutshell, the use of online voting allows community members to use the internet instead of a paper ballot to cast their vote for elections of the Board of Directors, special assessments, etc.
The convenience of online voting will increase the amount of members who cast a vote. Online ballots will eliminate mistakes that can occur when using paper ballots. While costs do vary depending on which ballot company you choose, the cost will be minimal compared to holding a meeting and using paper ballots. Your HOA will have significant savings by having members vote online and avoiding wasted paper.
How it Works
If you’re convinced that online voting will work for your HOA community, there are certain steps you can take to establish an online ballot system, making your association greener and more efficient.
You’ll need to start by providing your voting company with your community’s member information. This information consists of each member’s name, home address, city, state, zip code, e-mail address. For security purposes, the online ballot company will choose unique user names and passwords for each member. Do not allow your community’s members to create their own user names and passwords.
Next, instruct the ballot company on the design you’d like created to meet the needs of your community. This includes what you’d like the ballots to say, any rules to enforce, so on and so forth. Be sure to choose the date and time you’d like the election to occur.
Last but not least, tell your members about the online voting option! Let your members know about the new service of online voting you are now providing them. You can include this information in your monthly newsletter. Once you’ve gotten the word out about your new online voting process, distribute the usernames and passwords to the members. On the date and time you have chosen, hold your election.
By getting the most out of online ballots and voting, your HOA and HOA management company can work together to make association voting a greener and easier process.
Social Media
Continuing our internet journey in the HOA stratosphere, Social media is yet another outlet you can utilize, as is affecting almost every industry or company in some way. As an HOA board member it’s important that you understand how sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, and Google Places can impact your homeowners association and your HOA management.
The important thing to remember is that due to the content-based nature of these sites, everything you say or do as a board member can (and most likely will) become public in mere seconds. A conversation at a board meeting could easily be videotaped by someone with a hidden cell phone and published on YouTube minutes later. Your comments to a neighbor while standing at the neighborhood park, or something you say when a homeowner calls you on the phone, could be posted to Facebook. Within moments, literally hundreds, if not thousands, of eyeballs could be seeing someone’s post about you.
As an HOA board member, be aware that everything you or your HOA management company says or does could be public. It’s critical that you never say anything or act in a way toward a homeowner that you wouldn’t want read about publicly.
While an HOA may think it’s a great idea to create a community page on Facebook, it’s important that your board discuss and debate the idea thoroughly before anyone impulsively creates one. The Facebook page could easily become a complaint board where people vent openly and address small concerns online. No one is saying that having a Facebook page is something you shouldn’t do, necessarily. However, it’s important to thoroughly examine the pros and cons, as well as come up with a policy of how to respond to negative comments before they’re posted. Never delete comments unless they are extremely graphic, obscene, or irrelevant in nature; deleting negative comments usually makes matters worse.
While social media can be a great tool in so many ways, it can also turn negative quickly. It’s important that each HOA consider its impact and consult with their HOA management company before attempting to broaden their HOA’s social media horizons.
Imposter Websites
Of course, with all these positives to the internet realm, it’s easy to forget that using the internet for your HOA community also has its pot holes and dangers. As such, you must remember that we are in the age of the internet, where nothing is private and everything is made easy to steal and/or copy.HOA communities often find that their websites have been copied and are being managed by someone unknown. People who casually stumble upon these websites may believe that what they are seeing is the true community website, which can pose a huge problem for the association.
Members may create a website for your community thinking they are doing you a favor, while others may be disgruntled members with a hidden agenda. Either way, these websites can only do the association harm in the long run. Regardless of what the circumstances are, it’s crucial that your HOA and HOA management company protect against these fake websites.
How will you know if your community’s website has been duplicated? Unless you spend an abhorrent amount of time clicking through search engines, you may never know it exists. Often these websites are found by accident, whether it’s by a board member, a community member, or even a potential home buyer. The worst-case scenario is when the members of your community discover a look-alike website and flood you phone calls relating to inaccurate information they read.
What you Can Do
There is no surefire way to protect your HOA community from the dangers of online fraud, but there are legal and technological steps you can take to protect your HOA.
Start prevention early by getting copyright and/or trademark protection. Federal law allows you to protect your logos, written words, and any of your other original creations when you file forms with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
You can reserve the legal right to use your domain name. Internet users must type in this domain name to reach your community’s website. After the domain is reserved by you, it will be exclusively yours. If you’d like to prevent other internet users from duplicating your domain name, then you can buy as many different versions of it as you would like, although it will get expensive.
You should also keep your website updated. When people search for your community’s association, you want to have the first domain they click on. Updating your site frequently can help ensure you keep a top rank in search engines.
In addition, be sure to promote your website. Educate your members on your website; make sure they know where their community’s website is located and how to weed out any imposters.
If you encounter an imposter website, hire an attorney to send a warning letter to the owner of the website. Some members may not know they are doing anything lawfully wrong when creating these look-alike websites, so have your lawyer send them a letter explaining the laws and how to comply with them.
Finally, if all else fails and the fake website still hasn’t been taken down, send a message to future copycats by suing the owner of the unauthorized website. If you have the federal copyright, then you may be able to sue the member who created the website. As always, speak with your attorney before taking legal action.
The Internet Highway: A Paradise for HOAs
Your community can enjoy the benefits of online communication and participation through the diligence of its HOA board members and management company. Be cautious when it comes to protecting your community’s image and reputation, but don’t let that scare you away from taking part in our modern internet-based society and attracting new community members!
