If you are in charge of running the homeowners association in your neighborhood, you need to make sure you are taking steps to effectively manage it. Effective management is key to a happy neighborhood.
Work to Build Up Your Reserve Fund
As a responsible manager, you need to make sure that your HOA has a well-funded reserve fund. Most HOA have some sort of reserve fund; however, these funds usually don't have enough money to cover a true emergency. Ideally, you want your emergency fund to have enough money in it that you could run all your responsibilities for three months without any additional funds coming in. Make it a priority to build up that reserve fund, so if an emergency strikes, you are not unable to respond.
Hire an HOA Management Company
The truth is that far too many associations are run by volunteers who don't have experience in this field. If you want your neighborhood to have a fair and well-ran association, consider hiring an outside company to take care of the association management. An outside company has more experience and resources to deal with the needs of your community and can provide an impartial voice.
Hire An Third-Party Auditing Service
Your neighbors are essentially trusting the individuals on the homeowners association committee to responsibly manage their money according to how the charter was set out. One of the best ways to show that the HOA is meeting their responsibility is by having a third party audit your services, money, and workload to make sure the money is being spent right and that the HOA is fulfilling their responsibility correctly. The results of this audit should be shared with all members of the association.
Enforce Policies Fairly
You need to make sure policies are being enforced fairly. For example, if you issue a fine for someone violating a rule, you need to make sure that anyone else violating that same rule has also been fined. Evaluate the way rules are enforced and make sure that no members are being unfairly targeted with fines and that rules are being evenly enforced throughout the community.
Improve your management of your HOA by bringing in an outside HOA management company and hiring a third-party auditing service to review all actions at the end of the year. Make sure policies are being enforced fairly and work to build up your community's emergency fund to a healthy level.
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