6 Ways That HOA Website Software Puts Administrators and Residents in Control

Control is fundamental to homeowners associations. They exist to structure and oversee the standards that enable a community to maintain its property values as well as its attractive, neighborhood friendly appearance. At the same time, the best HOA websites also give residents considerable control over how they interact with their HOA and take care of their association responsibilities—and offer HOA administration a large list of options as well.

1.      Site appearance and features

Every community—and its homeowners association—wants a website that authentically represents its personality, the benefits of living there, and all the advantages that its neighborhoods offer current and prospective residents. Obviously, a cookie-cutter website can’t accomplish those goals and accommodate those necessities, but many website software providers fail to offer much in the way of customization. If they offer site templates at all, those templates may lack the easy, intuitive features and polished, contemporary design that today’s homeowners associations want to incorporate into their online properties.

Instead of settling for less than the look you really want, your homeowners association can opt for an HOAStart website and gain the customization options you really need. We built our website software with customization as a top priority, as well as easy-to-use, professionally designed templates that provide the right customization options to present any community’s desired appearance.

2.      Member profiles and personal data

Even HOA residents who seem relatively unconcerned about the issues surrounding online privacy want to control if, when, and how their personal data is visible to other community members and the public at large. Some website software providers don’t offer the option of a fully featured online member gallery, but among those that do, some limit the extent to which residents can determine how much of their information is accessible to other people.

At HOAStart, we’ve made this privacy issue a central concern. We developed our software so each member can decide whether to share personal information on an HOA website member gallery and make individual, specific decisions about sharing phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

3.      Payments

When it comes to required dues and fees, homeowners associations want to ensure that they can collect all the monies owed them without hassles involving credit card payment systems, paper and cash payments, late remissions, and worse. At the same time, HOA residents want an easy way to make these payments so they can stay current with their obligations without devoting considerable time or effort to doing so.

When you choose to build your homeowners association website with HOAStart, you can offer your residents secure online payments without the expense or hassle of negotiating separately with a payment processing system to accept payments via credit or debit card. We’ve built secure processing directly into our site software, so you can control collection and your residents can control their payment options. The result is a seamless, streamlined, easy-to-use process that benefits everyone involved.

4.      Ticketing system

One of the ways homeowners associations ensure that their communities retain property value is through the creation and enforcement of HOA covenants. These rules specify the types of modifications that residents can make, and the standards of maintenance and repair they must uphold. Residents expect—and even welcome—these types of regulations when they move into a community governed by a homeowners association because HOA rules help residents protect the value of their real estate. But unless the homeowners association website provides an easy way to submit, track, amend, approve, and even reject submissions, both the HOA itself and its residents face considerable difficulty in determining what is and what is not an acceptable expression of the rules, let alone enforcing them.

Those difficulties go away when you choose HOAStart as your homeowners association website provider. Because we understand exactly how important these features are, we’ve made them a priority in our software design. Instead of trying to use e-mail as a means of ticket submission, we’ve created a full-featured ticketing system that enables administrators to comment among themselves on shared responsibilities for ticket reviews, request modifications, and communicate directly with residents, all while preserving and documenting the features of the resident’s request.

5.      Communications

How well homeowners associations communicate with residents helps determine whether HOAs succeed or fail in staying organized and professional, and how well they enable residents to interact with neighbors and HOA leadership. You need a way to post updates about association business, let people know what’s going on, and, at the same time, provide a messaging system for residents to use.

We built two sets of communications capabilities into our HOAStart software package. Our Newsfeed acts like the electronic equivalent of the classic clubhouse bulletin board, minus the thumbtacks and paper notes. Post news items, pin important messages to the top of the list, and give your residents a place in which publicize yard sales and milestones. We’ve also included a private messaging feature that enables residents to communicate confidentially without resorting to third-party social media sites. When you provide cohesive, protected ways to establish and maintain rapport, you keep all your messaging in one place, and eliminate the need for other solutions.

6.      Free trial

Many homeowners associations want to create websites for their communities, but none of them want to plunge into that process without some assurances that the site they’ll build will meet their needs and represent their community well. The best way to test out HOA website software is with a trial period, preferably one that’s available at no charge. However, not all website software providers provide free trials, and some of those that do remove or cripple essential features from those trials.

We’re proud of the advantages we’ve built into our HOA website software, but we still believe that you have every right to try out our product and see how well it meets your needs. That’s why we offer a free trial of our full software package, with no features held back—and no credit card required. Test out every aspect of our product and see if you don’t agree with us that we offer the most flexible, powerful, easy-to-use website software for homeowners associations. We believe you’ll see that HOAStart is the right choice for your community.