The Advantages of HOA Management Software

Volunteer housing association boards deal with demanding homeowners and help their communities run smoothly and efficiently. Managing an homeowners association involves complex, specialized responsibilities for legal issues, vendors, finances, and covenant enforcement. Even property management companies work hard to handle all the issues involved. That’s why HOA management software, and a well-designed HOA website, is critical to success. These tools make life easier for administrators at all types of homeowner’s associations.

WHAT IS HOA SOFTWARE?

Community association management software tackles a wide variety of administrative tasks. With the right software, you can handle everything from user data to invoicing and payments. But not all HOA website software is created equal.

First, you want homeowners association software that’s easy to understand and use, with a built-in help system and onscreen prompts that explain steps and functions. You want step-by-step feature instructions, illustrated feature guides, and how-to videos that accommodate every learning style and present essential assistance in multiple ways.

Next, you need a wide variety of user-friendly features that make life easier and more productive for administrators and residents alike. You want homeowners association management software that anticipates your real needs and meets them, not a random set of poorly designed features that don’t match up with what you need to accomplish.

Furthermore, you want to utilize HOA software that’s up to date, in a package that receives frequent updates and incorporates a continuous stream of new capabilities. If the software’s not maintained, monitored, and modern, you’re locked into a platform that can’t grow with you.

Poor-quality community association software irritates associations and residents alike. Instead of making administrative tasks easier and more efficient, it turns them into tedious chores—and forces residents to ask more questions rather than get more done. In that unfortunate situation, it’s not long before administrators and end users start trying to avoid using their community website—or revert to the old-fashioned tools they used before their community went online.

But you don’t want to go back to the days of creating and sending out invoices by hand, relying on third-party social media platforms for community engagement, or posting a signup sheet on a clubhouse bulletin board to manage amenities.

With the right self-managed HOA software, you can accomplish all your tasks with ease, and gain back the time you used to waste on unproductive methods.

Types of community associations and their software needs

Whether yours is an exclusive gated community, a campground of summer homes, a multi-story urban showplace or even a non-residential facility that functions like an association, you need HOA management software that works the way you do.

From condo and co-op associations to homeowners associations, managed communities are all different. For that matter, even communities of the same kind differ from one another. Some neighborhoods bustle with new construction or new phases, while others are fully built. Some communities focus on sharing an abundance of amenities, from clubhouse space to tennis courts and boat slips to horse barns. Others promote an active roster of events for residents of all ages. You’ll find dues that run on every conceivable payment schedule, from annual obligations to monthly invoices.

HOA website software for homeowners associations

Yes, HOAs are all different, but most of them consist of planned housing complexes made up of single-family homes. Each homeowner owns their own dwelling, as well as the land on which it’s built and the lot space around it. Covenants prescribe various aspects of property appearance and upkeep, from paint colors and roofing materials to fence heights to pool configuration. The goal of all these rules is to maintain the standard of neighborhood appearance and uphold property values.

In these communities, homeowners elect a governing board of directors to oversee community upkeep, determine association fees and restrictions, and manage homeowner compliance with rules and covenants. These communities need a variety of HOA website software features to handle communication, billing, data management, and document access.

With an HOA-centric approach, you receive self-managed HOA software features that include the following:

Robust tenant contact database
Built-in financial management system
Business intelligence and reporting
Regulation transparency
Document storage
Community-wide communication

Community association management software for apartments and condominiums

In these multi-family housing scenarios, residents either rent apartment space or own a specific portion of the building bounded by the walls of their condo. But both of these types of living spaces rely on property managers to take care of everything from snow removal to lawn maintenance and plumbing repair to building security.

Renters typically are more transient than condo owners simply because they can opt out of a lease and move on—perhaps into a space they own. Regardless of whether they own space or simply rent it, these residents must follow a set of community rules designed to uphold standards and make each building function like a miniature neighborhood.

Some really large HOAs include sections made up of multi-family housing as well as their owner-occupied residences. These multi-family areas may include condos, apartments or a mixture of the two.

For all apartments and condos, communication is a real key to strong relationships between residents and management. So is the ability to keep track of essential services. Multi-family management relies on community association management software features such as these:

Help property managers provide concierge services
Manage apartment, condo, or co-op amenities
Optimize tasks such as visitor access and package tracking

Self-managed HOA software for co-ops

In a cooperative building, each resident owns a percentage of the overall living area in the form of a co-op unit, or the rights to occupy a specific unit with equally specific dimensions. As with apartments and condos, residents agree to abide by a specific set of rules that govern everything from noise levels to unit upkeep.

Co-op boards need a field service management tool that enables them to hire and control the work of outside vendors, including repairs, maintenance, and enhancements. This is one of the most-requested features of community association management that’s tailored to the needs of co-op communities.

Additionally, co-ops screen potential unit owners to a much greater extent than HOAs and condominium boards do. This process can involve extensive background checks, multiple interviews with specific co-op committees, and financial vetting to ensure that a prospect won’t become a liability as an owner.

To keep co-ops running smoothly, their boards hold responsibility for all aspects of the property, including the following:

The overall co-op
Amenities
Occupancy agreements that are binding for all residents

A field service management tool, which lets the board hire and manage outside vendors to do repair and other maintenance work, is one of the most desired aspects of co-op-tailored community association management software. Because co-op boards examine potential new members more extensively than HOAs and condominium boards, extensive tenant screening is also required for co-ops.

Functions that HOA software performs

HOA management software needs multiple capabilities to make a strong contribution to efficient, effective operation of a community’s many functions. Look for software that provides all these features and options.

HOA amenity software

Amenities can be the icing on the cake for communities that want to attract great residents. The trick to efficient amenity management is well-designed HOA amenity software that enables residents to book time on the courts or in the pool, accommodate a boat at the marina or find a stall for a horse, and reserve the clubhouse party room for a big family reunion or other get together.

No one wants to go back to signup sheets or process reservations through e-mail messages. HOA amenity software makes the reservation process as easy as clicking through a couple of screens to select dates and times. Administrators can let the process essentially run itself or screen reservations closely for compliance with community policies.

HOA document software

HOAs generate a long list of documents, including meeting minutes, covenants, rules and regulations, and bulletins on everything from safety and security to softball-league signups. When administrators must distribute these documents as paper copies or e-mailed digital files, the process becomes a time-consuming headache.

That’s why it’s essential for HOA document software to offer a centralized repository that administrators can set up with individualized folders for specific types of files. Each folder can carry its own access permissions, so the general public can see some files while others are visible only to logged-in members.

HOA payment software

Payment processing is its own monumental headache for HOA administrators who still operate in the checks-in-the-mail era. In fact, some HOAs wind up dedicating one or more administrative positions solely to payment management.

At the same time, most HOA residents not only are familiar and comfortable with online payments, but they prefer them to paper checks because of the speed and convenience with which their payments go through. From credit and debit cards to ACH debits for online processing from checking accounts, HOA payment software forms an integral part of HOA management software.

HOA voting software

HOA governance demands periodic votes to select board members, administrators, and other officers, and to assess how residents want to approach specific community issues. Just like payments, votes quickly become a hassle when they’re cast on paper—and e-mailed voting offers no privacy whatsoever.

HOA voting software integrates directly into the full suite of functions within self-managed HOA software. It presents significant questions online and can limit votes to one per address. It also can graph results for easy data visualization.

HOA website software

Homeowners associations configure all these functions through a community website that also serves to publicize the unique character of the community. This type of site presents essential neighborhood information and even showcases photography that highlights the unique character of the development and its geographic area.

A homeowners association website software provider that unifies the full spectrum of HOA support features into an easy-to-design site setup package makes it easy and quick to configure a site and get it online.

Why Choose HOA Start to Manage Your Association?

What makes HOA Start superior to other solutions? Our solution combines support for all of your HOA’s many tasks and teams into one package that’s easy to manage and customize. With specific features that handle amenities, reservations, communications, billing and payments, voting, and document storage, HOA Start helps you complete all your tasks without the unnecessary overhead and cost of third-party products. Take a second to review our software packages, and you’ll see that not only is our pricing competitive, but our features far exceed what other HOA software packages offer you.

What HOA Start does

Our community association management software provides all these features and manages all these functions:

HOA website builder
Online contact database
Communications system (e-mail)
Finance and payment system that integrates pricing with accounting
Event platform
Free demo

Our low costs feature three tiers of community management software pricing.

Why HOA Software?

If you're like many HOAs, you want to save money without compromising your HOA management functions. Many HOAs cut costs when they move from multiple providers to an all-in-one software solution—but your first consideration is to choose HOA software built specifically for your needs. You’ll find many HOA software packages that can send a questionnaire to a user, but only for general purposes. Polls and voting should be built into your HOA software package so they work with your resident list and you can customize them to your needs. When these features are built directly into your website and software, you can conduct votes with no need for e-mail and notifications, and everyone in your community—association residents as well as admins—have direct access to the results.

Homeowners and condo owners want easy-to-use software that helps HOAs achieve their goals of property value preservation, quality of life, and compliance with HOA regulations.

Benefits and advantages of HOA Start software

Some of the benefits of well-designed homeowners association software include:

Community management features that anticipate future needs
Frequent reports keep communication lines open
Streamlined community association management and operations
Easy tracking of maintenance requests, with reports generated for board members
Transparent costs and easy-to-itemize fees with simple billing

It’s up to each individual community to decide whether they want both an online presence and HOA software, although some state laws mandate HOA websites. The positives are numerous, from low costs to ease of use for admins and residents alike. Many homeowners association software providers offer sample HOA websites as well as HOA website management software demos. If saving time and money is a high priority for your community, take a close look at how HOA software can help you manage your community association!

HOA START IN ACTION!

How does HOA management software save you time and money? Today’s property management software packages offer a wide spectrum of features, functionality that simply wasn’t an option in the early days of HOA software. Back then, renting out a clubhouse was a significant undertaking. Members or residents would need to contact the community’s management firm or HOA leadership to check open dates for an amenity. You needed extensive e-mail exchanges or an in-person meeting just to sign waivers and papers and pay a deposit. Once an event was scheduled, administrators would need to send out written notices to every household—and for public events, they’d have to post announcements on site and even notify local media.

What does good software provide for HOAs?

Property management includes the operation, upkeep, marketing, and leasing of commercial and residential property. With the right HOA management software, community associations can resolve maintenance issues, manage payments, and update financial information from anywhere.

Every community faces some form of these issues, as does every form of investment property, including residential, multi-family, commercial, and mixed-use buildings, all of which face varying management requirements. A well-maintained property preserves its value, and reduces the risks of injury and liability that improper maintenance can cause. Good self managed HOA software can make all these property management functions easier and more consistent—and automated software process can save even more time.

Is HOA Start automated management software?

HOA Start has automated every step of the HOA management process, with shared calendars, online documentation, automated notifications, and online payments that reduce the process to an easy-to-manage set of responsibilities.

With built-in support for e-mail blasts that can reach every resident, communities no longer need a separate e-mail blast provider—and they don’t need to pay for envelopes, ink, paper, and postage. With built-in secure online payments, HOAs don’t need to research, set up, and pay separate payment processors. Best of all, HOAs don’t have to waste time on offline operations because centralized management software puts all these functions at their fingertips.

And did we mention that we offer free demos and trials of our HOA management software?

Robust features for easier management

Effective communication is vital to fulfilling your board’s demands, responding to inquiries and requests, and keeping both homeowners and condo owners happy. That’s why HOA software should include personalized messaging, board portals, and detailed, informative reports for community leadership. Every aspect of the software must be designed to simplify and speed up the job of the HOA administrator.

Standard features included with HOA Start software

The best software solutions for HOAs include the following features:

Simplify organization and task execution
Assist in efficient management of grounds and facilities
Assist with planning and organization documentation
Provide monthly reporting
Offer transparent reporting
Focus on property-management accounting
Include task automation
Send and receive bills with ease
Collect dues
Provide a marketing website for public communication
Enforce governing documents
Cover ongoing HOA expenses
Help manage HOA budgets
Track property management issues, property damage, and board violations
Record and respond to residents’ complaints, and resolve them efficiently
Comply with state laws and member property management regulations
Provide a homeowner communication portal
Provide a board portal for communication with membership
Easily share reports and other documentation with HOA board members
Securely store documents
Easily disseminate documents (e.g., bylaws, meeting minutes, covenants, and policies) to the community
Easily track key contact information and send documents for signing

When software helps reduce workloads and enables administrators to concentrate on essential duties, it provides the best solution for your HOA’s software management needs. Let HOA Start’s professional, affordable, efficient, effective HOA software provide the foundation of modern homeowner association management for YOUR association. Call us today at 863-462-7483 to schedule a demo of the best software on the market.

DOES IT WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY?

Every community management association can use HOA Start. You decide how much functionality you need and select the package level that matches your requirements. In a smaller community, for example, you may not need to manage amenities or event reservations. For a larger master association, you may need to handle various access levels, manage diverse properties, and work with location-specific vendors. Check out the customizability of HOA management software to make sure it can perform the way you need it to function. Take a look at our website for feature levels and pricing.

Does HOA Start work with self-managed community associations?

If you’ve chosen to self manage your community association, you’ve made a great decision when you choose HOA Start. It’s not as easy to manage your own community association as it might look, and the right software package makes a big impact on your efficiency and results. Follow these tips to self-manage an HOA successfully.

HOA Start Buying Process

Call HOA Start
Schedule a demo with HOA Start
Sign up for a FREE trial with HOA Start

Most of the work involved in setting up your community’s online presence occurs before you launch, but you’ll see enormous benefits for your association, administrators, and residents. As more communities implement management software, homeowners everywhere have come to expect it.

HOA Start FAQ:

Q: What can we manage with HOA management software?

A: Generally speaking, the best software packages enable you to build a website, maintain your contacts, interface with e-mail functions, schedule operations, store documents, and collect and process online payments securely.

Q: What is an online member portal?

A: Online member portals are just what the name suggests. They enable an association to be accessible to members at all times. The best HOA management software includes a portal so members can log into their individual accounts and access information the HOA makes available to them. Ideally, members should be able to update their profiles, download copies of the HOA’s governing documents, and view a calendar of events.

Q: How does HOA Start management software speed up ARC ticket response?

A: Using an HOA management program naturally leads to a more streamlined process. At HOA Start, you can search, review, approve, or deny requests more quickly, with e-mail integration so you can send work orders to vendors and reply to homeowners quickly, efficiently, and effectively.

Q: How scalable are HOA management programs?

A: HOA software is expansion ready. The only real effort that any HOA management program requires involves adding user accounts to the online homeowner portal.

Sign Up with HOA Start today.

Whether it’s building your website, chatting about your organization, or finding that unique solution to your community’s needs, HOA Start is here to help.

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