HOA Software Features

I am looking into partnering with my current HOA in building software to help manage their needs. In addition to their feedback, I was hoping to begin to get feedback from the community to possibly build something for HOAs in general.

Here's what I understand so far:

* HOAs need software built for their purposes, not generic tracking software or other help desk software.
* The software needs to be easy to use but also needs to have support available to help communities model their operations.
* Web based software is a must, with some mobile capabilities

Here are the problems I think most communities deal with:
* Communication with their residents, both from normal operations but also emergency situations.
* Receiving productive feedback from their residents
* Accounting and financials
* Service request workflows
* HOA violation workflows
* Contract negotiations

Here's my questions.

* Are my assumptions correct?
* What problems did I miss and what problems are most relevant?
* What price is tolerable for communities? Would $10/resident/year be too much? How much are current communities spending on software for their HOA?

Stephen,

Hoping that this isn't a scam thread to all of a sudden you announce you found the perfect software that does everything we say is needed (because if it does the members of this forum can be pretty brutal), I offer the following:

Look at the software already available.
This will likely give you the basics of what is needed.
Then modify/write scripts that can run on these units.

Do a search on this forum for "software" as this topic has been discussed in the past and, if I recall correctly, it boils down to these issues:

1) The computer literacy of the next person to hold the position
2) Hardware access (Association computer or personal computer)
3) Data retention - THERE ARE CONCERNS WHEN THIRD PARTIES HAVE CUSTODY OF THE DATA
4) Ease of use - to use military jargon - it needs to be Sailor, Solder, Airman, Marine proof.
5) Amount of time needed to set it up

Hope this helps,

Tim

I have been looking for such a program. Here is my wish list:

-it needs to be web based
-it needs to work like or integrate with Quickbooks. I want to be able to download dues payments and pay bills in the software. I want the applicable financial information to appear in the financial section as well as in each individual homeowner's file. I am currently researching what are the best HOA friendly banks... BB&T is on my short list.
-it needs to produce easy to read, customizable and useful financial reports, exportable into Excel and PDF format. Most board members struggle with finance reports.
-it needs to have some mechanism to automatically create and track late fees and fines.
-it needs to have a note feature so the board can document in each homeowner's online file. It should automatically add in the date and user initials when the submit button is clicked.
-it needs to have the ability to upload our own custom made letters to use as templates as well as upload letters and documents and bills. You can have some ready to use templates available as well.
-it needs to have sections in each homeowner's file for contact info, upload family pictures, family members, pets, ARB requests, complaints, volunteer work, employment, RV info, gate code.... anything you can think of that homeowners may use or have that the HOA might want to note. The ability to customize this area would be great.
-it needs to have the ability to set reminders for things. It should be able to email reminders to residents such as "Time to pay dues!"

I would pay up to $50 per month for a good web based program, do not underestimate the value of what you are trying to accomplish!! Please keep us posted!

Allison

As a homeowner, I don't want to load my personal photos or my kids information into a HOA website. I also do not care to conduct any financial business with the HOA on the website.

I would like to be able to electronically complete and submit an ARC form to the property manager. I would like to be able to look up deed restrictions, policies and rules, and meeting minutes. I would like a calendar of events.

I might like to be able to send messages to the property manager but overall, I think any HOA that wants to use their website for communication needs to consider all of the implications. I would say no to community forums simply because some people can't be nice and who would moderate?

As far as Board business, that is trickier. The admin would have to control who had access. Looking at financial statements, collections, and violations and having it all live on one site might make it easier for new Board members to catch up, esp when some issues drag on for years. Project management might be a nice area to develop (budget for the line item, bids, contracts, project history). I wouldn't necessarily use the site for other communication because of the statutes of some states. In our state, Board members are not allowed to discuss Board business outside of Board meetings (Sunshine State Law).

StephenN2 -

It seems like what you're trying to create either (a) has already been done - check out the Association Edition of Buildium.com - or (b) needs to be "cobbled together" from multiple SaaS products.

For the record I have no connection to any product/service I might mention in this post; just experience with a self-managed HOA and attempting to maximize the efficiency of that management will web-based tools.

Once you start down the road of separating out your financial program (e.g. QB either online or traditional), you're faced with either integrating primarily the residents table of the financial program with the same table info in the other components. IMO, import/export is more trouble that it's worth, and true bi-directional integrations (especially with QB Online, I think) can be a little tricky since most of the other functional "parts" will have a similar table. Unless I really missed something in QBOE and others, it's somewhat challenging to set up the dues "income" while still segregating out the "reserve fund contribution" income from a reporting sense on P/Ls and Balance Sheets. But, admittedly that could just be because I'm not an accountant . . . . . . ;-)

As mentioned to Ann, much of the functions needed can be provided by vendors of HOA Website systems (include this board's sponsor) or generic membership organization SaaS products like Wild Apricot.

Process flow, is a little trickier to find in a format that would be acceptable to most HOA residents, but I suppose it would be possible to adapt services such as Podio, Asana, Work[
Etc] and others.

Sorry for the somewhat scattered post here, but I think the real challenge is creating a product that will be both functional and embraced by a wide variety of individual users with great diversity in technical acceptance/saavy.