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AlanL1 (Florida)
Posts: 1
Posted:
Hi -

I am a board member for my HOA in a large community in South Florida. I am also the owner of a voice & SMS delivery company and am currently researching the feasibility of using such a service in large communities. I just joined this forum because I'm interested to hear from other HOA board members if such a service would benefit others and whether it can tackle some of the communication problems HOAs currently face today.

Here are some of the features that I've been thinking would benefit our community (and maybe others?):

1. The ability to easily send voice (either recorded in person or converted to speech) or text messages (SMS) to all residents via regular land line, cell phone, email and text message.
2. The ability to provide residents with an anonymous tip off system (example: a resident can text message directly to the HOA without disclosing information or talking to someone).
3. The ability to provide auto response news information via text message. Example: Resident text messages the word "Info" to a certain number and receives back any information, news, property updates etc.
4. The ability to setup an emergency voice delivery message to all residents. For example, in case of a storm (especially here in Florida!) HOA members can quickly send an emergency notification to all residents.
5. The ability for residents to send a text message and have that message routed immediately to property or security teams. For example: Texting "Send security to XXX village" will immediately broadcast an alert to your security teams.
6. Voting system: Send an interactive voice or text message that captures responses from residents.

I welcome any comments on this topic as I'm certainly interested to hear if any (or even none) of the above would be a benefit to other HOA's?.

Thank you in advance.
Alan.
MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836
Posted:
This sounds like a good idea on the surface. I applaud the effort. Kind of jealous in a way as well. However, after years of being involved in my HOA, you will find that MOST members in a HOA do NOT participate. The recipients of this service most likely will treat it like "spam". You can bring the water to a camel but you can't make it drink.

I would still discuss the idea and propose it to the board and general members. You may even want to do a quick survey to see what the interest may be. In our HOA, technology wasn't a high point. Most people were elderly, computerless, and our internet connection was dial-up. So you may want to evaluate what type of people actually live in your HOA and what technology they have.

Most likely your issues is going to be with contact information. Not everyone wants to be contacted or will provide information your system requires. Plus, it can change fast with ownership. The system should only be for owners and not renters. You may also be dealing with rental companies as well who most likely won't care about the information.

As a salesperson, you should know who your selling to overall. Who will be your clients? Will it be the HOA paying for your service or the individual homeowners? Who's in control of sending out what information? What about privacy issues? Just a few questions you may want to answer before preceeding or presenting.

Former HOA President

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