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RachelN1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1
Posted:
I serve as my HOA board president and we are really moving towards self management. We’ve worked with 2 management companies and have had issues with both. We are a small neighborhood with only 41 homes and no ammenities. We have a landscaped entrance and a small grassy common area with our community mailboxes.
I am a stay at home mom and do have the time needed to do the self management tasks. We have very few monthly expenses (landscaper, water, electric) and a few yearly expenses (taxes, insurance, annual meeting room fee, backflow testing). Over the past 18 months I have literally had to tell our management company to do anything and everything... they do nothing without me asking why it hasn’t been done. While some might argue that the management company could save us money I don’t see how this could be true in our case. I found and contracted the landscapers and shipped for the best rate with insurance companies and all of our other expenses are at a set rate.
Our yearly dues are $400 per household and our management fee is $200 per month. They also charge us $1 per letter sent (more if it is more than 2 pages) and $1 for every check written. They don’t do violation drive thru’s but do send the letters when I send them the violation list. They also have a ton of other fees- file box storage fee???, crazy tax preparation fees just to name a few.

So, we want to switch to self management. I want to find a software program that is reasonable to help with dues and bill paying and to keep a good financial record for us. I don’t know where to start with this...
MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836
Posted:
We were self managed. We contracted out our Accounting who just collected the dues, wrote checks, and did the taxes. A really scaled down MC. Matter of fact, one of our member's owned the Accounting firm and was thus dedicated as our "Treasurer". The expense each month was just a few hundred dollars. They had a box outside for our dues to drop off at the mailbox area. Which sometimes would receive letters from members. They just forwarded them to us. We also had a special check ledger with them that took a 2 signature system. They had to sign and 2 approved Officers on the bank signature list every check written. It was the checks and balances.

Everything else like rule enforcement, notifications, and managing the HOA fell on the volunteer board. Which would suggest bringing a copy of those rules to every meeting. Reference them if a question comes up. You can delay the answer to say you all need to review before providing an answer with direct quotes from the rules.

I would also budget in items such as collection expenses. It costs money to file liens. Your HOA is a non-profit. Doesn't mean it can't make a "profit" but it should collect what it collects. The extra money could go to a reserve account for future big projects.

It's going to be hard but it's doable. Many of us here go without an MC.

Former HOA President
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
We hired a bookkeeper to help.

130 homes, $450 per month.
JanetB2 (Colorado)
Posts: 4,219
Posted:
With that few homes I would recommend being self managed as long as you have all your owner’s willing to take a turn being a member of the BOD or ACC ... you do not want to abuse a few and down the road have apathy. My HOA stresses the importance that all members have an opportunity to serve on he BOD and other committees. Also, in my HOA we stress that is is not only important to share the responsibilies among all homeowners, it is also important for each homeowner to have input in the decision making. Potentially because we in our HOA have established a “team” attitude is the reason when we need to amend our CCR’s we can obtain 100% of the owners to agree. If you can establish a close knit homeowner group then being self managed would work out great.
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Rachel

41 homes and no amenities lends itself to being self managed.

Be sure others will step in and be willing to do the required work.

A basic personal financial software program such as Microsoft Money or Quicken Personal should suffice. Chose one easy to learn and use.

Maybe even have an association laptop/printer dedicated to the HOA and they pass from person to person doing the work.

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