HOA Newsletters

Does anyone make paper newsletters for their HOA? We don't have committee members or volunteers. I'd like to see content or suggestions for content that will keep the community engaged. Would also like to T know the cost of such.. Thanks in advance..

These days people are getting away from newsletters. I used to prepare one for our community and it can take a lot of time in writing and copyediting, getting it printing and then delivering it. If you don't want to go house to house you'll have to spend more money on printing and postage.

It may be better to sponsor a website, where it's faster to update the content and people can access it with their smartphones, computer or tablet. They've not that expensive, and you might be able to pay a talented high school or college student to set it up. Or your property management company can put one together for you. If you have one, talk to him o Or her about pricing.

If you insist on a paper newsletter, I would make it quarterly (because few people have time to put one together every month). I had a section that listed the same general information, such as the phone numbers for the city to request heavy trash pickup. Because we had so many people renting their units, we'd have to mail copies to the off site owners as well as pass them out. We tied to sell advertising to defeat postage and printing t costs, but that didn't work very well - hopefully that won't be your story.

We had one put together by a committee of 3 people for many years. One by one they resigned and now we have no newsletter. They were primarily sent out through email and the HOA would pick up the costs for about 20 printed copies that were left in the mailroom. At 4 black & white pages the cost wasn't that much. We had a social committee budget back then and the newsletter costs came out of it. It was only about $10 or $15 a month if I remember correctly.

As for content, I don't have any suggestions but I'm sure others will. I always found ours to be basically cringeworthy with announcements of birthdays, anniversaries, quick writeups about social events and parties that had taken place, etc. We also had a full-page monthly calendar in the newsletter. That was probably the most useful thing.

Based on the size, complexity, fact that you have a website already, then a newsletter on the website makes sense - doesn’t require sponsorship, just one time payment, perhaps, to the hosting team for custom modifications to your site.

I forgot to ask if you have a common area like pool or sports club ... if so, you could have copies sitting around there.

Direct delivery to homes, IMO, is too expensive.

Ah ... when you say information, do you mean governing docs?

If so, a newsletter, while an ok reminder, is not the issue.

You might wanna consider a welcoming committee ... or, since every property owner must contact the manager to pay dues, then have manager provide link to the website for the docs - I’m assuming the docs are there. Letter of welcome with the link, Welcome Committee package with links, etc.

I have done my homework on that trust me!! And you are correct. What people 'see' is not necessarily what it "IS". Tell me more about these 'flyer boxes'...

Also known as brochure boxes. They are popular with the For Sale by Owner crowd - usually a plastic or vinyl box sitting on a metal H frame. You can find them at the big box home improvement or office supply stores.

We have cluster USPS mailboxes in our community, and the board put one brochure box by each of our three "clusters". They also put up a sign at our community's entrance when there is a new newsletter available.

Renee,

We did a quarterly newsletter.
Unfortunately, the boards that replaced me seem far less transparent and does not do as many newsletters.

When I was the editor of the newsletter, I put together a binder outlining what (as a minimum) needed to be covered and when. I also have several articles already made so the new editors could get started.

Email me and I'll provide what I've made.

[email protected]

Renee,

I provided replied with a couple of emails (done quickly).
I'll send more tonight (Monday) when I get a break at work.

Facebook is a super easy way to stay in touch with HOA members vs a newsletter. You can easily do a facebook page that anyone can read and not need to be a member of facebook. You would only need an account to post comments, or other facebook services.

My only advice is...... dont post dumb articles. People are super busy with everything these days. They dont want to read fluff articles that have nothing to do with "their" hoa. The more fluff you post, the more people will ignore your posts or newsletters.

To Steve's comment - FB is a great place for social media interactions.

The "however," is that it is not, IMO, a good place - or even a suitable place - to provide interaction between Board and property owners.

You probably have a website operated by the property manager - this is, IMO, the place for the Board, and Committees that have been developed and approved by the Board, to provide an interaction point.

I agree not specific info, but events, newsletter info, etc. Want no comments? Simply click turn off comments and no one will be able to comment.



Maintaining a website for a newsletter is a waste of time, money and resources. If no one goes to it, whats the point of having it. With facebook, a new post will show up in users feeds automatically, on a website they already use daily.

I do a quarterly newsletter for the community I manage. It is primarily distributed by email, but I print 30 or so copies to keep at the pools (when they are open) and at the sales office (the property is still building).

It can be easy to feel that it's not worth the effort, but lack of communication is one of the most common complaints owners have about their HOA, so it's worth a try.

My newsletter has: quarterly financial report, list of upcoming social events, recap of past events, a maintenance update, usually an article about landscape maintenance that is appropriate to the season, and an article explaining some aspect of the HOA (how to report a violation, what to do if your assessment is delinquent, etc.)

Do it quarterly for a year, then ask at the next annual meeting how many people have read it or know it exists. That will tell you if it's worthwhile.

But manage your expectations. The community I manage has a website with every possible piece of information you could want about the HOA, a Facebook page, an email list that I send regular updates to, and when there are meetings or special events I send out a notice or postcard, and post signs all over the neighborhood. And without fail, at least half a dozen people will say they "had no idea" there was an Easter parade or pool party or whatever. Or they will ask about something that was just mentioned in the latest email or newsletter.

People don't pay attention to any information unless it is relevant to them at that exact moment. And when they do want to know something, they seldom seek out the answer on their own; more likely they go on Facebook and ask someone to tell them.

Hey, I agree facebook is evil, but until everyone stops using it, its the best choice.

Your assuming everyone is less evil?

Even the US postal service scans every piece of mail since 2001.

Because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. Like Facebook.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.

this post is about a newsletter.....

My suggestion if you want to do a newsletter . . .
- start small (1-2 pages max, low effort to prepare),
- keep it simple (determine if hand delivery of paper is easiest or email),
- keep it cheap (prepared by Board or neighbors and send by email for cheapest, but if paper is essential, then keep simple, short, and B&W printing),
- incorporate mechanism to get feedback from neighbors (create online survey, request feedback/suggestions through email, or even put a phone number if that's preferred),
- create one every 2-3 months or each quarter for 6-12 months, then decide where to go from there (do suggest having a timeline for production so people know when to expect the next one).

Getting back to your actual questions, requests:

- "Does anyone make paper newsletters for their HOA?"
Some do paper only, some do electronic only, some do a hybrid, some do no newsletter whatsoever. Totally up to you with what your community wants to do or spend money on.

- ReneeH5 . . . "We don't have committee members or volunteers."
If you really want a newsletter, you need to figure some things out. Need to either hire professionals to write it for you (cost $). Need to find additional time as Board Members and Officers to write it (adds to your workload). Or need to find volunteers in neighborhood willing to assist or coordinate the whole thing (Board still needs to oversee and review).

- ReneeH5 . . . "I'd like to see content or suggestions for content that will keep the community engaged."
Suggest Googling newsletter examples for ideas or soliciting neighbors for what they think is interesting and valuable info. A few random ideas I thought of: note from the President/Board, updates on completed, on-going, future projects; rule & regulation reminders; local restaurant reviews; events inside HOA (easter egg hunt, annual block party, etc.) or within local area (town festival, fireworks at the park, etc.).

- ReneeH5 . . . "Would also like to T know the cost of such."
If you insist on a paper newsletter, costs will include various things depending on how you plan to prepare it and deliver it to residents: preparation costs if you need to hire people to produce content (or if prepared by Board or neighbors it should be free); printing costs based on # pages, # copies, layout; delivery costs if you plan to mail it (envelope, postage, folding & stuffing envelopes); or no delivery cost (if hand-delivered by volunteers, offered for pickup at locations, or electronically/email delivered). You could possibly solicit local restaurants/businesses for ad space at a cost to offset your preparation/delivery costs.