Major turning point for our association

I have been on the Board nearly 3 years now.

Our community was a wreck when I joined. Previous Boards (really, one person on a Board) did half of a variety of capital improvements around our neighborhood and several projects were not done well. Trying to properly complete the half done projects took a lot of time in the beginning, especially since I was starting new with vendor relationships and project planning / oversight.

At the same time, previous Boards had not invested in maintaining the community. We had park benches in poor condition, wells that had failed, electrical outlets not working, and landscaping plantings that didn't take and left looking in awful condition. I put extensive time (as well as Association funds) into finding vendors to make repairs, signing contracts, validating work was complete, and otherwise taking care of general maintenance in our community.

I also worked on internal stuff for our association as well. Our reserve study was in poor shape because it didn't reflect the actual assets that we owned and the cost estimates for replacement were about 1/2 of the actual replacement cost. Working with the vendor to update the reserve study as well as handling other internal stuff (like publishing meeting minutes, closing out storage units, and the like) all took time.

As of today, nearly 3 years after joining the Board, I can look around and finally say that our Association is in a good position. Our parks have been brought back up to good maintenance standards. We have finished all of the half finished projects done by previous Boards. We have an effective compliance system, a functioning ACC committee, quality parks, and good overall management.

Thus, I forsee a major change in our HOA. Our pace is likely to slow. Our Board meetings will have smaller slide decks and take less time. We still have a few big projects left, but once complete, we will be able to dramatically reduce our dues.

It feels good to say that we can finally slow down a bit, after all of this time.

Good work. I know there's been a lot of back and forth between you and some of us on this board about some of your approaches, but one can tell that you care about your community and are willing to put in the work to make it better than you found it. Here's hoping your board colleagues are inspired to help you out (rather than sitting there and taking the credit {you know they are}.

As you relate your successes to the homeowners, I think you should also remind them that maintaining a clean, safe, attractive community where property values rise (hopefullY) takes EVERYONE's cooperation. It's not just something that's only the responsibility of the board or the property manager - people have to pay assessments in full and on time, take care of the common areas as well as their own property. It's not rocket science - just be a good neighbor and treat people the way you'd like to be treated (or live next door to). Most times that's all you need.

Finally, be careful about the "dramatic reduction in assessments." Note, I said assessments because that's what they are. Dues are something you pay to something voluntary, like a book club, whereas you have a legal obligation to pay assessments. I know it's great to say "we did X and now we can reduce assessments", but inflation has a nasty way of blowing that stuff out of the water.

Instead, why not consider holding assessments at their current level - if you can do it for a few years, great. Better to do that so that when you do have to increase assessments (and you will), people may appreciate the break they've had and understand why the increases are necessary. This would also be a great way of driving home the point that people have to take care of their stuff - the less wear and tear or replacement due to misuse and abuse of the common areas, the stronger the association's finances will be now and in the future.

Good job I ve never heard of a board reducing assessments. That’s quite the feat

Agree with Tim. Not long ago, and then above, MichaelT wrote that the person who did their reserves study underestimated the estimated value of their common are components--mostly parks and things that go in parks--by 50%. .so...unless their reserves were overfunded at that time, it seems they could use some bolstering.

Kudos to MichaelT, who has worked hard for his community.

Yes, reserves are a concern. We're making good progress but it will take a few years to get the reserve study fully updated. And then there is the matter of funding it. We're making progress getting to full funding, but not there yet. We are going to hold off on a big project now to try to beef up reserves. I don't want to be known as the HOA President that drained the reserves to get work done around the community. I hope, when the time comes for me to depart the Board, that we are 100% funded in reserves. I would be proud to leave the HOA in a healthy financial state.