Being a caring, kind, helpful HOA

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

As many of you know, I try to incorporate the ideas of all of the Board members into how we operate.

I've narrowed down that one of the Board members who frustrates me a bit would like us to be more caring, kind, and helpful. All of the ideas he has are bad (let's as Board members go mow people's yards who don't have time to do it for themselves), but I am wondering if anyone here incoporated ideas of kindness, caring, helpful into how they operate as an HOA?

I frankly think those terms are incompatible with an HOA. An HOA, by definition, is a bit obnoxious (telling people to go mow their lawns), threatening (pay up or we force you to sell your house), and commanding (play nicely in the parks or get a compliance letter). I don't see an obvious way of including kindness, caring, and helpful as descriptions to our HOA....

But just want to check with others and see if you've had any experiences with this?

MaxB4
Posts: 3,513

Posted:

My wife and I vowed to never live in another HOA as long as we live.

JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631

Posted:

You could be kind to your HOA by limiting your Power Point presentations to less than 100 slides.

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

Our Association has snow angels who shovel the snow from driveways and sidewalks for owners who physically cannot. We support the surviving spouse of a resident who has passed away. We help with minor maintenance with a unit if an owner cannot. we have a lot of social interactions within the association.

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

Our Association has snow angels who shovel the snow from driveways and sidewalks for owners who physically cannot. We support the surviving spouse of a resident who has passed away. We help with minor maintenance with a unit if an owner cannot. we have a lot of social interactions within the association.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Being "caring, kind, helpful" sure sounds nice, doesn't it?

If you're talking about carrying out *the duties of the HOA* in a kind and professional manner, that's great.

If you're using association resources for things that are NOT the business of the HOA - such as handling owners' personal responsibilities - that's not good. That's enforced charity. I'm willing to bet that there is nothing in your CC&Rs that give the association any authority to do these things, and the owners who did not agree to this have a valid reason to take legal action.

The HOA is also taking on legal liabilities for which you're almost certainly not insured.

The HOA is a business, not a charitable organization. The board needs to remember this and behave accordingly - or at some point the association attorney and the insurer may have something to say, and they won't be praising your kindness and helpfulness.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelS56 on 11/24/2022 5:04 AM
Our Association has snow angels who shovel the snow from driveways and sidewalks for owners who physically cannot. We support the surviving spouse of a resident who has passed away. We help with minor maintenance with a unit if an owner cannot. we have a lot of social interactions within the association.

If these are individual homeowners (not the board or other official volunteers) who are doing these things, that's fine and dandy.

If the HOA is organizing these chores, I sure hope your insurance agent knows about this and your "snow angels" are covered by insurance. Our attorney said no way no how should we use volunteers to remove snow, not even young and fit persons who are unlikely to have a heart attack. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 11/23/2022 6:22 PM

I've narrowed down that one of the Board members who frustrates me a bit would like us to be more caring, kind, and helpful. All of the ideas he has are bad (let's as Board members go mow people's yards who don't have time to do it for themselves), but I am wondering if anyone here incoporated ideas of kindness, caring, helpful into how they operate as an HOA?

I've done that on my own, as a good neighbor.
Mind you, it was a select few and not the entire development.

As a board member:

Being kind, caring and helpful can always be injected.
For example, knowing that some repairs can take time, money and planning (roof, paint, fence) we would give the member to fix such a discrepancy.

Other repairs (paint front stoop railing, lawn, etc.) we would give 30 days to correct.

Late charges (first notice) always offered to waive if brought current by mm/dd/yyyy.

Incorporating the ideas are fine.
How you put those ideas into action may be limited for a board to do.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnT38 on 11/24/2022 4:11 AM
You could be kind to your HOA by limiting your Power Point presentations to less than 100 slides.

Good point. We have less going on next year so I think I can limit each meeting to no more than 50 slides.

BillH10 (Texas)
Posts: 1,217

Posted:

I recommend you strive for 10 slides, 5 would be better

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BillH10 on 11/24/2022 9:34 AM
I recommend you strive for 10 slides, 5 would be better

I said what I posted above more tongue in cheek, but to be serious, the powerpoint deck looks like this:

1) Cover slide
2) Attendance slide
3) Slide discussing purpose of executive session
4) Executive session cover slide
5 - 8) Compliance issues (3 slides)
9) Delinquent accounts
10) Cover slide for open session
11) Motions from executive session
12 - 18) Vendor proposals (depending on how many we have
19 - 24) Unfinished business (varies based on how much unfinished business)
24 - 30) New business (varies based on how much new business)
30 - 31) ACC Committee slides, one slide per ACC application
32) Final rounds
33) Homeowner forum
34) Adjournment slide

We don't dwell on the slides, spending no more than 1-2 minuted per slide. Meetings take just a hair over 90 minutes, we usually make about 20 decisions per meeting.

It's efficient and a good use of time, and I've heard no complaints save one Board member, who I've posted about previously.

WendyM5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 1,522

Posted:

of course you can be kind and helpful.
If someone has trouble mowing their lawn mention the teenager down the street will do it for a small fee.
If needs help fixing their home help them see if it qualifies for help from the city grant or mention places to find lower priced contrctors

basically find ways to be helpful instead of being demanding.

vis ta vie

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By WendyM5 on 11/24/2022 10:18 AM
of course you can be kind and helpful.
If someone has trouble mowing their lawn mention the teenager down the street will do it for a small fee.
If needs help fixing their home help them see if it qualifies for help from the city grant or mention places to find lower priced contrctors

basically find ways to be helpful instead of being demanding.

Wendy,

As a Board volunteer, I have no knowledge, nor desire to gain knowledge, about city grants that may or may not be available to lower income families.

With regards to recommending teenagers or lower priced contractors, I do not believe that is the role of the association. I don't wish to warranty the work of "lower priced contractors" nor wish someone to be upset with the HOA because a cheap contractor or teenager did poor quality work.

I don't consider an HOA to be a resource center for homeowners...we have community facebook groups, nextdoor groups, community organizations, and other places where that type of information can be gained.

WendyM5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 1,522

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 11/24/2022 10:25 AM

Posted By WendyM5 on 11/24/2022 10:18 AM
of course you can be kind and helpful.
If someone has trouble mowing their lawn mention the teenager down the street will do it for a small fee.
If needs help fixing their home help them see if it qualifies for help from the city grant or mention places to find lower priced contrctors

basically find ways to be helpful instead of being demanding.

Wendy,

As a Board volunteer, I have no knowledge, nor desire to gain knowledge, about city grants that may or may not be available to lower income families.

With regards to recommending teenagers or lower priced contractors, I do not believe that is the role of the association. I don't wish to warranty the work of "lower priced contractors" nor wish someone to be upset with the HOA because a cheap contractor or teenager did poor quality work.

I don't consider an HOA to be a resource center for homeowners...we have community facebook groups, nextdoor groups, community organizations, and other places where that type of information can be gained.

so why did you post the question? if you want to stick to your tried and true ways, fine, but dont' waste others times with questions you have no interest in pursuing.

vis ta vie

LayaS (Nebraska)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MaxB4 on 11/23/2022 7:52 PM
My wife and I vowed to never live in another HOA as long as we live.

I said that too Max. But alas I am living in one. So far so good. It's still under developer control and it probably will be for a long time. The covenants state that the HOA will be turned over to the owners when the last lot is sold. I am in phase I and phase II is just getting started. Phase I is not completely built out yet. Could be a long time before that happens. It has very limited amenities. I believe I previously posted the dues are only $8 a month for maintenance of an entry sign and landscaping. I may be making some assumptions here but I think the more expensive neighborhoods tend to be pickier about external appearances of the properties. Which I think is part of what gives HOA's a negative reputation. I am speaking of single family homes.

To MichaelT21's post about being kind, caring, helpful... Of course, I believe there needs to be more of this in this crazy ole world but the HOA should stick to the business of running the HOA as a business. Neighbors can be helpful to each other without HOA involvement. My new next door neighbor brought over a Thanksgiving gift today. What a kind gesture. That is the type of neighbor I was hoping to get. Some of the other neighbors have been super friendly as well. Again, leave it up to the neighbors to be kind and helpful without HOA involvement.

Yeah, limiting those power points sounds like good advice.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LayaS on 11/24/2022 4:45 PM

Posted By MaxB4 on 11/23/2022 7:52 PM
My wife and I vowed to never live in another HOA as long as we live.

I said that too Max. But alas I am living in one. So far so good. It's still under developer control and it probably will be for a long time. The covenants state that the HOA will be turned over to the owners when the last lot is sold. I am in phase I and phase II is just getting started. Phase I is not completely built out yet. Could be a long time before that happens. It has very limited amenities. I believe I previously posted the dues are only $8 a month for maintenance of an entry sign and landscaping. I may be making some assumptions here but I think the more expensive neighborhoods tend to be pickier about external appearances of the properties. Which I think is part of what gives HOA's a negative reputation. I am speaking of single family homes.

To MichaelT21's post about being kind, caring, helpful... Of course, I believe there needs to be more of this in this crazy ole world but the HOA should stick to the business of running the HOA as a business. Neighbors can be helpful to each other without HOA involvement. My new next door neighbor brought over a Thanksgiving gift today. What a kind gesture. That is the type of neighbor I was hoping to get. Some of the other neighbors have been super friendly as well. Again, leave it up to the neighbors to be kind and helpful without HOA involvement.

Yeah, limiting those power points sounds like good advice.

The powerpoints are simply pictures of our community. They aren't hard to look at, and provide for good discussion so we all understand what we're looking at.

Otherwise, I say "the benches at basketball park are end of life" and people think of three different parks and six different benches. Half of the benches new, and the people picturing the new ones don't understand why I am proposing to replace benches, when the 3 they aren't thinking of are rusted through and safety hazards.

Putting a picture or two of the bench in question eliminates half of the discussion/argument about which bench is under discussion and gets to the heart of the matter (do we want to replace this bench or not) much quicker.

LayaS (Nebraska)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Of course Michael. A picture can be worth a 1,000 words. Your HOA is much larger and more complex than mine. I just know from my working experience, that you can lose your audience's attention with too many power points. Short, concise points mixed in with explanations seems best. You are probably much more skilled at them than I am. It's been a while since I gave a presentation of any kind. But in my opinion, 50 to 100 slides seems a bit excessive for an HOA meeting.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LayaS on 11/24/2022 5:18 PM
Of course Michael. A picture can be worth a 1,000 words. Your HOA is much larger and more complex than mine. I just know from my working experience, that you can lose your audience's attention with too many power points. Short, concise points mixed in with explanations seems best. You are probably much more skilled at them than I am. It's been a while since I gave a presentation of any kind. But in my opinion, 50 to 100 slides seems a bit excessive for an HOA meeting.

I'm in full agreement that the complexity of our association exceeds that of a volunteer group. For many years, our parks and community spaces have fallen into decay. The long powerpoint presentations were intended to cover the myriad of work needed to restore our parks and community spaces to "nice" condition. We did that for 3 years. I'm working on the Decmeber meeting, and it's short - 18 slides that together cover 3 decisions. I think 2023 will be much shorter meetings with shorter powerpoint decks.

The thing that I would like people here to understand is that it is not my decision the rate at which our community decays, nor my decision as to what a "good condition" community looks like. That decision belongs to nature and/or the homeowners at large. They've been asking that we restore the parks to "good" condition, and if longer meetings with big powerpoint decks are what it takes to make that happen, so be it.

I have, on my occasions, reminded our other Board members that we have a $274,000 annual operating budget and it takes a lot of work to spend that kind of money in an effective manner. I am unapologetic on that, and any Board member who does not want to look at a 50 slide powerpoint presentation is welcome to submit their resignation of their position.