Weird Topic Request

RickW (Illinois)
Posts: 169

Posted:

I'm on the board of an association of 56 townhomes, a condo association by law. We have very little interest by the homeowners in the overall association. We typically have 2-4 homeowners attend meetings, its difficult to obtain a quorum at our annual meeting, even more difficult to obtain names of owners who might consider to be a part of the board of directors.

The complex is about 10 years old and fairly financially sound. We have a Reserve Study which was updated within the past few months. We have raised yearly assessments for at least the past 3 years without much outcry from homeowners.We have begun some capital reserve work and have worked hard at making decisions that will maintain or improve our property values.

Overall, things seem to be good. I might be asking for something I will live to regret, yet, I wish their was more involvement from owners. We have launched a website recently and are trying to help it get off the ground, help it be something the homeowners will go to for information, assistance, etc. The website 'newsletter' has been updated every 3 or so weeks. News notes have been changed and topics posted on the forums, all in an effort to get some response.

I get the feeling our newsletter and our news notes tend to relate to the what do and what don't do within our complex. I'm hoping all of the friendly, intelligent, and experienced people on this website might offer up a few 'fun' or 'newsworthy', or 'did you know' topics that could be posted on our website. Topics that might draw one to return to our website to see what else in new. Topics that don't say "here is another rule to remember and follow'.

Thanks in advance
Rick

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061

Posted:

Rick,

I've had suggested to me to include the local school activities, achievements and/or sport results of the members. After all everyone likes to read about their children. Problem is, to do it properly, takes a lot of commitment to keep up with what is happening within the Association.

Another option, outside of the website, is to have a community cookout. This can be sponsored by the Association but cost very little. Just supply the grills. Ask people to bring their own meat, drinks and a dish to share. Then come and meet the neighbors.

Tim

RickW (Illinois)
Posts: 169

Posted:

Tim,

Both are excellent ideas, thanks!

We have thought about some sort of get together. We live in the Midwest, so we have a few months before that would be practical. LOL I've tried to gently nudge this responsibility to others, but have yet found a volunteer. I still am keeping my eyes open!

I had not thought of news on local school sports!!! Perfect, I like it!! My own kids are now grown adults, so I'll need to do a bit of research to know what to post, but this is just the sort of topics I was looking to receive.

I just posted information on a program our village has, "Valentines for Veterans". I guess their is good information, positive information to be found!!

EileenE1 (Florida)
Posts: 9

Posted:

Good luck! We are a small HOA and are in the process of starting a website, with much the same info, we are including our rules and regulations,information about the community, rental applications that can be downloaded,etc.etc. I am hoping this will encourage community involvment (though I doubt it) We also had "free" cookouts ( by free I mean,members did not have to pay to get in nor did they have to cook or bring a dish ) out of about 100 units twenty showed up and I mean people not units. It seems people in the community do not care or want to be involved. The only time they seem to care is when their assessments are raised. Good luck again, maybe it will be different for you.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

This isn't a weird topic - your community sounds a lot like mine (except for the financially sound part, unfortunately - we're working on that!)

Since I'm the association's representative to the Community Association Institute, I have access to newsletter articles they print from time to time that can be run in your newsletter. Not all of them are about CCRs - some address things like "meet your property manager", crime prevention tips, etc. You can adapt them to your use.

As for other community involvement examples, I've heard townhall meetings might work - instead of making it a garden variety gripe session, maybe you can bring in other speakers, like a city council rep to discuss issues of special interest to your community

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

JohnO6 (Georgia)
Posts: 424

Posted:

RickW -

As you'll undoubtedly hear from others on this forum, homeowner apathy seems pandemic to many associations. Given that you're launching a website, below I'll share some ideas we have used to make our HOA site (103 homes) more useful and with a somewhat broader "perspective" for our owners.

But going in, you probably realize that there are two types of people in this world - those that embrace technology and the internet in general, and those that do not. Actually, I've been told that the "real" definition of the two types of people in this world is "those that categorize people into two groups, and those that do not

but, I digress.

While the primary purpose of our HOA's website is to both provide a reference resource and a communication vehicle for our owners, we have tried to broaden that narrow focus to make it more useful and attractive. These have met with varying degrees of success, but they include:

1). We try to publish photos (usually candids) from most social events in the community. I find that web hits double or triple nearly every time we do this - there's just something about people wanting to see themselves and those they know in photos.

2). We publish upcoming events from both our town and county newsletters.

3). Our landscaping vendor publishes a periodic newsletter on plant care and we include that on our site as well with their permission.

4). Given that the medium is the web, we periodically highlight a "featured website" that we think others may find useful. We've included both sites that provide services (Evite, Open Table, Web Photo Resizer, Speed Test, etc) as well as those that are primarily a reference information source (local governments & newspapers, Bankrate, Snopes, Wikipedia, MySimon, etc).

5). We started an "Owner Profile" series with the help of just a couple of volunteers. Here's what we do. We use a free online survey account to set up an Owner Profile Survey with optional questions that help provide some useful background information about an individual. These are such things as "What was your first job and how much did it pay?", "How did you meet your spouse/partner?", "What's your favorite hobby?" "Who's the most famous person you ever met face-to-face and how did it happen?", "What TV show do you hope is never cancelled?", etc, etc, etc. Once an owner completes the survey (either online or paper), it goes to a volunteer who uses the answers to construct a sort of "Profile article" about the person or couple. The profiled person(s) gives final approval or makes edits. Then the webmaster posts it on our website, and our newsletter editor includes it in the next edition of that communication as well. We started with the Board of Directors and asked for volunteers after that. Despite the work, it's been pretty successful - some people really like to read about themselves in print, and others really like knowing a little more about their neighbors (there I go again - categorizing folks!). BTW, anyone who might like a complete copy of the questions we used, just ask.

Hope this helps!

RickW (Illinois)
Posts: 169

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By EileenE1 on 01/11/2010 7:16 AM
Good luck! We are a small HOA and are in the process of starting a website, with much the same info, we are including our rules and regulations,information about the community, rental applications that can be downloaded,etc.etc. I am hoping this will encourage community involvment (though I doubt it) We also had "free" cookouts ( by free I mean,members did not have to pay to get in nor did they have to cook or bring a dish ) out of about 100 units twenty showed up and I mean people not units. It seems people in the community do not care or want to be involved. The only time they seem to care is when their assessments are raised. Good luck again, maybe it will be different for you.

Hi Eileen,
Ity does seem as if our associations are in the same boat. I realize getting the website off to a good start and developing it into something that will be enjoyed and used will not be an easy task. But, I think, in time, it could work! I'll keep you posted!
Rick

RickW (Illinois)
Posts: 169

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SheliaH on 01/11/2010 8:20 AM
This isn't a weird topic - your community sounds a lot like mine (except for the financially sound part, unfortunately - we're working on that!)

Since I'm the association's representative to the Community Association Institute, I have access to newsletter articles they print from time to time that can be run in your newsletter. Not all of them are about CCRs - some address things like "meet your property manager", crime prevention tips, etc. You can adapt them to your use.

As for other community involvement examples, I've heard townhall meetings might work - instead of making it a garden variety gripe session, maybe you can bring in other speakers, like a city council rep to discuss issues of special interest to your community

Sheila,

Thanks for the ideas, they are great! I did just recently post an article about our Village collevting valentine cards to send to our troops overseas. I like the idea of posting community information and the CAI newsletter articles is a fantastic idea! I'll definitely work on a "meet your poperty manager" article and save crime prevention tips for spring.

Thanks again
Rick

RickW (Illinois)
Posts: 169

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnO6 on 01/11/2010 9:52 AM
RickW -

As you'll undoubtedly hear from others on this forum, homeowner apathy seems pandemic to many associations. Given that you're launching a website, below I'll share some ideas we have used to make our HOA site (103 homes) more useful and with a somewhat broader "perspective" for our owners.

But going in, you probably realize that there are two types of people in this world - those that embrace technology and the internet in general, and those that do not. Actually, I've been told that the "real" definition of the two types of people in this world is "those that categorize people into two groups, and those that do not

but, I digress.

While the primary purpose of our HOA's website is to both provide a reference resource and a communication vehicle for our owners, we have tried to broaden that narrow focus to make it more useful and attractive. These have met with varying degrees of success, but they include:

1). We try to publish photos (usually candids) from most social events in the community. I find that web hits double or triple nearly every time we do this - there's just something about people wanting to see themselves and those they know in photos.

2). We publish upcoming events from both our town and county newsletters.

3). Our landscaping vendor publishes a periodic newsletter on plant care and we include that on our site as well with their permission.

4). Given that the medium is the web, we periodically highlight a "featured website" that we think others may find useful. We've included both sites that provide services (Evite, Open Table, Web Photo Resizer, Speed Test, etc) as well as those that are primarily a reference information source (local governments & newspapers, Bankrate, Snopes, Wikipedia, MySimon, etc).

5). We started an "Owner Profile" series with the help of just a couple of volunteers. Here's what we do. We use a free online survey account to set up an Owner Profile Survey with optional questions that help provide some useful background information about an individual. These are such things as "What was your first job and how much did it pay?", "How did you meet your spouse/partner?", "What's your favorite hobby?" "Who's the most famous person you ever met face-to-face and how did it happen?", "What TV show do you hope is never cancelled?", etc, etc, etc. Once an owner completes the survey (either online or paper), it goes to a volunteer who uses the answers to construct a sort of "Profile article" about the person or couple. The profiled person(s) gives final approval or makes edits. Then the webmaster posts it on our website, and our newsletter editor includes it in the next edition of that communication as well. We started with the Board of Directors and asked for volunteers after that. Despite the work, it's been pretty successful - some people really like to read about themselves in print, and others really like knowing a little more about their neighbors (there I go again - categorizing folks!). BTW, anyone who might like a complete copy of the questions we used, just ask.

Hope this helps!

John,

This most definitely helps, thanks! You have a good sense of humore too which undoubtedly helps you in your association dealings!

I particularly like the ideas of featured website and Owner profiles!

I knew if I posted this type of question, the members of this forum would come through with terrific ideas.

Thanks
Rick

BetsieS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 7

Posted:

John,

OK, I'll bite, can you provide me with the list of questions you use for the Owner Profile? I just took over our website and also producing our Newsletter and I really like the idea of Owner Profiles. Thanks so much!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061

Posted:

John,

I would be very interested in the questions as it sounds like a great idea.

Tim
Email: [email protected]

JohnO6 (Georgia)
Posts: 424

Posted:

Betsie & Tim -

I've attached a blank copy pdf of the web survey we're using. There are 22 questions, virtually all are open-ended and completely optional.

The idea is to go beyond a "resume" and try to get to the "character" of the respondant. Some additional logistics:

1). Although our HOA website has survey capabilities, they're somewhat limited so we've taken advantage of a free account from the vendor shown in the form.
2). We have a resident volunteer who has agreed to take the raw survey responses and turn each one into a narrative description of the individual or couple. The resident then gets to see and edit the final copy before it is put in our newsletter and on our website.

Hope this helps,

John

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BetsieS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Thanks John! This is great!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061

Posted:

John,

Thank you. It sounds like a great idea and I hope to get our board to agree with it.

Tim

JackB8 (Virginia)
Posts: 141

Posted:

We have 598 homeowners and always have problems getting people to attend meetings. In my opinion the only way you are going to get other than minimum involvement in HOA affairs is to do something folks don't like and even then all they will do is scream and yell. Of course that's pretty much the way this whole country has been going for the past ten years or so. If I get a chance to vote, my vote will support dissolving our HOA.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Advice and thought.

This thread is full of folks wanting instant success. You did the right thing to set up the websites, you are doing the right things to try and reach the owners. But lok how long it takes you to change ANYTHING in an HOA. It is a slow moving train, believe me and patience will have it's reward.

Second, pick something current about the HOA or anything else that looks good in CAPS and send out an e-mail blast that tells owners to go to the sight and read the latest news. Use you imagination and give them a little bait to bite on, like sign up for a free lunch at the local Bristo. Sucker them in a little, not much but a little. E-blast each Board meeting, each minutes reports, set up a Refrigerator door, a site blog. Control it and you may be surprised there are more looking at it than you imagine. See what gets the most hits. Get good advice on how you describe your association so the search engines don't bury you. There are many things you can do and someone that knows how web sites are presented will be a big help. Another simple trick, use lots of pictures, you can even do video of a Bar b que or anything else.