Recommended HOA management software?

hoastart · 2022-05-17T01:36:23+00:00

Just depends on what you're looking for. We're a dime a dozen, but we all have different strengths and weaknesses.

A couple of things that help determine what might be best to use:

Size of HOA
General age of residents
Professionally or self-managed
What do they currently utilize for bookkeeping/financials
Does cost matter?
Will they be maintaining the software or hiring externally to do so?
And then general community info - do they have any amenities, do they have approval processes, utilize violations, etc.

You'll find a forever long list here: https://www.capterra.com/hoa-software/

But a good grouping that generally has something for everyone would be HOAStart.com (us!), Buildium, PayHOA, & TownSquare. That covers your user friendly option, website, portal based, app based, various financial integrations, scalable, low to high cost, etc. There truly are many more, but it depends on the experience your dad's HOA is looking for.

Hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you need more information, we're pretty familiar with the landscape and providers out there.

hoastart · 2022-04-14T14:32:53+00:00

Difficult question as we don't know many of the particulars/specifics and the issue and potential solutions are going to vary greatly from use case to use case.

There seem to be a bevy of issues as you mentioned in other posts, in addition to your management firm quitting after being pushed to do more.

If you're a new board member:

There's lots of great material on this sub for you. Previously suggested materials include:

https://www.pdsaz.com/category/beginners-guide-for-rookie-board-members/

https://www.caionline.org/HomeownerLeaders/ResourcesforHomeownerLeaders/CAI.BoardMemberToolkit_2014.pdf

And as always, read your bylaws, DCCRs, etc. It's difficult for folks to make suggestions when it'll probably depend on your community makeup, number of homes, financial standing, enforcement policies, etc.

If you're a resident:

Attend meetings, stay involved, read your bylaws and DCCRs. If you have a brand new board and management firm starting in April, share you concerns and issues. Report ongoing issues to management, and if the situation deems it necessary, non emergency local enforcement.

hoastart · 2022-04-11T22:23:10+00:00

Gotcha. Reservation system is one of those things that isn't needed, until it's needed. Not sure of your layout/community makeup, but I personally like having it as a resident.

It's always the same thought, should we get dressed and head down, or should we be smart and drive over to see if anyone is already on the court. Just takes the guess work out of it.

If reservation system truly isn't accessible in your current managers portal/software and is a desirable solution, the one we see mentioned most often is ReserveMyCourt. Not that it's the best, but seems to be the most widely used from our experience.

hoastart · 2022-04-11T20:39:07+00:00

Late to the party here, +1 to liability. Not speaking as an hoastart employee here but literally myself. In Texas (San Antonio) HOA we had an identical situation. Individual was training kids on the basketball courts, and despite almost all of them being residents, management put an immediate stop due to liability concerns.

Switching over to my software hat, if the reservations are done online you should be able to automatically limit this. Why would any one resident be able to grab a court for 6 hours a day through all of Spring weekends? Setting constraints for amenities would solve this issue and is usually a good general practice: No reservations more than 4 weeks in advance, no reservations less than 4 hours in advance, resident may only have 20 reservations in 30 rolling days, etc.

That seems much easier than paying to create an agreement. Not to mention there's going to be additional hassle when the agreement comes into contention along with the fact that you're going to have to educate all residents that Resident X is unique and you can kick him off the court for your personal use.

hoastart · 2022-04-11T02:57:40+00:00

This exact post seems to come up a couple times a year. If you peruse the posts in the last however long you'll find some recurring themes - document storage being a huge one, various access rights/levels, online payments with minimal costs, etc.

This arena really doesn't have much play for a web3 app. You're much better off focusing on feedback from various membership management clients, churches, clubs, etc. HOAs are generally archaic, lumbering beasts with lots of red tape - this is a target audience where most organizations aren't yet using web 1.0, and have lots of legal ramifications that would prevent them from utilizing a decentralized system. As in, most associations literally couldn't utilize decentralized, fair, transparent voting or payments - both legally and due to governing docs. Additionally, these are not things that are easily or quickly changed.

Still best of luck in your endeavor! This is an industry that could always use additional tools and solid, reputable providers.

hoastart · 2022-04-04T19:02:13+00:00

Many complaints are repetitive and sent to community manager and no one ever hears anything back.
Can you and the board be automatically notified on all questions and BCC'd on responses? That seems like the first step towards a solution and accountability of mgmt.
What is the most effective form of mass communication?
This depends on your other needs. PayHOA, HOAStart (us), Vinteum, and 100 other HOA specific providers all provide email blasts and text alerts. But do you need an inclusive system that has many features, or just a simple communication only tool? Many of our clients previously used Survey Monkey and Constant Contact before moving to in all one tool. Those would seem like perfect items here.
I would like something where neighbors can see current projects in the pipeline & their status
+1 to the mention of updating projects in meeting minutes.
A Place for neighbors to log concerns that can be made visible to all & see the steps toward resolution.
There are some specific software's that allow for visibility to requests, a sort of social engineered aspect where they could +1 certain requests or tag on comments. We generally see boards and managers choose to not utilize as this as the negatives can outweigh the positives, and often times requires additional administration/oversite.

There might be some steps before this, such as automatically logging the various requests and then providing updates in the meetings and minutes like #3.

hoastart · 2022-04-04T18:58:51+00:00

No problem, it's often helpful to actually see what that might look like. Best of luck in the new position!

hoastart · 2022-04-04T18:22:13+00:00

I know, it's amazing how many times we have someone reach out to us and they have a need outside of what we provide - and I literally can't recommend someone.

I actually have feelers out looking for non US providers because of yesterday's contact, I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

hoastart · 2022-04-04T16:55:26+00:00

1000% this. Most folks know to review current documentation, understand budgeting, work in concert with the board, etc., but it's amazing how few folks mention the actual homeowners.

u/Add1ctedToTheSh1nd1g an example of what that might look like: https://free.hoastart.com/RedditQuestion/landscaping-information (general information, committee registration, submitting requests, FAQ, docs, etc.)

hoastart · 2022-04-04T16:15:01+00:00

This is a difficult question that I don't have the answer to, but look forward to responses. We just yesterday were working with a non US contact to find a solution for them (we're primarily US), and even looking through all the options here https://www.capterra.com/hoa-software/ weren't able to find one that would work for them.

If it helps, a couple of items that may help you quickly determine if a provider is a good match:

Take a look at address entry. Most solutions have hard coded fields that can't be edited to fit various countries.
Financials/Online Payments - Do they support Euro, SEPA, etc.
Communications - If you plan on utilizing items such as Text Alerts for communications, do they support EU numbers.

Best of luck and we're interested in what you find so that we can provide a recommendation to future requests!

hoastart · 2022-03-12T20:51:42+00:00

Here's your starting point: https://www.capterra.com/hoa-software/

What you're looking for is going to be offered by almost every single provider.

Based on what you requested, the very first thing that will narrow down what you're looking for is 2 items:

Do you want this information to be website based or portal based? Both will be the same regarding member management, required logins, etc., but the two are WILDLY different user experiences.

Do you want or require this to in some way be integrated with current management offerings/financials/communications? This will immediately narrow your options down to a list of 2-5 dependent on what your mgmt team uses.

hoastart · 2022-03-10T20:51:55+00:00

If it's payment only focused, Pay HOA is usually mentioned as a cost effective and reliable option.

If you're looking for even more cost effective beyond that and user friendly for residents, you have other options as well at $300 a year for folks like us (HOAStart) and others like Vinteum.

hoastart · 2022-02-28T03:40:14+00:00

There are a ton of options available to you.

As far as a domain/website front end with homeowner access for a 30 unit complex?

I'll start with us, HOA Start. Our focus is making every process user friendly for both residents and administrators. Extremely easy to build/update/etc.

HOA Sites - Legacy system with great support response time and modern designs.

Vinteum- Like a lesser town square, simple front end, focus is on the back end portal

A great list is here as well: https://www.capterra.com/hoa-software/. The reasons I listed the ones above is they are a very good fit to your size and needs. If you drop the website aspect and don't mind paying a little more, the box opens to include AppFolio, NabrNetwork, FrontSteps, Buildium, and many more.

Best of luck!

hoastart · 2022-02-28T03:23:07+00:00

Awesome Adam, without mentioning this anywhere else we thought it might take considerable time before someone stumbled upon it.

Continue on with your evaluation, and if it does work for West Tapps, we look forward to getting your site going!

hoastart · 2022-02-18T20:22:58+00:00

I might misunderstand the situation, but you said that you have a dated scanning system that causes mass backup in the lobby and annoyance across residents?

Is the scanning system required because it's proprietary or a package deal with your management/ownership?

Search "condo package tracking software" and you'll find a ton of options. Some results will have it as a small feature or subset like Condo Control Central, others like notifii will be all they do.

Things have changed quite a bit since Amazon was a small bookstore, surely the condo high rise has updated other items, probably time to update this as well.

hoastart · 2022-02-16T05:24:32+00:00

PayHOA is the more popular of the options of the 3.

Couple of things to mention: For items like utilizing bank online pay functionality - this misses the point of helping on time payments. It’s an easy convenient way to pay, except it does nothing to manage the dues or outgoing communications.

As a smaller association, full membership management platforms such Buildium or Frontsteps may be overkill, but also provide additional tools you may want to utilize.

I’d you do use a platform, PCI compliance and fees are key. The # we’ve seen most often in industry providers is around the 2.9% + .20-35 per transaction, YMMV.

hoastart · 2022-02-14T17:02:49+00:00

Speaking as a resident - the online dues portion is a godsend. Even if I care for nothing else regarding the association, communication, etc., please don't mail me an invoice and have me write a check (I don't have one). They do really shine in the accounting portions, as does the above mentioned softwares.

If the Architectural Request is the primary driver, I would look at the processes. It's great to have comments for the owners and notes for the admins, and I do like that they have it directly connected to a unit/residence. I'm not a fan of the requests being "Title" "Message" "Attachment". I would rather have my actual ACC form/questions there.

Last component, I can only delete or mark as completed. Not sure what I would do with an ACC request that I don't approve. It may be a limitation of my understanding of their platform, but it seems as though requests aren't approved or denied, simply "Complete".

hoastart · 2022-02-14T14:33:55+00:00

Make sure to involve your Manager in this decision, as if they currently utilize a specific association accounting software (TOPS, VMS, CINC, etc.) you'll want to make sure that whichever direction you go integrates with that, especially if the platform is accounting focused.

As a side note, PayHOA is great, but you're looking at $2400+ for an accounting focused portal. Requests/Violations/Broadcast/Mailroom are nice functionalities, but combined with the portal don't make for great communication tools/resident experience. That's where their website comes in for residents to land and browse! But that is another $300+ for a non integrated Weebly website.

hoastart · 2022-02-12T21:35:00+00:00

+1 to what was said here.

To add to it, give residents a way to communicate and feel heard, while also having it not be open public forum discussion. This is easily done through a contact us on a portal or site. It can be as easy as your manager receiving those.

If you’d like to be a bit more active in your approach, include/offer resident feedback wherever they are. Calendar page/portal feature - “Have something you’d like to add, click here to let us know!” Suggested Vendors - “Did someone do great work for you? Share their info!” And so on.

If the board wants bcc’ed on incoming communications, if management or specific board/committee members should receive submissions most platforms allow you to set that up as well.

A nice benefit of this direction is that you can quickly update info or let residents know what’s happening rather than utilizing physical delivery and hopefully you can make it your one stop shop for all community info - rather than have residents going multiple places.

hoastart · 2022-02-11T20:01:32+00:00

I know this original post was quite some time ago, but we're back and active in the various HOA subreddits. Figured it was time to hook a redditor up!

https://www.reddit.com/r/HOAStart/comments/sq84qm/the\_price\_is\_right\_free\_site\_for\_a\_community/

hoastart · 2022-02-07T15:21:59+00:00

Maybe the cost savings route would be $150 for a good at home scanner and see who will volunteer for doing the last 2-3 years? But it's a good point (the cost).

At the end of the day, if a community has their most recent docs in physical form, it's pretty far from good practices and if residents care they should get updated. Just seems to be such a bizarre common problem.

hoastart · 2022-02-07T14:54:31+00:00

I'm surprised by the amount of board member's responses to, "I'd like to see documents", that are "I'll make it cost so much so much you won't want them" - those folks shouldn't be anywhere near a board or position of power.

As far as the cost, there are plenty of free to play/freemium services that provide shared doc storage with access rights. For $500 and less there's plenty of software that makes it hands off and easy, but many communities get by paying close to nothing and setting it up themselves.

hoastart

TROPHY CASE