Understanding the violation maintenance module in your Hoagateway website

Hoagateway makes association software for hoa's and condo owner's with many advanced features. Properly utilized, violation maintenance can save you significant time and effort. This article will provide a basic understanding of Hoagateway's violation module and how it can benefit the hoa website administrator.

The violation modules come in two parts. The first is located under the "resident" menu called "report a concern" and can be accessed by members as well as administrators. This is where any home / condo owner can report a concern in the neighborhood. General landscape & maintenance concerns for common areas as well as concerns about individual owner properties can be reported here. The person reporting can simply identify the concern category, time and date noticed and location. They can  remain anonymous and can even attach images showing the violation or concern. Once submitted, the concern is immediately available to the violation committee, board of directors and management company for investigation.

The second part is located in the "administration" menu called "violation maintenance" and is only available to administrators (management company, etc) of the hoa webiste. Here administrators can validate concerns by viewing uploaded images and reading details about the violation or concern. Once the concern is validated, it is tracked through the system where administrators can automatically send notices via email or regular mail. Administrators can even recall violation templates which have been tailored for the concern or violation. This module also makes it easy to keep track of violation history by owner or location. If utilized properly concerns and violations can be processed in a fraction of the time as the old manual methods saving you time and money.

Things an HOA Should Consider for Staying Healthy

1)     Does your homeowners association have a clear vision policy?
There should be a written document outlining the vision and the association’s goals for the community. This should be disseminated throughout the community, so that all the members understand what those goals are and why they are important. This will foster better understanding when policies and rules are enforced  that effect each individual member

2)     Does your board keep on the lookout for replacement board members?
It is important to have a smooth transition as board members are replacing and changing over time. It is a good idea to have terms overlap for different board positions so that terms for multiple board members do not expire simultaneously leaving several vacancies in one year.

3)     Does your association regularly review its contract for vendors?This includes frequently review of insurance needs and coverage along with careful review of your Management Company’s performance. If self-managed, you should be analyzing vendors for maintenance, IT and other providers on a regular basis.

4)     Does your association financially healthy and funds available for sudden expenses? One of the worst surprises to a homeowner is notification of a large special assessment which they may not be prepared for. You should have specialist and engineer reports done to help estimate when large expenses items (i.e. new roof, new parking paving, new paint, etc.) will likely occur and make provisions to set aside funds for those items as they will eventually occur. A small gradual increase in dues now is so much better than a thousand dollar assessment all at once.

5)     Does your community score well on curb appeal?
It is necessary to keep the common areas always attractive, so that potential new home buyers will want to live in a community that looks like yours. This will also help keep property values up for current residents when they are ready to sell.

6)     Does your board frequently communicate with all of the residents?In today’s world of IT, it is a must that every HOA must have a website that will allow members to stay in touch with their community, get necessary information, share ideas with one another and a host of other benefits. HOA websites have become so affordable (as little as $10/mo. for the whole community  or even free if there is a techy on board that can host it for free on Google) there is no acceptable reason not to have one.

7)     Does your association occasionally review its policies and procedures?It is really a good idea to review rules, restrictions and get input from all the membership to determine if some of these are still applicable. Nobody likes unnecessary rules just for the sake of having rules.

8)     Does the association have safeguards in place for avoiding embezzlement?Unfortunately homeowner associations are all too frequently the target of embezzlement schemes. There are often significant amounts of money in association bank accounts and many times this falls under the prevue of one person. There should be checks and audits to insure that everything is as it should be.

9)     Is there a focus on building a sense of community?We live in a very social world, i.e. Facebook, etc. and the reason is people like to socialize. Shouldn’t that extend to communities where people spend a lot of their time? Organizing outings, sporting events, parties, clubs to share common interests is not that terribly difficult given the help that today’s technology provides. From utilization of association websites to electronic invitations for parties, the tools are there to make it easier and more efficient than ever before.