How will a community web site benefit our residents?
HOA Total Access web sites offer your residents not only an online multi-topic discussion forum, but they will also have instant access to important contact names and addresses. You can create forms for architectural review requests or contact forms for each of your committees. Classifieds offer a cost-effective way for residents to advertise goods and services to their neighbors without having to pay for expensive ads in local newspapers that only run for one or two weeks. Additionally, residents can easily learn about the newest developments and issues by viewing the "What's New" page, which shows a list of everything that has changed on your website. A calendar of events allows community members to quickly see upcoming events during the current or future months. Once the residents of your community begin using their web site for discussions, news, and information, they'll soon wonder how they ever lived without one.
With all the other options out there like Facebook and Google+, what can I do on a traditional HOA website that I can't do elsewhere?
Residents, Board Members, and Committee members can review all of your community's important documents whenever they need to. Set security levels so you can decide exactly who can see what, so unwanted eyes on your sensitive documents will never be an issue.
No matter what you decide to do for your community website, you will need to update it. Don't place all the burden of keeping your website current on the webmaster or Board Members. Create custom permissions for each of your committees and let them manage their own content.
Residents are going to have questions, lots of questions...but you community does not have the time or resources available to answer phone calls 24 hours a day. Many communities share a lot of the same issues, resources, and operating procedures; so it becomes quickly obvious that questions like "Where can I find a copy of the CCRs" or "What is the procedure for requesting Architectural changes on my property" will be asked repeatedly. The FAQ section can be as long or as short as you want it, and updating it can be done in a matter of minutes. The more you cut down on time spent answering the same questions from different people, the more time you can spend handling other important community business.
Every resident & Board member will always be at every meeting when you post the minutes online in a secure HOA website. Time, convenience, and information are the keys to a happy and informed neighborhood. With a Board only area as well as a place for general meeting minutes, you'll always get the right information to the right person, group, or committee in a way that's secure and convenient for everyone.
When people don't have access to information, confusion, infractions, and dissention occurs. These situations not only are troubling for the resident, but also for the Board members who have to spend hours on the phone, or time on personal visits and sometimes costly legal battles. ARC violations are mostly caused by procedural issues or lack of resident information. Handle ARC committee request, post rules and forms, and resolve questions before they become issues using your website.
You set the prices, you determine the website area, you collect the revenue. Local businesses and private advertisers are always looking for more exposure and to reach new customers. Your community website is a daily gathering place for hundreds to thousands of internal and external visitors and with unlimited page creation, your website can be as profitable as you want it to be.
A trip to Kinkos or Fedex or for a college student at term paper time is a necessity! A trip to Kinkos or Fedex for an HOA is an unnecessary and costly inconvenience. Once your resident directory is printed, if someone leaves, someone moves in, or anyone changes their number, the directory has to be updated with possibly even more printing costs. Online resident directories let your residents share as much or as little about themselves and their contact information as they please...and updating them takes seconds of your valuable time.
Email Bulletins are quick and fast way to alert everyone in the community about an issue without having to hold any special meetings or send out an individual email to hundreds of residents.
