Are your HOA meetings plagued with low attendance? You need to act quickly.
Productive HOA meetings are central to the effective governance and management of the HOA community. Most operational decisions are made at HOA board meetings, but when it's time to make major decisions, like increasing HOA fees, homeowners must be involved.
Without a quorum, a meeting can fail to take off. There are resolutions that cannot be passed if the majority of the homeowners don't vote on them.
As part of HOA's leadership or management team, you must find ways to get more homeowners to show up to the meetings and participate. If you're at a loss for ideas, keep reading!
Take an Inclusive Approach to Management
An HOA community isn't an apartment rental complex where the owner/landlord calls all the shots. In an HOA, homeowners have shared ownership, which is why they elect a board and entrust it with the responsibility of managing the community.
The HOA board must act in the best interest of the residents at all times and consult with everyone when the need arises. This is the kind of management that brings everyone together and motivates homeowners to participate in decision-making when called upon.
So, if your board does things without transparency or makes unilateral decisions, homeowners can revolt and ignore your meetings.
Draw a Schedule for HOA Meetings
The average American only has about four hours of free time in a day. Like everyone, HOA homeowners are busy people. They might have all the best intentions to attend the meeting but miss out because they couldn't find the time.
Don't expect them to work with your schedule. It's up to you to work with their busy schedules.
An effective strategy for handling this is to develop an annual schedule for HOA meetings and send it out to homeowners when the year begins. This way, they'll mark their calendars well in advance and plan accordingly.
Pro Tip: Avoid choosing dates that have plenty of family activity, such as public holidays, and send reminders as the meeting date approaches.
Incentivize Homeowners to Attend
In large HOA communities, homeowners can feel like their voice or participation isn't necessary. You know, just like how you can skip voting because your candidate is heavily expected to win!
Unfortunately, if many homeowners feel that way, that's how you'll end up with low attendance. Offering incentives can give them a reason to attend the meeting!
For example, if your community has a spa or fitness center, work with the service providers to offer discounted services to everyone who will be in attendance. Everyone loves a discount, so the incentive might just do the magic!
HOA Meetings: Come One, Come All
HOA meetings provide an opportunity to canvass on important issues affecting the community and build a strong sense of neighborhood. Use these handy tips to encourage homeowners to attend the meetings every time.
If you need help managing your Hyattsville association, PMI PG County is here for you. We're locally owned, but leverage the experience of PMI, a property management franchise network that manages over 100,000 units across the U.S.
Contact us to learn how we can help elevate your HOA living standards.
