According to the Senate Research Center, nearly six million Texans are living in an HOA community. With so many homeowners living in HOAs, it's critical to understand how these associations affect your community.
One point of contention is HOA meetings and how best to handle them. How often should these meetings occur, and what should be on the meeting agenda?
If you're curious about managing your HOA, we're here to help. Read on for a quick read-up on HOA meetings and how best to work around these frequent meet-ups.
Length of Meetings
The first thing to consider is the length of meetings. Having multiple hours worth of meetings every week is rarely necessary.
Meeting length should correlate with several other factors. It should never feel as if a meeting is being rushed or that others aren't being given the time to speak.
One way to keep meeting length down is to separate meetings out into categories. However, this can sometimes have the effect of too many small meetings, which can present inconvenience to members.
Frequency of Meetings
Deciding on the frequency of meetings is unique to each community. You should consider what sorts of things the community discusses and how much time is needed for these categories.
One thing to avoid is having meetings so often that people begin to see them as an inconvenience. Several a week is, simply put, unnecessary. Meetings should only occur this frequently if an emergency has occurred.
Instead, consider one or two meetings a month. With meetings staying this sparse, people have time to consider what issues should be brought up.
Moreover, any issues in last month's meeting then have time for the community to resolve them. Take, for example, an issue with the exterior of some community members' homes. Is there enough time for them to solve this problem if only four days have passed since the last meeting?
Type of Meetings
Finally, consider what type of meetings are occurring. HOA communities will have different types of meetings for separate subjects. These will also help engage the community or keep things limited.
Open meetings bring the community in and allow non-committee members to have their voices heard. These should occur at least once every few months.
Closed meetings are restricted solely to the committee members. These don't need to occur often and are up to the discretion of the community.
Finally, annual meetings are best kept to once a year, as the name implies. These meetings help to set long-standing plans for the upcoming year.
Regardless of what meeting you're having, make sure things are organized, and the group stays on topic. Keeping meeting minutes can give your group notes to look back on to decide things like HOA fees and keep to your meeting agenda.
Mastering HOA Meetings
HOA meetings are one of the most productive actions an HOA can take to stay on topic and engage their community. Manage how often your community meets to stay productive.
PMI Fort Bend is happy to bring more than 20 years of experience to Texas. Contact us to see how we can help your HOA shine.
