Maintaining an association website and/or portal is extremely useful in making community documents, events, and other information available to homeowners while saving managers and boards valuable time.This convenience is no longer an option for condominium associations with more than 150 units in Florida, where the state legislature has recently passed a bill to require websites for associations. The new laws even detail potential criminal penalties for noncompliance.

In conversations with eUnify clients recently, best practices for leveraging the CommunityLink homeowner portal has emerged as a recurring theme. I have observed clients utilize the portal with varying degrees of success and have come up with a short list of ideas for making the most of the community portal. Basically, it comes down to building content. Think about your favorite news site. You probably visit it a couple times a day. If content isn’t constantly refreshed, you are easily bored and unlikely to peruse outdated headlines. While announcements, events, and documents in your community portal are slower to change than the day’s headlines, building a library of content will encourage homeowners to come to the portal site more often. Here are some ideas for maximizing usage of the eUnify CommunityLink portal:

Valentine’s Day is all about overt expressions of love, like roses, chocolates, cards, fancy dinners, and jewelry. While we might feel inclined (or obligated) to make such demonstrations on a periodic basis, we all know that true love is found in countless small, maybe even invisible selfless acts.

Technology for property management software has evolved. A growing number of managers are replacing pen and paper with tablets and smartphones on compliance rides and even HOA boards are discovering the benefits of portals with important functions, such as, online payments, homeowner accounts, eBlasts, and community calendars. While the industry as a whole has been slow to adopt new technologies, many property management companies are realizing the competitive edge software can provide by streamlining operations and making it easier to provide quality service to HOA clients.

eUnify believes in the adage that it is better to give than to receive. Skipping a full Christmas analogy, let’s simply say we have a “workshop” of dedicated developers, who really wouldn’t like being compared to elves, constantly updating and improving our products. While Christmas comes but once a year, the eUnify workshop turns out new “toys” every 2-3 weeks, striving to continually give to our clients in the following ways:

Being home with our loved ones is a way to celebrate family, friends, and the successes of the year. As we gather in family homes, decorated for the holidays, the role of our HOA’s might become more apparent, especially when it comes to enforcing the rules.

Thanksgiving is more than shameless gluttony and frenzied shopping; it is truly a transcendent holiday, an American tradition open to all, regardless of religious and cultural backgrounds. It’s an end of season celebration of harvest and a great opportunity to take stock of what matters in life and hopefully feel a bit of gratitude for the people around us. In many families, each member takes a turn identifying something they are grateful for before digging into the turkey feast. While your HOA likely is the last thing on your mind during the holiday season (unless you’ve been cited for leaving decorations up for too long), consider this post a reminder to be thankful for the HOA Board, even if you don’t make mention of it when it’s your turn to say what you’re grateful for at the table.

Welcome our newest eUnify Sales Team Member: Frank Rafa. If you are interested in learning more about eUnify products please book time with Frank.

eUnify’s main office is located in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, which means that the advent of Fall is a long-awaited reprieve from triple digit heat and the start of chemically derived “pumpkin-spice” additives to be available on Starbucks menus. For places with actual seasons, Fall is a beautiful time of transition, with colorful leaves, crisp air, chunky sweaters, and boots. For HOAs, Fall is an important and busy season of budgets, elections, and messy yards to deal with. Consider how eUnify can help you manage each of these activities:

We all hear the Homeowner Association horror stories, because those are the ones that make catchy headlines. The truth is that at least 4 out of 5 of associations in the US are quietly humming along, keeping community order and preserving local home values. The remaining 20% give us a list of scary stories to celebrate the nightmare of suburbia created by dysfunctional HOA boards, predatory vendors, and petty neighbors alike, here are 3 stories: