If your community is running smoothly, residents should be aware of any upcoming events, board meetings, or construction projects that may be taking place. When your board is clearly representing its message to residents, your homeowners association management in San Diego will positively benefit from this well-being.
This might not be the case with your community and you may be dealing with poor communication issues. Poor communication can negatively impact your community in multiple ways. Your operating budget, property values, and even worse, your reputation could all be at risk. These tips will help you better communicate with your community for your homeowners association and residents to take notice.
Create a Communication Plan
Beginning with the creation of communication plan is a great way to determine what ways you can better improve your connection with residents within your community. These easy steps will help you layout the information you want to get across.
Break Down Objectives
Instead of creating large goals that might not be accomplished right away, you should break down your community’s objectives into more attainable accomplishments. By using a SMART format (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-frame) you will be able to outline your communication plan easier. You will want to be specific about the goal you want to reach, with it also being measurable for the near future. Make sure it is an attainable feat with realistic steps in place to meet the time-frame you’ve established.
Think of Your Audience:
It’s important to think of the audience you’re trying to reach with your communication plan. In this case, your goal is to have better outreach with your homeowners association and with the residents of your community. You should consider the current knowledge and understanding of the issue that both parties possess. Once this is complete, you can simplify any complex concepts that may be more difficult to others.
Use All Available Resources
Lastly, you should be using all available resources and channels to get your new communication plan across. Residents do have certain preferences on how they receive communication. By using all the communication channels available, you will be able to reach all residents across your community. These channels can include texts, emails, newsletters, announcements, reminders at board meetings, and social media updates.
By having all your bases covered, there should be no excuse that residents or HOA management in San Diego aren’t informed on a specific message you’ve broadcasted.
Prioritize Topics
With all the resources you have available to get a message across, sometimes important information can get lost in the shuffle. Obviously, as a property manager, you want members of your community to be informed about everything that is affecting them. If you have a limited amount of time to get information to your residents or don’t have a wide array of resources compared to other communities, you need to focus on the most important topics first.
Obviously, complying with any legal requirements and bylaws like alerting residents about board meetings are the top priority. These meetings provide extremely important information that residents cannot miss. Financial matters are also important. Homeowners association management in San Diego should know about the community’s overall finances, as well as any individual accounts there may be. Reminding residents about when their assessment fees are expected and how much they owe are top-tier news they should have to pay off these fees in time. Payment plan options are also lumped into important information.
Reestablish the Rules and Regulations
On a regular basis, you should reestablish the rules and regulations to everyone in your community so they are aware of them. Community members are more likely to follow along with these policies if they’re provided with frequent indications of what they are. This is especially so if your community is receiving more members than usual moving in. Sending a reminder of your policies to everyone will help prevent any new violations from occurring.
Breaking the rules hurts everyone in the end. HOA management in San Diego can see property value decline if any excessive and continuous violations begin to arise. It’s best for everyone if notifications are set out stating what the rules are of the building.
Architectural Adjustments
Oftentimes, any architectural adjustments are not specified directly to residents. Community members need to know what they can or cannot do to alter their apartment. There are certain restrictions and processes involved for requesting approval. Usually, the lease will specify this type of information, but a resident may still make their own assumptions, forgetting about what is stated on the lease entirely. This is why it’s good to send out newsletters about what adjustments can be made to their apartments before they cause any property damage that can decrease the community’s overall property value.
Communicating so openly with residents will take some time to get used to. In order to have a more positive relationship with residents, proper planning a ton of effort is needed to make your community feel more like home. Residents are grateful for being kept in the know on a lot of issues. This way, they are more inclined to follow any rules or regulations that have been set, as long as they are reminded about them regularly.
Having a positive environment filled with open communication will allow your community to truly thrive. Residents will be more satisfied with their living arrangements, the value of everyone’s property is more likely to rise, and everyone’s attitude is guaranteed to be more relaxed. Putting a communication plan in place while prioritizing certain topics, and reestablishing the rules and regulations of your community will pay off in the end.