Can your residents easily access important community information such as vendor contracts or financial statements?  Soon, condominium associations managing over 100 units in Wisconsin will be required to provide residents with a password-protected website.  This new website requirement is part of the amendments to the Condominium Ownership Act (Wisconsin 703.20) which goes into effect on April 1, 2023, along with other rules on financial audits and keeping records of vital community data.  Wisconsin follows other states such as Florida in passing similar laws that focus on improving communication and transparency between board members and residents. 

Disclaimer: Note that this article does not constitute legal advice. The purpose of this article is to provide you with tips on how to prepare for the upcoming Wisconsin Condo Website Law Requirements (Wisconsin 703.20).  It is important that you consult your association lawyer for any questions about the specific requirements of the law. 

New Community Website Requirements

By April 1, 2023, all condominium associations managing more than 100 units will be required to have a password-protected website.  The association will also need to provide residents and employees with a secure login to access community information.  Through a password-protected website or web portal, the association will need to share the following documents with residents: 

• Board meeting minutes and any actions that were taken without a meeting.
• All bylaws and CC&Rs of the association. 
• All receipts and expenses related to common areas.
• Annual budgets
• Financial statements
• Bank statements
• Reserve accounts and statements
• Insurance policies
• Income and expense statements
• Association audits if conducted
• Contracts the association signed in the past 6 years and any bids obtained in the past 3 years.
• Invoices and expenses

See the complete list of the documents that your website must have. 

The community can fully manage the website on its own.  Or if the community has hired a management company, they can maintain the website on the association’s behalf.

In the next section, you’ll learn how to prepare for the new condo law and what steps you can take now.

How to Prepare for the New Condo Website Law

1) Identify your Community Website Needs

Before you begin implementing a solution, it’s important to take a step back and list what features your new website will need.  At a minimum, the features you’ll need to have include:

• The ability for community management staff, board members, and residents to log into the website (password-protected website or web portal). 
• Private pages for your board members and residents. 
• Document management with good folder structure and viewing permissions. 
• Built-in security features to keep your associations’ data safe.

While the new law has some specific requirements for what a website needs to do for your community, it’s a good idea to consider other goals such as increasing community engagement or reducing calls to the office.  Here are some additional considerations when you’re searching for a new website solution:

Improve SEO with a mobile-friendly website

Google now prioritizes websites that are mobile-responsive rather than non-responsive in the search results.  Considering that 60% of all online searches are done through a mobile device, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer a luxury but is expected.   HOA website solutions such as Pilera’s provide you with many mobile-responsive templates to build a website that is easy for your residents to find what they’re looking for.

Ease of Use

Managing the day-to-day operations of a community can be hectic and overwhelming.  That’s why when it comes to any technology, it’s important to consider a solution that saves you time rather than create more work.  Consider choosing a website solution that is easy for you to build and maintain over time, preferably without needing to involve your development team.  Pilera’s easy drag-and-drop functionality lets you easily format your website and add content. Many of our clients share that the website is so easy to build without needing any prior technical experience! 

Resident Self-Service

A website with resident self-service capabilities enables your residents to view important community information and make payments on their own time.  A resident web portal, which is a password-protected website, offers additional capabilities for residents to update their information and request services. Through Pilera\’s resident web portal, residents can self-manage their units, update their contact information, submit work order requests, view documents and events, communicate with other residents through a discussion board, and much more. Offering this capability to residents will increase satisfaction and reduce the workload for your staff.

Increased Community Engagement

A website is also a great way to build a sense of community.   Choose a website solution that allows you to create pages and add your own content.  Pilera makes it easy to add your own custom content to your website.  Many of our clients have created a complete website experience by adding content, such as photos, videos, or amenity information, that shows everything their community has to offer! 

2) Evaluating Website Options: Generic vs HOA-specific community websites

Now that you understand what features you want in a website, it’s time to identify potential website providers.  There are two main categories of website providers:

• Generic providers – WordPress, Wix.com, and others.  While these providers offer websites that are highly customizable, they aren’t specifically built for the community management industry.  Additionally, you may require a website developer to manage the site over time.    
  
  
• HOA-Specific Website Providers – HOA-Sites, Pilera, and others.  These websites are built specifically for the HOA and Condo industry and offer features like resident logins, online payments, calendars, document sharing, and more.  Website platforms such as Pilera empower you to create websites without needing to involve a website development team for any change you need to make, big or small. 

Check out our comparison of generic websites versus HOA-specific websites to find out what solution is best for you. 

3) Give yourself enough time to research and test software

Because there are only 3 months left before the law takes effect, now is the time to start searching for a website solution.   Consider looking into website options that meet the basic requirements of the law and will give you additional features to meet the goals you’ve chosen in Step 1. 

The best way to know what solution works best for you is to book a demo with the website provider and ask them to give you a free trial.  Encourage other team members in your community or company to try out the platform too.  Website solutions such as Pilera’s offer personalized demos and free trials.  Our team also provides comprehensive onboarding and training so you can get set up for success right away.

Managing less than 100 units?  Do I still need a website?

If you manage a condo association that has less than 100 units or a single-family homeowners association, a website isn’t required.  However, a website can provide significant benefits for your community. 

Improve resident satisfaction

Consumers are far more likely to search for a company on the web before contacting their support, and the same applies to residents of a community association.  Having a community website can improve the resident experience because they can view information and submit requests on their own time.

Impress prospective buyers

Prospective buyers are very likely to research the community before buying a home and will turn to the web for answers.  A community website can give prospective buyers an idea of what it is like to live in the community.  For a public-facing website, consider sharing:

• How the community operates
• Amenities
• Monthly fees – what these fees go toward
• Events
• Activities/Clubs

Reduce inbound calls and emails

We mentioned earlier that a website is a valuable self-service tool for residents.  When residents can find board meeting documents on their own or submit work orders online, that means more time to focus on other meaningful tasks.

Conclusion

With the deadline to provide your community with a password-protected website approaching, it’s important to prepare in advance.  Here is a recap of the steps that you should take:

1. Understand the full requirements of the new website law and consult your association lawyer with any specific questions you may have. 
2. Identify the list of features you need in a community website.  Take this opportunity to consider other valuable features that can help you accomplish other goals like increased resident engagement and reduced inbound calls to the office.
3. Start searching for website providers that will tick all the boxes for your website.  Get a personalized demo, test out the software, and involve other members of your team in the process.

---

About Pilera

Pilera Software is the premier community management software that has helped thousands of community managers and back-office personnel improve customer service. Increase resident satisfaction and work efficiency with the best tools in the market – communications, client service ticketing, and community websites! Request a personalized demo so you can learn how Pilera\’s community management solution can work for you.

With more HOAs using digital communications to keep residents informed, many states have started to update their existing regulations.  California is the most recent state after Colorado that amended its HOA communication laws. In this article, we’ll talk about the changes to California SB 392 and technology considerations to help you comply.  

As a Disclaimer, this blog article is meant to provide information on the latest regulations impacting community associations and should not be taken as legal advice.  You should always talk to your community association lawyer if you have any questions on how this new law may impact you and any legal advice in general.

What are the requirements for complying with SB 392?

On October 7, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 392 into law.  This law specifies how community associations need to communicate with residents. Although the law went into effect on January 1, 2022, the new amendments that focus more on resident preferences go into effect on January 1, 2023.

Resident communication preferences

The amended law now requires that community associations deliver documents or notices electronically via email to residents.  Email communication provides many benefits for HOAs such as reduced costs and fewer inbound calls to the office.  

However, not every resident prefers email.  If a resident provides an invalid email address, chooses not to provide one, or revoked their consent to receive emails, the association must communicate with them via mail.  

To prepare for these changes, your technology platform must be flexible and reliable. Whether you are currently using technology or looking for a new solution, here are some questions you should ask: 

1) “Do residents have multiple ways to stay informed about the community?” 

Offering your residents many ways to stay informed is quickly becoming the norm.  Even though the law only requires emails and postal mail, it’s a good idea to consider offering additional methods like text messages and phone calls.  Text message is the most preferred choice of communication among Millennials with 90% of text messages read within 5 minutes of receiving it.  Phone calls are a great way to reach elder demographics or those who don’t have electronic means of receiving messages.   

If you decide to use multiple communication methods to keep residents informed, consider consolidating information in one place to make it easier to manage your data. Since separation of information can cause inefficiencies, software that can handle both automated emails and letter generation is helpful.

2) “Can residents easily inform management of their communication preferences?”

Since residents will need to confirm their communication preferences, it’s vital that your technology platform can track this information.  This new law may add hours of additional work as you manage each resident\’s preference manually.  Having a system in place for residents to update their information can reduce workload. A self-service portal where residents can select their communication preferences, update their contact information, and unsubscribe from email if they no longer want it is key.  Alternatively, management can update information on behalf of residents with their consent and can easily see which method they prefer.  

3) “Do I have a way of knowing which residents don’t prefer email?”

Your technology platform should allow you to customize recipients based on whether they have electronic means of receiving messages or not.  Technology should not only help you manage preferences but also easily be able to produce letters for those without an email on record. 

Community Website

The original requirement also states that associations with more than 50 units are required to have a website unless ⅔ of the members vote against it.

Community websites are becoming a common requirement for many states but can benefit your community in many ways. HOA website solutions are also mobile-friendly and easy to create without needing technical experience.  With a well-designed community website, residents can check online for information without ever having to call the office.  It unburdens your staff while giving your residents a positive experience.   

---

About Pilera

Pilera Software is the leading HOA communication and management software.  Thousands of communities rely on Pilera to keep residents informed through automated phone, email & text; improve customer service; and increase operational efficiency.  To learn how Pilera can help manage your communities more efficiently, book a personalized demo or you can also write to us at [email protected].

Can your community website make a lasting impression on residents in 10 seconds or less? Web design studies say that\’s all the time you have to impress a user before they leave your site.

Creating a professional community website can be challenging due to hard-to-use content management systems, privacy concerns, and time limitations. But if residents can\’t find what they need quickly, it can create frustration and increase incoming calls.

With websites being one of the most effective ways to keep HOA residents informed, it’s important to make website design a priority.  A well-designed website makes it easier for residents to find the community on search engines and quickly find the information they need.   In this article, you’ll learn about why it’s important to have a good website design & 10 elements every HOA website needs.

Why Good HOA Website Design Matters

Bring more prospective buyers/renters to the community

As residents are considering buying a home in an HOA, your website needs to be listed on search engines so they can learn more about the community.  A mobile-friendly website design, coupled with fresh content, can give a boost to your website’s search engine rankings (SEO).  

Increase resident satisfaction & reduce inbound calls to the office

It’s important that your HOA website be flexible enough so you can continue updating it with new information.  When residents are able to find what they’re looking for, they’re more likely to return to the site for the community’s latest updates. 

10 HOA Website Design Elements

Now that you have an understanding of how web design elements impact how your website performs and how your residents perceive the community, let\’s dive into the exact elements you need!

1. Mobile Responsive Design
2. Branding
3. Navigation
4. Private vs Public pages
5. Page Layout
6. Content
7. Photos
8. Videos
9. Calls-to-Action
10. Advanced Customization

1) Mobile Responsive Design

Websites with mobile-responsive design adjust text, pictures, and videos so that it fits the size of the device it’s being viewed on.  A responsive web design is a must in today\’s mobile-first world because it helps users find information quickly and encourages them to stay on your website longer. 

Pilera’s HOA website solution provides several mobile-responsive templates to improve user experience and discoverability on search. Take a look at some of Pilera\’s mobile-responsive design templates!

2) Branding

Every HOA website needs to incorporate the community’s branding in its design.  The community’s branding should reflect its culture, how residents perceive it, and what makes it different from other communities.  You can successfully convey your community\’s culture by implementing these three branding elements:

Banner

A banner image stretches horizontally across the top of your website.  It\’s important that the banner for your community presents a positive and professional outlook of the community.  The banner should give a warm feeling to your residents when they visit your website and first see the banner.  Your banner should also be authentic.  Many communities use an actual image of their community.  Your residents are more likely to connect with an image that is real and authentic than a stock image.

Community Logo

Your community logo is an image with text and images that reflect what your community is all about.  Having a logo for your community is important because it establishes a positive connection with your residents and makes it memorable in their minds.  A good community logo is simple, memorable, and identifiable.  

Color Scheme

A color scheme is a combination of colors used for a website’s primary and secondary backgrounds and text.  Having a color scheme for your community website improves brand recognition and conveys feelings. Different colors can produce different emotions or feelings in individuals. Warm colors such as red, orange, and yellow depict optimism, excitement, and happiness. Cooler colors, such as blue and green, depict serenity and peace.

3) Navigation/Menu

Navigation is one of the most important elements of your website.  Good navigation makes it easy for residents to find what they are looking for, whereas poorly designed navigation can frustrate and turn users away.  Your community website\’s navigation should be structured with residents in mind. How would they search for information on a website?  Where would a resident expect to find information about community activities?  Where would a board member expect to find information on community budgets? Be sure to clearly title each navigation item.  

Examples of navigation items that are common among many HOA websites include Community, Owners, Board Members, and Contact Us.  If you have a lot of information to convey to your community, you may consider creating secondary navigation, as seen in the example below. 

In Pilera, you can create primary and secondary navigations to organize pages to make it easy for residents to find what they need. 

Watch Video: Easily add a logo and banner with Pilera\’s Community Websites

4) Create private vs. public pages

HOAs often deal with sensitive information, and board members and managers must prioritize data security and privacy when creating a website. With Pilera\’s community website, you can create private pages that are password-protected to keep your association\’s information safe. These pages are only visible when managers, board members, and residents log into the website. For example, many communities will create a private page with documents, surveys, or marketplace items restricted to board members or residents. You can create public pages for information that prospective homeowners may be interested in, such as amenities.

5) Page Layout/Formatting

Layout refers to how you structure your web pages and format your content within them.  Overall, a good page layout will enable residents to find information quickly.  When residents find information quickly, they will keep coming back to the website as they now consider it a reliable source for the latest community information.   

Each page on your website can have a unique layout to make it easy to organize and find information.  In the example below, if your home page consists of a two-column layout, the center can include an introductory message, and the sidebar can include local weather, upcoming events, or quick links.  When you create a page in Pilera, you can choose up to 3 columns to display your content in.

6) Content

Having relevant and fresh content on your HOA website keeps your residents coming back to your website as a trusted source for the latest community information. When writing content, it’s important to take into consideration who your audience is and how they’re most likely to understand information.  Consider these tips:

1. What are residents contacting you about?  Group their questions into topics and create a page on your HOA website for each topic. 
2. Keep information short and to the point.
3. Avoid using industry jargon where possible and use words that are easy to understand.
4. Keep the tone consistent in your writing.    
5. Make sure to continue updating the content on your website.  Search engines rank websites that update their content regularly higher than those that do not.

7) Photos

As we discussed earlier, authentic and real images help establish a connection with your residents.  To showcase what your community has to offer to your residents, you can create photo galleries for events, amenities, and common areas that residents can enjoy.

8) Videos

Videos are another great way to showcase your community’s culture to current and future prospective residents.  Be creative in the videos you create.  Here are some ideas you can implement:

1. Talk about the community\’s goals and how board members and residents are working to achieve those goals together.
2. What residents like the most about the community.
3. Tutorial videos on how to navigate through the website or community portal.
4. How-to videos to keep residents engaged on topics such as home maintenance, gardening, tips to improve the value of their home, etc.  

9) Calls-To-Action (a.k.a. CTA’s)

Call-to-actions refer to important actions that you want residents to take on your website.  In general, each page should have one clear call to action to drive a certain action.  That action could be to submit a contact us form, a work order request form, signing into the resident portal, or making a payment.  Your call to action should:

1. Be clearly labeled – Your residents should know what to expect when they click on the CTA.
2. Be clickable.  Your CTA can either be a button or a link.  If it’s a button, make sure the text is visible.  If the CTA is a text link, make sure to bold and underline the text.  People will not know to click on the link if it is not underlined. 

10) Customizability (Advanced)

A significant part of web design is the ability to customize how it looks and feels.  Every HOA community is unique, and that\’s why it\’s important that your website truly captures and reflects the values of your community. That’s where advanced customization can be helpful.  If you have advanced HTML or CSS knowledge, you can customize background and text colors, header text and colors, button colors, and more. In Pilera’s Easysites, website administrators can customize the look and feel of the website with custom HTML and CSS if they want something more advanced.

Website Considerations

Now that you understand the essential elements for creating a robust website let\’s delve into another crucial aspect: cost. Several factors influence the expenses associated with building a website. Let\’s explore two key considerations:

1) Build Your Website In-House or Hire a Developer

Whether to develop your community\’s website in-house or hire a developer depends on time, experience, and budget. If there are community members with solid web design skills, delegating the task to them can be a cost-effective option. On the other hand, if your community lacks the necessary expertise or time, hiring a professional web designer becomes a viable alternative. Keep in mind that professional designers come with varying costs; simpler websites may cost $100-500, while highly customized ones can range upwards of $30,000. Factors influencing the cost include updating frequency, developer skills, customizations, and choosing between freelancers or web design agencies.

2) Type of Content Management System: HOA Specific or Generic

Selecting the right website provider for your HOA or condo association involves considering two primary categories: purpose-built software for community associations and generic mass-market CMS platforms.

Purpose-built HOA websites include many features tailored to community needs and seamlessly integrate with resident portals. Modules such as event management, document sharing, marketplace listings, and dues payments can be easily incorporated into these websites. This option proves more cost-effective compared to platforms like WordPress, where customization often requires hiring a developer.

While free website builders exist, they often suffer from drawbacks like slow loading times, intrusive advertisements, limited to no customer support, bandwidth restrictions, data ownership concerns, and limited customization capabilities. These shortcomings can frustrate residents, potentially leading to increased inquiries to the administrative office.

Additionally, evaluating the pros and cons of purpose-built HOA websites versus popular generic platforms like WordPress can provide insights into making an informed decision.

About Pilera

Good HOA website design ensures that that the site is easily findable on search engines and that your residents will have a positive experience in finding information. When you incorporate these design elements together, the website is easy to use and will be one that your residents become proud of! Pilera\’s community websites make it easy for non-technical staff to build a beautiful community website. With drag-and-drop elements, customizable content, and integration with Pilera features, your community will improve operations & resident satisfaction. Contact [email protected] to learn more or book a personalized 1:1 demo!

A website is an incredibly important asset to community management, helping to make operations smoother and bring the community together.  As a leading community management solution, Pilera continues to strive toward enhancing our tools for managers. A product that we’ve made major enhancements to just recently is the community and company websites.  These websites are mobile-friendly and integrate with various modules in Pilera.  In this month’s Manager Toolkit, we’ll explore three design tips that you can implement for your website using Pilera’s websites.

Tip #1: Add Your Logo & Banner

In our community website templates, we’ve created a simple mechanism you can use to organize images that are part of your entire website.  This mechanism is called a photo group. Logos and headers are examples of images that are omnipresent on your website.

Here’s how to get started with adding your logo and header:

1. In the admin control panel, click on “Photo Gallery”.
2. Click on Add Group – provide a name and description for the group.  Then, select “Yes” in the Site Photo Group field.
3. Click “Add a Photo to the Group” – provide a photo name, caption, description, and location.  Then, tag your images exactly as per the following, to control how they will appear on the website: logo as “logo” and header as “banner”.  

Watch Video: Add a Logo and Banner in Pilera

Tip #2: Create a Color Scheme

The colors you use for your website are essential to the brand and values it stands for.  Thus, we’ve provided an enhanced color scheme consisting of primary and secondary colors, a choice of two background colors, and button color for your calls-to-action.  For your community or company website administrators that would like a more intricate design, we’ve incorporated a custom styles section that they can enter their HTML code in.  To create or update your color scheme, navigate to the Admin Control panel and click on “Change Site Look”.

Tip #3: Make Your Content Informative & Beautiful with Templates

Our new community website incorporates a variety of templates to help you create a beautiful design to house your content.  These content templates incorporate a mix of images, captions, headers, paragraph text, and call-to-action links.

To access these content templates, you will first need to be in Admin Mode.  Then, click on the “+” button on the website editor and select the “Content (Freeform HTML Blob)” option. The icon that’s the third to the left includes a wide variety of content template options:

• Content Cards  Row of 3 – A row of three content cards that comprise of images, header & paragraph text, and button.  You can edit the images by simply right clicking on the image and then selecting the “Image Properties” option.  
• Content Cards Row of 6 – Two rows of three content cards each that comprise of images, header & paragraph text, and button.
• Image on left or right with text wrap – Great for displaying associated image and text.
• Image as a Polaroid with caption – A Polaroid-style frame around an image with text wrap on the right or left side.
• 2 Column Content Block with Header – Great for publishing articles or news on your website.

With all other property management tasks, you and your staff are immersed with, updating information for your community or company should be simple, enjoyable, and less time-consuming. With our new community website templates, we’ve incorporated an organized way to display your content that will take you less time to maintain and also give a beautiful look and feel to your website.  

Websites are an indispensable part of your HOA or Condo community operations.  It’s essentially your online real estate – a central place for your residents to get all the latest updates in the community.  It’s all the more reason to invest in a website product that fits your community’s needs.  A website product that enables smoother operations and more informed, connected, and happier residents are essential.   With many options available, choosing the one product that will benefit your community, in the long run, can be difficult. For HOAs and Condos, a community-specific website can bring that long-term value.  In this post, we highlight the differences between a community-specific website and a generic content management site.

A community-specific website is one that is built from the ground up for a residential community – HOA, Condo associations, and Co-Ops.  Generic content management sites (CMS) are website builders that can be created for businesses that span many industries.  Examples include the big names that you may already be aware of: Wix.com, WordPress, Square Space, etc.  Although many generic CMS offer mobile-friendly designs and customization of web pages, they aren’t built specifically for managing communities.

Why community-specific websites?

1) Residents can update their profile information themselves

A critical part of community management operations is effective communication with the homeowners.  The task of ensuring that each resident’s contact information is correct in the database can be overwhelming. What if you have a community website where residents can update their own information, and that information is synced back to your manager portal and accounting system?  That would undoubtedly offload the amount of time that it takes to manually update your resident’s information, as it changes, in two different places. The flow of data between the accounting system and the website, and back is perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of a community-specific website. In Pilera’s Easysite, a community website provider, residents can update their communication preferences, which will feed back to your accounting provider.   

2) Residents can check their financial balances & make payments online

A community-specific website that is specially designed for residents will enable them with the tools to stay on top of their association dues.  Residents will be able to keep track of the dues they are paying through a balance and ledger. They can also log in to pay their community dues on time.  In Pilera’s Easysite, residents will be able to pay their dues on the website through the bank of your choice.

3) Managers can create pages with permissions based on user role

With generic website builders, you can create private pages that only your residents and board members can access although they won’t be role-specific.  A community-specific website builder will allow you to create pages that restrict certain users from accessing the content. Pilera’s Easysites, a community-specific website builder, gives managers or website administrators the ability to restrict access of a specific page by board members or residents.  Managers can also restrict page access depending on whether the user is logged in or not. Restricting certain pages makes your website more secure, providing access to information only to the people who need it.

4) An easier flow of information from the management web portal to the website

One of the most vital goals of an HOA or Condo community website is to inform residents.  To that goal, a community website should provide information about who to contact for different inquiries, when the next board meeting or community gathering is, and what a resident’s responsibility is in maintaining their property.  This information may be more time-consuming to manage in a generic CMS. However, a community-specific website can easily bring in all this information from your management portal. Through Pilera’s management portal and Easysites, the need to manage data in two different places is reduced.  Content from the web portal that can be brought over easily to the website includes documents, events, marketplace items, and contact information.

Conclusion

A content management system that is built from the ground up for an HOA or Condo association is a prominent investment into your community’s future in so many ways.  You can offer a personalized community experience to your residents that makes association living more enjoyable and informative. When residents are adequately informed of community information, compliant with association rules (because they know where to find the CC&Rs), and pay on time, you’ll have better chances of reducing calls to the office or fielding repetitive emails.  What ensues is a more organized, efficient customer service operation for your community.

---

About Pilera

Pilera Software is the premier community and property management suite that has helped thousands of community managers and back-office personnel enhance communications, improve customer service, and manage compliance and operations. Additionally, we provide community and company websites that are mobile-friendly, have sleek designs, and can be customized for your residents. May we help your community achieve these success stories?

A website is a long-term investment into a community’s operations.  When a website is well-built and nurtured over time with the purpose of keeping residents informed, it can help managers and board members to build stronger relations with the community, while running it more efficiently.  Residents can get access to information easily amidst their busy schedules, be more informed, and feel more connected to their community. How can you make your community website stand out from the rest, and provide residents with a central place for all information about the community?  In this blog post, we go over five important tips to make your community websites more effective in engaging and informing residents.

Tip #1: Show off your community\’s persona via design and content.

A website is an online representation of what a community’s mission is and what values they stand for.  The community’s mission, ideals, and values are all collectively a part of their brand. For example, does your community mostly consist of high-end, luxury homes?  Or, is your community a fun-loving one where managers and association leaders work with the community hands-on? Or, does your community have a vast amount of amenities and are skilled in maintaining them?  High-end, luxury, fun-loving, collaborative, skillful – all of these are qualities that your community potentially imbibes. It’s important to convey those qualities through your website design and content.

Tip #2: Write in a simple manner.

One of the most essential goals for a community is to be as informative as possible because it improves operations and helps to increase resident satisfaction in the community.  For your content to be informative it\’s important to write in a clear and concise manner without using industry jargon.  This will help residents to easily comprehend the information they are getting.   Once you’ve written content for the website, send it another community leader for review.  

Tip #3: Answer the questions your residents want and need to know.

Residents will browse on the community’s website for a reason.  The more helpful and detailed the information on your website is, the more satisfied residents will be knowing that they can get their questions answered at any time of the day.  The main purpose of any website is to provide solutions to a person or company’s problem or provide answers to a question, and it’s no different for community websites. Your community website may address the following information for residents:

• Community contact information (names, phone numbers, and email addresses) and office hours.
• Board member names and positions.
• A frequently asked questions (FAQs) page answering any questions that residents regularly ask. How can residents submit an architectural change request to be reviewed and approved by the community?  How can they submit maintenance requests?
• How residents can get access to community documents, governing documents and rules, important messages and community events.
• Does your community comprise of rental properties?  Provide information about those rental properties, procedures, and how to submit an application.

Tip #4: Add multimedia to your content mix.

There are many ways to tell your community’s story and one of the best ways is through multimedia in the form of videos and images.  Multimedia is much more engaging and easier for residents to not only process and understand but resonate with. Furthermore, videos and images create a more personal connection than simple text does.  According to Hubspot, eye-tracking studies showed that individuals pay closer attention to content that includes images and are able to retain information three days later when the image is paired with the content. Additionally, individuals are four times as likely to watch a video about a company’s product or services than to read about it and close to 77% of businesses surveyed state that videos had a direct positive impact on their business.  Here are some ways to integrate multimedia into the community website:

• Add photos of your team members, community gatherings and meetings, amenities the community offers, and other areas of interest.
• Show an introduction video to your community on the home page detailing community history and culture, values and mission, the services provided, leader background, and special aspects of the community.
• Create “how to” videos to educate your residents on a variety of community-related topics or about the services the community offers.
• A simple thank you video message to your community members appreciating everyone’s contribution can strengthen the bond between the board and residents.

Tip #5: Implement responsive design.

According to comScore’s mobile usage study, approximately 65% of internet users in the United States consume information on multiple devices.  For a community, this means that information must be readily available in more than one device to provide a great user experience to residents who may own different devices.  A responsive website design is key to providing easily readable information to your residents, whether it be on a laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile device of any size. Responsive design allows for flexible stretch or compression of website pages and its elements (navigation bar, text, images, and other multimedia) to fit the device it is being viewed on.  Therefore, you’ll want to incorporate responsive design for compliance and to provide your residents/board members with a good user experience.

 

---

About Pilera

Pilera is your all-in-one community management suite for communications, work orders, help desk functionality, resident access, and more.  We also offer powerful community and company websites called Pilera EasySite. What’s the best part of our websites? There’s absolutely no coding experience necessary.  Our simple drag and drop functionality makes it easy to place various elements such as photo galleries, contact information, event calendars, and weather displays. EasySite also integrates with Pilera’s various modules.  

Last year, Governor Rick Scott signed into law the Florida Condo Law Board Members Transparency Act to improve transparency in condominium associations. Chapter 718, requires that all condominiums managing over 150 units must have a fully functional password-protected website by July 1, 2018.  Recent changes to this statute under House Bill 841 extend the deadline to January 1, 2019.  Also, according to the revisions, some requirements have been relaxed.  Earlier, multi-condos managing a cumulative amount of units that exceed 150 were required to have websites.  Now, only individual condominiums managing more than 150 units are required to have a website.

The great news is that this gives more time for your associations and management team to comply, so you aren’t as pressed for time as you may have been before.  You can relax a bit and take a deep breath!  With that being said, we recommend staying ahead of the game and preparing early.  In this article, you’ll learn the key takeaways of the Florida Condo Website Law and how to prepare for it.  

What are the statute requirements?

The Florida Condo Website Law requires that associations publish a variety of financial and operations-specific documents:

• The Declaration of the Condominium and all changes that are made to it.
• Association bylaws, articles of incorporation, and all version changes.
• The association’s rules.
• A separate page titled “Notices” made publicly available that includes any notices ahead of the board meeting.  This needs to be located on the homepage of the website or a separate page hyperlinked to the homepage.
• All contracts and open bids that the association is a party of.
• Completed annual budgets and any prior drafts that were considered.
• Comprehensive financial statements.
• Certificates for each board member.
• Board meeting documents such as agendas, meeting notices, as well as any issues to be voted on in advance.
• Other condominium-specific documents.

What should you consider in the technology space?

Choosing the right technology involves investing time to research options, implement the solution, and train staff.  When using technology that meets your organizational needs, you\’re better positioned to smoothen operations and cultivate a happier, informed community.  Here’s a list of what to consider in your assessment:

• Ease of use – The website or web portal should be easy to navigate through and manage.
• Online storage capabilities – Find out if the software is based on the cloud or is a desktop app.  The benefits of cloud-based software are many.  Information can be accessed from any device and any location with an internet connection.
• Communication capabilities – Identify how the owners will be notified of new documents.  Are there flexible communication preferences, such as the ability to send phone calls, emails, and text messages?
• Document management functionalities – Does the web portal or website allow for easy categorization, uploads, and permission settings for documents?
• Ownership of website – Under the law, associations are required to keep the website in the event they change management companies.  If the website provider does not allow this, they are not in compliance with the law.
• Security – Does the website or the web portal keep the association’s data safe?  Are there any SSL and HTTPS security protocols in place? How does the company manage data loss prevention?
• Scalability – As associations and management companies grow (because they certainly will!), does the website or web portal have the capability to manage that growth and evolving requirements?  Look into software that can simplify many cross-community actions and at the same time, can be tailored to each community’s needs.

What about HOAs?

Although the Florida Condo Law Board Members Transparency Act is only for condominium associations managing more than 150 associations in Florida, it\’s likely that other states will pass similar laws.  For the smaller condos, HOAs, and co-ops, there is a statute for you – Senate Bill 398 specifies that an individual in your community should be designated the responsibility of handling estoppel certificates. Furthermore, their contact information must be published on the website.

A website or portal can be beneficial even if you\’re managing an HOA.  A website can help your HOA improve communication with residents by providing instant access to the latest community information.  Residents are now searching online for answers first before they contact the management company.  This enables your staff to reduce workload by having to field fewer inbound calls from residents.  

About Pilera

Pilera Software is a premier community and property management suite that has helped thousands of community managers, board members, and back-office personnel enhance communications, improve customer service, and manage compliance and operations.  May we help your community achieve these success stories?  Learn more about how Pilera can help to be in compliance with the new Florida laws.  Contact us today for any questions about our software.

In early July as per Miami Herald, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed new updates to the condo laws.  One important focus is on financial statement disclosure.  From July 1, 2018, Condo associations overseeing 150 or more units will be required to make financial reports accessible to unit owners on a password-protected website.

Transparency in operations is key for a condominium association to build trust with residents and ensure accountability.   Are annual fees utilized appropriately?  Are assessment charges reasonable?  Making your residents fully aware of the association’s expense management and financial health is essential.

Given the need for increased transparency, lessened misappropriations in funding, and enhanced public appeal, many more states are likely to follow suit.  In light of the Florida Condo Website Law, we highlight five ways your association can build operational and financial transparency.

How to prepare for the new Florida Condo Website Law

1. Craft an easily understandable CC&R/Governing Docs

   Every COA is required to create a CC&R, or a Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions document and/or governing documents that condo owners must sign at the closing.  A CC&R highlights community rules that residents must abide by.  If crafted well with simple language, residents can easily understand association expectations and how it aligns with overall operations.  If you already have an existing CC&R, re-evaluate the content for ease of understanding.  Governing documents should also include how the association plans to share financial information with unit owners.  Be aware that much older association documentation may not accommodate more modern technological methods of conveying this information.  Review your CC&R to make sure it meets your current community’s requirements and the law.

2. Encourage owners to attend and participate in board meetings

   To keep unit owners informed of pertinent issues impacting the association such as annual budgeting and development projects, encourage them to attend and participate in association meetings.  Creating an open dialogue ensures that their voice is heard and taken seriously.  Provide owners with a meeting agenda well in advance so they can know about issues ahead of the meeting.  Also, provide them with a best practices guide on how to effectively discuss and vote on issues.  Another way to encourage residents to attend the board meeting is by using community-specialized communication software to send them notices of the upcoming events.

3. Be open to sharing financial information

   To build trust with owners, be open about the financial health of the association when they ask.  The types of financial information required for resident disclosure vary on state laws and governing documents.  Usually, some financial disclosure is required even at a broad, summary level.  Visit your state’s legislation website to identify any recent updates to condo laws.  

4. Create a community website

   The best way to communicate important information about your community to residents and the public is through a website.  The website should include community contact information, office hours & location, board member information, common amenities, and the latest news.  Gated content for residents, board members, and managers only should include meeting minutes, association meeting calendar, and financial reports.

5. Implement a knowledge base

   Create an easily searchable knowledge base on frequently asked questions that owners and board members will want answers to.  Answer questions about maintenance, board members and meetings, and company financials.  Take a look at our Best Practices Guide for creating a knowledge base and the Top 50 Questions your association should answer.

Communicating relevant information to owners, board members, managers, and the public in a timely manner is of utmost priority.  By doing this, your management exercises transparency, reduces the chances of litigation, keeps current residents informed and happy, and enhances community appeal to the public.

Pilera Software, LLC is a comprehensive property management suite that helps property and community managers automate communications, streamline maintenance and rule violations, and manage activities.  Our offerings also include a knowledge base, document library, online forms, and community and company websites.

Community association websites are a great idea. They’re the perfect place to post notices and reminders, provide updates on any construction or changes to the property, and so much more. These websites are a convenient and simple place for anyone in the community to go and stay abreast of whatever’s happening at any given time.

But the key to any community association website is to keep it updated. With social media at everyone’s fingertips providing up-to-the-minute breaking news, people have become accustomed to hearing about things in real time. If your website isn’t keeping up, not only will visitors become disinterested, they’ll likely never return.

Having a full-time web person on staff is the perfect solution, but that can be costly and there might not be enough updates to warrant such a position. You can keep the site fresh and updated yourself, though, and it’s not a huge drain on your time or resources.

The key is to make sure that the website itself is simple and easy to update. With so many drag-and-click website designs out there these days, there’s no excuse for having one with a confusing or cumbersome interface. You should be able to log in, make a few tweaks, and deploy.

And be sure to keep the updates top-of-mind and relevant. If there’s going to be fire alarm testing, for instance, be sure to give residents plenty of notice, and remind them as the date draws closer. If there’s a snowstorm on the way, remind residents of the parking and plowing policies, and keep them updated as the bad weather progresses.

An updated and current website will benefit everyone in the community association, and will make your life a whole lot easier.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!