Get on board! Communication between HOA boards and residents has never been easier!

Does your neighborhood have a good system for communicating?  Are you able to quickly get answers to neighborhood questions?  If not, read on.

Today, simple web based tools allow neighborhood organizations the opportunity to  set up online discussion forums and electronic bulletin boards to foster communication with and among residents.  And best of all, many of these systems are completely free to set up and operate!

While you may not run into your neighbors enough to be on a first name basis, you’ve probably at times wanted to share information with others who obviously have common concerns and experiences.  Living in the same environment, you can obviously learn some useful things about maintenance issues or maybe just an answer to the question, “What was that strange noise last night”?  And the need for a conversation only increases if you live in a multi-unit building, where you share common space and services.  But all too often the communication doesn’t happen, either because residents don’t see each other or don’t feel they know each other well enough to have these conversations.

HOAs or neighborhood organizations of course have a responsibility to communicate to their residents about things they “need to know” about regulations and common services.  But the HOA may not want to spend the time or money to develop an online or telecommunications system that they think nobody will use.  So they continue to rely on snail mail or announcements slipped under the door for only the most critical of information.

If your neighborhood organization hasn’t yet taken advantage to these tools, I recommend using Google Groups working in tandem with Google Sites.  I’m not a technical wiz or expert, but I was able to set up this system on behalf of my HOA, so I figure pretty much anyone can do it.

The system is easy to set up and use.

• HOAs post information and residents post questions or comments by sending an email to a specific (Group) address.
• Posts and replies are automatically sent to member addresses via email.
• A website containing information (regulations, by-laws, how-to’s, etc.) can be posted by the HOA, searchable using keywords.

Residents control how information is delivered.

• You can control how email messages are delivered, either distributed as posted or as a digest (multiple posts together).
• If you don’t wish to use email, you can post and access information through the Group Homepage.
• You can unsubscribe yourself from the discussion forum and/or website at anytime.

Emails and posted information is kept private.

• Group members’ emails are known only to the Group Administrator and are not visible or shared.  Note: Members may wish to set up a separate G-mail account for this purpose.
• Members can update their email address without having to notify anyone.
• The website can be kept private, accessible only by invitation.

Neighbors may not meet at the town square any more, or even strike up conversations in the elevator, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still share common interests and concerns.

My own HOA started using this system and it seems to work well.  But if you have suggestions on other systems that you have found to work effectively within your neighborhood or condo/apartment building, we’d like to hear from you.