The HOA-OS Blog
Practical advice, product updates, and community management insights for HOA boards.
The HOA Corporate Compliance Playbook for Boards
The whole corporate side of running an HOA in one place: the entity, the articles, the annual report, the registered agent, the tax return, the records and the amendment routes, in the order a board should check them.
Amending HOA Articles vs Amending the CC&Rs: The Difference
Two documents, two different approval thresholds and two different filings, routinely conflated. What the board can change on its own, what needs the members, and which office each amendment goes to.
What Happens When an HOA's Corporate Status Lapses
Administrative dissolution, in plain English: how a state dissolves an HOA that stops filing, what stops working, why the CC&Rs generally survive it, how reinstatement works, and where the exposure sits in the gap.
HOA Annual Reports and Staying in Good Standing
The recurring state filing most self-managed boards forget: what the annual report is, roughly when it falls, the registered-agent trap when a board member moves, and why a lapsed agent address is how boards miss a lawsuit.
What HOA Articles of Incorporation Actually Contain
Section by section, in plain English: name, purpose, registered agent, membership, directors and dissolution. Why the articles are short, the CC&Rs are long, and which one governs when they disagree.
How does a board keep track of its vendors' contracts and insurance before something lapses?
A walkthrough of the vendor page in HOA-OS, where each vendor's contact, insurance expiry date and agreements sit on one record, and the insurance status is worked out from the date every time the page opens.
How to Find Your HOA's Articles of Incorporation
The Secretary of State business search, what the entity is probably filed under when the community name doesn't match, ordering a certified copy, and what to do when the filing predates online records.
We're switching systems. How do we bring over what each unit already owes?
A 4-minute walkthrough of importing opening balances in HOA-OS, where the board loads the file itself, reads every row back before a cent is written, and can take the whole batch out again.
Your HOA Is a Corporation. Here Is What That Means
Most HOAs are nonprofit corporations. What the corporation owns, what members own, why the board are directors in the legal sense, and what the corporate form protects.
The HOA Developer Transition Playbook for New Boards
The whole developer handover in one place: the control period, the delivery, the audit, the contracts and the rules, in the order a new board meets them.
Changing Declarant-Era Rules: Amending CC&Rs After Turnover
The rules a developer wrote were built to sell homes in a neighborhood that did not exist yet. What an owner-controlled board can change, and the vote each change needs.
How a board handles resident messages without them landing in one person's personal inbox
A 3-minute walkthrough of the shared board inbox in HOA-OS, where every resident message lands in one list the whole board can see and each thread carries its own status.
Auditing the Developer's Books at Turnover: A Board Guide
A transition audit is the one chance a new board gets to establish what the association was handed. What it covers, who pays, and the red flags it finds.
Your First Homeowner-Controlled Board: The First 90 Days
The first board elected by owners inherits a set of decisions the developer already made. A 90-day order of work for reading, checking and fixing them.
The HOA Turnover Checklist: Documents, Funds, and Records
A copy-ready list of what a developer owes the association at turnover, from the minute books and the money to the warranties nobody remembers to ask for.
How to Record a Paper Check Payment in HOA-OS
Photograph a paper check and HOA-OS reads the fields onto the payment form, matches it to open charges when the match is exact, and leaves the decision to you when it is not.
The Declarant Control Period: What Developers Can Control
During the declarant control period a developer appoints the board, outvotes the owners and signs the contracts. Here is how far those powers reach, and where they stop.
HOA Developer Turnover: How Your Community Changes Hands
Developer turnover is the moment an HOA stops belonging to the builder and starts belonging to the owners. Here is what triggers it and what changes hands.
The HOA Maintenance Playbook for Self-Managed Boards
Six habits that keep an association's property, vendors and money in order: the responsibility chart, the scope sheet, the insurance file, the calendar, the emergency policy and the performance walk.
HOA Landscaping Contracts: Your Biggest Line Item
Landscaping is usually the largest operating expense a self-managed board signs. What belongs in the scope, what to watch at renewal, and how to run a performance walk.