.jpg)
Are you part of an HOA and have a strong desire to do what's best for you and your community? Many people invest their hard-earned money in real estate, and part of an HOA's job is to protect that investment's value. Regular maintenance is one of the pillars of keeping and increasing property values.
While each homeowner is responsible for their property's maintenance, the HOA has its responsibilities. Consistent HOA property maintenance doesn't raise the value of any particular unit but rather the entire area's market value. Learn more about HOA responsibilities and maintenance in this short guide.
HOA Responsibilities
Living in an HOA community comes with extensive and unique advantages, with the biggest being the coordination benefit. This is when the HOA streamlines decision-making and rules enforcement on behalf of all its members.
The HOA may collect fees to do this job, but once it does, it incurs several responsibilities in this line of duty. Chief among these responsibilities is HOA property maintenance or the obligation to maintain common areas.
HOA Property Maintenance
"Common areas" is a broad definition that extends to anything that doesn't belong to individual homeowners. This can encompass quite a lot of real estate, depending on the community.
For example, if the HOA governs an apartment building, the common areas are the lobby, hallways, and roof. If the community is spread out across a neighborhood, individual homeowners have responsibility over their homes' exteriors. However, the HOA incurs responsibility over green areas, fences, communal pools, etc.
HOA maintenance breaks down further into two categories: upkeep and repairs. The HOA has to keep pools, fences, tennis courts, and any other amenities at a set standard. They must ensure that these amenities run properly and don't degrade.
If the communal property does break, then the HOA has to repair it promptly. This limits security issues (fences and gates), legal liabilities (tiles, sidewalks, stairs, etc.), and drops in value.
How Property Maintenance Protects Value
Two of the biggest reasons that drive people to live in HOA neighborhoods are safety and aesthetics. The HOA enforcing its rules gives people that sense of security.
Good HOA property maintenance goes a long way in making sure the area is beautiful and that the common areas are safe to use. It also gives residents peace of mind that broken things will be fixed in no time.
When an HOA does its job well, the community becomes incredibly attractive. Home prices in a given area then rise as more people become interested in moving into the area. The HOA can also outsource many of these tasks to HOA management services for optimal results.
HOA Management and Maintenance
HOA property maintenance is the maintenance of all the common areas in an HOA community. It sounds like an arduous legal duty, but it can have great economic benefits for a community's residents.
By maintaining and repairing communal grassy areas, sidewalks, and amenities, the HOA makes the area more attractive to live in. The long-term benefit is more interest from outsiders, resulting in steadily increasing property value.
At PMI Boston, we help everyone from the tenant to the investor. Find out more about our HOA management for a service built around a holistic perspective.
