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I was on a board for a few years, like you, not because I wanted to, but because I felt I had to.
Anyways, here's some thoughts:
1. Your biggest concern should be this: Keeping costs down! Boards waste so much money on foolish things. Don't spend unless it's absolutely necessary. A board is like any other govt - once you spend on an item, you can never go back, it becomes a cost forever. Budgets never get smaller, they only grow. Try to stop the growth as much as possible. It's impt because increasing HOA fees hurts property values and makes your houses harder to sell.
2. Less is more. My biggest accomplishment was getting the board to meet once every 2 months instead of every month. That cuts the opportunity for damage in half!
3. Remember you are there to represent the interests of all the homeowners.
4. For you Property Management company, they need to be sure that they realize they represent the homeowners, not the Board. They get that confused a lot.
5. Again, the biggest responsibility is the budget, and the biggest component of the budget for most HOAs is insurance and landscaping. Make sure you are getting the best prices for both. Also, don't be afraid to switch vendors. Vendors tend to get fat, lazy and expensive when they get too entrenched/comfortable.
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