Re: HOA Dues and Accounting Practices
From: S. Fradenburgh & J. Taylor (safjstmindspring.com)
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:28:09 -0600 (MDT)
Sheryl,

At Lake Claire Cohousing in Atlanta (where we moved in 4-1/2 years ago) we
have 12 units with all owners currently in residence.  We send out HOA
bills monthly by putting them in the cubbies we have in our commonhouse for
purposes of internal communications.  Payments (checks or wads of cash) are
generally put in the treasurer's cubby.  Last year when we had absentee
owners for one unit, the bills and payments were handled by mail.  Bills
are issued the 20th for the following month, are due on the 1st and late
after the 5th, with $10 late fee.

We nearly always have 1 - 3 units in arrears at any one time, ranging from
a week or so late to several months.  They tend to be repeat offenders.
The proportion of accounts in arrears appears to be similar to that for my
previous HOA in the burbs.  In practice the treasurer usually ends up being
the one to bug people, although we have on occasion used a small ad hoc
committee to work out payment plans.  We are prepared to put a lien on the
property when things get too backed up but have never actually done so.
(This doesn't get you your money until the owner sells.)

We use QuickBooks to keep track of our accounts.  It takes a bit of
head-scratching to set up for an HOA, since it is more geared to for-profit
small businesses, but it has worked reasonably well for us.  For example,
it can be set up to generate the monthly bills automatically.  The
week-to-week bookkeeping is done on a volunteer basis (as part of the coho
work expectation for 1 or 2 of us), except that we pay an accountant to do
our taxes once a year.  (We just give him a copy of our QuickBooks accounts
on a floppy.)

I would be happy to talk to you off-line if you need help with more details
of setting up a system.  I've been the treas or asst treas here since
before construction started, so I can give you the benefit of all my mistakes!

Shari Fradenburgh


At 10:03 PM 7/16/01 -0500, you wrote:
>
>We'd be much obliged if anyone could briefly offer their experience and/or
>recommendations on any of the questions below, or any relevant burning
>detail.
>
>
>What policies do you have around HOA dues payments?
>
>How do you collect HOA dues?
> - Do you send out bills?
> - Do people pay by coupon book, as is sometimes done with loan payments?
> - Do they just send their dues in by mail?
> - Perhaps they drop their checks in a common house payment box?
> - Maybe you use some other method we haven't thought of?
>
>What has worked, what hasn't?
>
>What do you use to record payment info (e.g., QuickBooks)?
>
>Do you use an outside professional to do the accounting, or does a member
>perform this task?
>
>Do you have any difficulty getting dues paid on time?
>
>What do you do if members are in arrears with their dues?
>
>
>Thanks SO much for your help!
>
>Sheryl Faria
>Pleasant Hill Cohousing



********************************
Shari Fradenburgh and Joe Taylor
Lake Claire Cohousing
Atlanta, GA

safjst [at] mindspring.com
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