Dues and assessments are essential to the success of any HOA. Unfortunately, sometimes homeowners get behind, leading to delinquent accounts. If you’re seeing this in your community, it may be time to bring in an HOA collection agency.
Though there are many companies to choose from, the key is to find one that has experience in the industry. This ensures they understand how unique an HOA business can be.
Here’s how to find the right HOA collection agency for your association:
Stay Local
A major challenge HOAs face when working to collect delinquent homeowner’s association dues is that they must do it in a way that doesn’t harass homeowners as maintaining positive relationships is important.
This is why hiring locally may be a good option because local firms are linked to the community. It may even be more enticing for homeowners to pay sooner when dealing with a local agency, knowing that their late dues and assessments are known outside of the HOA.
Do Your Fair Share of Research
Whether you choose to hire a local company or a national firm, it’s important to research them. There are a few essential and basic ways to do this, including:
- Checking out HOA forums- Some of the top forums for HOAs include HOA Talk and HOA leader where you can learn from others about the process of hiring an agency.
- Using search engines to find reviews- The importance of reviews for companies is growing as more consumers are leaving feedback regarding their experiences with companies. Finding reviews from former customers may be as easy as typing a company name into a search engine.
- Ask for referrals- Instead of relying on research alone you could also ask a friend or mentor within the industry. They may have experiences or insight with HOA collection agencies that will help you make the decision.
Vet Multiple Companies
While conducting research is important, properly vetting the companies your HOA is considering gives you the ability to compare their offerings and ask important questions about their process, including:
- Fee structures– How does their fee structure work, and what percentage will you see in the final breakdown?
- Contact policies– How will the agency contact the homeowners, and how often?
- Additional features– Are there additional fees for taking back the account if a homeowner wants to pay the HOA directly?
Ask for a Breakdown of Accounts
While analyzing the features, policies, and structures of multiple collection agencies, you should also request a breakdown of accounts. This allows you to dive deeper into the way an agency conducts business by showing you a concrete demonstration of their work.
Asking to see active accounts (with the names redacted) is a great way to review how their fees and conditions work, giving you a better idea if the agency is right for your HOA.
Keep Homeowners Informed with Page Per Page
Fears of harassing your homeowners as well as the pressure to promptly collect dues can make finding the right HOA collection agency stressful.
During the process, it’s important to keep in mind that maintaining clear communication with your homeowners will help things run much more smoothly. And while utilizing your HOA website is a great option, sending notices is the best way to ensure they receive critical communications. For this, Page Per Page is the solution.
Page Per Page’s extensive work in the HOA industry has given them knowledge and experience that can help you design and mail notices with ease. With Page Per Page, you can add control and efficiency to the process of collecting dues and assessments through mailings that homeowners can’t ignore.
