CREATING A PLAN FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

I grew up taking road trips with my family every Summer.  We would all load into our Ford LTD station wagon with the trailer hitched up and then headed off! I’d often ask where we were going and to my delight, my Dad would pull out a map and walk me through where we were going, how long it was going to take to get to each of the locations and what we would do when we were there.  Wow, what a plan.  I knew it took him weeks to do it.

What does that have to do with creating a plan for your community?  Well, you could just hit the road without a truly defined destination in mind and drive.  Without a plan, you are probably going to miss out on a lot of great stuff and find frustration along the way without understanding the map and how to get to your desired destination.

Creating a plan for your community is kind of like that.  You can go on from day to day, year to year and do the basics. Alternatively, you can make a plan that is deliberate. Deliberate in what ways?  Here’s food for thought: as a board your job is to preserve and promote property values.  In order to do that, you need to be thinking about where you are today and how you are going to keep up tomorrow.     

Here are some for instances:

• Do you have a plan to renovate the landscape about every 10 years?  Plants do have a finite life span and in order to keep your curb appeal up, this should be in your strategic plan.
   
• If you have technology, are you looking out for new innovations that may be of benefit?  If you are still using Medco keys, does it make sense to upgrade to a fob or card system to track use and add to your violation procedure?
   
• When you review your reserve study are you thinking about whether the life expectancy of those components should be either extended or increased given their actual wear and tear and appearance?
   
• In the age of Lifestyle Communities, are there opportunities to bring the community together that are not being considered or talked about?
   
• Are you seeking feedback from your community members to see what services they might want to see the board incorporate into the management program?
   
• Every year at budget time, and again around mid-year, it is a great time to be talking about the needs of the community and how your budget is performing.  Be open-minded to feedback and also the changing needs of your community.  As people move on and new owners come in, the dynamic changes and that can change the needs and wants of the community members that you are elected to serve.

If you are interested in talking more about how to create a strategic plan and how it can benefit your community, please feel welcome to give me a call.  Change starts by looking around for opportunities, seeking feedback, using your experts and forging a plan.    

Wishing you, your board and community continued success!

About CRUMMACK HUSEBY
Crummack Huseby Property Management was awarded "Best Places to Work" three years in a row by the Orange County Business Journal and Best Companies Group. They have added value to communities throughout Southern California by working with HOAs, homebuilders, and land developers through their collaborative and customized approach. Their personalized philosophy to community management has allowed them to successfully discover and develop one-of-a-kind programs for new and existing communities. www.ch-pm.com