Your First 90 Days as an HOA Board Member: What Actually Deserves Your Attention.

Joining your HOA or condominium board can be exciting right up until someone sends you a folder full of heavy legalese governing documents, lengthy financial statements, contracts, meeting minutes and maintenance reports. 

Then it can get overwhelming quickly. 

Most board members are volunteers, meaning no compensation, and the working hours are often evenings and weekends. You probably have a job, a family and plenty of other things competing for your time. You do not need to become an expert in every aspect of community association management during your first month. 

But there are a handful of things you should understand early. 

Your first 90 days are less about fixing everything and more about getting a clear picture of the community you have agreed to help govern. 

Here is where to focus first. 

1. Start with the governing documents — but don’t try to memorize them. 

Your declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations are essentially the operating instructions for your association and outline your job description as a board member. 

They outline things like: 

• What the association is responsible for maintaining 

• What homeowners are responsible for 

• How assessments are determined 

• Board powers and limitations 

• Voting and election requirements 

• Meeting procedures 

• Architectural restrictions 

• Enforcement authority 

You do not need to sit down and read every page in one night. 

Instead, start by understanding the areas that affect the decisions currently in front of the board. 

If the community is discussing a major repair, find out who is responsible for that component. If there is a rules dispute, understand what the documents actually say before forming an opinion. 

Your management company should also be helping the board navigate these documents rather than expecting volunteer directors to interpret everything on their own. 

And when something involves a legal interpretation rather than day-to-day administration, that is often when association counsel should be involved. 

2. Understand the financial picture before debating individual expenses.

One of the most important things a new board member can do is learn how financially healthy the association actually is. 

Start with a few basic questions: 

• What is the annual operating budget? 

• How much cash does the association have? 

• How much of that cash is operating money versus reserve money, and what is the difference between the two? 

• Are expenses currently tracking to budget? 

• Does the association have outstanding debt? 

• Are assessments sufficient to cover current operations? 

• Are there any major unexpected expenses already developing? 

Do not assume a large bank balance automatically means the association is financially strong. 

A community might have $500,000 in the bank but also have a $700,000 roof project approaching. 

Likewise, a community with relatively modest cash balances may be financially healthy if it has a well-funded reserve plan and predictable expenses. 

Your manager and accounting team should be able to explain the financial statements in plain language and you should be receiving these monthly. You should not have to be an accountant to understand whether the community is operating within budget and preparing appropriately for future expenses.  

At RowCal, our in-house, CPA-led HOA Accounting team puts out monthly reconciled financials by the 15th each month, so you’re not looking at numbers that are 30+ days past. Making sure the number you’re reviewing are current is important. 

3. Find the reserve study. 

If your association has a reserve study, capital plan or similar long-term funding analysis, find it early. 

This document can tell you a great deal about what previous boards have been planning for. 

Depending on your community, it may address: 

• Roof replacement 

• Roads and pavement 

• Siding 

• Fencing 

• Elevators 

• Mechanical systems 

• Clubhouse components 

• Retaining walls 

• Pools 

• Exterior painting 

• Other major common elements 

Look at when the study was completed, what major projects are approaching and whether the association’s current reserve balance and annual contributions align with the plan. 

Most importantly, compare the reserve study with what is actually happening in the community. 

A study completed several years ago may have assumed a roof had ten years of useful life remaining. If leaks are now appearing regularly, the real timeline may have changed. Costs of repairs and materials have also jumped drastically over the last 6 years, so if your reserve study is using costs pre-2020, it’s also time to update the figures. 

A reserve study is a planning tool and a guideline, not always a set in stone plan. 

4. Know which contracts your community is committed to.

You do not need to renegotiate every vendor agreement during your first 90 days. 

You should know what they are. 

Ask for a list of the association’s major contracts, including services such as: 

• Landscaping 

• Snow removal 

• Janitorial services 

• Pool maintenance 

• Waste removal 

• Security 

• Elevator maintenance 

• Pest control 

• Management 

• Internet or telecommunications 

• Other significant recurring services 

For each major contract, understand the basic cost, expiration date and termination or renewal terms. 

Then ask whether there are contracts the current board is already unhappy with. 

This is also a good opportunity to resist the urge to immediately replace vendors just because a new board member has a preferred contractor. 

Sometimes competitive bidding is appropriate. Sometimes maintaining a strong relationship with a proven vendor is worth more than saving a small amount of money. 

A good management partner should help the board evaluate the market, compare scopes and determine which contracts actually deserve attention. 

5. Understand the association’s insurance — before you need it.

Insurance is one of those topics that is easy to ignore until there is a claim. 

Find out what coverage the association carries and when it renews. 

At a minimum, the board should understand the major policies protecting the association, any significant deductibles and whether there have been recent claims. 

You should also know whether there are coverage issues, recommendations or property conditions that could affect future premiums or insurability. 

This is an area where professional guidance matters. At RowCal, for example, our dedicated insurance division focuses specifically on reviewing community association coverage, marketing policies to carriers and helping boards evaluate both premium and coverage options. 

Whether your association uses that resource or another insurance professional, the important thing is that the board is not simply approving a renewal each year without understanding what it is buying. 

6. Ask for a list of every major project currently underway.

Nothing creates confusion for a new board faster than joining halfway through a large project. 

Ask your manager for a simple list of current and upcoming projects. 

For each one, understand: 

• What is being done? 

• Why is it being done? 

• What has the board already approved? 

• What is the budget? 

• Which vendor is performing the work? 

• Are there outstanding change orders? 

• What is the expected completion date? 

• Are there unresolved homeowner concerns? 

You do not necessarily need to reopen decisions that were already properly made. 

Your goal is to understand what commitments already exist so the new board does not unknowingly contradict prior direction or create delays. 

7. Know whether delinquent assessments are a problem.

You do not need to know which neighbor owes exactly how much money in week 1. You should understand the overall health of the association’s receivables. 

Ask: 

• How much is currently outstanding? 

• How does that compare with prior years? 

• How many accounts are significantly delinquent? 

• Does the association have a formal collection policy? 

• Are accounts progressing through that process consistently? 

• Are there any large balances that materially affect cash flow? 

Consistent collection practices matter. 

They protect the association financially and help make sure homeowners are treated fairly under the same process. 

Collection conversations can also become uncomfortable quickly when the people involved are your neighbors. 

This is one area where having management and, when necessary, legal counsel administer an established process can create healthy separation between the board and individual homeowners. 

8. Find out whether there is pending or threatened litigation.

This does not mean you need to become the association’s lawyer. 

You should know whether significant legal matters exist. 

Ask whether the association is currently involved in litigation, has received legal demands, is dealing with major construction or warranty disputes, or has other matters being handled by counsel. 

Understand the general issue, potential financial exposure and what the board is responsible for doing next. 

Avoid casually forwarding privileged legal communications or discussing sensitive legal matters with homeowners or neighbors while on a walk or at a get together. 

When legal matters are involved, follow the advice of association counsel regarding what should remain confidential and what may be communicated. 

9. Learn how your board meetings are supposed to work.

Board meetings can look informal because everyone may know one another but they are still governing meetings. 

Illinois law establishes meeting, notice and records requirements for condominium and common-interest community associations, although the exact rules differ depending on the type of association and its governing documents. 

For example, under Illinois’ Common Interest Community Association Act, covered boards generally must meet at least four times each year. Board meetings are generally open to owners, subject to specific exceptions for certain topics such as litigation, delinquent accounts, rule violations, contracts and consultation with legal counsel. Boards must also reserve a portion of the meeting for member comments. 

As a new director, learn: 

• How meetings are noticed or listed for the membership 

• How agendas are prepared and distributed 

• How motions and votes are handled 

• When the board may discuss something privately 

• How minutes are recorded 

• When homeowner comments occur 

• What decisions require a formal board vote 

Your management company should help keep the board organized around these processes. 

Good governance should not depend on every volunteer board member remembering every procedural requirement. 

10. Get very clear about what the board does — and what management does. 

This may be the most important lesson of your first 90 days. 

The board governs. Management manages. 

The board should be setting priorities, approving budgets, making policy decisions, approving significant contracts and projects, and providing direction on behalf of the association. 

Your management team should be helping execute that direction. 

That may include coordinating vendors, gathering bids, preparing financial information, responding to homeowner requests, tracking projects, administering association processes, helping prepare meetings and bringing decisions to the board when board authority is required. 

Problems often develop when those roles blur. 

If individual board members begin personally directing landscapers, approving work, responding independently to every homeowner complaint or making operational decisions outside the board’s established process, confusion follows quickly. 

Likewise, management should not be making major policy decisions that belong to the board. 

A strong board-management relationship should make volunteer service easier, not create another full-time job for board members. 

What you do not need to accomplish in your first 90 days 

You do not have to: 

• Rewrite every rule 

• Replace every vendor 

• Fix every historical problem 

• Personally answer every homeowner complaint 

• Become an expert in Illinois association law 

• Understand every line of every financial statement 

• Agree with every decision made before you joined 

In fact, one of the easiest mistakes a new board member can make is trying to change too much before understanding why things operate the way they do. 

Ask questions first. 

There may be a very good reason. 

There also may not be. 

But you will make better decisions once you know the difference. 

A simple 90-day goal 

By the end of your first three months, you should be able to answer five questions: 

1. Is our association financially healthy?
2. What major expenses or projects are coming?
3. Are there any serious legal, insurance or collection issues the board needs to understand?
4. What are the board’s biggest priorities right now?
5. Do we have the professional support we need tomanage themeffectively? 

If you can answer those five questions, you are already in a much stronger position than you were on election night! Congratulations! 

Serving on an HOA or condominium board carries real responsibility. 

But it should not require volunteer board members to personally become accountants, property managers, insurance specialists, attorneys and construction experts. 

The strongest boards know where their responsibility begins — and where to lean on the professionals supporting their community. 

 New to your HOA board? You don’t have to figure it out alone. 

RowCal works alongside volunteer boards to provide the financial information, operational support and professional guidance they need to make confident decisions for their communities. 

Whether you are newly elected or simply wondering whether your current management relationship is giving your board enough support, we’d be happy to talk.