Budgets & Assessments · Reference · How-to

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Topic Budgets & Assessments 11 Rules & Enforcement 1 Maintenance & Vendors 2

Audience Owners & Residents 3 Board Members 9 Community Managers 8

Medium Guide 10 Checklist 1

Kind Commentary 6 Reference 7 How-to 4

Series The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong 6

Show the Math: How HOA Assessments Are Actually Calculated

Show the Math: How HOA Assessments Are Actually Calculated

Start with the fact that surprises most people, including plenty of board members: your assessment is a byproduct of the budget. Nobody is supposed to pick your monthly number. The association builds ...

Budgets & Assessments Owners & Residents The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong Board Members

Sep 4, 2026

Can My HOA Raise Assessments Without My Vote?

Can My HOA Raise Assessments Without My Vote?

Short answer: usually yes, within limits. In California your board can raise the regular assessment up to 20 percent in a year without asking you, and can levy special assessments up to 5 percent of t...

Budgets & Assessments Owners & Residents

Sep 4, 2026

Seven Inputs Your HOA Budget Ignored

Seven Inputs Your HOA Budget Ignored

When I rebuilt my own association's budget, the biggest corrections did not come from arithmetic. They came from things the budget had never been told. The information existed, in minutes, contracts, ...

Budgets & Assessments The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

What Accounts Does HOA Reserve Accounting Actually Need?

What Accounts Does HOA Reserve Accounting Actually Need?

If you are setting up reserve accounting for an association, here is the whole answer: you need five accounts. Every account beyond these makes the books harder to read, not easier, and the reasons wh...

Budgets & Assessments Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

When Equal Isn't Equitable: Audit Your Split Against Your Documents

When Equal Isn't Equitable: Audit Your Split Against Your Documents

Splitting every cost equally feels like the neutral choice. It is not neutral. It is a choice among three lawful bases, and at many associations it is a choice the governing documents already made dif...

Budgets & Assessments The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

The 20% Cap You Think You're Under

The 20% Cap You Think You're Under

Compliance asserted from a miscalculation is worse than no compliance check at all, because it is confidently wrong, and the confidence goes in the minutes. The 20 percent cap is a one-line rule with ...

Budgets & Assessments Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

Why Budgeting Off Your GL Is Wrong

Why Budgeting Off Your GL Is Wrong

In twenty years of business systems work, I never once saw a serious company budget directly on its chart of accounts. Dimensions, cost centers, analytic layers: separating "where the money posts" fro...

Budgets & Assessments The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

Budgeting for an Insurance Renewal You Haven't Seen

Budgeting for an Insurance Renewal You Haven't Seen

Every HOA budget contains at least one number nobody has seen: next year's insurance premium, because the renewal lands mid-year, months after adoption. You cannot fix that. What you can fix is everyt...

Budgets & Assessments The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

Loans and NBI: The Two Lines Nobody Budgets

Loans and NBI: The Two Lines Nobody Budgets

Two lines go missing from association budgets more reliably than any others, and not because they are small. Debt service can be one of the largest lines an association carries, and the tax on non-exe...

Budgets & Assessments Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

The HOA Pre-Draft Budget Checklist

The HOA Pre-Draft Budget Checklist

A budget is only as good as what it was told. This is the complete list of what to tell it: every check that should happen before a single number gets typed. Work the list with the documents open, and...

Budgets & Assessments The Three Ways Every HOA Budget Goes Wrong Board Members Community Managers

Sep 4, 2026

Is Your Share Calculated the Way Your CC&Rs Say?

Is Your Share Calculated the Way Your CC&Rs Say?

You live in Building A. The big line in this year's budget is Building C's roof. And a version of the same question is being asked at an annual meeting somewhere every night of budget season: why am I...

Budgets & Assessments Owners & Residents

Sep 4, 2026