Types of HOAs: A Guide for Companies Selling to Homeowner Communities
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
What is a homeowner association? It’s a governing body that establishes and enforces rules for a residential community, collects dues from homeowners, and manages shared common areas and amenities like pools and parks.
This guide covers the different types of homeowner associations, what they manage, and why that structure matters for businesses looking to sell into these communities — including who holds the decision-making authority and how to reach them.
Why would you want to do business with an HOA? Because an HOA or other type of community association can be responsible for tasks like:
Landscaping
Cleaning
Roofing
Plumbing
Community pools
Security
Parking enforcement
Painting
Rec areas
Community roads or sidewalks
General maintenance
And this is only a snapshot of the potential responsibilities a community association can have. A community association is usually a board of representatives who live in the community, which means that they usually contract these services out to third-party businesses. Let’s explore the types of community associations and the types of things that they manage.
7 Types of Homeowner Communities
Homeowners' Association (HOA)
The most common community association is a homeowners’ association. As the name suggests, it’s made up of a community of homeowners who own the land and buildings on that land. An HOA is responsible for the common areas, which can include amenities like clubhouses, pools, parks and playgrounds. An HOA can also set restrictions on how homeowners can paint their houses, park vehicles, make noise, and other things that affect neighbors.
HOAs are made up of board members who make decisions for the community. A newer community may have the developers on the board, but the community will eventually elect board members who live in the community and serve as volunteers. The board member structure usually includes a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. The treasurer may be responsible for collecting fees and managing the budget, and therefore may be involved in the vetting and decision-making process for HOA purchases and vendor contracts. The entire HOA board typically makes the calls on who to do business with, depending on how the governing covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are written.
Condo Association
As the name suggests, condo associations (COAs) are for condominiums, where units are individually owned, but the building is a shared responsibility. A COA has more responsibilities than an HOA, because of the shared building plus common areas versus just shared common areas. COAs are responsible not only for amenities in the community, but also for building plumbing, electrical, roofing, and exterior paint.
COAs are organized like an HOA with a board of representatives who make community decisions. They differ in that they have far more responsibility when it comes to maintenance, rules and restrictions. Noise complaints and restrictions on pets are examples of issues exacerbated by condo units in close proximity.
Co-op / Housing Cooperative
A housing cooperative, or co-op, is a type of association where the cooperative owns the property and building that the residential units are located in. If someone wants to live in the cooperative, they purchase shares or a membership interest in the community and have rights to live in a unit of the building. A housing cooperative will have restrictions on who can buy in, such as a 55+ housing cooperative or a student housing cooperative.
A housing cooperative does have a central governing authority in the form of an elected board, similar to an HOA with a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. However, all residents have shares in the organization and therefore a greater stake in the governance and finances of the co-op. The co-op board is responsible for shared amenities, vetting potential residents, and upkeep tasks similar to those of condos, as co-op dwellings commonly share a building.
Master Association
Master associations are usually in planned communities as an umbrella organization that oversees multiple other HOAs or COAs (sub-associations). They’re responsible for larger policies like community rules, construction for common areas and amenities, and aligning policy across multiple HOAs. A master association makes decisions regarding larger landscaping projects, community infrastructure, or security.
A master association may have officials elected from the sub-associations, but given the scale of responsibilities, those officials may be compensated as full-time workers rather than serving as volunteers. For vendors and service providers, master associations can be seen as high-value audience targets because of the scale of responsibility. But they may not always be relevant depending on how they’re organized, as they still allow for individual HOA autonomy on some decisions.
Property Owners' Association (POA)
Property owners’ associations are most similar to HOAs, but don’t have as much control over how individual owners use their property. POA fees are usually lower than HOA fees, because they cover broad community responsibilities like trash, landscaping, or public space maintenance.
Property owner associations are less centralized, sometimes having appointed volunteer members rather than elected ones. In some cases, participation in the POA may even be voluntary for a community. Property owners in the association have more of a say on the services that the POA uses. If your organization provides broad community services, you can consider reaching out to individual property owners, as it may be difficult to contact the governing body of a POA.
Neighborhood Association
Neighborhood associations are voluntary community associations in a neighborhood that don’t have any legal authority or official responsibility. Instead, they’re formed to improve the community or address a particular issue.
Because membership isn’t required, a neighborhood association won’t have much of a budget, and typically doesn’t matter as much for a vendor. However, if they’re formed around a particular issue, they can sometimes have relevance (such as a security patrol for a neighborhood experiencing increased theft).
Civic Association
A civic association is the association with the least authority on our list, as they’re more community organizations that express a neighborhood’s concern to the local government. For example, a civic association may petition for the placement of a speed bump in a community.
These associations don’t have any authority in a community and don’t collect any dues, so they’re less relevant to CRE-related vendors.
So Who's the Decision Maker?
For vendors looking to do business with an HOA or community association, the decision maker is typically someone on the board — a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, or some combination. Your first step is making sure the right person understands the value your business provides. For larger associations, that means contacting the board directly. For smaller associations or structures where property owners have a greater stake, like POAs or co-ops, outreach at the individual owner level can also be effective.
Who actually owns an HOA? Typically, no one. HOAs are community-driven organizations led by a board of elected volunteers. Fees collected go back into the community, not to any individual owner.
Property management companies are also worth noting here. In communities where properties are rented, a property management company may be the primary decision maker for maintenance, landscaping, and amenities. They may also set and enforce community rules. Most of the time, the management company is a third party representing multiple communities. In rare cases, the management company is also the property owner. For prospecting purposes, identifying the specific property or account manager responsible for a given community is the right place to start.
Find HOA, COA & POA Decision Makers with Biscred
To find the names of an HOA and who will be key decision-makers, Biscred has recently expanded its CRE database to include HOA and HOA management companies. Biscred makes it easier to find decision-makers with targeted search terms and real estate-specific search criteria to narrow your search to only the most relevant associations. This makes it easier for landscapers, roofing companies, security organizations, and trades to contact the HOA board to make their pitches.
Interested in learning more about how Biscred can help your business? Set up a demo to see it in action.