Annual Letters

Just wanted everyone to be aware of how we approached annual letters this year.  We sent out three different letters with different messages:

1. The first letter was sent to people who have participated before in the HOA and are what I consider mandatory members.  These people were sent a cover letter, invoice and newsletter and asked to pay dues in two installments by sending a check to our PO Box.  The first installment of $200 is due 2/28 and the second installment of $200 is due 3/31.  Our HOA cannot operate without contributions from members and I want to thank each of your for your contribution in these challenging economic times.  We investigated options for online/electronic payment, but we could not doing it without tying the name of an individual on our board to a “merchant account” so we opted not to pursue this option.
2. The second letter was sent to people who moved into the subdivision prior to November 2005 and have never participated in the HOA.  These people received a cover letter asking for a donation to help maintain the landscaping and signage at the entrance and a newsletter.  The core message was “even though you don’t use the pool and tennis courts, I’m sure you still use the entrance and the entrance to our subdivision is a reflection of all homeowners not just the people who are mandatory members and the homeowners who own the land at the front of the subdivision“.
3. The third letter was sent to people who are behind on their dues and demanded that they contact the HOA with a proposal for a payment plan within a certain time period or their account will be turned over to Lazega and Johanson for collections.  So far only one of the seven people that received this letter has attempted to contact the HOA; therefore six of them are about to be turned over to our law firm for collections.  The law firm can accept credit cards if someone wants to pay this way.  What we are looking for here is an offer to pay something on a regular basis, but since there has been no reply we will move to the next step with the law firm.

Thanks for reading this.  I wanted everyone to understand our annual communications approach for 2013.  Email bramlett.shoals@gmail.com if you have questions.  Thanks.