When a small association starts scaling, the management often has to wear multiple hats. You might have to juggle bookkeeping with marketing and whatever else is required for daily operations. Multitasking gets overwhelming after a while so learn to delegate.
Benefits of administrative assistant hiring
A form of delegation is when you hand over tasks to a virtual assistant whose skills are better aligned for accomplishing them. Some leaders are hesitant with admin assistant hiring but there are actually numerous benefits to it, such as:
- It allows you to focus on activities that grow your community more effectively and efficiently.
- It allows you to provide employees with opportunities for them to grow and develop in their careers.
- It allows you to assess which members of your team are ready to be promoted to a leadership role.
- It allows you to improve your relationships with your workers as you get to contact them more often.
- It allows you to further your association culture as it keeps everyone aligned in values and goals.
Delegation doesn’t mean hiring a rental property manager then dumping them with tasks that you don’t want to do. There is a right and wrong way to assigning tasks to ensure that your homeowners association will run smoothly, as we discuss below.
DO figure out what to delegate first!
Not every task should be handed over to HOA assistance, though there are certain tasks that are better off delegated to your team. Here are examples of assignments divided into categories so you know where you need help the most:
General HOA tasks
Staying on top of appointments
Part of your responsibilities as a leader in the HOA is to meet up with prospective tenants and existing ones. You need to collect any dues, manage the budget, and arrange for repairs as well. To ensure none of these are overlooked, hire a property manager VA to organise your schedule.
Using property management tools
Chances are, you use software for tracking the information of your contractors and clients, managing your accounts, and gathering data related to the community. Hire a virtual executive assistant so you know that your tools are being used at their maximum potential.
Dealing with issues and concerns
Hire a property manager for Airbnb units in particular to ensure that those types of properties are kept in good condition. If they have experience in arranging repairs and renovations for common areas such as the pool, you may delegate those tasks to them too.
Implementing marketing and advertising
It’s hard to focus on your marketing when you have to respond to emails or make phone calls all day. Neglecting your advertising takes a toll on your rentals as fewer people are going to know about your community and the units that are available.
Administrative tasks
Arranging virtual tours
This involves creating videos and photo galleries of properties so prospective tenants may take virtual tours. Doing so increases the number of people who view your units without having to visit the place physically. It saves everyone the time of your team since they don’t have to meet with prospects.
Processing tenant applications
They may be assigned with receiving and processing the application forms from people interested in buying or renting units. Initial interviews might be held through Skype, Zoom, or even Facebook Messenger. Checking the background, credit scores, and references may be done online too.
Organising community files
Keeping the information of clients and contractors up-to-date is important so communication with them is easier. Included in their files is their record of complaints, payments, maintenance requests, and more. It enables everyone to keep track with the changes happening in each property.
Keeping the contact list
As a homeowners association, it’s crucial to maintain a list of local government agencies, vendors, and tradespeople. In this way, should there be any urgent repairs or legal problems, you don’t have to research what their email addresses or phone numbers are since these are readily available.
Getting maintenance done
Addressing requests for repairs and maintenance takes up a huge chunk of your time each month. There’s also contacting the contractors and checking the progress of each project. Now hiring an administrative assistant will free up your time from that activity.
Keeping finances in order
Part of this is making sure that all of the utility invoices and bills are processed and paid on time. Plus, there’s following up with payments and rents that are overdue through email or phone calls. Assisting with recording financial data and organising receipts, invoices, and related documents is also included.
Publishing vacant properties
Another task that takes up so much of your schedule is listing properties that are currently vacant up on the association website and other places. Hiring a property management company is sometimes necessary to track how these listings are performing and to respond to any enquiries.
Virtual assistant tasks
Managing the digital content
You need search-engine-optimised content to go on your website, social media profiles, and blogs. Not everyone knows how to create articles and descriptions that help you with your rankings so might as well leave that in the hands of an experienced specialist.
Handling social media profiles
Supervising your social media accounts includes responding to private messages and comments. If you’re thinking to pay for boosting, you want someone to pay attention to your spending and to select which posts are worth paying premium spots for.
Creating marketing materials
To appeal to prospects on the web, you want to utilise resources that attract their eyes and ears. When all you and your board know how to use is MS Paint, consider hiring an administrative assistant who has knowledge in making good-quality graphics.
DON’T hire the first candidate you see
Have you come to the realisation that you need HOA assistance? In that case, get in touch with us at Remote Workmate. We are a global staffing firm that is connected to virtual talents from around the world. Admin assistant hiring through us is easier with our existing pool of candidates.
Let’s have a chat about what your HOA needs.