Marketing - Whose Responsible For Doing It?

To answer the question you first have to ask yourself this question.

1.  Does our HOA Association own a golf course, retail space, offer any kind of club facilities that require membership, who can be a member of it, or other means of generating revenue from the public?

       If so, then you are in a planned community governed by a master set of governing documents and board of that also contain sub-associations govererned by the master documents and board.  The master community may contain homes that vary in size, shape and styles who must follow only the master documents.  The smaller sub-HOA communities may consist of;  town-homes, condos, patio homes, or even apartments.  These communities have multiple builders and each sub-community have their own set of governing documents to follow in addition to the master set of documents.  Each sub community elects board members who ensure that both sets of governing documents are followed and who report to and obtain approvals from the master board.

These communities offer services to the public and use the revenue to offset maintenance costs to keep from passing them on to the ownership.  In this situation the board is responsible for marketing the services available to the public.  However, they are in no way responsible for marketing the community as a whole.  That is the owners' and or real estate agents job.

If your answered no, it means there are no public facilities of which the community generates revenue and therefore has no need or reason to market the community.  In this case marketing is the real estate agents job or the owners' but not the board. 

The board is responsible for keeping the community in a condition that would not cause a buyer to negotiate a lower purchase price due to the risk of increased dues or special assessments.  To do this the board must maintain adequate dues.  Having inadequate reserves is an indicator that increases the risk of special assessments and an indicator of a dues increase.  The board also must maintain the land and amenities in good working and visual order.  Otherwise, the potential buyer will believe that dues are insufficient to meet the needs and the risk of a dues increase is likely.  All of which will cause a potential buyer to back out or negotiate a lower sell price.  Therefore, the boards focus is on the condition of the land and the owners and real estate agent is to market the home.  Trying to do both can open a can of worms the community isn't prepared for and could get them into trouble.