The Most Important Task for Preparation for a Resident Purchase

No matter which company you hire to assist you with the purchase of your community, one of the most important items that the acquisition committee or board of directors should do on a regular basis is keep a current database of all addresses, phone numbers and electronic mail (e-mail) addresses of residents. A current database is extremely important as many resident purchases occur in the summertime when many residents are traveling or at their northern homes.

DO NOT rely on the park office for this information.
It is very rare that the office manager will give you documentation about residents, even if you have a good working relationship with the manager. Most office managers will view this information as private and will not turn it over without prior written consent from the resident.

DO NOT rely on a database that may be two or more years old.
Think about the number of homes that have been purchased in the community in the past year. In many communities 20 or 30 homes sell in a 12-month period. If you have a resident database but haven’t had it updated for two years, it could have between 40 and 60 households that are incorrect. Residents need to be contacted at least annually for updates to their address, phone numbers and e-mail.

If you need to obtain up-to-date information, send out a notice with your community newsletter or under separate cover to each resident. Explain that as the homeowners association, you want to keep a database of addresses on file for each resident in case of emergency and also in case there is a future opportunity to purchase the community.

Put the collected information on computer as you will be able to run labels and sort the list, which proves very helpful during a resident purchase.

Keeping a current database of resident addresses is so important that it can actually determine whether you will be able to purchase or not. Think about it—if the board of directors received a notice to purchase the community in July, do they have a plan of action to be able to contact all of the residents who are not in the community at that time? If a resident was not in the community and didn’t know that a resident purchase was occurring, would he or she be upset? Residents need to understand if they don’t give the homeowners association this vital information, they could miss out on an opportunity to become an owner or even just to keep informed.

By keeping a current database the acquisition committee or board of directors will be doing a service far more valuable than they could ever imagine.