A real alternative to HOA management companies

Most professional HOA management companies charge between $40 and $100 per unit per month, depending on the market, community size, and service level. For a 75-home HOA, that's $3,000 to $7,500 per month — $36,000 to $90,000 per year — before additional fees for major projects, legal coordination, or extra services. Some companies charge a flat monthly base fee; others charge per unit plus add-ons. The total cost to your community is usually higher than the base fee suggests. Hivepoint's flat-rate pricing is $1,500 per year for communities of any size — not per unit, not per module.

Yes — and most small to mid-sized HOAs do. Self-management is the norm for planned communities with 30 to a few hundred homes where a dedicated management company would cost more than the community's annual reserve contributions. What self-managed boards need is the right tools: organized dues tracking, a document library, violation records, meeting management, and a resident portal. That's what Hivepoint provides. What self-managed boards still need outside Hivepoint: a CPA or bookkeeper for tax filings and audit preparation, an HOA attorney for legal questions and enforcement escalation, and reserve study professionals for reserve planning. Hivepoint handles the day-to-day records — the professionals handle the high-stakes decisions.

Self-management isn't right for every community. A management company makes sense when: the community is large enough that the management overhead exceeds what a volunteer board can handle (typically 500+ units, depending on complexity); the community has frequent, high-volume violations or disputes that require full-time attention; the board has experienced persistent difficulty filling volunteer positions; or the community has complex amenities (pools, gyms, parking garages) requiring dedicated on-site staff. Hivepoint is honest about this: if your community genuinely needs full-service professional management, we're not a substitute for it. We're the right choice when competent, motivated volunteers are willing to manage — and just need better tools than email and spreadsheets.

Transitioning away from a management company can be painful. Records — financial history, homeowner ledgers, governing documents, violation files, vendor contracts — are often stored in the company's systems, in formats the board can't easily export. Some management agreements have specific provisions about record return timelines and formats. Before leaving a management company, boards should request a full records export and confirm the format is usable. When onboarding to Hivepoint, we can import the records you've recovered so the new system starts with complete history rather than a blank slate.

Hivepoint tracks expenses and payments in the accounting module, but it does not issue checks or process ACH payments to vendors directly — that's a function your board treasurer handles through your bank account or accounting software. What Hivepoint does: records every expense, categorizes it against your budget, and keeps the full payment history for audit and review. Many self-managed boards use Hivepoint alongside QuickBooks or a simple bank account for vendor payments — Hivepoint is the records layer, not the payment processor for outbound bills.

No — most Hivepoint communities were never professionally managed. They started self-managed and are looking for better tools than a shared Google Drive and a spreadsheet. Communities leaving management companies are a meaningful segment, but the larger group is boards that have always self-managed and are finally getting organized software. Whether you're transitioning from professional management or have always been self-managed, the core need is the same: organized records, accessible financials, and a resident portal that doesn't require IT skills to run.