Summer is not just prime time to book long awaited family vacations. It’s also a time when friends and families come together to enjoy one another – whether it’s a neighborhood pool party, cookout, or sports tournament. While it’s an incredibly enjoyable time for residents, it’s also a hectic time for community and property managers. Between keeping up with routine maintenance to managing the influx of noise and parking violations, it’s easy to grow increasingly overwhelmed while everyone else seems to be having a good time.

So how do you prevent the Cruel Summer blues? By staying focused, prepared, and remembering what matters most – that you can use this season to better engage your homeowners. Here are five ways to spruce up your Summer within your HOAs and COAs.

Keep track of maintenance needs

By now you have probably inspected and cleaned your pool for the summer season, but that doesn’t mean your work is done. Regular pool skimming during the summer months is extremely important, as well as keeping track of landscaping needs, regular cleanup of communal areas, and other seasonal repair and construction projects.

Be sure that you are preparing your full maintenance schedule now so you don’t have a chance of missing any non-negotiable task. And while your community and property managers may not have an assistant, they can use technology in their best interests to serve as their virtual assistant. Tools like CINC’s Portfolio Manager keep project management needs seamlessly organized so that managers can stay on top of all of their routine and seasonal projects.

Communicate protocol now

Let’s face it – homeowners don’t remember every rule in the handbook when it comes to noise, parking, and other facets that can lead to a violation. That’s why violations spike in the Summer season; from holidays like the 4th of July to family reunions, it’s easy for a homeowner to accidently “break the rules.” So why plan for an uptick when you can communicate protocol ahead of time? Ensure that your boards are sending out reminders about rules and regulations that are often violated around this time of year, through their Newsletters and communication portals. Doing so now will prevent friction in the future.

Involve the neighborhood with new projects

Are you looking for ways to drive homeowner involvement within your community? Use digital interactive tools such as HOAst’s e-voting and survey products to solicit feedback on the look and feel for entryways and communal areas this season. It’s not only a way to involve others in a manner that will drive conversation and comradery now; if your homeowners are trying out the tool now, they’ll be more inclined to participate in elections that happen later in the year (hello, quorum!)

Have a little bit of competitive fun

Another way you can use a tool such as HOAst this season is to drive the competitive nature of the average suburbanite. Try a fun game such as the lawn of the month this season, where residents can vote for the best-looking lawn, or vote for your favorite 4th of July home décor. By involving the community through fun games digitally, they’ll be more excited to come together in person for your communal events.

Focus on what matters – the community

Finally, keep in mind that despite the summer stresses, the most important thing one can do is drive community within the association. Calendars should be chock full of pool parties, food trucks, ice cream socials, and anything else that will excite and delight the neighbors. Be sure that your boards have social plans set for everyone. Summer is the ultimate season to remind everyone that living in a homeowner’s association isn’t just about paying monthly fees and writing rules and regulations. An HOA/COA is there to help neighbors get to know one another, support one another, and transform their house into a home.