About Us

Hi! Thanks for visiting Lower My HOA. I’m Rachel Minion, Founder of Lower My HOA.

Here’s My Story and Why I Created Lower My HOA

A few years ago, I found my dream home. Sure, it would take a little renovation to make it into the dream, but it had great bones and was in the most incredible neighborhood. Naively, I was willing to overlook that the HOA was almost bankrupt, the Board didn’t meet regularly and that a large assessment would be coming our way shortly after we bought.

A few months after the renovations were underway, the board finally met. I guess that’s when reality set in. The meeting was unorganized and full of upset community members. It was at this point when I finally saw the financials as well as multiple sets of meeting notes that were approved and put into the record.

The knot formed in my stomach and I knew I had to take action. They were looking for a new board member and I immediately volunteered. I had enough business savvy to know how to run a business, dig in to get answers and most importantly, create a plan to reestablish the HOA on stronger, more transparent footing with the community.

Within the two months, I found out that on top of the HOA being almost bankrupt, they had not contributed to reserves in almost a decade. And on top of that, the property management company charged the board to see and approve invoices.

(Are you as stressed as I was? I wish I was kidding, but these are the facts. It was the most stressful, frustrating, emotionally tiring situation that I volunteered to get into willingly without a second thought.)

The only thing I knew to do was to start getting a handle on all expenses and bills. I went to the property management office and manually scanned in each invoice for the last 3-4 years using my iPhone and the Adobe Scan app. Four hours later, I went home to start the analysis. It took a few sleepless nights and weekends to get all of the data into excel spreadsheets for comparison as well as into a format that we could understand what was being charged and why.

I found a few areas we could cut without question and old contracts that we could renegotiate. A month later, I had the budget balanced with a new plan, new contracts in place and more importantly a path to a brighter future for the community.

I’m not expecting that your situation was as bad as mine. I’m also not expecting that my situation is like others. However, I know from experience that ANYONE can make an impact on improving their community by treating the HOA as a business rather than ______________ (you can fill in the blank).

It’s my guarantee that Lower My HOA will be a resource for homeowners and board members, providing actionable guides to help gain visibility into the HOA, increase property value and lower HOA fees.