The first step to starting an HOA is finding people. You'll need at least 2; 3 or more would be better. The first people you will need to find are potential members of your first board.
Your board should have at least 3 positions filled to begin: President, Secretary and Treasurer. In most organizations, the President can also serve as the Treasurer, so if you are only able to recruit 2 people to begin, you'll be OK. If you can find 3 or more people, you'll want to make your board small but always with an odd number of people so that there won't be any tie votes with which to contend.
Creating Bylaws
The next step in creating your HOA is adopting your organizations bylaws. It might be wise to note at this point in time that your m/mh park HOA is not like other HOAs in that it is not a legal entity. In condominium complexes and some Single Family Residential neighborhoods, HOAs are established to maintain the common areas. Park owners and management are responsible for and own the common areas in our m/mh parks, so it is not necessary nor expected that your HOA become a legally recognized entity and maintain liability insurance, etc.
That having been said, it is important that you establish a set of ground rules to operate by and this is where the Bylaws come into play. Bylaws can be as complex or as simple as you'd like. There should be areas in the bylaws which cover the officers, their terms and their duties, the frequency and times for HOA meetings, the amount (if any) of membership dues and the rights and privledges extended to dues paying members and the process for amending the bylaws by the membership. You can also include in your bylaws any pertinent information that would be useful in the future in handling issues. These might include: a grievance process for management, the naming of a "resident representative" or process for selecting a representative if and when the need arises, established HOA committees and responsibilities, emergency procedures, annual celebrations or HOA-sponsored activities. The possibilities are endless.
If you're not sure of what you'd like to put into your bylaws, under the documents tab, you will find examples of existing HOA bylaws. You can pick and choose what you'd like to use, or just use an existing set of bylaws for your own. The examples are easily downloadable to your computer where you can make changes and print them for use.
