January 25, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster
As artificial intelligence agents get smarter and we all feel dumber, many HOAs and property management firms are turning to AI for efficiencies, speed and value that were not possible even just a 18 months ago. The speed of the AI evolution is dizzying, and we are all seeing it creep into our normal daily touch points. Any Google search brings back an AI-generated response that seems more precise than the “scan for the answer yourself” search results from not very long ago. Chat with Delta Airlines online or your app and you’re talking to the friendly skies of AI. The list goes on, and it’s getting longer.
We’ve had a few presentations on AI at our chapter meetings, and we even had a chapter sponsor for a while that works in AI specifically for homeowner associations. It’s a fascinating topic. Many property management companies are embracing AI. In fact, FirstService Residential, one of our enterprise sponsors, rolled out an AI agent called HODA to its HOA managed properties.
So what’s in it for HOAs? Essentially AI can streamline an association’s management through automation of accounting, communications tasks, board minutes rendering and other labor that some boards may not otherwise be equipped to handle. Forgive me, but I asked Google why AI is beneficial for HOAs, and his/her/its response was:
Key applications include 24/7 AI chatbots for resident inquiries, automated financial reporting, predictive maintenance, and document summarization. These tools save hundreds of hours monthly, reduce costs, and improve resident satisfaction.
Sounds like a self-endorsement, doesn’t it? Let’s dive in.
Some key AI uses for HOA boards include:
Resident Communications: An AI chatbot can answer resident questions around the clock, with instant information to common questions. How much is my HOA fee? Who’s on the board? How do I book the guest house? Who’s our snow plow vendor? All of these can be handled by AI, taking the load off the board and/or property manager. To me, this seems like the major win.
Financial Management: Through AI, your HOA’s financial docs, invoices, statements and other info can be analyzed to look for errors, duplicate billing, create summaries, look for trends, forecast what’s next, and more. Super powerful and it only takes seconds to get it done. With boards often strapped for expertise in this area, I think it’s another win.
Predictive Maintenance: Records on maintenance and analysis of a reserve plan can help predict when repair and major replacements are needed, from roofs to concrete surfaces, siding, stucco, painting and more. A slippery slope perhaps.
Administration: A board secretary can feed AI his or her notes of the last board meeting and have a draft of the minutes in the right format for review in seconds. It can create emails, generate newsletters, handle amenity reservations and more.
Of course, with anything these days, there is a downside and potential risks. Human oversight can cause us to rely on AI as gospel, taking it for granted and not questioning its algorithmic outcomes. Nothing’s perfect. So we must remember it’s a tool, and not a human replacement. Like humans, bias can also bleed into algorithms and boards must take that into account. And some Directors and Officers (D&O) policies are now excluding AI-related risks, so it’s important for boards to carefully review their insurance coverage, probably with their own eyes.
When STAN ai was our sponsor in Eagan, they created a video that addresses the power of AI. You can watch the video here if you’d like a decent overview of how AI can work in your favor.
https://youtu.be/d8baBbo54PU
