Nevada HOA collections are a rare exercise in the bizarre.  Rarely do you see so many state departments intently focused on turning the tide of current HOA collection agency practices as you do in Nevada.  And God bless them for doing so. More state officials should have the strength of character and integrity to untiringly work on behalf of beleaguered homeowners as those in Nevada.

  An HOA in Nevada asked us to pursue some of their delinquent HOA dues, because the president didn’t want to throw away his community’s money on the lien and foreclosure gambit.  He wanted to try something new.  Something others said wouldn’t work.  He wanted to try credit reporting.  And are they ever happy they did.  More on that in a moment.

  You see, this president knew it only made sense that if people were still living in their home, they must be paying somebody something.  You don’t just get to live in a home for free.  If their lights are on, and they’re watching TV, and doing some shopping, obviously they’re paying some bills – just not their association dues.

Nevada HOA Collection’s Biggest Problem

  “Now how can we get our dues on that list?” became his gnawing question.  He thought about what the difference was between his bill (the assessments) and those other bills his delinquent homeowners were paying.  Obviously some things were for recreation or leisure.  Unfortunately there’s no way to make HOA dues fun.  Then there were necessities like food, gas, and electricity.  But some folks don’t really look at their dues as a necessity.

  Then he asked a simple question that changed everything.  “What happens when people don’t pay those other bills?  They either lose access to those things – or they get credit reported.”  Voilà.  He searched the internet to find out how to credit report HOA dues and found us. 

  His association only had a few delinquencies, but the money owed them was fairly substantial.  The board instantly saw the common sense in using the same motivation credit card companies, banks, and mortgage companies use all the time.  So they asked their management company to schedule an interview.  They liked what they heard and moved forward.

Two Keys to Nevada HOA Collection Success

  One of the properties was a rental, and all the board had to go on was the property address.  So the first step was to use skip tracing to locate the property owner.  Proper skip tracing assures you have the most accurate contact information for delinquent homeowners.  It should always be used with delinquencies, because it facilitates a high degree of communication – something very important when people owe you money.

  Another important element in resolving Nevada HOA collections is that homeowners should always be instructed to pay their board or its management firm directly.  Nobody ever wants to pay a third party debt collector.  So you swing the momentum of that human nature into your favor when you tell homeowners to pay the people they owe directly.  It just makes it that much easier for them to pay their late dues.

  We didn’t collect the one big balance the association president really wanted to see us get in their first batch of accounts.  (Sorry about that).  But we did recover one account that had been with another collection agency for two-and-a-half years.  And all told, the money we recovered for this HOA was in the low five digits, and it only cost the HOA $320.  Saying the board was ecstatic would be a mild understatement.  But then again, it’s always nice to see common sense measures still work.

  The saga of Nevada HOA collections doesn’t have to be such a wrenching tumult of legal fees and collection costs burying homeowners, and marring the state with foreclosures.  The fact is, you can resolve most delinquencies with a little $25 process that’s worked wonders across a vast array of industries for decades.  And your board can have some peace of mind in recovering dues with a more amicable process for its families.