Do you wish your community had a better way to manage parking, but you don’t know how you’d pay for it? Or maybe your association has additional monthly costs that current community fees don’t cover? With paid guest parking, your association can easily earn money to pay for extra community fees — without exploiting homeowners or their guests!
Parking Boss paid parking options generate revenue for your community funds while keeping guest parking fair. Let’s take a look at how it works and explore how you can use paid parking income for your community association.
Pay for your HOA parking solution
If your community doesn’t have an efficient way to enforce parking rules, a software solution can streamline your parking management efforts. With Parking Boss, you can implement paid guest parking on the street or in designated guest parking spaces and use the revenue to pay for the parking software — and more!
Here’s the best part: you don’t have to charge every single guest who comes to visit. Instead, generously give each household a certain amount of free guest parking to offer for their guests. Once the household has reached their free parking threshold, their guests can pay a small fee to park. Another option is to limit the free parking time by license plate number, allowing each guest to have a fair amount of parking before they pay to stay. We’ll look at this more later.
Hire a parking enforcement company
Maybe you already have a parking management solution, but you’d like to hire a third-party enforcement company for overall safety patrol. Instead of increasing community association fees, why not charge for guest parking and extra resident vehicles to cover the cost? Even if the revenue doesn’t pay for the full amount, you’re able to reduce the need for additional association fees.
Put the revenue into your reserve funds
Most states require reserve funds. CAI task forces came together in response to recent events to explore best practices and laws for the community association housing model to help address building safety across every district. "According to the Foundation for Community Association Research’s Breaking Point report, 80% of community association managers, board members, and service providers surveyed felt it was critical that their association have adequate reserves in the event of a major infrastructure failure or construction need."
Reserve studies are a helpful planning tool in planning for important repairs and replacements in community buildings. Reserve funds are an important part of keeping up with construction needs. If you’re in the process of doing a reserve study or have recently done one and need to bolster HOA funds, paid guest parking is a great stream of extra revenue for the cause. If your reserve funds are taken care of, income from paid parking can also go towards community repairs and upgrades that aren’t covered by community fees.
How Pay-to-Park can work at your association
Paying for parking at your own home doesn’t always sound appealing. However, it can be a productive way to keep the guest parking fair by preventing guest vehicles or residents from dominating often limited guest spaces. Charging for guest parking can be as low maintenance as offering free parking for a certain amount of time and then giving the option for paid parking past the free allotment. Paid overnight parking is another commonly used option.
Let’s look at some practical examples of how paid parking can work at your community association.
Each household is allotted 10 hours of free guest parking time for their visitors per week. Once their visitors use up the allotted free parking time, every visitor to their household pays a flat rate of $2 per hour to park.
Another option is limiting free parking time by vehicle:
Each visitor who registers for guest parking receives two free complimentary nights of parking per week. Once an individual uses up those two nights, they are charged $10 overnight.
Here’s another way it can be set up:
Daytime parking is free for guests. Overnight guest parking from midnight to 9 a.m. costs $5.
Although every community association is different, a paid guest parking policy is a simple, effective, and efficient HOA parking solution! Ready to customize these examples for your community? Our HOA team can help you determine the best options for your association. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your options!
How do guests show that they’ve paid or registered to park?
With a parking solution like Parking Boss, professional-grade aluminum signs make it easy for guests to find the visitor parking in your HOA and condo community. Each sign includes a barcode and web address to Parking Attendant for quick and easy registration.
Guests and visitors can scan the QR code or enter the custom web-address to register for their electronic parking permit. Our Parking Attendant software makes it quick and easy for guests to register and pay for parking. Plus it tracks each vehicle and household’s guest parking usage.
Another opportunity for revenue: amenity reservation payments
Paid parking isn’t the only way to earn money for community costs! With payments for amenity reservations, you can bolster your reserve funds in a similar way. Already have certain community spaces or amenities that you charge a deposit for? Why not charge an added fee and use that money for your reserve funds! Amenity Boss is a great tool to manage the shared spaces in your community! Make the reservations easier than ever with 24/7 online reservations and credit card payments.
Be aware of state and local guidelines
Every state has different HOA and Condo Association regulations. Be mindful of these when making decisions such as adding paid parking or paid amenity reservations.
The best HOA parking solution and amenity reservation system
With paid guest parking or amenity fees, your association can earn money to cover extra community costs.
- Use paid guest parking to pay for parking software
- Funnel community income right back into the community by enhancing buildings or shared spaces
- Pay for an enforcement company with guest parking profits
- Use the earnings to add to reserve funds
- Pay for parking lot striping and repairs
Ultimately, your association benefits the most when guest parking or amenity fees are poured back into the community and usage is made fair among everyone.
Curious how an HOA parking solution can create a positive impact on your community association? Schedule a demo today to learn more about Parking Boss or Amenity Boss!
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