Run your self-managed HOA competently, in a few volunteer hours a month.
CommonKeel is for volunteer presidents, treasurers and secretaries of self-managed HOAs and condo associations, roughly 5 to 250 units. Every file, calculator and state table here is free and asks for no email address. Pick the job you are doing.
Ten working files plus a README and a disclaimer: dues tracker, budget workbook, meeting agenda and minutes, transition checklists, and more. 122 KB. See what is inside.
I need to…
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collect dues and see who has not paid.
HOA_Dues_Tracker.xlsx (Excel, 126 KB, up to 250 units and 6,000 payment rows) · how the file works.
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set next year’s budget and the dues that pay for it.
HOA_Annual_Budget_Workbook.xlsx (Excel, 18 KB) · a worked budget from the 24-unit sample in the file.
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run a board meeting and write the minutes.
Board_Meeting_Agenda_Template.docx (Word, 10 KB) · Board_Meeting_Minutes_Template.docx (Word, 10 KB) · what goes in each one.
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work out what to put into reserves each year.
Reserve fund calculator: your percent funded, a 30-year view, and an Excel export of the result. Every formula is shown on the page.
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split a one-time repair bill across the units.
Special assessment calculator: equal share, percentage interest or square footage, with a payment plan and a loan comparison.
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chase an owner who has stopped paying.
The collection workflow: the policy to adopt first, the letter sequence, and where a lien fits.
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enforce a rule without getting the process wrong.
Notice, hearing and fines, step by step · HOA_Violation_Log.xlsx (Excel, 9 KB).
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A 49-state comparison table: reserves, records, meetings, elections and oversight, one row a state, statute citation and read date in every cell, free CSV · when the statute does not bind you at all.
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decide whether to keep self-managing or hire a manager.
Management cost calculator · what each option costs, line by line.
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choose software, or work out whether we need any.
Software match: six questions to a shortlist · ten vendors scored against a rubric published before the scores · prices as per-unit, per-month figures.
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hand the books to the next treasurer.
Treasurer_Transition_Checklist.docx (Word, 11 KB) · the handover, step by step.
If your job is not here: the templates hub lists every file, the tools hub every calculator, and the annual board calendar sets out what falls due in each month. New to the board? Start Here sets out the first 90 days. The complete guide covers the whole job, from dues and reserves to records and vendors.
Where these files and figures come from
State law pages restate the statute as it reads on the official state legislature or code site. Every cell carries the citation and the date we read it. The comparison table covers 49 states. Mississippi is absent because no enacted text of either governing act is published on a state server, and the table says so on the page. Your declaration and bylaws can be stricter than the statute, and usually are.
Software prices come from the vendor’s own published pricing, with the source URL and the read date on the row. Where a vendor publishes no price, the row says so and we give no estimate. The scoring rubric is published before any product is scored. No vendor pays for a score, a rank or a place on a page, and any commercial relationship is disclosed on the page that carries the link.
Every worked example is recalculated from the file you download, so you can check each figure in your own copy. Each file’s limits are stated on its page, down to the row at which a formula stops counting.
Read the editorial standards, the scoring methodology and the disclosure policy. Errors we have found and fixed are dated on the updates page. If you find one, write to michael@commonkeel.com.
Last verified: September 26, 2026 · See updates