Databases and homeowners associations

I'm the president of our HOA. I knew I would be the moment I heard the previous president was moving. Not because I'm popular at all, but because I tend to volunteer for things like that. And because no one else in the neighborhood was likely to step up.

And I was right. I went to the meeting and there were five other people. They saw me approach and declared me president on the spot. They'd all be deathly worried one of them would have to take it. I didn't say no, and that's all it took.

On the bright side, there was someone there willing to be my vice president as long as he didn't have to be president. He's more than happy to be the "heavy" as far as collecting late dues and enforcing the CC&Rs. Great! Perfect, even! I'm more than happy to be the leader/administrator.

And being the tinkerer that I am, I immediately set to work organizing the records. The previous president had used his Outlook contacts to keep all the homeowners' information. He gave me a printout of his address book when he moved. I knew pretty quickly that wouldn't work for me. And, what's more, spreadsheets probably wouldn't cut it, either. And that's saying something. I'm a spreadsheet fiend.

Nope, it was time to discover Microsoft Access. Not quite a real database, not quite a real development environment, it is nonetheless sufficient I've found. I'm able to track who owns each home, who manages the property, and whether they've paid dues in recent history. I've got queries and reports set up to print out address labels for everyone or for overdue dues, kick out an email list (which reminds me, I've got to update it from the latest mail daemon failure notice), give my VP his "hit list", or provide a list of rental properties.

It's a bit kludgey, and the interface is not entirely seamless, but it works quite nicely. I'm rather pleased with it and with my growing Access skills. And heaven help the next president if they don't have Access. They'll get a stack of reports a foot thick. Mwah ha ha ha....!