There may be some confusion regarding the difference between the Swiss Time Property Management portal and the HOA’s community website.
Swiss Time Property Management operates a web portal that requires a secure homeowner account to log in. The portal is used to make monthly assessment (dues) payments and is the official repository for HOA documents.
Inclinepines.com is the HOA’s community website and is maintained by me, the vice president of the homeowners association board of directors and operated under the direction of the board. I’m a career journalist and an adjunct professor of journalism at California State University, Sacramento.
Much of the community website is open to the general public with useful information about Incline Pines and Incline Village. The site provides a background of the community, information about essential services and amenities, plus links to webcams around the Lake Tahoe basin.
The “owners” area is more restrictive–requiring a password– and contains more specific information that wouldn’t necessarily be interesting to an outside audience. The regular posts in the owners area include summaries of board meetings and updates on community issues. Regardless, there is never any sensitive information posted on the community website.
Before 2021 Incline Pines never had a public-facing website and now a search of “Incline Pines” leads directly to our site instead of Zillow or some real estate brokerage. In 2023 the site registered 2,208 views from 981 unique visitors in seven countries. Other HOAs have contacted us asking for help replicating our site.
The following further explains the difference between an HOA portal and an HOA website:
What is an HOA website?
An HOA website is an online page dedicated to your association. HOA board members can publish information, such as governing documents, events, news, images as well as other community-related announcements. Homeowners can access this information at any time of the day, making it convenient for them to stay informed and up-to-date. Usually, websites can be accessed by anyone on the internet. This helps promote your HOA to potential buyers. They can access information about amenities, social events, and more.
These insights can help them make informed decisions about whether the community is a good fit for them. On the other hand, as websites are accessible by the general public, it is not a good idea to put sensitive information there. An HOA portal would be the preferred option for sharing sensitive information related to community management since access to it is restricted to homeowners and board members.
What is an HOA portal?
An HOA portal is similar to a website, but it often includes additional features that only homeowners can access. These features can include, community forums, online notices, maintenance requests, a finance system, and more. A portal is a platform where HOA members have to login to view information, which means that it’s secured. This means that homeowners need to enter their usernames and passwords to access it. The purpose of an HOA portal is to facilitate communication and management between homeowners, board members, and management companies.
Unlike an HOA website, which is accessible by the general public, an HOA portal provides a secure and private environment for discussions, document sharing, and other sensitive tasks.