First-day setup checklist

This is the order to do things in. Skip ahead at your own peril — a few of these depend on the previous step.

Plan on 30–60 minutes for the whole thing. The longest single step is usually waiting for Stripe verification, which is mostly hands-off.

Before you start

Have these ready:

• A property roster — addresses, lot numbers if you use them, and the monthly (or annual) dues amount per property. CSV or spreadsheet is fine. We’ll import it.
• Your HOA’s logo — PNG or JPG, square-ish, transparent background ideal but not required.
• Your HOA’s bank account info — for Stripe payouts. Routing + account number.
• A list of board members — names and email addresses.
• Your community’s join code policy — open to anyone with the address, or invite-only? (You can change this later.)

The checklist

Each item links to the deeper article when one exists.

1. Sign up and create your community

Go to homeherald.ai, click Sign up, choose I’m running an HOA. You’ll be the first admin. The community starts on the Free plan; you can upgrade later.

2. Set basic community info

Settings → Community Settings.

Fill in:

• HOA name (this is what residents see)
• Logo
• Mailing address (used on letterheads if you send physical mail later)
• Contact email — this is where resident replies route. Use a shared address (board@yourhoa.com) if you have one.
• Contact phone (optional)

Don’t bother with amenities yet — we’ll do that after the property roster is in.

3. Import your property roster

Importing your property roster →

Upload your spreadsheet under Admin → Onboarding → Upload Files. The AI parses it and shows you a preview. Review, fix any mis-parsed rows, confirm. Done.

This creates a Property record for every line in your sheet. After this, the rest of the system has something to attach to.

4. Configure dues

Settings → Community Settings → Dues Settings panel.

Configuring dues →

Set:

• Frequency: monthly or annual
• Due date: the day of the month/year dues are owed
• Grace period: how many days late before late fees apply (default 30)
• Late fee amount: what to charge when grace period expires
• Split schedule (optional): if you bill in chunks (e.g., 50% June, 50% December), set that here

Once you save, HomeHerald automatically generates the next round of dues charges across every property in your roster.

5. Connect Stripe (so residents can pay)

Enabling Stripe payments →

Settings → Community Settings → Payment Methods panel → Connect Stripe Account.

Stripe onboarding is ~10 minutes. You’ll need your HOA’s EIN (or SSN if it’s individually held) and a bank account for payouts. Verification is usually instant for US accounts.

You can skip this step temporarily — residents just won’t be able to pay online until it’s done. Don’t ship your community without it for long.

6. Invite your board

Inviting your board →

Members in the admin sidebar → Invite Board Member button.

Enter their name, email, and board title (Treasurer, President, etc.). They get an email invite. When they accept, they’re linked to a property and granted board-level access in one shot.

7. Invite or pre-approve residents

Inviting residents →

You have two options:

• Open join code — share a code with residents. They sign up themselves and pick their property. Faster, but you’ll need to approve each one before they get access.
• Pre-approval — paste a list of resident emails. They sign up and are auto-approved as soon as the email matches. Slower to set up, faster for residents.

Most communities do a mix: pre-approve known owners, leave the join code open for stragglers.

8. Decide on automations (or skip for now)

Configuration (in the admin sidebar; mobile shows “Config”).

You can leave all of these off on day one and turn them on once you’ve gotten comfortable. The big ones:

• Dues Chaser — auto-reminders for overdue residents. Worth turning on within the first week.
• Herald Shield — AI-assisted violation escalation. Leave off until you’ve handled a few violations manually first.
• Herald Chat — resident-facing FAQ bot. Worth turning on once you’ve added some community info via the AI & Integrations page.

9. Verify it works

Send yourself a test by:

1. Opening an incognito window and signing up as a resident with a test email
2. Joining the community via the join code
3. Approving yourself from the admin side
4. Confirming you can see the property’s balance and the dues charge

If that works, you’re live. Tell your residents.

What you don’t need to do on day one

These can wait — don’t let them block your launch:

• Amenities & bookings — add them when you’re ready to enforce reservations
• Physical Mail (physical letters) — only if you mail violation notices
• AI knowledge base — useful for Herald Chat, but optional
• Apple Pay — requires live Stripe + domain verification, can be added later

Where to go next

• How HomeHerald is organized — if you haven’t read the mental-model article, do it now
• How the ledger works — once dues start posting, you’ll want to understand the financial side

Stuck on any step? Email support@homeherald.ai with the step number and what you’re seeing.