The disbursement of all of the cash and non-cash assets of the previous version of the BHA, the Butterfield Homeowners Association, was finally completed on March 3, 2023, nearly one year after its dissolution. The “old BHA”, as we are now calling it, served its purpose “to provide a voice for all those who live in Butterfield East”, “to help keep Butterfield beautiful and a welcoming place for all to live and visit” and “to provide a way for all the residents to know what changes are taking place, so we can act on them for the benefit of all of the residents.” Sixty years of residents who loved their neighborhood enough to help make a difference through volunteering left behind a lasting legacy of service that will not be forgotten.
The New BHA
The new BHA is a brand-new organization, not a change to the previous one, which was formally dissolved on March 31st, 2022. This new organization is called the “Butterfield Homeowners Administration”. We used “Administration” instead of “Association” as IRS rules do not allow organizations to call themselves an “association” unless they actually own and manage the homes in the subdivision that they are overseeing.1 The old BHA was actually what is called a neighborhood association: “The term neighborhood association is sometimes incorrectly used instead of homeowners association. But neighborhood associations are not homeowners associations — groups of property owners with the legal authority to enforce rules and regulations that focus on restrictions and building and safety issues. A neighborhood association is a group of neighbors and business owners who work together for changes and improvements such as neighborhood safety, beautification and social activities. They reinforce rules and regulations through education, peer pressure and by looking out for each other.”2
What Is an HOA?
Homeowner’s associations (HOAs) are organizations that own and manage all the houses in a subdivision. The term “association” is actually a legal term that indicates a legally binding contractual relationship between the management organization and the homes it manages, so it can only be used in the names of homeownership-type organizations that actually own the homes they manage. HOAs are staffed by full-time people and are run like regular businesses, with mandatory dues that are paid by homeowners as part of their monthly mortgage payment. Neighborhood associations, by contrast, are staffed only by part-time, unpaid volunteers, with dues that are voluntary (but still required for membership) and are not part of the mortgage payment. The old BHA was actually not a homeowner’s association, but a neighborhood association, so renaming and rebranding was necessary in order to avoid confusion and make sure we remain compliant with IRS rules.3
The new BHA, the Butterfield Homeowners Administration, is neither a homeowner’s association nor a neighborhood association. It is instead a privately owned, for-profit, limited liability company, or “LLC”, with the last President of the Butterfield Homeowners Association, Doug Elwell, as its sole owner.
Whereas our name is similar to the old BHA, and we still provide the same homeownership-type services (and still own and maintain the entrance signs, this website, and all the old BHA properties), the new BHA is actually a business that offers much more than the old BHA ever could, including providing consulting services to homeowner’s associations, developing homeowner-oriented products and services, and publishing information regarding homes, home ownership, homeowner’s associations, and various home ownership-related subjects.
More advantages of this new business-oriented model means that we no longer have to deal with boring meetings, cumbersome bylaws, and time-wasting processes. By eliminating the unnecessary bureaucracy (and bureaucrats), we can now make more and better decisions much more rapidly, which will make us much more competitive in the marketplace. We are also no longer bound by the limitations of the nonprofit corporate model that had prevented the old BHA from reaching its true potential. This allows us to improve the quantity and quality of services that we can provide to our subscribers, both here in Butterfield East, DuPage County, and the world.4
Subscribe Today!
Subscribers to the new BHA will enjoy privileges that not only apply to the Butterfield East area, but all around DuPage County. That is because the Butterfield Homeowners Administration is part of a larger organization called the DuPage Homeowners Authority. Our subscribers will not only have access to information specific to Butterfield East, but also to information about news and events all around DuPage County and beyond. Join the winning team and subscribe today!
It’s a new day for the BHA!
Notes
1 IRS.gov, “Instructions for Form 1120-H (2020)”, (Internal Revenue Service: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1120h
2 Wikipedia, “Neighborhood Associations”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_association
3 To avoid confusion, “neighborhood associations” should not use the word “association” either. That is why we chose “administration” instead.
4 In LLCs, “members” are actually part owners of the company (Limited Liability Company (LLC) | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)), which is why we are now calling members “subscribers”. Though we are still using the terms “member” and “membership”, if you subscribe, you will be subscribing to services, not investing in partial ownership.