How tech is transforming America's most despised neighborhood institution

The Hidden Power of Homeowners’ Associations

For decades, homeowners' associations (HOAs) and condos have been the subject of suburban jokes — often seen as symbols of overreach and pettiness. Common stereotypes include neighbors policing mailbox colors, fines for leaving trash cans out too long, and endless board drama over landscaping. Yet behind these caricatures lies a powerful institution managing more than $10 trillion in collective assets across the United States.

This paradox has captured the attention of Joe Braun, founder of Solume, a software platform that is quietly modernizing how communities govern themselves. “People hate their HOAs because they’ve gotten petty,” Braun says. “But what most people don’t realize is that it’s not always the board itself causing the problem. It’s often the property management companies behind the scenes — and they’re financially incentivized to send out violations.”

According to industry observers, many management firms are paid per notice issued, sometimes just a dollar or two each, sometimes far more. “It’s like paying a police officer per ticket written,” Braun explains. “When the system rewards punishment, that’s exactly what it produces.”

A Legacy Industry Stuck in the 1990s

Even as HOAs have grown into financial powerhouses, their systems have barely evolved. Many operate on outdated spreadsheets, PDFs, and email chains; these tools are ill-suited for managing multimillion-dollar assets like clubhouses, roads, and roofs.

“When a reserve study, which is essentially a community’s shared amenity financial forecast, is delivered, it’s almost always a static 80-page PDF,” Braun says. “Boards file it away on a shelf because no one can manage a neighborhood from a PDF.”

This, he argues, is one reason communities are facing waves of deferred maintenance and special assessments. “Across the U.S., communities are literally crumbling. States like Florida have begun tightening regulations because the old way simply doesn’t work anymore.”

Solume emerged just as those pressures converged, rising repair costs, aging infrastructure, and growing demand for transparency.

Disruption with a Human Face

To outsiders, Braun’s path into community management is unexpected. Before founding Solume, he worked in television, contributing to hit series like ER, Third Watch, and The O.C. “My background is storytelling,” he says, “which actually transfers perfectly into this world. Communities are stories. They have characters, conflicts, and resolutions. We just help them find clarity.”

That perspective shapes Solume’s ethos. Braun co-founded the company with Guillaume Duteaud, the platform’s lead developer, and together they built a system designed to “bring light.” The root meaning behind Solume is a fusion of Sol (sun) and Lume (light).

The platform’s core innovation is its dynamic reserve study, a living model that updates instantly as costs, timelines, or priorities change. Rather than commissioning a new study every few years, boards can adjust in real time, integrating those projections directly into budgets, work orders, and vendor management.

In addition to its financial and planning tools, Solume also offers another major innovation: Solume Assistant, an AI-powered guide trained exclusively on each community’s own governing documents. Board members or homeowners can simply ask, “What do we do if a neighbor’s dog keeps barking?” or “What color can we repaint the clubhouse exterior?” Within seconds, the assistant surfaces plain English answers directly from the CC&Rs. No guessing, no conflicting interpretations.

“It’s like texting someone who actually knows your rules,” Braun says. “If you can use Google or send a message, you can use Solume.”

The Patient Disruptor

While Solume’s technology has drawn comparisons to the disruptive leaps seen in fintech and proptech, Braun is quick to emphasize the company’s softer side. “Most board members are volunteers. They’re already burned out,” he says. “So we don’t take a sink-or-swim approach. We walk with them, slowly, until they’re comfortable. We never bill people for asking questions.”

That patient guiding has made Solume popular among self-managed communities and smaller, tech-curious management firms. Legacy operators, however, have been less enthusiastic. “Some see us as a threat to the system that’s kept their business model intact,” Braun admits. “We understand that. But our mission isn’t to replace it. It’s to fix it.”

Solume effectively functions as a bridge: for some communities, it complements their existing managers; for others, it provides a path toward independence after years of frustration.

The Bigger Picture

Braun envisions a future where technology restores trust between boards and homeowners, and ultimately between citizens and their local institutions. “People are losing their homes because of surprise assessments,” he says. “That’s unacceptable. We want communities to become financially stable and proactive, not reactive.”

That vision extends beyond private neighborhoods. City managers have already approached Solume about adapting its technology for municipal use, syncing private infrastructure data like retention ponds or drainage systems with public works to improve flood planning and emergency response.

In Braun’s view, this is where the story comes full circle. “We’re not just building software,” he says. “We’re trying to make community management humane again. Transparent, predictable, and fair.”

As HOAs face mounting pressure to modernize, Solume’s blend of empathy and innovation may represent the first real path forward. For an industry long stuck in the past, the future might finally have a little light in it.