SAN DIEGO, Calif., September 7, 2026 — ResLife today launched the community operations layer for homeowners associations and the firms that manage them: HOA management software for the governance and operational half of running an association, built to sit alongside a firm's existing accounting system rather than replace it. The launch lands in budget season, when California boards must distribute their annual budget report 30 to 90 days before the fiscal year ends.
What ResLife is
ResLife runs the operational side of community association management: budgets, board meetings, rule-making, enforcement, resident requests, vendors and maintenance. Every record carries its own history, its governing-document guidance and its next action, so the system does the remembering instead of the manager. It runs on each association's own recorded CC&Rs and bylaws and on the California statutes behind them. ResLife is built for self-managed HOA boards, startup and boutique management companies, and mid-market firms running a book of associations.
What it costs
The operations layer is free to use, for one association or a whole book of business, with no trial and no credit card. Associations and firms that move their financials to ResLife pay a published $1.00 per unit per month, the same rate at every portfolio size, with no volume brackets and no negotiated floor. A management firm's own books are included at no charge through December 31, 2027. The rate is printed at reslife.app/pricing.
"The cost of building software has fallen faster than the cost of renting it. A small team can now ship what used to take a hundred engineers. Boards and management firms should see that in their renewals, not just in the vendor's margins. So we published the number, we made it the same for everyone, and we put the operational work that boards and managers do every week on the free side of the line."
Why now
Community management firms are under the most pressure in a generation. Boards are shopping their management contracts for lower fees and asking the firms they keep to do more with less, because the numbers reaching owners keep climbing. The median monthly HOA fee in the U.S. reached $135 in 2025, and nearly one in ten associations levied a special assessment that year, with a median bill of $1,100 (Realtor.com, 2025). In California, where the median fee is roughly $300 a month, 74 percent of associations are underfunded on reserves according to an analysis of more than 100,000 reserve studies (Association Reserves, 2026).
A bill to cut California's cap on annual dues increases from 20 percent to 8 percent passed the Senate in June and stalled in the Assembly; the question returns when the Legislature reconvenes in December. Under current law, a California board may raise regular assessments up to 20 percent in a year without a member vote and may levy special assessments up to 5 percent of gross budgeted expenses (Civil Code § 5605 and § 5300). ResLife Budgets drafts an association's budget from its own documents and shows the math: each line coded to the group that carries it and distributed on the basis the CC&Rs prescribe, with the cap checked at the end against the right base. Alongside the launch, ResLife has published nineteen plain-language guides for budget season, including how assessments are actually calculated and the four ways the 20 percent cap is miscomputed.
Built for a book of business
ResLife runs on Google Cloud with Kubernetes and automated deployment, on an open-source ERP core used by tens of thousands of companies. The Enterprise tier adds isolated infrastructure, a staging environment and an uptime SLA with service credits, at the same per-unit rate. Every tool in the operations layer is part of a suite: each usable on its own, adopted one association at a time, with the books staying wherever a firm keeps them today. Bringing the books over is a choice, and when a firm makes it, it is a file import, not an IT project.
Boards and management firms can register at reslife.app/register. Onboarding an association takes minutes with its governing documents.
About the founder
When trust broke down with their management company, Brian Haghighi ran for his board and ultimately took his mixed-use HOA self-managed. It was a bit of a rescue mission: renegotiating contracts, bringing on new revenue streams, refinancing a costly loan, and building processes to keep the association from sliding back. The tools he built during that time, shaped by twenty years in business systems, accounting and software, became the foundation of ResLife.
About ResLife
ResLife is the community operations layer for homeowners associations and community management firms: HOA management software for budgets, board meetings, rules, enforcement, requests, vendors and resident portals, running on each association's own governing documents. The operations layer costs nothing; financials are $1.00 per unit per month. ResLife is based in San Diego, California, and is a member of the Community Associations Institute (CAI) and the California Association of Community Managers (CACM).
Frequently asked questions
What is ResLife?
ResLife is the community operations layer for HOAs: the software that runs budgets, board meetings, rules, enforcement, resident requests and maintenance for an association or a management firm's whole book, alongside the accounting system the firm already uses. The operations layer costs nothing; financials are $1.00 per unit per month.
How much does ResLife cost per unit?
$1.00 per unit per month for financials, published, the same at every portfolio size, with no volume brackets and no minimum. The operational tools are free to use with no trial. A firm's own books are included at no charge through December 31, 2027.
Do we have to leave our current software to use it?
No. Every tool in the operations layer works with the books kept wherever they are today. Nothing has to move and nothing has to be canceled. If an association or firm later chooses to bring its books over, that is a file import, not an IT project.
Is ResLife free for self-managed HOAs?
Yes. A self-managed board can use every tool in the operations layer at no cost, with no trial: budgets, meetings, rules, enforcement, requests and maintenance, governed by the association's own documents. The only paid service is financials, at $1.00 per unit per month, if the board chooses to bring its books over. See reslife.app/self-managed-hoa-software.
Does ResLife work for a startup management company?
Yes. A new firm can run its first associations on the operations layer at no cost and add financials at $1.00 per unit per month as clients come on, with the firm's own books included at no charge through December 31, 2027. There is no minimum unit count. See reslife.app/hoa-management-software-for-startups.
How much can a California HOA raise dues without a vote?
Under Civil Code section 5605, a board may increase regular assessments up to 20 percent over the prior year without member approval, and may impose special assessments totaling up to 5 percent of that year's gross budgeted expenses. Anything above either limit needs a majority of a quorum of members. A 2026 bill to lower the 20 percent to 8 percent stalled and is expected back in 2027.
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