How to switch from HOA Start without missing a dues cycle

Updated Oct 20, 2026 · steps checked against HOA Start's help center

Switching from HOA Start takes about two hours: download the households, balances and vendor CSVs, connect the bank in the new tool, and match opening balances. Only homeowners can turn off HOA Start autopay, so tell them early. HOA Start bills yearly with no refunds, so time the switch to the renewal date.

Kahoa makes Kahoa. The steps work for any HOA software; where they name Kahoa, they describe Kahoa's setup screens.

What moves, and what stays behind?

Record	From HOA Start	Into Kahoa
Owners and homes	Households → Download Households, CSV	Roster import
What each home owes	Households → Download Invoices or Balance, CSV	Opening balances, one total per home
Vendors	Financials → Vendors → Download Vendor Data, CSV	Vendor import
Bank activity	Not needed	24 months via bank connection
Transactions and chart of accounts	Financials → Transactions / Chart of Accounts, download	Kahoa starts from a standard HOA chart
Profit and loss, balance sheet	Financials → Reports → Export as PDF	Keep the PDFs
Documents	Documents → Bulk Download, one folder at a time	Document upload
Autopay enrollments	Can't be exported	Homeowners enroll again

HOA Start's payments run through the association's own Stripe Connect account. Autopay is set by each member, and admins can't see who is enrolled.

How do you switch, step by step?

6 steps · about 2 hours

01
Pick the cutover date
Choose the day after a dues cycle posts, so every balance in the export is final.
Time5 minutes
02
Export everything
Download households, household balances, vendors, transactions and the chart of accounts as CSV, the reports as PDF, and each document folder.
WhereHOA Start: Households → Households Actions, and Financials
Time30 minutes
03
Connect the bank
Link the operating and reserve accounts. Kahoa pulls 24 months of history for the treasurer to sort.
In KahoaSetup → Bank
Time15 minutes
04
Import owners and opening balances
Upload the households CSV, then a balance for each home, totaled from the household balance download. Check the total against HOA Start's AR Dashboard.
In KahoaSetup → Upload directory, then Enter opening balances
Time45 minutes
05
Tell homeowners
Send every homeowner the new payment link and ask them to turn off HOA Start autopay; the board can't do it for them.
Autopay offMembers: remove their saved payment method in HOA Start
Time30 minutes
06
Run one cycle, then cancel
Collect one month in the new tool, then ask HOA Start to cancel before the yearly renewal. HOA Start's terms don't promise an export window, so download everything first.
TimeOne dues cycle

Before you cancel HOA Start

Keep these five files

The household balance download
The transaction download for every open year
The profit and loss and balance sheet PDFs
The vendor list
Every document folder

Not the right time?

Wait to switch if

Dues are due within the next two weeks.
An audit or reserve study is in progress.
The treasurer seat is changing hands this month.

What else do boards ask about leaving HOA Start?

Can we get a refund if we leave HOA Start mid-year?

No. HOA Start bills yearly, and its terms say subscription payments are non-refundable. Plan the switch around the renewal date.

How do we cancel HOA Start?

Through the Question About Plan? button under Account → Organization Info. HOA Start's help center shows no self-serve cancel button.

Who turns off autopay?

Each homeowner. HOA Start's help center says autopay is enabled by the member, not the admin, and admins can't see who is enrolled.

Can we export the profit and loss and balance sheet as data?

No, only as PDF. The transactions and chart of accounts download as data files.

Ready to move?

Bring your HOA Start export

Thirty days, no card. The bank connection fills in two years of history.

Start a 30-day trial See pricing

$50a month, flat, at any size. The 1120-H is included.