California Reflections HOA

As a resident and board president of the California Reflections HOA, I built and maintain the community website for its 174 homes. I moved the site from Contentful to a Markdown-based system, which removed the CMS bill and made posting simpler for the board. The site is the community's hub for news, documents, dues, and resident updates by email and push notification.

• No CMS bill

  The move to Markdown removed about $300 a year in Contentful fees.

• Updates reach residents

  New posts can go out by email and push notification.

• Simple for the board

  Posts are plain files, categorized automatically.

• Self-hosted

  Runs on the same infrastructure as my other live apps.

The biggest change was replacing a hosted CMS with plain files:

• Migration scriptsConverted the existing Contentful entries to Markdown automatically.
• FrontmatterDates, categories, and authors live in each post's frontmatter.
• Automatic categoriesPosts are categorized from their content, so the board does not tag by hand.
• No CMS billRemoved about $300 a year in Contentful fees.

Residents can choose how they hear about new posts:

• Email subscriptionsResidents subscribe to community announcements, sent through Resend.
• Automatic notificationsNew posts can go out by email and push notification.
• Unsubscribe handlingEvery email carries an unsubscribe path, and the board can manage subscribers.
• Push notificationsBrowser push through OneSignal for residents who prefer it.

A small stack I can maintain as a volunteer:

Framework

Next.js 16 with App Router

Language

TypeScript

Content

Markdown with gray-matter frontmatter

UI

MUI 9

Database

PostgreSQL with Prisma 7

Notifications

Resend for email, OneSignal for push

Hosting

Self-hosted on Hetzner via Coolify

• CMS migrationMoved content from a hosted CMS to local Markdown while keeping the existing editorial workflow usable.
• Automatic categorizationCategorizing posts from their content removed a manual step without making the board learn a new tool.
• Volunteer budgets change the mathFor a community association, the total cost of ownership matters more than features nobody will maintain.
• Notifications need restraintResidents want to hear about what affects them, so updates stay infrequent and every channel is easy to leave.