Every part of the owners area, what it is for, and the thing people usually get wrong. Short enough to read on your phone, and the ? at the top of any owners page opens the part about that page.
Anyone living in River Shoals can create an account, but it does nothing until a board member reviews it and says what kind of account it is.
Worth knowing: Your address must be picked from the suggestions, not typed freehand. The list is the official roster of 442 Lots, and an address that is not on it cannot be linked to a household -- which means no voting, no clubhouse booking and no account standing. Living in someone else's house? An owner can invite you from My Household instead, and you skip the wait.
The page you land on after signing in. The top of it is yours -- your name, your house, and only the things that need you right now. Under that, a button for every part of the site.
Worth knowing: A red pool-duty chip means your weekend is within seven days. It goes red on purpose -- a duty nobody remembers is the whole problem. And if a yellow bar says your address is not on file or not matched to a Lot, press "Ask the board to fix it": voting and booking will not work until it is.
Every owners page has the same bar across the top and a strip of icons down its left edge, so you are never more than two taps from anywhere.
Worth knowing: Your shortcuts are saved to your account, so they follow you to your phone. They only ever include pages you can open; if a page is switched off, its shortcut disappears on its own.
One page for everything about you: your photo, the title beside your name, your menu banner, the email and phone the Association uses to reach you, a few words about yourself, and your household's standing.
Worth knowing: Your email is where ballots, notices and clubhouse door codes go, so keep it current. You cannot change your street address yourself -- it is what ties your account to your Lot -- so if it is wrong, use "Ask the board to fix it".
Two ways to make sure a stolen password alone cannot get into your account. A passkey is the easy one: your phone's Face ID, Touch ID or PIN signs you in, with no password and no code to type. The other is a six-digit code from an authenticator app.
Worth knowing: Add the passkey on the phone itself rather than scanning a code from another device -- it is quicker and it stays on that phone. Your password keeps working, so losing a phone never locks you out; remove the lost phone's passkey from the same page. Backup codes for the authenticator app are shown only once (Regenerate Backup Codes makes new ones). A passkey or two-factor is required for officers and anyone who can spend money or change access, and you need one to hand your Lot's vote to a household member or make someone a co-owner on the site.
An owner can give the people on their Lot a login of their own from My Household, so they can read the news, use the Forum and take part.
Worth knowing: They can see the Lot's standing but not pay for it, and vote only if you name them your Lot's voter. You can suspend their login at any time. If your own account falls out of good standing, theirs is suspended too, and you reactivate them yourself afterwards with your two-factor code. To make one a co-owner on the site, both of you need two-factor sign-in, a phone number and an email on file.
A short text from the Association for the things that cannot wait for email: a water shutoff, the gate stuck, a safety problem, a meeting reminder. Community updates too, if you want them.
Worth knowing: Nobody can sign you up but you: this page is the only way a number gets on the list, and your number is never shared or sold. If you once replied STOP and the code never arrives, text START to our number first. Your phone number on My Account is a separate thing -- it is how the Board reaches you, not a sign-up for texts.
Beside your name on the Forum, in the Neighbor Directory and on For Sale listings, neighbors see your rank badge, any Board or committee role you hold, and one earned title if you choose to wear it.
Worth knowing: Points never go down, and nobody but you sees what earned them. Voting, questions you ask and reports you make never earn a title. An elected Board seat (an officer or Director) always shows, so neighbors know when they are hearing from the Board.
Whether your Lot is in good standing, and -- when the Association keeps its own books on this site -- every assessment charged, every payment received and what is outstanding.
Worth knowing: The account belongs to the Lot, not to you personally. If two people in your household have accounts, you both see the same standing -- that is correct, not a bug. A past-due balance blocks clubhouse booking and can suspend voting, so it is worth checking before you need either.
Before you change the outside of your property -- a fence, a shed, paint, a patio -- the Architectural Review Committee has to approve it.
Worth knowing: Declaration Section 7.3(a) gives the Committee 45 days to respond. Starting work before a decision is a violation even if the change would have been approved. Submit early.
Your own lot, drawn from the county's lot lines with their bearings and lengths, the corners, the area, a setback line at the distance you choose, any easement the county has mapped, the flood zone and how much of the lot the house covers. You can sketch a fence, shed, deck or pool, see its measurements, and print a one-page lot sheet to keep with your request. It is a planning aid only. It does not send anything to anyone, and it is not an ARC request.
Worth knowing: The numbers come from Greenville County's mapping and USGS LiDAR. They are good to a foot or two and they are not a survey. The recorded plat and the R-15 zoning govern, so a boundary, setback or easement question needs a licensed surveyor. The sheet says so on its face. Setbacks apply to buildings, so a fence is not flagged for sitting near a lot line; the covenants and the architectural guidelines decide what a fence may be.
Where each kind of problem goes, so it reaches the people who can fix it the first time.
Worth knowing: None of these are emergency lines. For a fire, a medical emergency or a crime in progress, call 911. For a burst pipe, a gas smell or a downed line, call the utility first, then tell us so it is on the record.
Every street light the HOA rents from Duke Energy on one night map. Tap a light to see what kind it is and what it costs, report it when it is out, and tell Duke in about two minutes.
Worth knowing: Only Duke can fix a light; reporting it on our map does not reach Duke by itself, so do the Tell Duke step. Duke bills the same whether a light shines or not, so a dark light still costs about $1.90 a day. Mapping the lights is a neighborhood effort: any owner can move, add or correct a light, and every change is recorded with who made it, so please only place a light where you have seen it. Only the Board can take a light off the map. A downed line or a pole across the road is an emergency: call Duke at 800.769.3766 or 911.
One page for everything about the pool: whether it is open right now, the weather at the pool, how to report something that needs fixing, the hours and rules, and your pool fobs. Owners and renters can both use it.
Worth knowing: If anyone is in danger, call 911. The report form is for things that need fixing, not emergencies. The Conditions corner hides itself when the Weather Service cannot be reached, and it never changes whether the pool is open.
Volunteers on the Pool Committee take turns opening, checking and closing the pool on weekends. One volunteer covers both days of a weekend, and a second can add themselves as backup.
Worth knowing: The reminder is recorded as sent before it is actually delivered, so a mail failure means one missed reminder rather than a loop that mails you repeatedly. If you did not get yours, the schedule on the Pool page is the source of truth. Every weekend you cover counts toward your rank.
Reserve the clubhouse for a private event right here on rivershoals.org: pick a date, pay the rental fee and the refundable deposit online, and get a digital door code for your date. There is no paper contract and no phone call.
Worth knowing: You cannot book while your Lot has a past-due balance -- that is checked at the moment you book, so settle the balance on My Account and come back. The person booking must be an owner (a tenant needs the owner's written permission), at least 21, and present for the whole event. "Being set up" next to the door code is normal until a few days before; the code is not shown until the lock has it, so a number on the screen is always one that works. If it ever says "Not ready", contact the Board through Ask a Question: your booking is safe, only the code needs sorting out.
Everything about getting through the front gates: when they stand open, using your gate code, letting a guest in, ordering a remote and fixing one that has stopped working.
Worth knowing: Never share your code with anyone you do not trust or post it at the gates: a shared code costs the resident a $250 fine and the code is switched off. RFID tags are not being issued right now. The gate and cameras belong to the Association and are controlled by the Board.
Three short reference pages for everyday questions: the playground rules, what your mailbox has to look like, and the numbers to call for water, power, trash and the rest.
Worth knowing: A replacement mailbox has to match the published specification -- you do not need to buy from the shops listed, but it has to be the same box. The playground cannot be reserved for a private party. Spot a number on Local Services that has changed? Press Let the Board know at the bottom of the page.
The Calendar has every social, meeting and community date in one place. The News page has every announcement from the Board and the committees, and the newest ones also show in Coming up at the top of your Owners menu.
Worth knowing: Board and community meetings are on the calendar too, and when one is near, a card on your Owners menu says when and where -- a closed session says so rather than being hidden. Reading a news post counts toward your rank.
A place for neighbors to talk with neighbors: ask a question, recommend a plumber, organize a playdate. Run for owners, by owners.
Worth knowing: A post comes down only for one of the six rules -- threats, attacks over who someone is, harassing a neighbor, private information, illegal material, spam. Disagreeing with the Board is never a reason. Nothing is ever deleted, so write what you would say on the porch. For something the Association must act on, use Ask a Question instead: the Forum is not watched as a help desk.
Look up your neighbors -- but only those who have chosen to be listed, and only what each of them chose to share.
Worth knowing: Nobody is listed unless they opt in, and each detail is off until they turn it on. A listed neighbor with everything else off still shows by name -- a useful "yes, they live here" without anything more.
For Sale is a simple neighbor-to-neighbor list of things to sell or give away. Advertise Your Business puts your own business or service on the Local Services page for neighbors to find.
Worth knowing: Meet in a public place or a driveway, and never pay a stranger in advance. A business listing is the neighbor's own -- the Association does not vouch for the work.
Cast your household's vote in board elections and on measures put to the membership.
Worth knowing: One vote per Lot, enforced by the database rather than by the page -- so two people in one household cannot both vote, and a Lot that voted on paper cannot also vote online. Your ballot is secret: the system records that your Lot voted, never what it chose, and nothing anywhere links a ballot back to a household.
Each Lot has one vote. The Your Vote page (from the Voting page) shows whether your Lot is in good standing, who casts its vote, and lets you lend it by proxy.
Worth knowing: If your designated voter's account is ever suspended, the vote passes automatically to another owner on your Lot, never to a tenant. A Lot with nobody named votes as it always has: any owner account can cast it, and the first ballot counts.
Who serves on the Board, what it decided, and the committees that keep the neighborhood running -- and how to join one.
Worth knowing: Directors are elected by the owners at the annual meeting; officers are chosen by the Board; committee members are appointed by the Board. Serving on a committee is the fastest way up the rank ladder, and your committee shows beside your name.
One page that lays out where the HOA's money goes, what is going up, what the roads will cost, the Board's plan, and the six proposed amendments to the governing documents -- with a live count of how many Lots have signed each one.
Worth knowing: There is no meeting and no deadline: a measure takes effect only when owners of the required number of Lots have signed it, and not signing counts the same as a no. It is one consent per Lot, and any one owner of record may give it. You can also sign the paper form that came in the mail instead -- online and paper count the same. Your signature is tied to the exact text on the page, which is the attorney's final text.
The Declaration, the Bylaws, the ARC guidelines, forms and the Association's records, readable on any phone.
Worth knowing: Not sure what a rule means for you? Ask a Question answers from these same documents and tells you which section it came from.
Ask about the covenants, deadlines, fees or how something works, and get an answer from the governing documents straight away -- or send it on to a person.
Worth knowing: The assistant can tell you what the rules say. It cannot tell you your balance, whether your fence is approved, or whether a fine will be waived -- anything the Association could later be held to needs a person. Ask those and it will route you to one.
Write to a real person, report something that is broken, or put something on the record -- and follow it until it is answered.
Worth knowing: This is not an emergency line. A report about another property goes to the Covenants Coordinator as information, not a citation, and your name is on it. A complaint about the Association goes to the President or Vice President, not to the committee it is about.
For closing attorneys, title companies and lenders: an official statement of what a Lot owes, signed by an officer of the Association.
Worth knowing: Declaration Section 5.5 requires this within five business days of the request and requires an officer to sign it. The certificate binds the Association as of its issue date -- charges falling due after that date are not covered by it.
Something here wrong, or missing?
Tell the Board through the contact page and we will put it right.