Seeking more affordable housing, fewer upkeep demands and a closer-knit community, a record 42 million home owners live in some form of cooperative housing development instead of single-family housing.

Representing 15 percent of the nation's households, condominiums, cooperatives and planned communities are governed by some 205,000 home owner associations comprised of the homeowners who live there.

Associations are growing at the rate of 6,000 to 8,000 a year, as metropolitan areas turn to the cooperative living style of developments as solutions for America's housing needs. More than 50 percent of new housing developments in major metropolitan areas are constructed in the medium to high-density community format, according to the non-profit Community Associations Institute (CAI).

A board of directors -- volunteer leaders elected by their neighbors -- preside over the associations. Generally inexperienced in running an organization that needs the business-like acumen of a skilled corporate executive, the board grapples with a host of issues.

The community associations are responsible for maintaining common areas, managing the community's amenities and providing services to residents, much like a tiny government. Either directly or through a management company, they manage the budget, contract for maintenance and repair services and enforce the association's covenants, restrictions and by-laws. Home owners who buy into such housing often aren't fully aware that it takes a whole village to help the unique housing arrangement succeed.

The association often must lobby for laws impacting the cooperative housin way of life locally or on a federal level, as a group, it must prepare for inclement weather and the association must choose its leaders carefully, among myriad other tasks, according to the CAI.

The CAI offers a host of support services, including membership benefits, an electronic online and subscriber news service , a research foundation, lobbying support, educational materials and a Web site with links to dozens of home owner associations in the trenches.

The CAI also offers a special Web area, Pearls of Wisdom, dozens of tips to help you and your association get the most out of each other.

Here's a sample:

10 Tips for Cooperative Home Owners

• Review the association's documents before you buy your unit.
• Read them again after you move in.
• Follow the rules.
• Respect your neighbors and your jointly-owned property.
• If there is a problem, talk about it instead of sending a letter or bangnging on the wall.
• Pay your assessments.
• Attend the annual meeting.
• Read the newsletter and the minutes.
• Serve on a committee.
• Serve on the board.

10 Tips for Cooperative Board Members

• Serve because you care, not because you have a hidden agenda.
• Remember your fiduciary duty to protect, preserve, and enhance the value of the property.
• Obtain meeting agenda materials, financial reports, committee reports, bids, etc. a few days before the meeting.
• Study the association documents before you enforce them.
• Ask others for input and open board meetings to other members.
• Focus on policies, plans, and objectives.
• Do the right thing, not the most popular thing.
• Establish clear goals and then articulate them.
• Take care in hiring a manager, then let the manager manage.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate.