Ratings for Management Companies

Is there a rating system for Management Companies. Usually in most trades you can find general customer ratings of companies (similar to BBB listings).

Also how is/are designations like "an Associa company" meant to represent? I have seen this on MC's which are said to be great and some that are not so great. I am assuming that the "Associa" designation is a "parent" company...???

You are correct, Associa is the parent company. There is only one national group that deals with manager certifications and that is CAI (www.caionline.org)You can visit that site to see what the company and individual designations stand for, as well as a directory which lists a numer of those companies. I CA there is also CACM which does similar things on a state level (www.cacm.org) In FL, managers have to obtain a state CAM license.

Companies that have been successful in this business for a long period of time, usually have done so for a reason. But that doesn't mean things can't change - two of the recent spate of embezzlement cases involved companies that had been managing for 15 years or more and had spotless records up until then. This just means that you have to put the checks in place to protect the association, no matter who you select as management.

When I work with associations in selecting management I like to look very hard at two things:

1) Systems and processes - this is how they handle the day-to-day minutiae, like bookkeeping, work order processing, board packages, correspondence, violation and assessment tracking, etc. I'm looking to see if the system is designed to function well, even if someone leaves. Also I'm looking at the checks within the system - how are errors or exceptions caught, how are they handled? If the systems and processes are automated and well-designed, then I'm not going to worry too much about any individual in the office leaving.

2) Who is actually going to manage the site. Often, it will be the principal or marketing department that makes the sales pitch to the board. I want the person who will actually be the manager to sit down with the board to see how they will get along, and then I talk to the boards of the other communities that person manages about their effectiveness. I also want to make sure that adding this account won't overload him or her. This is the person that will make or break the relationship between the management company and the association. I also warn the board that they are not likely to stay for long (portfolio managers usually depart in about 2 years or so)and to make sure the contract, if it's for more than a year, gives the board the right to accept any replacement or to terminate the contract at that time. Management companies usually aren't too thrilled with that, because they know its possible a manager will leave and it places the contract in jeopardy before its end date, but I think it helps them work a little harder to retain good managers.

After that, you just want a good attorney to review the contract the company is going to propose. It will be a mostly one-sided contract, so you really want an attorney looking out for your interests.

Joe