Advice on Ethical Way to Assess Potential New Property Managers for Condo Assoc.

Started by TaraC1 • 7 replies • 1539 views

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TaraC1 (District of Columbia)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Hello, thank you for hosting this forum. This is my first time posting.
I am a board member who would like to know if there are competitive/improved property management services out there for our DC condo association that would cost about the same as the rates we pay now. I have not pursued this because I am concerned about making sure I act appropriately.
I would like to be able to get a general idea of how much competitive management companies might charge us, but I am not sure how to get those ballpark estimates (to see if it's even worth pursuing) without accidentally slogging into a situation where I have inappropriately solicited bids or inappropriately impacted a future bidding process (for example, by sharing our current rates, or by sharing our current contracts.)
Has anyone on this list served on a board that successfully switched management companies? How did you go about it?

Thank you for any advice!

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

When I was on my board we did just that. Our old management company operated horse-and-buggy style. If you wanted to know the status of your account you had to call during office hours. They had no website so you could neither inquire nor pay online. They routinely posted payments to the wrong accounts and sent dunning notices to paid-up owners. We just could not do business that way.

We started off with a general idea of what we wanted and then sent out some requests for proposals. We had three replies.

Our old management company proposed continuing with some very minor changes and we rejected that outright. Too little too late.

The wife of one of our board members submitted a short (less than a single page) proposal. Her lack of detail and apparent lack of experience just left us all cold so we rejected her offer. (The same person later ran for the board, served as secretary, and made a shambles of our corporate records.)

A professional management company provided a very detailed proposal that included an already-developed website with full online capabilities. We accepted his proposal.

Price was never a consideration for us but the new management company's rates were not much different than the old one's.

I have been involved with providing various kinds of services much of my life and I find that new customers are full of questions but price is usually not in the top three. When it comes to services, the low bidder is often the most expensive as you will have to re-do all his work.

Start your search for a management company by making a list of what you must have, what you would like to have, and what you do not want. For example, do you want the MC to maintain an office on your site? Hire the company that best fits your needs and adjust your assessments accordingly.

TaraC1 (District of Columbia)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Thank you for that insight! We are a bit constrained by what our association members can afford/would be willing to pay. Would it be inappropriate for me to approach a few vendors that are highly rated and ask what they could provide in a certain price range?

NpS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 4,216

Posted:

Suburban area. Less than 100 units. Over the last 6 years, we have paid prices ranging from $7 to $21 per unit per month for MC services. Much depends on services promised vs services actually provided.

See nothing wrong with investigating what you can get within your budget.

Sikubali jukumu. Read all posts at your own risk.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Tara

What you basically want to do is shop around a bit. This is something every BOD should do even when satisfied with a vendor. What you are asking for in an informal proposal for positioning purposes. Any professional company would be more than happy to oblige you.

There are a ton of Property Management Companies out there. You want to zero in on those that are actually managing HOA's and ideally ones your size. When we went looking, we made our first cut by asking for references from associations similar to our own. We got it down to 3 which we interviewed. We actually learned something from each of them during the interview process. We eliminated one as we felt they were more interested in charging for extra services. We eliminated another as they were not very automated. We found their pricing to be very similar.

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

We're self-managed since forever, but I did see discussion in the board minutes from some time ago (years) that if we had to hire a management company our assessments would go up 40%. That would be about another $100 a month for each of our 100 units. I'm starting to think that was a scare tactic so that owners wouldn't clamor for a management company.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

Tara, I would get the blessings of your Board before you sniff around independently.

Or, if you know that your Board wants to hire a new firm, perhaps it can appoint you as the one to do the research. You'd want to know in advance, for instance, exactly what services you want the firm to provide. do you, for example want a full-time onsite PM? Or can your HOA be a part of a portfolio for an MC. "Your" manager also would service other accounts.

You need to know what it is you're looking for.

TaraC1 (District of Columbia)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Thank you - yes my plan is to talk with the members - thank you everyone for the input!

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