looking for reputable MC in Bellevue Wa

Hello

I would like to get feedback for any reputable MC in the Bellevue, Wa area?

any one have any suggestions

How big is your association? Condo or HOA? What is your annual budget? What MC services are you looking for? Financial only or full service management?

We are also located near the Eastside and suffered from a dwindling board and mostly apathetic homeowners. Last year we spent several months interviewing MC's to try and find one that could manage our small townhome association. We quickly concluded that MC's are EXPENSIVE - at $20-$25+ per door per month plus fees, full service management would be our single largest expenditure, and add 15-20% to our annual budget.

When we presented this information to the homeowners, we were able to get enough volunteers to serve on the board and continue self-managing, under the condition that we reduce/automate/eliminate as much manual labor as possible. We were able to locate various online services that we have since wielded into a sort of 'virtual management company' that is highly efficient and very affordable.

1) Firing our expensive accounting service and moving to an automated online dues payment/accounting platform saved us hundreds of dollars per month and has greatly reduced late payments and delinquencies. Monthly charges, late fees, and emailed statements are all 100% automated, and most owners have set up autopay for hands-off payments as well.

2) Switching from a local PO box to a 'virtual' mailbox service. For the few cases where people still want to send paper checks or other written correspondence, we found a firm that accepts our mail, scans it all for secure viewing online, and lets us choose how to deal with each item: deposit checks directly to our bank (by mail), forward on important items as needed, or shred/recycle anything else. No more trips to the post office!

3) Moving to an online/self-service documentation platform (for resale certs, lender questionnaires, demand letters, etc.) has greatly reduced board member effort when dealing with resale/refinance transactions and actually provided a small net income for our association. No more printed, filled-out, scanned PDF forms to hassle with.

Of course there are tasks we can't automate: We still have physical maintenance, and one-off requests/complaints must be dealt with on an individual basis. Vendor selection remains our toughest task, as keeping costs low requires a concerted competitive bidding process, and volunteer board members typically have little/no experience or expertise here. We mostly rely on Angie's List as a starting point, and seek vendors interested in forming ongoing working relationships.

All of this is to say - don't discount self-management. It does require work, but with the right set of tools can help a self-managed firm be successful. And the outcomes for your association are likely to be much better when the people doing the work have a vested interest in the association, as opposed to a third-party management firm with its own profit as its primary concern.

We are a very manageable 50 units.

214 units, budget about 1M, services TBD at this point

Ideally a part time book keeper, a MC for advice, out-source back-office to India, and an on-site PM