Large vs Small Property Management Companies

Can you tell us a little about your HOA? How many units or homes? Many amenities?

Thanks for your responses. We're a townhome-style condominium development of 50-100* units. No amenities other than some grassy common areas with trees, shrubs, rock beds, etc. As for the dues, they went up about 15% after we switched to the current company because the reserves were lower than what they needed to be, but I don't know if that had anything to do with the other company not monitoring them properly. We've had other increases since then too, but the last one was six years ago, and the previous one was five years before that.

* I'm deliberately being vague on the size here for anonymity purposes.

TimM11, we have a small company and have taken over management from several large management companies. In every case the Board has said their costs were reduced and the homeowners have said services were provided in a more prompt and personal manner. For example, one President commented that we did more for them in the first two months than their previous management company (large) did in three years!!!

Before I moved to my community (we're also a townhouse community), it started as self-managed and then went through two or three small property management companies before our current company - it was medium sized and then sold to a national company (I won't say which one, but I suspect many of you can guess). I don't know a lot of the backstory of the other companies because the board members who were here at the time have long since moved on. I had heard there were a number of personality clashes.

I will say that when first joined the board, the property manager made weekly drive-throughs and was either checking in with the contractors or would see some things she'd bring to the board's attention. That is what I think I prefer the most about a small/medium sized company - more personal attention. The current property manager is good, but she has about 15 communities assigned to her and so she rarely gets a chance to come out here. She will accompany the maintenance people on community walk-throughs we have twice a year, but that's about it. As for the company itself, they do have a number of services available, but many of them are add-ons and if you took advantage of some of them (like them setting up a website), the monthly fee would increase considerably. Some of those services are things I personally think they should already be doing, such as quarterly walk-throughs for CCR violations. Instead, the board usually notices things if individual members happen to see it or someone complains.

Our last property manager once said one of the advantages of the larger company is that it usually helped negotiated better deals with contractors because he or she stood to get the business of several communities instead of one. However, if your company can do the same thing and are happy with them, I'd say stick with them and concentrate on the service, not the size.

Well, either way, there were other issues that I think were the driving issues behind the switch, such as communication and responsiveness.

I am a property manager who has worked for large and small companies. There are pros and cons to both. Larger companies have more resources for employees - call centers that can take after hours calls so the manager doesn't have to, for example. More robust benefits, education reimbursement plans, different departments to handle violation inspections, ACC requests, amenity access, thus relieving some of the day to day tasks from the manager. At first you might think = what does the Board care if things are easier for the manager? But happy managers stay with their company, which means they stay with your property (and if you like your manager, that's a good thing).

My experience of smaller companies is that managers have more leeway to do their own thing - which is only as good an idea as the manager is good at his or her job.

But ultimately, it's not the company that matters, it's the specific manager you have. Some care more than others, some are better suited to the job than others, some are more efficient than others - and who they work for isn't going to change that.

That's interesting about the manager turnover -- it wouldn't have occurred to me that it could be less at a larger firm, but it makes sense when you explain it that way. While we've had the same MC for over a decade, I can't remember how many different managers we've had. It's been rare for us to have the same manager for more than a year or so.