hiring property management company

No questions.

The BOD is doing the job for which y'all elected them.

They are TASKED with managing the 'farmed out' shlock work.

If they do a poor job (in your opinion) you simply elect new directors at the next members' meeting,

or

petition for a recall,

or

bring legal action in a court of law.

Y'all elected them, y'all live with them for their terms.

RoyalP is telling it like it is. Gather a room of owners and you are always going to get the one's who demand unreasonable expectations from volunteers who have no idea what they are doing.

Everyone has uneducated opinions at meetings. This is a BOD decision and the owners elect the BOD. Opening up ? to the owner's in an open forum is looking for difficulties. Again, it's a BOD decision.

Educate the owners to elect those most qualified to sit on the BOD of the HOA and put faith in them until the next election. Educate owners of all the duties and pitfalls on being on the BOD, and you may never have anyone volunteer.

Of course many will have the "nobody wants to run for the BOD" illness and will get what they deserve.

With that said, we recently hired a national PM firm who failed miserably at servicing our community. At that time a good BOD is faced with even more issues because their owners won't take the time to understand what they got into when they purchased in an HOA and complain that we are changing MC's.

Telling it like it is is NOT being helpful ...

JW

Management Companies (MC) come in a lot of flavors. Some are basic like collect dues, pay bills, and create Financial Reports. Nothing more. Their range of services and escalate form there and their costs will increase

It is critical that the BOD and MC agree on what the MC's duties are. Most MC's will provide a list of their services and in some cases it will be like pick from Column A, Column B, etc.

We (the BOD) interviewed 3 before we picked one and as long as their costs fit within our budget we did not feel the need to make each owner privy to our selection process. I would only involve owners if it was going to require a dues increase. Otherwise, let the BOD do what it was elected to do. Make management decisions.

One question I would ask:

Does the MC receive a portion of any monetary penalties for compliance issues (as this can become a revenue stream and cause a MC to become over zealous)?

If your community has had issues with "lack of integrity" and "discriminatory practices," your issue is with your BOARD, not the management company. As others have said, they work at the Board's direction - those problems were likely due from whoever was put in charge. And you and your neighbors should have quashed this a long time ago by holding the board accountable - or replace them. That may not be as blunt as Pain put it, but it's still the truth.

That said, it doesn't hurt to meet the new property manager and get some information on what to expect, so after making the selection, I hope your board sponsors some sort of "meet the property manager" event, where folks can introduce themselves and the property manager can introduce him/herself and perhaps give a quick talk about his/her background and an overview of how he/she works with HOAs.

The property manager's presentation may answer a lot of your questions at the start - what are the office hours, address, phone number and email of the management company, how soon should one expect an acknowledgment of a letter, phone call or email being sent? How are emergencies handled? Can assessments be dropped off at the office? What should we do if an association vendor damages our property while working?

And how about this for a question - how can we homeowners help you manage our community better? We often yap about the board or whoever doing this, that and the other for us, but never once think about what WE can and should do to make things better. You've never had a property manager before, so managing expectations is important. Don't nag the property manager about issues you should bring to the board. And be patient - give the property manager a few months to get acquainted with the community. There may be a few bumps at first, but if everyone works together, you may be surprised at the results.

Thank you one and all for your responses and insights. They are all helpful.
I especially appreciated the idea of asking what we as homeowners can do to make our community run smoothly. Our Board president dissolved all the volunteer/homeowner committees, so the Board's answer might not encourage homeowner involvement at all, but it's worth asking. Wish us well.
Again, thank you for your input.

I have two thoughts on the subject of owner participation in MC selection, having been (and still am) on both sides of the matter:

1. A few years ago we were asked to bid on a contract to manage a very small, very close (relationships), very long tenured owners condominium complex. Part of their process in selecting the MC was to hold a series of open house type meetings during which a presentation was made to the owners. The were very frank in telling us the meetings were primarily a way for them to see if there was a 'fit' between the MC personnel and the owners. We privately thought the process was flawed, which it was when it became apparent during the presentation and discussion following there were several running their own agendas regarding self-management. We withdrew from consideration due to our experience in the meeting. So much for direct owner participation in the process.

2. We purchased in a new development some years ago which was still under developer control and remained so for about three years. Prior to the turn-over several owners with previous HOA experience suggested we form a committee to consider what exactly we as owners wanted in terms of services from the MC. We polled the owners, which provided some valuable input and some not so valuable. We would suggest using it again when and if we are involved in obtaining the services of a new MC. The town hall meetings we held were very helpful in educating owners new to HOA living what the MC does and does not do.

Since the contract has been executed, Geno, you now can at least review it--might be reassuring. I guess in FL you need to make a written request? To whom, in your case?