Help Hiring a Management Company

Our Management company is consistantly not meeting our needs. However, like most Boards, we are not professionals in property management. I'm hoping to find a consultant, or a search firm that will help us in the search for a new management firm. Any ideas how to find such a firm. I anticipate we will have to get our house in order first, but totally unsure how to do that.

Mike's suggestion is an excellent place to start, but you also said your association probably needs to get its house in order first. That's a great observation, because it may be your property manager isn't as effective as you'd like because of your BOARD. Maybe there's no consistency in explaining what you want the property manager to do, or someone comes up and tries to change everything because he/she is the president (or a chronic complaiining homeowner who just will not shut the hell up). Perhaps you want certain things done that are beyond the scope of your contract - and are too cheap to pay for it.

Figure out what you want the property manager to do and remember he/she is not a board member - you and your colleagues have to think for yourselves and act like a board that understands its job is to manage the community assets. Stop letting the property manager do the thinking for you - it's ok if he/she makes suggestions, but that doesn't relieve you of your responsibilities.

Once you figure out what you want, you can apply the tips in the article. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to talk to the current property manager and perhaps his/her supervisors to discuss your issues and come up with a plan of correction. give them a chance to keep your business - along with a deadline when you expect to see improvement. If there isn't any and you want to change, you'll need to develop a transition plan so there can be a smooth exchange of documents, accounts, etc., by the time the new company takes over. No, this won't happen in a month or two and yes, the BOARD will need to oversee the process to ensure nothing's overlooked.

Why not consider having the Board manage the complex instead of a management company?

Many MC's will offer a "shopping" list and charge accordingly. Be sure you are both on the same page as to what is included in the base price.