Key Fobs fir Pool and Amenities

Hi All,
Okay so we are a Texas HOA with a few shy of 1500 Single Family homes. Our current PMC has been here since the developer started selling lots 10 years ago. They installed a Key Fob system for access to our Pool and Amenity Center many years ago. They started out charging $20 for Fobs and then raised the fee to $25 and this year decided to increase again to $35 per fob. This was our last straw and we decided we would purchase our own system and be in control of the Fob system. Key Fobs can be purchased in bulk for less than $2.50 per unit. We plan on charging $20.00 to recover our cost of the system and have our PM add and delete our Fobs.

We are also looking at finding another PMC and 1 of our bidders said that they charge $30.00 for Fobs and HOAs are not allowed to issue their own Fobs. I know that this is a profit center for Management but are they telling the truth that we can issue our own Fobs? It takes less than 2 minutes to setup a fob in our system.

When I was living in Ca. we did this for my 8 years on that board so I am wondering If I am getting a story here.

Wow, I don't know why a PMC would be in control of access to amenities that the communities own. I would seriously find a PMC that is merely a vendor that works for you.

We have a single director election coming up and one of the pet projects coming up is electronic access to pedestrian gates and the pool.. And yes the fobs have a unit cost of less that $3.00 per unit.
I feel the property management is milking the cow way too much.

Kerry,
I have read hundreds of your Posts but I can't recall are you a Board member PM?

We have set a 2 Fob limit because we were worried about people giving them to relatives and people from other communities. We have a very large Pool but with nearly 1500 homes on Hot days or during holidays it gets crowded. Our last PMC admitted to me that they have not been deactivating old fobs after people move out. We feel by doing a better job we will eliminate some of those old Fobs.

Hi Mark,

Everything is negotiable at contract time. Negotiate your deal before buying a new fob system, software, etc. That's not necessary if the fob system is working.

In the communities where I've worked, the PM was in charge of issuing new and replacement fobs. If you want to bring this function in house, you'll need to have someone available to act promptly whenever there is an issue. I suspect many communities don't want to deal with that, so they give the job to the PM.

You may well be right that it's cheaper to do in house, but you have to weigh the money savings with the time and aggravation factor. (I guarantee you that you will have some neighbors banging on your front door at all hours if they can't get into something for some reason.)

Barbara,
We do own the Data and the hardware. We could have fought them and probably one the battle. The biggest problem is the system is very old and still needs a dialup Modem to access. It also has many dead Fobs still active in the system. We decided that we would purchase a new system that was both user friendly but also accessible by Cell access for updates. If gives good reports that tells us who goes into the system and what updates are made. We have requested that our HOs send in a new Fob Info sheet that collects some data that our PMC has also said they can not give us. This includes the Mass Email distribution list that they send updates to OUR homeowners. It is also helpful to get Cell phone info incase of lost fobs or emergencies.

I personally feel that by having this system in house verses in a PMC is the way to go.

Mark W,
The plan is I personally have taken on the task of creating the data sheets with all of the information in Excel. Once this work is done we will hand off the access to our PM that will be onsite for 20 to 40 hours a week yet to be determined. They will do the additions and deletions from that point on. The board will still have access but our need to step in should be few and hopefully far between.

Think of names of Cable companies

I think I know who both of those are and I may have worked for one! I would not recommend either. The larger management companies are going to steer boards toward doing things in whatever way is most convenient for the management company. There's nothing nefarious about that in itself - if you've got hundreds of customers its understandably easier to provide service is as uniform a way as possible.

You may want to look for smaller companies that offer more boutique service. You might pay more in management fees, but it's often worth it.

Going from portfolio to on-site is the dream for most managers. I think we can trade emails here? I just don’t want to end up with tons of spam.