Management companies

Our community will have to choose a management company in the near future. We need advice about how to accomplish this task.

I am a property manager in Alabama. The transition process is different for every management company, but generally the process is as follows: Written notice of cancellation to current management company, sign contract with new company, new company obtains physical & digital files to create an owner database, and new management company sends written introduction notice to all members of the HOA.

Patricia,
If you want go answers from this or any other site it requires good information about what your needs are? This does not and should not be exact details but general information such as.

1) How many units in your HOA?
2) Single Family Homes or Condos?
3) How old is your Association?
4) How many services do you need from a PMC?
5) What are your current dues?
6) What Amenities are in your HOA?
7) What makes this change happen at this time?
8) How many years has the current PMC been doing or not doing the Job?
9) How long have you been on the current board?
10) Is the board in agreement with making a change?

I always like to remind people that this is a tuff change for HOAs. I have done it twice during my 11+ years on boards. It effects every owner because they will all have to change who gets paid. They also have to learn who to call for services and complaints. Who knows if you will get a better PM or someone worse. The person who actually becomes the new face of the PMC will have to learn all the ropes which means what projects are ongoing? How everything works or doesn't work in your HOA. Do you have someone who will be willing to give the time to make this transition successful? If the answer is no you can expect many new unhappy owners who will judge your board for making a bad decision.

Make sure that the Management company has a web-site that explains the services they offer and how do they do the services such as finance, maintenance etc. One very important item that is at times neglected is communication between the Board and the company especially with the company rep that serves the HOA. How do they communicate? How quickly do they get back to phone calls or emails?

Before you sign any contract with a Management company, the Board CLEARLY understands the details of the contract. May be have an ad hoc committee of interested owners look it over.

Does anyone have any direction for researching the best management companies to send your RFP to?

Creating an RFP is pretty straightforward, but finding companies and narrowing the field is more challenging, I think.

I wasn't able to read this article without giving a credit card number.
Is there another way of reading it?

Thanks MikeH24, I got some good notes from that article!

By any chance do you have the "Board Members Guide for Management Interviews" that they referred to?

I have never done a RFP for a management company, but have done hundreds for major construction projects.
I always first put in a date deadline to submit further questions.
Then after that deadline, distribute all questions and answers to all parties (without saying who asked the question).
This keeps the final proposals apple to apple.

We are 460 townhomes in Fairfax County.

Thanks, that's useful.

I don't, but you can get examples from this ECHO form:

https://www.birchgreenpark.com/Form/21472~206289/ECHO-FORM

They shouldn't

I think we will send the RFP to our current management company.

We are looking to change because they have not done the contracted inspections and I get many homeowner complaints about lack of responsiveness, no answers to their calls.

There are also other concerns that I don't want to be specific about.

One board member's request, because she accidentally cc'd the management company on a message referring to the search process.

Typically, agreements will call for once a month.

Donna,
I guess you can get whatever you are willing to pay for.

Our Community has 1450+ homes and we have inspections done twice a month. One of the things I like about our new PMC is they have a separate team that does inspections. Sometimes PMs can get fixated on a small portion or problem area.

Our current provider uses to people who drive in separately one from the front of our Community and one from the back and they rotate every visit. This seems to be working for us. Our PM also will investigate if he get complaints from HOs or board members and can also issue warning letters as needed.

When looking to hire an MC some 4 years ago, three MC companies responded. Each priced out services and cost. Our MC priced out drive thru inspection once a month at a cost of $200.00 per month. We did not buy this service.

What will Schedule A tell me? Do you mean the company's list of deductions on their tax returns?