Transition from Self-Management to Professional Management

I'm in Washington. If you meet via Zoom, I'd be happy to attend a Board meeting and discuss the benefits of having a PM from the Board perspective. At the meeting, I could also give you the names of some PM companies in the state that you may contact and may be able to provide services to you.

I know you'd like an answer right away, and let me say from my perspective:

1) The PM works at the direction of the Board but is not the Board. Thus, you still need all of the officer positions that you had before, who work together to provide direction to the PM company.

2) Our PM company contract requires that one Board member be the point of contact for all things relating to the HOA, which falls on my shoudlers. My volunteer workload is high because I am providing direction to the PM every day of the week. She cannot work without constant direction from the Board, so the requirement to have a dedicated volunteer does not go away.

3) Our offsite property manager handles bookkeeping (keeping general ledger, sending delinquency notices, collecting payments, issuing checks), communications, compliance, some administrative work, and vendor vetting really well. Everything else they do poorly so it is easier to do it myself than rely on them.

4) We pay $30,000 a year for PM services for 274 doors. You might expect in the vicinity of $15,000.

5) The Board workload is still high.

I did state that our PM is offsite. The OP's will be as well because 5 acre lots do not require on site property managers.

I don't know how many hours a week we get from our property manager. She has never told me how many other communities she manages and I have never asked. However, the OP will almost certainly get a portfolio manager like we have and will also find that their offsite property manager contributes less than what they would hope for.

Yes, there is value.

Happy to talk to your Board at a meeting if they want to hear. We can't give recommendations on this site, so I won't share any here. I will post my (anonymous) e-mail address if you want to send me a meeting invite.

Heather

As a management company we have taken on as a client an association which was self-managed for over 30 years. We are the 3rd or 4th company engaged to manage the association since the migration tool place 30 months previously.

We are still (36 months after taking them on) addressing issues related to the self-management, total lack of understanding of their governing documents, and the chapters of the Texas property code which apply to their association, and lack of understanding on the part of the directors (who are also the officers) what their roles are in the present day configuration. They, and the owners, are still not always clear as to what the association is responsible for and what it is not.

I suggest you and the other officers/directors create a matrix of the activities each of you perform during the course of a typical month. Using the matrix, identify which activities each of you must continue to perform if managed, and what activities the management company will perform, should you sign a contract. This would be a good time to define expectations of the property manager and the management company.

I respect MichaelT21's input to discussions on this forum, I would suggest to you his interface with his PM is not the norm, it is the exception. The property manager should not require daily or weekly input and guidance in the performance of his or her responsibilities from the contact on the Board. Should there be daily or several times a week contact? Sure, information must flow but define for yourselves what you expect the property manager to do and communicate that in the contract negotiations.

I will suggest you may find the property management company telling you your association is not in compliance with the governing documents or Washington state codes and laws and changes to processes must be made. A property management company has a fiduciary responsibility to the client to 'keep them on the straight and narrow' so to speak. Keep that in mind as those discussions take place.

Good luck. Interview 3-4 property management companies if possible.

While you're considering a property manager, you should also think about the workload for the entire board. How many people do you have besides a president, treasurer, secretary and vice president (I assume you have one?) Anyway, are you the entire board or do you have other members? If so, what are THEY doing? I've always felt every board member should have some area to oversee, especially if the association is self-managed. It reduces the workload and can help people develop leadership skills they may need if someone steps down. Talk to those folks and give them something to do - they can select from among some of your current duties if you want to match talent with need.

When your term ends, are you staying on the board or getting off altogether? If so, now's the time to start looking for people who might step up and serve. Unfortunately, HOA boards seem to be bad at developing new talent, so when someone leaves, all that knowledge goes with them, and you have to start over. And heaven help you if the newbies turn out to be megalomaniacs or incapable of learning anything.

This may be a good time for the board to think about developing talent, not just for your spot, but theirs as well. Setting up advisory committees can be a good way to give people experience, and find the talent. If the committees are chartered properly, they can do research that'll make things easier for the board, which will reduce the load further.

I agree, Michael, that it sounds like does a lot for you at so few hours a week. I and others have advised you to get a PM who can work v more hours for your HOA. It sounds like you have the funds?

This is good for me to keep in mind. Thank you.