Managed vs. Self Managed Condominium

Started by SK2 • 12 replies • 177 views

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SK2 (Florida)
Posts: 3

Posted:

We have an upcoming Board meeting to vote on the topic of "going from a Managed Services to a Self Managed" Condominium in Palm Beach Country. Has anyone gone thru this recently... and if so, would you kindly share your learnings, thoughts, and suggestions. THANK YOU

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 1,338

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SK2 on 01/13/2026 1:01 PM
We have an upcoming Board meeting to vote on the topic of "going from a Managed Services to a Self Managed" Condominium in Palm Beach Country. Has anyone gone thru this recently...

Make the board define what they mean by "self-managed."

Some HOA directors think this means that volunteers manage every aspect of the association.

Others think "self-managed" means the board hires an employee to manage the associations, with all the legal problems of employment law.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

I've never been through that transition but did live in a self managed SFH HOA for many years and spent 4 years as director and treasurer.

Obviously the big advantages are saving money and the board having more control. In theory the board always has ultimate control, but from what I've read many management companies (MCs) don't seem to feel that way and try to usurp the board's control. Apparently some also require association funds to be in their designated bank and don't allow the board direct access to the account. Some MCs also like to control the violation process and do other things that help line their pockets.

The downsides are that all of the heavy lifting has to be done by the directors/officers. You can certainly outsource some functions, like bookkeeping/accounting but that would cut into the savings. In our case the directors/officers did the work. I was treasurer and collected dues, paid bills, did the financial reporting, developed draft budgets, etc. This worked about to about a 5-10 hour a week job on top of the common director stuff. Directors also took care of getting quotes, vetting vendors, managing landscaping and other contractors, and finding people to service various things like irrigation repair.

Since condos tend to have more items they are responsible for, the workload would typically be higher than it is in a SFH association.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

One more thing I'll add is that while theft/embezzlement is a concern either way, I think it would be a greater concern in self managed associations. As treasurer I passed around the bank statements and tried to get the other directors to look at them and verify roughly the correct amount was in the accounts. They didn't want to bother and just said they trusted me. While that worked because I'm not a thief, somebody who was could have cleared out the reserves and operating account (almost 200k), sold their house and been gone before anyone noticed.

The board needs to have internal controls either way, and even if the directors are friendly with each other, they need to keep a close eye on each other, especially on the treasurer.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Quote:

Ask questions and listen carefully.

Q. Why are you considering this? Is it solely economic?
Q. What services am I as a home owner giving up and how to I communicate issues for timely resolution with a self managed system?
Q. Are the people handling funds going to be bonded?
Q. How much volunteer time is being added to the board and will the HOA be able to recruit new board members with added duties?
Q. How is the self managed board going to remain current with changes in Florida law?

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

I don't know how large your Board is.

I would suggest at least 5 for a condo self managed board (this is to share the load).

Officer positions would be:

President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary and Maintenance.

The two most worked would be the Treasurer and Maintenance Officer.

In my last Association (self managed) we did hire an independent contractor as a bookkeeper to collect the mail, maintain the lot ledgers and make deposits. The Treasurer handled the check book and paid all bills.

JackS20 (North Carolina)
Posts: 271

Posted:

we are a Self managed SFH HOA with few amenities so it's relatively easy to do. As long as the grass gets cut in the front and park no one's gonna care about much anything else.

The biggest single thing that will make self management easier is reducing the frequency of payments. if you are paying monthly consider paying twice a year or once a year. People will bi**h about it, and you will tell them go ahead and keep your monthly auto pay if you want nothing needs to change, other than the board will be issuing late fees less often and doing less chasing down of payments.

Also switching to a financial Tech bank can greatly simplify receipt tracking as many of them have automatic receipt tracking. either via txt msg nags or automatic email extraction.

There is probably a bigger potential for fraud, if the hao is not set up correctly, but even if there was fraud it would likely be less money than paying overpriced mgt company.

and lets face it, unless you join the board, it will likely not affect you at all, other than possibly chaper dues

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

A self-managed HOA takes the directors to put in a lot of time and effort to make it work. As long as you have board members willing to do a fair amount of work, this will work.

LisaB21 (Texas)
Posts: 97

Posted:

Having the Board members in place now, today, or next year, to be able or willing to perform the duties and tasks required in a self managed community does not guarantee future success in performing those same tasks once faces changes on the BOD. Having a strong management company working with the Board, at the direction of the Board, provides a consistency of management services over the years.

JackS20 (North Carolina)
Posts: 271

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LisaB21 on 01/15/2026 9:04 AM
Having the Board members in place now, today, or next year, to be able or willing to perform the duties and tasks required in a self managed community does not guarantee future success in performing those same tasks once faces changes on the BOD. Having a strong management company working with the Board, at the direction of the Board, provides a consistency of management services over the years.

LOL if only that was true, Mgt companies are just as inconsistent as self managed boards IMHO. A CAI survey showed only 23% of HOA's boards would recommend their own mgt company that says a lot!

LayaS (Nebraska)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Hello Folks,

It's been a while since I posted a response so here goes. I experienced a sometimes-incompetent self-managed board consisting of homeowners in the HOA. It was single-family homes. They also at times showed favoritism towards some of the homeowners whom these members were friends with. I would vote to keep a management company. I am not diminishing the time these volunteers spent on HOA affairs. It is my experience that most of these homeowner board members do not have the knowledge and experience to handle some complex HOA issues. My opinion is based on my personal experience and also the many years I have read HOA issues on this forum. Of course, my opinion is purely anecdotal. I have no statistics to back up my opinion.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Also de-lurking to add my two cents' worth:

There is a big difference between a single family home community with no amenities and a condo community also without amenities. Condos have more needs, especially for things like emergency or after-hours maintenance. In a single family home community, if your neighbor has a plumbing leak, too bad for him but it's not your problem and not your expense. In a community with attached homes, you very much care what happens in an adjacent unit and your assessments will help foot the bill for fixing the issue.

In short, there are issues with attached housing that don't come up in single family homes.

You also have to take into account the different demographics you can find in condominiums. Many people buy condos to get away from maintenance tasks. Or you have retirees who don't want to be bothered. So just because you have some folks who are hot for self-management right now, it doesn't mean you will continue to have them in the future. You have to consider the long term.

Also: a cautionary tale. A few years back, some of our activist owners managed to run off our entire board. If we hadn't had a manager whose contract ran through the end of the year, we would have been unable to pay our bills or renew our insurance policy that was coming up for renewal in a few months. And we would have been unable to do anything about it. Our only option would have been to petition to the court to appoint a receiver. In some ways, self management in a condominium is a high wire act without a safety net.

For sure there are condo communities for which hiring a manager makes no sense: for example, the very small communities where the economics work against you.

In summary:

* Consider whether self management makes economic sense.

* Consider your demographics and whether or not you're likely to have a continuing supply of volunteers. Board members burn out, and adding more work to their plates will burn them out faster.

* How willing are you to have neighbors knocking on your door with problems? The manager usually acts a single point of contact in a condo community. Without that, the board members will be the points of contact.

* While there is overlap, community management is a different skill set from serving on the board. Consider whether your community has the skills needed.

* In general, I'm not in favor of self management in a condominium community unless the economics dictate it (ie, too few owners paying for it). People tend to be dazzled by the potential cost savings without considering the price they will pay for those savings.

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Adding to Cathy’s post, sometimes the HOA needs a person actually experienced in condo management to explain to a board why what they think are wonderful ideas are really dumb or illegal.

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