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Posted By RandyB3 on 03/07/2009 8:53 AM
I am the treasurer in a modest 99 home HOA in Lakeland, FL and we currently contract with a private manager who is doing a good job but I want a frame of reference on the going hourly rate for time spent. What is a normal range for basic HOA management services? We currently budget $4500 in management fees and pay our manger $50 per hour. How does that compare with the norm?
$4,500 per year equals $375 per month at 12 months per year. If you pay $50 per hour, that means the manager works 7.5 hours a month. Not knowing what the manager's tasks and responsibilities are, I couldn't say if $50/hour is a reasonable compensation.
It also works out to $45.45 annually per lot, and with 99 lots, $3.79 monthly per lot.
The HOA has 419 lots and pays the office manager $2.00 per lot each month. That includes all financial work such as assessments, their mailing, and their follow-up, lien preparation and filing, being available 40 hours a week to respond to homeowner, bank, and title company inquiries, getting newsletters printed and mailed, paying the bills, straightening out the billing errors, 24-hour availability to receive and forward utility locate notices, mailing covenant letters, maintaining all HOA-related correspondence, archiving HOA records/letters/files, preparing monthly reports, being available for up to four board meetings per year at no extra charge, etc. etc.
The HOA has only a pressurized irrigation system as common interest property: no pool, no clubhouse, no street maintenance, and no landscaping costs.
The Board originally hired an office manager for $400 a month (about a dollar per lot per month). Instead of a monthly financial report, the treasurer received a stack of computer printouts about an inch thick each month. Some lot owners were billed twice for their annual assessments, and no action was taken for non-payment of assessments.
You get what you pay for (if you're lucky), but unfortunately it's a lot like the job market: Employers want workers with 10 years of proven success and expertise but will only pay them entry-level wages. They too, get what they pay for.