pros and cons of resident management or outside management

Started by AdrienneS1 • 15 replies • 1826 views

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AdrienneS1 (California)
Posts: 3

Posted:

SOON WE HOMEOWNERS WILL TAKE OVER AND BECOME AN ASSOCIATION. A FEW RESIDENTS WANT TO AVOID AN INCREASE IN CONDO FEES AND ARE BEING PRESSURED TO SUPPORT RESIDENT MANAGEMENT. MANY OF THE OWNERS ARE AGAINST THIS BECAUSE THE HOMEOWNER PRESSURING EVERYONE, IS VERY BULLISH. SOME HAVE EVEN SAID IF SHE, BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION THEY WILL SELL AND MOVE. SHE IS PLAYING LOTS OF POLITICS TO TURN PERSONS AGAINST ONE ANOTHER.....SO THIS COULD BECOME A VERY BAD SITUATION.

I BELIEVE THE MORE INFORMATION WE HAVE, WOULD PUT EVERYONE IN A BETTER POSITION TO MAKE WISE DECISIONS. THE PROS AND CONS OF HOMEOWNER MANAGEMENT OR OUTSIDE. IS THERE SOME WAY LISTS OF HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION BOARD MEMBERS COULD BE OBTAINED SO PERHAPS A REPERSENATIVE FROM DIFFERENT BOARDS COULD BE POLLED FOR THEIR OPINION?

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHERE TO OBTAIN INFORMATION?

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

First, what part of the country (which state) are you from?

Second, there are so many variables that would go into whether to self-manage or not, it's just really hard to give a concrete "yes" or "no" answer to anyone's specific needs.

Here are just a few:

How many units are in your development?

Are they single-family detached homes or condos, townhomes, etc?

What are your annual assessments now?

Do you have monthly assessments?

What amenities does your neighborhood have?

Do you own the roads or will you have to maintain them at all?

Do you have any common area and who takes care of them now? Who do you anticipate will take care of them in the future and how will they be paid?

Do any of your residents have background or knowledge in bidding services out such as lawncare, maintenance, insurance, etc?

How many board members does (or will) your board be required to have? What is the maximum number of board members listed in your by laws or deed restrictions?

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

By the way, one of the HOATalk people, Gloria Martinez, has written a very helpful book for anyone who is thinking about joining a board or is interested in all about the inner workings of a deed restricted-type community.

It's titled appropriately: "A Guide to Community Living" and is available online.

I picked it up a few weeks ago and, even though I've been on an HOA board for over 12 years now and I'm in an entirely different state with different HOA laws, the book was still very informative and gave me some good ideas to use in our community.

All of our board members are reading it.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Andienna,
To add:
I don't want to turn you off but you are asking all the wrong questions. If I understand you are shortly going to be accepting and implimenting a Doctrine that is going to govern your life in the foreseeable future and cost you lots of money and you are confused about the itentions of some bully.
Come on friend, get out and get your neighbors involved. Call a town Hall meeting and look everyone of these owners in the eye and tell them what I said. They should be ashamed, lack judgement for not paying attention and will start paying money from now on into forever and they sit and let some one else screw things up.

You wrote, so that puts you under the gun. YOU MUST find out what is going on. What you don't know you learn. Do you have a standing BOD now? If you do you start there and tell them you demand they start setting your organization up for the transition.

I have a son and daughter in-law in your position only they live over seas. I tell them exactly what I am telling you. They say they just can't put anything else on their plate right now. Not even a letter sent or a phone call made to find out where their condo is going in the years to come. They say, the other owners are mostly speculators and they aren't going to do anything that would be bad for the association. IN THEIR DREAMS.

They will flip those places as soon as possible like they are turing pancakes. You have a critical decision to make. You need advice? Get some management Company to help you and make damn sure you get a good one. Or get a good lawyer and make damn sure he/she is good. Get as many owners as you can carry to a meeting. Or go before your Board and demand
that a current status regarding turnover be given to the owners. If they bulk or if they are controlled by the developer, get some professional help. At this stage in your game you are vulnerable, no doubt about it.

You personally, use this site and all it's links to tell you about transition, use the search feature, use the CAN archives and legal library, it's not perfect but it is so valuable to you at this point you couldn't afford to buy it. Start thinking about how I help my association, all you do or don't do reflects back to the owners. If you all care about your association you all care about each other. People working for a cause can do wonders, and you all sure got a cause from what is known so far. Think about this this and play with it and see what direction it leads you.

JoeK1 (Michigan)
Posts: 37

Posted:

Whether or not you choose to self manage your association or use the services of a Management Company is just one of the many decisions that your new Board of Directors will have to make in setting up your new association.

Condo associations vary greatly in the services which they provide. The developer establishes the scope of the association initially by setting out the services and expenses in the association's budget. The declaration provides the means by which the association can enforce the members' obligations and the by-laws set forth the procedures for running the association. Generally, the developer controls the association at first and relinquishes control some time later when the first BoD is elected.

This is when the new volunteer BoD members get their first dose of reality. When viewed in the governing documents, everything appears to be quite organized and it is just a matter of implementing what has already been established. However, when they start to examine what exactly they should do first, it becomes woefully deficient. They quickly realize that there is no management system in place, the key business processes have not been defined, there is not a clear vision of the steps that should be taken, and more importantly, the sequence in which they should be taken.

You are wise to go into this new condo association business (and it is a business) with your eyes wide open and to gather all the information and knowledge that you can. Currently, there is a wealth of information that can be found in the marketplace on virtually every aspect of managing a condo association including; rules and regulations, meetings, voting and elections, committees, the role of volunteer leaders, budgets, insurance, amending and enforcing documents, etc. But, there are few that give practical advice and a “roadmap” for all the things that a new condo Board must do during the critical first-year start up period. This is particularly true for a newly created association, which may have little in place beyond the Master Deed and By-laws.

Visit www.****.com and view the Contents section. It provides a suggested roadmap of what to do and when to do it. It will save you hours of research time and/or talking to experts trying to figure out what you should do.

Good Luck
JoeK

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Excellent post Joe. There for a minute I thought you had something to sell. Very glad I was wrong and your thoughts were well organized (much better job that I) and reasonable and inviting. Inside your post is hours and hours of work and frustration, certainly not for the faint of heart, but altogether necessary.
Thank you.

JohnK3 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 967

Posted:

Our small (21 SFDs) went self-managed earlier this year after 7 years of Developer/captive PM management, so the new Board that promoted self-management had a good deal of experience looking over the shoulder of the PM and seeing what all was going to be involved. Without that experience, I doubt we would have gone solo. Or to put it another way, starting with a PM to get things on track (and to learn from) for a year might be a good idea. Then you can determine if the game is worth the candle.

AS4 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Thankyou for your reply MicheleD. There are 24 units in our complex. Our annual fee is $1500.00 and we pay quarterly. The ameneties in our neighborhood: we have a major super market chain, a couple of blocks away. A Major fast food and coffee establishment. This is a 55 plus complex., but there is a large high schoo, middle school and elementary. We have lots of lake communities in our area and wooded aras in the rear of our complex. Surrounded by a good portion of rural area, farms and farmer markets, horse stables etc. We are 10 minutes or so away from a nationally know College. We are also fortunate to be 10-15 minutes away from a historical dam that services a major metropolitan area, which also provides hunting and fishing area along with the others in this area. Needless to say we love it

Our common area is cared for by a Landscaper hired by the develper. Don't believe the company will be welcomed back from all the chatter I hear. Payment for these services comes out of the condo fees.

There is a resident experience in bidding out etc., the same person referred to in my initial communication.

Our minimum board membership is 3 and maximum is 5.

Thank you for Gloria Martinez information.

JohnO6 (Georgia)
Posts: 424

Posted:

Obvioulsy with your description of the items of convenience and interest surrounding your community, you would/should be happy living there.

But, the "amenities" that Michele was referring to are what common use/common area items does your HOA actually own and have responsibility to maintain or operate. Typical examples are swimming pools, tennnis courts, playgrounds, lakes, ponds, woodlands trails, clubhouse, etc.

All of those things give the forum readers here a better sense of the magnitude of work that is/would be required in making a self-management decision.

JohnO6 (Georgia)
Posts: 424

Posted:

JohnO6 (Georgia)
Posts: 424

Posted:

So .. .. I always used to wonder why those silly "other people" on this forum posted the same exact message twice? !!?!??!

Well, as you can see from the two posts above, NOW I know ;)

A quick "double-click" of that "Submit" button will do it!

AS4 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 13

Posted:

RobertR1, Thank you for your reply. It is my intent to call a community meeting. I want to have some information addressing the matter of concern first. The replies I have been getting through this forum has been very helpful.

We do not have a BOD yet.

AS4 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 13

Posted:

JoeK, Thank you, so much. Very valuable advice.

AS4 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Thank you JohnK3, I think the one year suggestion makes alot of sense. I will be sharing this with the community.

AS4 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Thank you JohnO6, Basically, we are a 55+ community. The common use/area amenities are few. A small clubhouse (maintaned by the residents who use it) and a Gazebo (also maintained by the residents who use it). Shrubs have been planted next to most of the units and are maintained by the landscaper who also does the snow removal, leaf collection and lawn care.

AS4 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Please be patient with me if you noticed I have directed my replies to the wrong forum participant....I am just beginning to learn how to use this forum.

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