7 Questions to Ask A Potential Management Company
If you’re looking for a new management company, you and your fellow board members are busy evaluating your options and deciding who can best meet your needs. Part of that process includes deciding on questions to ask a potential management company. This helps determine which companies have the capabilities and philosophies you’re looking for – but only if you ask questions that will yield truly insightful information that will help guide your decision.
From experience to extra services and everything in between, there's several questions you must ask to get a complete picture of a potential partner. To help you make the most of your management company interviews, use our list and listen for important information before you start any serious discussions.
1. What kind of technology do you provide?
Listen for a list of tools that cover each of these areas at the very least:
- The tools avaliable for protecting your funds
- The tools avaliable that ensure your association's information security
- The tools avaliable, like TownSq, to help you connect with your community members
A management company’s technology is vitally important to your association. With the right technology on hand, you can potentially streamline processes for your board and give yourselves peace of mind about security and transparency.
Read More: Top Tech Solutions Every HOA Should Have
2. What kind of service can I expect?
You want to know that a management company is dedicated to giving your community a high level of service. When you have a problem or just need information, working with a partner that holds customer service as a key value makes a significant difference in the quality of response you’ll receive. Did the company conduct a walkthrough of your community before meeting to accurately assess your needs as opposed to taking a cookie-cutter approach? This sheds some light on the service you can expect once you're a client.
3. Are your services flexible?
Because every community has their own unique needs, your board needs to ensure that a management company can tailor their services accordingly. Ask for examples of how they’ve handled unique community needs in the past with similar communities to assess their experience.
4. What additional programs do you offer to help our community succeed?
A management company should meet your community’s needs beyond the basics of management and finances. Additional services that assoications should address include:
- Developer services
- Maintenance services
- Real estate services
- Financial services
- Technological services
- Emergency services
- Insurance services
Ask for a complete list of additional services offered to see how well-equipped a management company is to not only meet your defined needs today, but your potential needs tomorrow.
5. How are your managers educated?
According to the Community Associations Institute, more than 90% of community association board members prefer to hire a credentialed professional, and you should be apart of that percentage. A community manager is meant to be your board’s trusted advisor and their qualifications are crucial to your community’s success. Ask about your potential manager’s industry designations and licensing, and ensure that any manager assigned to you will read your governing documents and learn the ins and outs of your community.
6. What kind of training and educational resources do you offer board members?
Continuing education allows board members to have all the knowledge they need to lead confidently, so look for a management company that will offer you their own resources like:
7. How is a manager’s portfolio size determined?
A community manager can have a varying number of communities based on size, type (condos vs. single family) amenities, and meeting frequency. Ensuring a manageable workload for your community manager not only helps a community succeed but promotes a positive work life balance to avoid burnout. It’s important that the answer you get to this question alludes to the concept of total work, not total number of communities.
Management Partners That Make A Positive Impact
By taking these questions to ask a potential management company to your next meeting, you’ll get a more complete picture of who they are and how they can help. The information you uncover will be crucial for helping your board choose the right company that will ultimately become a true partner to your community.
With decades of experience in all the important aspects of management and additional services, Associa is the community management company you can trust for consistent, professional support. With nearly 50 years of experience, millions of homes served, and tens of thousands of team members, we assist boards around the world with every aspect of operations so they can focus on the things that matter most. Contact us today to experience the best in management support.