Some boards might be skeptical in hiring an HOA Management Company, this may be because they don’t understand the role, or because homeowners are unwilling. However, often an HOA Management Company will make some taxing tasks more efficient, and help the community grow overall. In this article we will go over the main responsibilities and common questions related to an HOA Management Company.

What is an HOA Management Company?

Normally, an HOA board consists of homeowners who don’t have as much time or expert knowledge to handle certain issues in an association. So, they might discuss hiring an HOA Management Company to assist with common tasks such as: implementing board’s decisions, maintaining communication with homeowners, and aiding with administrative work.   

All in all, a management company aids, advises the board, and takes on different tasks. An HOA Management Company works to improve the environment, service, and quality of an HOA for everyone who lives there.

HOA Management Companies Responsibilities

As mentioned previously, an HOA Management Company has a lot of duties and works on a lot of different areas. However, they do have limits. Below are the responsibilities an HOA Management Company has inside an HOA:

Finance 

The HOA Management Company will be in charge of sending out bills to residents (normally monthly) and collecting their fees. Other responsibilities include: 

• Keeping the board updated on financial matters
• Collecting overdue assessments
• Collecting corporation dues (which is deposited in the HOA’s account) 
• Being in charge of delinquency notices
• Balance tracking 
• Notifying homeowners if they have any late payments
• Providing funding advice to the board  
• Estimating maintenance costs 
• Creating financial records and reports and distributing them
• Updating the board monthly on their financial status  

In the case of late fees, the HOA Management Company has no power to disregard them or establish any new decisions, that is the HOA board’s duty.  

Benefit of hiring an HOA Management Company to manage the finances of an HOA: 

A good HOA Management Company will have the capability to handle finances well. This facilitates things for the board as finances can be very overwhelming.

Rules/regulations

Every HOA will have certain rules and regulations to govern the association. The HOA board creates these policies while an HOA Management Company is in charge of enforcing them by: 

• Sending violation notices
• Newsletters with rule reminders 
• Visiting the community to find any violations
• Ensuring that all homeowners are following the HOA’s CC&Rs. 

Benefit of hiring an HOA Management Company to enforce the policies of an HOA: 

Dealing with violations in an HOA can be quite complicated. An HOA Management Company they will ease the burden of having to constantly remind homeowners about the policies of the associations and will be responsible for ensuring that all residents are following them – establishing a more organized and safe environment.

Maintenance

An HOA Management Company will ensure the association is in good condition and its common areas are well maintained. They will also make sure there are no possible risks and dangers that residents can be vulnerable to. To do that they will:  

• Regulate safety hazards 
• Contract vendors to ensure pool maintenance, lawn care, electrical maintenance and so on.  
• Inspect if common areas are well maintained 
• Ensure that the maintenance team is properly fulfilling their tasks

Additionally, because of so many maintenance requests from residents, an HOA Management Company will help organize all of them, address it to the board, and communicate back to the homeowner. 

Benefit of hiring an HOA Management Company to assist with the maintenance of an HOA: 

Apart from helping ensure that the community is well maintained and the association is a comfortable place for residents, an HOA Management Company will help hire qualified professionals. This is because boards aren’t very likely to have a wide variety of contacts. Since management companies have been working with vendors, however, they have an array of networks to hire from. 

Management

An HOA has many office duties that an HOA Management Company can help with, such as:

• Helping organize and coordinate the agenda and upcoming events 
• Organizing board meetings 
• Doing reports
• Replying to emails, calls, and messages

Property values are also very important for any HOA, so an HOA Management Company will help maintain these property values high. In order to do this they will conduct on-site management. This includes coordinating requests, ensuring equipment and common areas are well maintained, and that everything is in order. 

Benefit of hiring an HOA Management Company to help manage an HOA: 

An HOA Management Company will guarantee that the association is being managed fairly because they don’t know the community on a personal level. Since the HOA board consists of  homeowners, it is possible that there might be bias or favoritism when enforcing certain rules and/or implementing decisions since they know the neighborhood so well. 

Communication

As mentioned previously, an HOA Management Company will coordinate resident’s requests. Specifically for ARC requests, the company can communicate with residents about what the board and the Architectural Review Committee decided. 

The management company will also have to share important information about what is happening in the community – especially if it is related to new policies, safety protocols or an event coming up. As well as making this information easily accessible to residents. 

Benefit of hiring an HOA Management Company to communicate with residents in an HOA: 

Any good HOA Management will do their best to ensure that residents’ concerns and suggestions are being heard and addressed. They should guarantee that homeowners feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts and ideas to help improve the community overall. 

Communication is an integral part of any community. The video above shares ten tools to help your association improve communication. Even if you have a management company, using software and online tools are essential to effectively communicate with residents. 

How To Hire An HOA Management Company 

It’s not always easy to hire an HOA Management Company, for that you need some research and previous planning. Before starting the process of hiring, it’s good to note down what services your HOA needs and start researching based on that. Below are some things to consider when trying to find an HOA Management Company for your association:

1. They are licensed or accredited by CAI
2. They have good quality administrative, financial, and customer service
3. They have a good maintenance management system
4. Their HOA Managers are licensed 
5. They have Insurance certificates 
6. How long they’ve been in the market for
7. The availability of the HOA Management Company – so how quickly they answer

With that settled you can no go through the process of hiring:

1. Create a request proposal foreach HOA Management Company that is aligned with your criteria. 
2. Evaluate your responses based on a determined criteria and start narrowing down your options
3. Schedule interviews with your selected pool of HOA Management Companies
4. Finally, once you’ve decided, have your HOA’s lawyers look over the papers before signing and making a deal with the company

Going through a complete and detailed process, while it can seem long and tiring, is extremely crucial to guarantee that you hire a quality HOA Management Company. If you don’t consider every aspect and rush your hiring process, you run the risk of having a bad company running your HOA, which will harm the association as a whole.

Final Points

An HOA Management Company is here to make the numerous and long tasks of the board much easier to handle. They won’t be responsible for making and implementing decisions and rules, but they will make sure that the community is well taken care of, homeowners are following the rules, and that the association is organized and well managed. 

Having an HOA Management Company can make an association work more effectively, which is why it’s important to make sure that you are thoroughly evaluating the company if you look to hire them. 
If you want to start looking for HOA management companies, but feel a bit lost and overwhelmed, click the link here to find out the top 10 HOA management companies in Florida.