August 19, 2021 - BY Admin
In previous articles, we have stated to not micromanage your Community
Manager. However, we still want to stress the importance of periodically
evaluating them to ensure a good job is being done and money isn’t be wasted.
All HOAs that hire a management company deserve to work with a Community
Manager that conducts itself in a professional manner. It’s important to be
aware of how your Community Manager is tackling the tasks that were laid out in
the initial contract.
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As is true with any professional relationship,
communication is key. If the Community Manager and the HOA aren’t able to
effectively communicate, there will be hurdles and roadblocks every step of the
way. It’s important for both parties to be on the same page when it comes to
finances, maintenance, collections, etc. Should there be any questions the
Board needs answered, the Community Manager should be available to respond in a
timely and professional fashion.
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One of the top priorities of your Community
Manager should be handling the maintenance issues in a timely and
cost-effective manner. Though this oftentimes becomes one of the more vocal
sources of complaint among community members, it should be noted that it may
not necessarily be an issue with your Manager. Smaller jobs need to pile up
before maintenance is performed to keep costs low — which is one of the
manager’s jobs as well. Just remember to be patient.
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No one enjoys dealing with someone who isn’t
personable. While this shouldn’t be a standalone reason to evaluate how your
Community Manager is doing, it should definitely be taken into account should
the complaints stack up or if there are other issues with items on this list.
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This is obviously something that should be
scrutinized when it comes to complaints about collections, especially when they
are coming from those who are delinquent on payments or are on the bad end of a
fine. Even if all protocols are followed appropriately and in the most polite
way possible, community members may be upset when hassled about money. That
being said, if the complaints are found to have merit when it comes to the
Community Manager’s attitude, the complaints should be noted and then
evaluated.
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If the newsletters and financial statements are
showing up late more often than not, it can become an annoyance and an issue.
This is especially true if there are defined dates in the initial contract for
when these items are to be handled.
HOAs need to take into account that Community Managers aren’t strictly
dealing with one community. Oftentimes the Managers are taking care of multiple
tasks for multiple communities and certain things will take time and patience.
The Community Manager and the Board should work together and be viewed as a
team. Should there be any issues found with your Manager based on the criteria
above, don’t hesitate to try to remedy the situation before it snowballs into a
much larger issue. Most of the time, if communication is golden, then
everything else falls in place naturally.
However, if your Manager is continuously letting you down and failing on
multiple issues, all while being difficult to deal with, then maybe it’s time
to have a chat with him or her. Usually, this is all it takes to get things
running smoothly and more in line with what the Board had in mind.
If a talk doesn’t do the trick and you’re in the market for a new Manager
then we can help. Send
us a message detailing what your needs are and we’ll be in touch.
