Thursday, December 12, 2013

Why You Should Look Into Hiring A Community Association Management Group

Why You Should Look Into Hiring A Community Association Management Group

By Cornelia White


If you live in a complex or planned unit development where there is an HOA, you know the work the board goes through to run things. Ensuring compliance with CC&Rs (covenants, conditions and restrictions) dealing with improvement approvals, maintenance issues, financials and the like is huge job for board members. That is why more and more, HOAs are turning to a community association management group to run day-to-day operations.

A community association management group (CAMG) takes the burden of compliance and other issues off the shoulders of the board. They will take on the financial, administrative, communications and maintenance chores, ensuring the complex runs smoothly and efficiently. They will also be on-call for any emergencies that need to be handled. This way the board can focus on larger issues.

Financial oversight is a core area of responsibility for a property firm. Developing comprehensive reports is time consuming and many times board members do not have the background or time to do this properly. This can lead to poor decision making or dissatisfaction among homeowners. The firm's administrative team will work with the board to develop and produce the needed reports and help ensure smart decisions are made.

Unfortunately we live in a litigious society and each decision the board makes can lead to potential legal issues. Having a property-management firm available to review decisions can take the risk out of decision making. The group will advise the board on the legal and financial implications of decisions based on experience.

Keeping the association property and physical plant running is a core part of this type of service. The firm makes regular inspections and reports finding to the HOA board. They will also screen and manage any vendors and maintenance teams. For large-scale work the managers can assist in developing RFPs and secure bids.

Communication of board decisions is a often a major source of dissatisfaction among homeowners. Often this is due to incomplete information or simply poorly written reports. A community association management group will take responsibility for this and craft notices and reports that will clearly communicate the board's decisions and rationale.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to using a CAMG is in emergency situations. It seems like problems always arise in the middle of the night or over holidays. Having a property manager available means that board members are not constantly being summoned for issues. The manager is on-call no matter what and will deal with any situation. They have a the resources available to take care of problems efficiently.

If you are a board member or homeowner in a CC&R covered complex, you owe it to yourself to look into hiring a community association management group. The peace of mind you receive from having a true partner alongside to run things is simply invaluable. Being a board member is a difficult job even when things are running fine. There is no need to place the burden of vendor procurement, financial oversight and emergency response solely on the shoulders of the board of directors.




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