A Complete Guide to Property Management Agreements

Staffing your community association is both an art and a science. Your community’s culture and lifestyle are supported by the staff you choose, and it’s important to make sure that you’ve got the right people in the right positions, and enough of them. Properly staffing your community goes far beyond having people to answer the phone and handle packages or keep the pool clean and tidy.

Budgeting can be tough. It involves looking at priorities and the needs and wants of your community, the money coming in and going out and making it all balance. Crafting a responsible, effective budget is one of the primary ways that community association board members fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities to the community. Planning ahead and knowing what’s expected will help make the process painless and smooth! 

Our Community Manager, Carol Nickerson, CMCA, has been published in the June 2017 issue of CAI New Jersey's Community Trends magazine.

Losing power is never fun. But it’s bound to happen at some point, so preparation is the best defense. Different types of communities are affected by blackouts in different critical ways: high-rises lose their elevators and water; resort-style gated communities lose the ability to operate their gates. For residents, a blackout may be a short-term nuisance. For a community association, it can be a major headache in terms of risk management, safety and potential equipment damage that can provide an unwelcome shock to your budget.

Congratulations are in order – you’ve just been elected to the board. So now the big question: What’s next?Follow these new board member basics and you’ll soon be governing like a pro.

Although you can’t predict emergencies, you can prepare for them. The most important thing that both board members and management can do to ready themselves for the unexpected is to create a customized emergency preparedness plan. A quality community association management company will have the experience, resources and knowledge to help you develop a plan that fits your specific situation.

Just as in any successful business organization, succession is an integral part of a healthy community association board. Planning ahead, and planning strategically, provides for a more seamless operation for your board. When individuals are prepared for and knowledgeable about a role, they can hit the ground running immediately after the election. Here are several ways you can help make this happen.

What should you look for in a prospective community association management company to help avoid a rough transition? How can your association avoid financial missteps and pitfalls when switching from one management company to another? Make sure that the management company you are considering has the resources you need in every aspect. Transitioning to a new company is simply too large a task for one manager to handle!  A team approach is the best way for a professional community association management company to handle a transition. 

We all want to get the most for our money, and your community association is no different. When hiring a management company, it’s easy to focus on the bottom-line price and not understand the differences in real value among the proposals you see. The right community association management company will provide you with so much more than a good manager.