6 Questions To Ask Your HOA Management Company Before You Hire Them

Every Association and HOA community works like this: 

Homeowners pay dues for the upkeep of all facilities and common areas within that community. Think of it like a pot of money that everybody puts into every year, and then that money is budgeted and allocated to pay vendors and budget for special projects. 

Special projects can include any aspects covered by an association, like the exterior and roofing, for example, which can be very expensive. This is why planning for those costs and budgeting appropriately is essential for any community. 

This is where it gets really interesting.

Imagine having to replace 30 roofs and not being prepared to do so. Yeah, that’s the kind of situation proper planning is meant to eliminate. No community should need to obtain a special assessment and pay $30,000 for something that could have been avoided.

This is where Association and HOA management comes in.

The Importance of Association and HOA Management

Association and HOA management companies exist to serve communities in more ways than one. But most importantly, association management is there to ensure you’re putting enough money away based on:

• Types of amenities 
• The size and scope of your community 
• The long-term vision for the community overall

Association and HOA management’s goal is to maintain your property value. In a nutshell? Hiring a professional Association and HOA management company to work alongside you in maintaining your community is a wise investment for the long term.

So, how should you approach hiring a community management company? 

Here are six critical questions you should ask before you hire an Association and HOA Management company — and the types of responses you want to hear.

NOTE: These are the answers we give those interested in association management. 

1. What is the average response time to owner or board member inquiries?

Our average response time is less than two hours. Here’s how…

Unlike other management companies, we provide each community with a community inbox they can use to reach out to us. Communication is the most significant pain point in association management. The community inbox allows each community manager to work directly with board members while actively taking care of homeowners and their needs as they occur.

We can then track and serve, in real time, anybody in the community who may be reaching out to us via email. Perhaps most importantly, we can also track our response time and ticket closeout time, making adjustments and improvements wherever necessary.

This also allows us to close tickets within 24 hours, on average. 

2. What does the transition from our current management company entail?

At Evernest, we have a team entirely dedicated to transitioning new clients from past management. Our team will execute a 60-day process to ensure you’re set up and ready to go on day one of management. This helps us provide a more hands-on, high-touch approach. 

Leading up to day one of management, our team is gradually handling everything from:

• Setting up new bank accounts and transferring/controlling funds.
• Transferring pertinent documents, such as bylaws and community rules. 
• Gathering homeowner information, such as homeowner rosters and required dues.
• Setting up recurring payments within our system. 

Since this kind of situation deals heavily with the financials of a community, handling it with care and a proven process ensures all relationships are left intact. At the same time, homeowners don’t experience stress or pain points in the short term.

3. What separates us from our competitors?

It’s all about response times and ticket close-out times. We provide full transparency and open communication. Evernest has layers of communication, not only through our community managers but assistant community managers and DAs, that we utilize.

At the end of the day, it’s not rocket science. 

The basis of association management is this: who will communicate the best?

When difficult situations arise, and trust us, they will, the question becomes who can help you navigate? This is what’s going to separate Evernest from the rest.

Typically, a bad management company sees a lot of turnover, managers aren’t certified, or they simply don’t understand the intricacies of association management. 

This is why we have the highest designated managers on our staff. These are people that have been in the business for 25+ years, from ground-up development through fully built-out communities. We know the ins and outs of association management. 

4. How much does management cost?

We use a tiered pricing model for management. Two main factors drive our pricing: property type (condos, townhomes, and single-family homes) and amenities. 

From there, we have a per-door, per-month charge based on each property type. Contact us for a quote for your community.

Other factors that can impact pricing are:

• Number of meetings management must attend every month or year.
• Overall aesthetics that need to be maintained.
• Number of vendors that an association works with.
• Number of homes in the community.

5. How do you handle communications? 

As a company, we embrace technology and seek to be at the forefront of improving ease of use. 

At the same time, while we embrace, encourage, and focus on making technology a viable option — we still have “manual options” that are tried and true modes of communication. The main reason is that we’re dealing with an older clientele more often than not. Some associations are senior communities, while others are simply used to going about business the old fashioned way. 

This is why we also focus on being flexible. While pushing the industry to the next level and providing a higher level of service, we understand that it will always come back to a hands-on approach. 

We also always consider the homeowners we manage for. Many homeowners close on their property in an association and don’t know what it entails. This is why another layer of our communication comes from homeowner education, answering simple questions like: 

• What is an HOA? 
• What am I signing up for? 
• What are my money dues going toward? 
• How do I get involved?

Many companies don’t take the time to offer this kind of homeowner education upfront. At Evernest, this is a top priority.

6. How many associations does each manager manage?

We aim to keep managers managing 8 to 10 communities — sometimes more, sometimes less. This varies depending on property type and the number of properties. 

We do, however, silo our managers to specific property types. This process that is largely unique to Evernest allows our managers to develop a deep and thorough understanding of and expertise in one specific property type.

The Right HOA Management Company: Hire Evernest as Your Association Management Provider

Hiring the right association management company is the most critical decision for your community. The right management maximizes your residents’ quality of life and minimizes your regulator. 

At Evernest, we help homeowner and condo communities maximize investment and residents’ quality of life while minimizing regulatory and operational costs. Contact us and see why dozens of communities trust us to deliver proactive management that leads to better value and happier residents.