Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Property Management

[Rowenahc (rowenahc]

We at Cambrdige Cohousing just fired one management company and hired
another, so we are sympathetic to your problem.   Our initial choice of firm
was based primarily on cost, although the firm was well known and,
apparently, had a decent reputation.  And, admittedly, our complicated
project had a lot of start-up work that needed to be done.  Nevertheless, we
were astonished at how bad they were!   After they were acquired by a bigger
and better known management company things went further down hill.  A
primary problem was total lack of follow through, whether for responding to
maintenance calls, or for establishing scheduled maintenance plans for the
common areas and our centralized utilities, or for getting the association
bills out and - the last straw - failing to pay the bills on time so that
the gas was actually turned off!  Months after we parted ways we still
haven't got a final accounting.  Independently, we lucked into a handyman
who was able to do most of the odd maintenance jobs that had been hanging
around for years, but, of course, that couldn't last.

One thing that impressed us with the new outfit is that they had
computerized systems in place for billing and paying bills.  Their proposal
was concrete and specified precisely what they would do and when.  So far we
are hopeful.  They respond promptly to requests for service and went to work
immediately to develop maintenance schedules, and to deal with problems that
had been reported to and ignored by the first outfit.  They also seem to
have competent workers on call.  They cost us significantly more than the
first outfit, but it is obvious that we got what we paid for (or less) the
first time round.  Our Managing Board is breathing a collective sigh of
relief as it appears that their load will be greatly reduced.

As you point out, Massachusetts is an expensive place to live and good help
costs.  Good luck with your search.

RowenaHC




-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org
[mailto:cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org]On Behalf Of Jim Snyder-Grant
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2000 10:13 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Property Management


New View (Acton Mass) is starting to interview property management companies
to help us with the task of coordinating the maintenance work needed here
(buildings not landscaping). Any experience with working with management
companies out there?

W