Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: The work share dollar value of doing coho property management with volunteers vs hiring it out

[Christine Johnson (manzjohnson]

"Charles Maclean" <advocate [at] philanthropynow.com> wrote:

>...we are asking if any of you contract out your maintenance,  
landscaping, building repair,
finance and administration, etc., that you please share with us the  
following information:

We contract for our accounting and for work that is beyond the scope  
of our abilities or willingness to get done ourselves.  Our reasoning  
on the accounting is that the Treasurer's job is already quite time  
consuming, that few people are willing to serve as Treasurer even  
with the accounting contracted out, and assessment collection is not  
an issue with an Association Management firm as the intermediary  
since they follow up regularly on delinquencies.

1.  How many units do you have, approximately how much land are you
responsible for, and what is the per unit cost of property management?

Ours is a 48 unit Condo Association, on 5.1 acres, with a 3800 sq.ft.  
Common House, swimming pool and garden.  We pay $450 / month for  
accounting.

I'm a professional Association Manager managing four associations in  
Tucson, AZ.  In our area, single family homeowner associations with  
no amenities but only common area to maintain (landscaping, road  
maintenance, etc. ) pay approx. $7.00 to $10.00 a door per month plus  
additional fees which are written into the contract (minutes, extra  
site tours, newsletter production, etc.).  The larger the  
association, the lesser the per door rate.  Condos are high  
maintenance, and tragically, rife with a litigation and insurance  
disputes.  For a Condominium Owners Association with extensive  
amenities, a COA in our area pays approx. $13 up to $20.00 a door per  
month plus additional fees.

     *   What other kinds of services are included in your contract?

Suggest you interview Association Management firms in your area.  Ask  
them to provide you with a copy of their contract.  That will give  
you the specifics on the scope of services available.   If you do  
contract with a Management firm, be sure that manager has earned  
management credentials.  At the national level, the certifications  
are earned through completion of course work through the Community  
Associations Institute.  If you go to http://www.caionline.org/ you  
can search for managers in your area who've met the minimum entry  
requirements.  There are also some states that require management  
credentials or a license.   You can search for a link for that info.  
at CAI's site, too.  If you go with professional management, the  
quality of the management services you will get depends in the larger  
part on the manager who is assigned to your Association.  Interview  
the proposed manager carefully after you've looked at the glossy  
pictures and envisioned handing it all over!   (It really doesn't  
every get handed over, BTW, no matter how extensive the scope of  
services promised :-).)

Christine Johnson
Stone Curves Cohousing
Tucson, AZ