Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Using a Management Company

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

We've been moved in since 2006, and have tried all variety of approaches to 
bookkeeping and property management. We originally used a member volunteer for 
bookkeeping, but changed to an outside bookkeeper because if something went 
wrong with the bookkeeping, we wanted someone we could fire. 

After frustrations working with a condo property management company (we simply 
don't fit into their business model), we switch to a local bookkeeping firm. It 
took a better part of a year to get the system working smoothly and the reports 
we want, but now it seems to be working very well with close overview of an 
active finance committee. 

Katie 
-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
Nevada City, CA 95959
www.cohousing-solutions.com

and homeowner in Nevada City Cohousing (finance and landscape commitees)
 

On 11/4/20, 1:08 PM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of Chuck Harrison" 
<cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on 
behalf of cfharr [at] gmail.com> wrote:

    Hi Sharon,

    At Duwamish Cohousing in Seattle WA we have 23 units and about half the
    budget you do. We have never used a management company. Water, sewer, and
    garbage are paid in common, budgeted into monthly dues (approx 25% of total
    budget), and not metered to units. Gas and Electric are individually
    metered and do not pass through the homeowner association.

    Our facilities & maintenance tasks routinely fall behind and I am sure that
    professional management would handle things more promptly. Our residents
    are remarkably tolerant. FWIW I am skeptical that a management company
    would get better or more cost-effective results, but more work would be
    accomplished sooner.

    Bookkeeping is handled using Quickbooks by a volunteer treasurer, often
    with another volunteer assistant. No problems in the 5 years I have lived
    here. We pay an accountant to prepare our annual tax filing.

    We pay for a professional Reserves Study every few years, which is, I
    believe, required by state Condo law.

    Chuck







    On Wed, Nov 4, 2020 at 6:59 AM Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <
    cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

    > I have long believed that management companies are not effective for
    > cohousing. Now I have an opportunity to lead a study to see if I can
    > convince other people here. We pay close to $2,000 a month for both
    > facilities and financial management.
    >
    > Independent consultants are available for specific facilities related
    > issues and they have a higher level of expertise. A lot of information is
    > available for the cost of membership in the CAI, which an information
    > source and a networking opportunity with other condo owners. We have also
    > had a problem with turnover — just as we learn how to work together, our
    > manager will leave and we start over even though we are still working with
    > the same management company.
    >
    > The financial end is handled at the management company by a book keeper
    > that uses the same computer based systems that we could use ourselves. 
They
    > also use services that handle the check processing for condo fees. But 
with
    > so many people using direct deposit, etc., there are far fewer than even 
10
    > years ago. The current company has done well on actually paying bills (not
    > all have) but we do an enormous amount of monitoring, receipt tracking,
    > double checking accounting, etc.
    >
    > I know some communities have mentioned in the past that they do their own
    > financial accounting. I’m interested in hearing from communities where the
    > budget includes the whole community — not lot based models where the
    > homeowners pay for their own property. Our budget for 2021 is $260,000+ 
and
    > includes community internet, tv antenna, satellite dishes, water, gas,
    > satellite TV in the common house, etc.
    >
    > It was a revelation when going to a CAI annual conference to see who many
    > services are available and which management companies are using. I believe
    > we are paying for the middle-management.
    >
    > Sharon
    > ----
    > Sharon Villines
    > Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
    > http://www.takomavillage.org
    >
    >
    >
    >
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