Questions to Ask a Condo Property Management Company
For condo and HOA boards interviewing management companies. Twenty questions on how many associations one manager carries, after-hours response, what the base fee excludes, vendor markups, who controls the bank accounts, monthly reporting, collections, and how the contract ends.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Who exactly would be our manager, and how many other associations do they handle?
Why ask it
You are hiring a person, not a logo, and the person at the interview is often in sales. The portfolio count is the number that predicts responsiveness, because a manager carrying a dozen associations is triaging rather than managing.
How many units does their portfolio add up to?
Why ask it
Association count alone is misleading, since ten small buildings can be lighter than three large ones. The unit total is the closer measure of the workload, and it tells you where your building will sit in the queue.
Who answers the phone at two in the morning, and are they your staff or an answering service?
Why ask it
Most companies use a service overnight, which is fine if the escalation path is clear. Ask what the service is authorized to dispatch on its own and how quickly a human from your team joins the problem.
What happens in the first hour of a burst pipe?
Why ask it
Ask for a specific recent example rather than a policy. You want to hear who was called, who got into the unit, who authorized the emergency spend, and when the board was told, because that sequence is what you are buying.
What does the base fee cover, and what do you charge for separately?
Why ask it
Base fees are competitive because the extras are where the margin sits: resale and lender questionnaires, violation letters, special assessment administration, extra meetings, copying. Ask for the whole schedule of additional charges in writing before you compare quotes.
Do you receive any money from vendors: markups, rebates, referral fees, or insurance commissions?
Why ask it
This is the question companies least expect a board to ask. Any of those arrangements can be legitimate when disclosed, and all of them change whose interest a repair recommendation serves. Get the answer in writing and check it against the contract language.
Do you have maintenance staff of your own, and would we be required to use them?
Why ask it
An in-house crew can be quicker and cheaper for small work, and it can also mean every job goes to an affiliate at rates nobody tested. Ask whether you keep the right to use your own contractors.
How do you put work out to bid, and above what amount do you get three quotes?
Why ask it
A specific dollar threshold means a policy exists. Vague answers about trusted vendors usually mean the same two companies get everything, which is how associations end up paying above market for years without noticing.
Who controls our bank accounts, who signs checks, and what prevents one employee moving money?
Why ask it
The accounts should be in the association's name with the board able to see them directly. Ask about dual signatures above a threshold, who reconciles the statements, and whether the person who reconciles also writes checks.
Do you carry a fidelity bond or crime coverage, and for how much?
Why ask it
Employee theft is the risk boards think about least and can least afford. Ask for the limit, whether it covers your funds while under their control, and how it compares to your operating and reserve balances.
What financial statements do we get, and how many days after month end?
Why ask it
Ask to see a real monthly packet from another association with the names removed. Late or thin reporting is the most common complaint boards have, and a sample tells you more than any description of their software.
What do you do about owners who fall behind, and at what point do we involve an attorney?
Why ask it
You want a written sequence with dates: reminder, late fee, formal notice, referral. Ask what share of the delinquency they usually recover before legal action, since that is where the cost to the association is decided.
How are violations handled, and who decides what counts as one?
Why ask it
Enforcement is where management companies most often create problems for boards, either by ignoring rules or by sending letters nobody approved. Ask who drafts, who signs, and what comes back to the board first.
Will the manager attend board and annual meetings, and who writes the minutes?
Why ask it
Attendance is sometimes billed by the meeting, and minutes are sometimes left to a volunteer. Both should be settled before signing, because minutes are the association's legal record of what was decided.
When did you last take a board through a reserve study or a special assessment?
Why ask it
These are the hardest jobs a board faces, and the answer shows whether the company can do the unpopular part: explaining a large number to owners. Ask what the assessment was for and how the vote went.
How do owners reach the manager, and what is your standard for replying?
Why ask it
Ask for the actual commitment in business hours and what happens when it is missed. Boards spend a surprising amount of their time relaying messages for a management company that does not answer owners directly.
What is the term of the contract, and what notice does each side need to end it?
Why ask it
Read the renewal clause closely, since automatic renewal with a short cancellation window is common and easy to miss. Ask whether you can terminate for cause without penalty, and what counts as cause.
If we leave, what happens to our records and our funds, and how long does it take?
Why ask it
Transitions are where relationships turn sour. Ask how quickly files, keys, contracts, and balances are handed over, in what format, and whether any of it is billed as a service. Get those answers before you sign, not after you are unhappy.
Why did the last two associations that left you go?
Why ask it
Every company loses clients, so the useful signal is whether they can describe it without blaming the board. An answer naming a real problem, a manager who left, a fee dispute, a service failure, is worth more than a claim that nobody leaves.
Which of your current boards can I call, including one that had a difficult year?
Why ask it
Any company can supply a happy reference. Asking for a board that went through an assessment, a major repair, or a lawsuit gets you the version of this company that matters when something goes wrong in your building.
Selecting a Management Company as a Board
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before You Sign
Meet the Manager, Not the Salesperson
Ask to interview the person who would be assigned to you, and ask them the operational questions directly. Companies sometimes decline or substitute someone at the last minute, which is itself the answer to how the relationship will run.
Ask for a Sample Financial Packet
Request a full monthly package from a comparable association with identifying details removed: balance sheet, income and expense against budget, delinquency report, bank reconciliation. Boards learn more from ten minutes with that than from an hour of presentation.
Read the Contract Before the Proposal
Term, renewal, termination notice, indemnification, additional fees, and what happens to records on exit are all in there, and none of them come up in the pitch. Have counsel look at it if the association can afford an hour.
Keep the Money in the Association's Name
Operating and reserve accounts should belong to the association, with board members able to view balances and statements without going through the manager. Pooled accounts and manager-only access are worth questioning closely.
Comparing Proposals Fairly
- Build one table with the base fee plus every additional charge each company disclosed
- Divide the annual cost by units so buildings of different sizes can be compared
- Note which proposals include meeting attendance, minutes, and site visits, and how many of each
- Ask each company for the same three references, including one association that left
- Check licensing or certification requirements that apply where your building is
- Ask how a fee increase is proposed, and how much notice you get
Common Pitfalls
Comparing Base Fees Only
The lowest monthly rate is frequently the one with the longest list of chargeable extras. Until you have both numbers side by side, you are not comparing prices, and a board can be embarrassed by that a year in.
Signing an Auto-Renewing Contract Nobody Diarizes
Renewal windows are short and boards turn over. Put the cancellation deadline in the association's calendar the day you sign, and hand it to the next board along with the contract.
Letting the Manager Set the Agenda
Boards that stop reading the financials or approving vendors delegate their own authority without meaning to. The company works for the association, and the record of who decided what protects the volunteers.
Changing Companies Mid-Crisis
Switching during a major repair or a legal dispute means new people learning your building at the worst moment. If the relationship is failing, document it, plan the transition around the fiscal year, and get the records handover in writing first.