Questions to Ask an HOA Management Company
These are questions to ask an HOA property management company before hiring it, written for association boards that are vetting firms or reviewing the one they have. They follow the order a search takes: the company and its references, the community manager who would be assigned to you, fees, how your money is held and reported, the day to day work, and the contract and handover. After its first question, the Your manager group is worded to be put to that person directly, so it also works on its own when you are interviewing an HOA property manager. State law and your own governing documents decide a good deal of what a manager may do, so where a question turns on them, ask how it works for your association.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The company
Which communities of our size and type do you manage now, and may we call two of them directly?
Why ask it
A company that mostly manages large high rises can treat a small townhome association as filler, and the reference calls are where that shows. Ask for a community that recently had a hard project, not the one they always hand out.
Is association management your main business, or a sideline to rentals and real estate sales?
Why ask it
Plenty of firms that call themselves HOA property management companies mostly run rentals. Association work is a different job: the client is an elected board, the residents are owners, and meetings, records and elections follow your governing documents and state law. The share of their accounts that are associations is the figure to get.
What licenses or certifications do your company and our manager hold, and what insurance do you carry?
Why ask it
Some states license community association managers and others do not, so ask what applies in yours and look the license up with the regulator where there is one. On insurance, the policy boards ask about first is the fidelity bond or crime cover, because that is what would respond if someone at the company took association money. Have your own insurance agent read the certificates, since whether the firm's policy protects client funds depends on how it is written.
How many communities have left you in the last two years, and why?
Why ask it
Every company loses accounts, so a claim of none means either a very small book of business or an unwillingness to say. The reasons matter more than the count: a board that left over price is a different story from one that left over missing reports.
Who owns the company, and has it been bought or merged in the last few years?
Why ask it
Local firms are regularly bought by regional and national ones, and a sale tends to bring new software, a new fee schedule and sometimes a new manager. Ask what changed for client boards the last time, and whether the contract would let you leave if the company is sold.
How long have you managed community associations, and how many of your clients are within a short drive of ours?
Why ask it
The local number is the one that matters. A firm with a cluster of communities near yours already knows which roofers, landscapers and plumbers turn up, and its manager can stop by without losing half a day to the drive.
Has the company, or a manager it employs, been disciplined by a regulator or sued by a client association?
Why ask it
Where managers are licensed, discipline is often a public record, and many courts let you search filings by a company's name, so the answer can be checked. A firm that tells you about one bad episode before you find it has shown you how it handles bad news.
How long do your community managers usually stay, and what happens to our account when one leaves?
Why ask it
Each change of manager means the board explains its history again: the drainage dispute, the owner on a payment plan, the warranty on the roof. Three things soften it: file notes kept in one place, some overlap between the two managers, and the board meeting the replacement before the assignment is made.
What do the boards you work with find most frustrating about working with you?
Why ask it
This is the one question a rehearsed pitch has no answer for, and a real one, such as slow architectural reviews or manager turnover, tells you what to write into the contract. Deflection here usually predicts deflection later.
Your manager
Who would our community manager be, how many other associations do they carry, and can we meet them before we sign?
Why ask it
You are hiring a person more than a brand, so the proposal should name one. A fair load depends on how large and how busy the communities are, so turn the count into evenings: how many board meetings a month does that portfolio mean? A firm that will not name the manager until the contract is signed has answered the question.
How long have you been a community manager, and which of your associations is most like ours?
Why ask it
Put this one to the manager, not the salesperson. A high rise with elevators and a boiler, a townhome community with shared roofs and a neighborhood of detached houses with a pool are three different jobs. Have them describe the closest match and what took most of their time there.
Have you been out to our property yet, and what did you notice?
Why ask it
It shows whether the manager walked or drove the community before the interview. Someone who mentions the leaning fence by the entrance or the standing water behind building four is likely to bring the same attention to the job. If they have not been out, you have learned how they would prepare for your board meetings.
How often would you be on site, and what would the board receive after each visit?
Why ask it
An inspection can mean a walk of every building with dated photos, or a drive past the front gate. A report from another community shows which kind you would get. Settle too whether the visits sit inside the base fee, and whether a board member can walk along once or twice a year.
How many of our board meetings would you attend in person each year, and what happens when one runs late or an extra is called?
Why ask it
Contracts often include a set number of meetings and a set length, with an hourly charge past either. Count the meetings your board really holds, including the budget session and the annual meeting, and get that number written in.
Tell us about a time a board wanted to do something you thought was a mistake. What did you do?
Why ask it
The manager advises and the board decides, so listen for both halves. A good story has the concern put in writing, the governing documents or the association's attorney brought in where needed, and then the board's decision carried out properly. Be wary of a manager who has never disagreed with a board, and of one who quietly did it their own way.
How do you deal with an owner who is furious at the board, or at you?
Why ask it
Much of that anger lands on the manager first. Useful answers are concrete: move it to writing, stick to what the documents say, bring it to the board before it reaches a meeting. Pay attention to how they talk about difficult owners at other communities, because that is how they will talk about your neighbors.
Who covers our community when you are on leave or out sick, and does that person know the property?
Why ask it
A shared inbox is not cover. You want a named colleague who has read your file and has authority to approve an emergency repair, and you want owners to be told who that is before the manager leaves, not by an out of office reply.
What do you need from a board to do your job well?
Why ask it
Expect to hear things like one point of contact, decisions made at meetings instead of in group texts, and invoices approved on time. The answer shows how the manager likes to work, and asking it tells them your board intends to be a client worth keeping.
Having read our budget and governing documents, what would you change first if we hired you?
Why ask it
It shows who did the reading. A specific answer, such as a thin reserve line, a landscaping contract about to renew itself or a fine schedule the documents do not support, is a preview of the advice you would be paying for.
Fees
What is included in the base management fee, and what gets billed on top of it?
Why ask it
The base fee is rarely the whole bill. Go through the usual extras by name, such as additional meetings, mailings, site inspections, annual meeting support and after hours calls, and have the firm mark each one included or billable on its own proposal.
Is the fee a flat amount or a price per home, and how does it rise over the life of the contract?
Why ask it
Look for the escalator clause. It may be a fixed percentage each year, a rise tied to an inflation index, or simply the firm's right to reprice at renewal. Get the fee for the second and third years written out as figures.
What do you charge owners directly, and do those fees come to you or to the association?
Why ask it
Resale certificates, transfer fees, portal charges, late notices and payment processing fees are often kept by the management company, which means part of their compensation is invisible in your budget. Owners will complain to the board about those charges, so the board should know the amounts.
May we see the full schedule of charges, down to copies, postage, storage and hourly rates for staff time?
Why ask it
The small lines are where proposals differ most: a charge per page, per mailed notice, per box of stored records, per hour of an assistant's time. A redacted monthly invoice from a community about your size shows what those lines add up to in practice.
What do you charge to oversee a large project such as a reroof or repaving?
Why ask it
Project oversight is often billed apart from the base fee, by the hour or as a percentage of the project cost. A percentage means the firm earns more when the job costs more, so ask what the oversight includes: writing the bid request, site visits, checking the work before each payment.
Is there a setup fee to take us on, and what does it pay for?
Why ask it
Some firms charge for loading owner ledgers, opening bank accounts and collecting records from the outgoing company, and others absorb it to win the account. Either is reasonable. What you are checking is that the fee is named now and tied to specific work.
For a community like ours, what did the total bill come to last year once every extra was added?
Why ask it
This turns a fee schedule into one number. Compare it with the base fee times twelve, and ask which extras made up the gap. A firm that cannot produce the figure for any client has probably never been asked.
Money
Whose name would be on our bank accounts, are operating and reserve funds kept separate, and who can move money?
Why ask it
Boards generally want accounts titled to the association and not pooled with other clients, with reserves held apart from operating money. Some states require that, so check what the law says where you are. Then get the transfer rule in plain terms: above what amount a second person has to approve, and whether that person is a director.
Can board members have read-only online access to the association's bank accounts?
Why ask it
With it, the treasurer can set the bank's own record beside the firm's monthly report, which is the simplest check a volunteer can run. Hesitation over a view-only login is hard to explain, since the money belongs to the association.
Who keeps the interest on our accounts, and does the bank pay you anything for placing them there?
Why ask it
Some management companies have arrangements with the banks that hold their clients' money. That is worth knowing before the firm recommends where your reserves should sit. Get the answer in writing, and keep the choice of bank and of reserve investments a board decision.
How does an invoice get approved and paid, and can a board member see it before the money goes out?
Why ask it
Have them trace one bill from the mailbox to the cleared payment: who codes it, who approves it, and above what amount a director signs off. Online approval makes this quick. A process in which the firm both approves and pays, with the board seeing invoices a month later, leaves nobody checking.
What financial reports will the board receive each month, and by which day of the following month?
Why ask it
A named date is the commitment; a promise of monthly reporting is not. Boards commonly expect a balance sheet, an income statement against budget, bank reconciliations, an aged delinquency list and copies of paid invoices. If the reconciliations are missing from the sample package, ask why.
Walk us through your collections process, from first late notice to attorney referral.
Why ask it
You want the day counts and who decides each step, because collections is where a board is most likely to be accused of treating owners unevenly. Notice periods, late fees and what can be charged back to an owner are set by your documents and state law, so ask how their standard process is adjusted to yours. Then ask who pays the attorney up front.
How do you build the draft budget each year, and when would the board first see it?
Why ask it
A draft that arrives three or four months before the fiscal year ends leaves time to argue about it. The other thing to find out is whether each line is built from the year's actual spending and the contracts in force, or from last year's budget plus a percentage. A sample from another client answers that quickly.
What part do you play in the reserve study and in planning for the big repairs?
Why ask it
Some companies coordinate the study and build its funding scenarios into the draft budget, while others treat it as the board's homework. Whether a study is required, and how often, depends on your state and your documents, so ask what applies to you. However much the firm helps, how much to put into reserves stays the board's decision.
Who prepares the year-end audit or review and the tax return, and how is that accountant chosen?
Why ask it
The accountant checks the management company's bookkeeping, so the board should pick the firm and receive the report directly. Whether an audit, a review or neither is required depends on your state and your governing documents. Ask what yours call for and what the work costs.
Has money ever gone missing from a client's account at your company, and what did you change afterward?
Why ask it
It is an uncomfortable question, and a firm with real controls can answer it calmly. If there was an incident, listen for how it was found and what was added since, such as dual approval or a second reviewer on reconciliations. Surprise that anyone would ask is the answer to worry about.
Day to day
How do you bid out contracts, and do you or any affiliate receive a fee, commission or markup from vendors?
Why ask it
Markups, rebates and in house maintenance divisions are common in this business, and they change whose interest is served when a bid is recommended. What has to be disclosed depends on your state and your contract, so ask for the answer in writing. A sample of three bids from a recent project shows you the spread.
How do you confirm a vendor is licensed and insured before work starts on our property?
Why ask it
The good answer is a file for every vendor with a current certificate of insurance and a reminder set for the day it expires. Then comes the awkward part: what they do when a favorite contractor's coverage lapses in the middle of a job.
How does an owner report a maintenance problem, and how can the board see what is still open?
Why ask it
A work order system gives every request a number, a date and a status, so nothing depends on someone remembering a phone call. An open items list in each board packet, showing how long each request has waited, puts the oldest ones in front of the board.
How do you handle after hours emergencies, and who answers the phone at two in the morning?
Why ask it
It could be a manager on call, a shared answering service, or a voicemail checked in the morning. Find out what the person who picks up is allowed to dispatch without approval, because a burst pipe on a holiday weekend cannot wait for a board vote.
How quickly do owners get a reply to a call or an email, and how do you know you are meeting that?
Why ask it
Any firm will name a number of days. The useful follow up is how it is tracked and what happens when it slips. If there is no ticketing system and no report to the board, the standard is a sentence in a proposal.
What happens when an owner breaks a rule, from the first letter to a hearing?
Why ask it
Enforcement is a common source of disputes between owners and boards, so listen for notice, time to fix the problem, a chance to be heard and a record of each step. Those steps come from your governing documents and state law, and the manager should be able to say which ones apply to you. Who decides a fine is set there too, so ask where the manager's part stops.
How do you process an architectural request, and how long does an owner wait for a decision?
Why ask it
Some governing documents set a deadline after which a request with no reply is treated as approved, so ask how they track the clock under yours. The manager's part is usually to log the request, check that it is complete and send it to the committee. Find out where requests tend to stall.
What do you prepare for board meetings, when does the packet arrive, and who writes the minutes?
Why ask it
A packet that lands the night before means decisions made without review. Pin down how many days ahead it goes out, whether the manager drafts the agenda with the president, and how soon draft minutes come back.
How do you run the annual meeting and the election: notices, proxies, ballots and quorum?
Why ask it
Bylaws and state law set these steps, and a notice mailed a few days late or a miscounted proxy can mean holding the election again. Ask who prepares the mailing, who counts the votes and whether online voting is allowed for your association.
How do you handle an insurance claim for the association, and who deals with the adjuster?
Why ask it
A large water loss can involve the master policy, individual owners' policies and an argument over who bears the deductible, and volunteer boards rarely have the time to run that. Have them describe a recent claim: who filed it, who met the adjuster, and how long it took to close.
When a home sells, how quickly do you turn around the resale documents and lender questionnaires?
Why ask it
A slow resale packet can hold up an owner's closing, and the owner will call a board member about it. Deadlines and fee limits for these documents are set by law in many states, so ask what applies in yours and what the firm's usual turnaround is.
How do you keep the board informed when a law affecting associations changes?
Why ask it
A manager is not your attorney, and a careful one says so. What you can expect is a heads-up: a note that a new statute touches your reserves, records or elections, and a suggestion to take it to counsel. Ask for a recent example of a change they flagged to a client.
What software will the board and owners use, and what can we see without asking you?
Why ask it
Look for what a director can pull up alone: financial reports, open work orders, violation history, architectural requests. A demonstration login tells you more than a screenshot in a proposal, which shows the system at its tidiest.
Contract and handover
How long is the contract, how much notice ends it, and what would it cost us to leave?
Why ask it
Auto renewal, a long notice window, termination only for cause, and charges for producing your own records can keep a board in a contract well past the point of regret. Many boards ask for the right to end it without cause on a fixed notice, such as sixty or ninety days. Ask for that and see how they react.
Which of the service commitments in your proposal will you write into the contract itself?
Why ask it
A proposal is sales material unless it is attached to the agreement. Pick the promises you care about, such as the reporting date, the reply time for owners, the number of site visits and the named manager, and ask for them as an exhibit. Reluctance tells you which ones were decoration.
What does the indemnification clause ask of the association, and will you consider changes from our attorney?
Why ask it
These clauses decide who pays when something goes wrong, and standard agreements are written by the management company's lawyer. Have the association's attorney read it before anyone signs. A firm that will discuss changes is easier to work with than one that calls the contract non-negotiable.
Who owns the association's records and data, and in what form would we get them back?
Why ask it
Owner ledgers, violation photos, architectural approvals and years of email sit in the management company's software. The contract should say they belong to the association and come back in a format another system can read, within a set number of days. A stack of PDFs is far less useful than a spreadsheet export.
If we are unhappy with our manager a few months in, what can we do short of ending the contract?
Why ask it
Often the trouble is with one person, and firing the whole company is a blunt fix. See whether the board can ask for a different manager, who above the manager takes a complaint, and how fast a change has happened for other clients.
What happens in the first ninety days if we hire you, and what do you need from us?
Why ask it
Listen for a calendar, not a welcome speech: when the bank accounts open, when owner ledgers are loaded, when the manager first walks the property with the board. Their list of what they need from you, such as signature cards, vendor contracts and the current owner roster, shows how much of the work lands on volunteers. A written checklist with a named person running it suggests they have done this before.
How do you get records from the outgoing company, and what do you do when they arrive incomplete?
Why ask it
Outgoing firms are not always quick or thorough. An experienced company sends a written request listing every record, checks off what arrives and tells the board what is missing while the old firm is still under contract to you. Ask how they rebuilt owner ledgers the last time a file came over short.
How will owners hear about the change, and where do their payments go in the meantime?
Why ask it
A changeover is when assessments go astray: checks mailed to the old address, automatic payments still pointed at the old account. Ask who writes the letter to owners, when it goes out, and how a payment that lands in the wrong place gets credited, so that nobody is charged a late fee for the firm's own transition.
How a Board Vets an HOA Management Company
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Using the Questions at Each Stage of a Search
Before you contact anyone
Gather what every bidder will ask for: the governing documents, this year's budget, the latest reserve study if there is one, the number of homes and a list of amenities and current vendor contracts. Read your present management agreement for its notice period first, because that date sets the calendar for the whole search.
Put The company, Fees and Money in writing
Those three groups have factual answers, so send them with the request for proposals and ask for replies before any meeting. Written answers on account titling, owner charges and the escalator clause can be laid side by side, and later attached to the contract.
Save Your manager and Day to day for the interview
These are the groups where you learn more by listening than by reading. Ask that the proposed community manager answer them in person, with the salesperson quiet, and have each board member score the answers separately before you compare notes.
Leave Contract and handover for the finalist
Term, termination, records and indemnification are worth negotiating only with the one or two firms you would hire, and the handover questions only matter once there is someone to hand over to. Bring the association's attorney in at this point, before a signature, while a change is still only a conversation.
Reviewing the company you already have
The same list works as a yearly check. Skip the references and run Money and Day to day against what you actually receive: the date the reports arrive, the open work orders, the reply times owners report. Where the answers fall short of the contract, you have an agenda for the renewal conversation.
Comparing Proposals on More Than the Monthly Fee
Build one annual number per bidder
Take the base fee times twelve, then add the billable extras each company listed: additional meetings, mailings, project oversight, annual meeting support, inspections. Add an estimate of what owners will pay directly in transfer and resale fees. The lowest base fee is not always the lowest total once that is on paper.
Ask references what a proposal cannot tell you
Speak to the board president or the treasurer of the reference community, since they are the ones who read the reports and sign off the invoices. Four things worth asking: on what day the financial package really arrives, how many managers the community has had, what was billed beyond the base fee last year, and whether they would sign again today.
Read the samples, not the brochure
Ask each bidder for a monthly financial package, an inspection report and a board packet from another client, with the names removed. Those three documents are what your board would be reading every month, and they are much harder to dress up than a proposal.
Terms to Settle Before Signing
- Scope: exactly which services sit inside the base fee, with billable items priced individually.
- Fees charged to owners, the amounts, and who keeps them.
- Bank accounts titled to the association, operating separate from reserves, with the board able to view them directly.
- Approval thresholds and signature requirements for transfers and for spending outside the budget.
- Reporting: the specific documents due each month and the day they are due.
- Vendor policy: disclosure of markups, rebates and any affiliate ownership, plus a bid requirement above a set dollar amount.
- Insurance the company carries: general liability, crime or fidelity bond covering association funds, and errors and omissions.
- Manager continuity: notice if your manager changes, and the board's ability to request a replacement.
- Termination without cause on a fixed notice period, such as sixty or ninety days, available to both sides.
- Records on exit: everything returned within a set number of days at no charge, in usable electronic form.
- Indemnification language, read by the association's attorney, since some agreements shift more risk onto the association than a volunteer board would knowingly accept.
Answers That Should Give a Board Pause
- Association funds pooled with other clients, or accounts the board cannot view directly.
- No monthly bank reconciliation in the standard reporting package.
- Vendor markups or affiliate ownership that only surface when you ask twice.
- A proposed manager who will not say how many associations they carry.
- Auto renewal with a long notice window, or termination only for cause.
- Charges for returning the association's own records at the end of the contract.
- No written transition plan and no named person responsible for it.
- References limited to one community, or reluctance to let the board call anyone directly.