Condo Association Management Blog

WoW, Where do I apply for the job. 
 
Our condo on the water is a 179 units and is 32 yrs old. We pay our manager around 38K a year. She is not here full time. We do have An admin assistant who is here full time and a maintenance super who is full time. The total for all three is well under your 200K number. 
 
If I were you I would shop around to see the current costs for a property manager in your area. Then decide if what you have been doing will continue. 
 
Hope this helps

Many management companies charge a fee "per door" for their monthly management fee, plus the cost of an onsite, and maintenance person. The onsite and maintenance person are relatively inexpensive. Your number is way toooooo high. Although I consider multiple variables in quoting communities, 100 unit buildings should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-100K for management including a front desk person and a maintenance person. We're in Florida, we'd be happy to give you a bid.

It is hard to give you advice with such little information. Does he do all of the maintenance? Does he do all the lawn maintenance? Does he do the computerized financial statements? If he is doing only management there is no question that he is way over paid. I am in a complex with 198 units and we pay our management company probably about $45000. to $50,000. 
They do the financial's and we have an on site manager 2 half days and 1 full day. They attend all board meetings and supervise much of the day to day things that need to get done. I would start to get quotes for a management company. Just try to keep it quiet while doing so.

I would suggest that you try to find the current management contract to find out the details of this arrangement. It definitely appears to be "way out of whack" from anything close to "normal" for a manager. Typically, if s/he is receiving the benefit of on-site accommondations, this should be factored as part of his/her remuneration (i.e., no rent to pay), and for the amount to also be $200k/annum seems totally ridiculous. There has to be more to it than what you are presenting. As an owner, you should have access to the financial statements that are presented at the AGM and hopefully, it is clear what the fee is being allocated. If not, then you may have to escalate things by asking the board for more info. Depending how this goes, you may have to escalate further. 
 
 
 
Good luck in your research, which should be your first plan of attack. Ask long-time owners if they have any idea what is going on, as something does not sound right!

Good Morning: 
 
 
 
I would definitely agree with the others that the manager is highly over paid. To figure out what the going rate is, shop around for other management companies. If you are looking for a good referral or two, all your local chapter of CAI (Community Associations Institute). They'll be able to point you to some decent members in your area. Then, ask them for a proposal. Once you have three or four of them and you figure out you are over paying, I would start the process of removing the manager. Most contracts have some sort of termination clause in them. Read the contract to find out what yours is. You may have to wait out the term of the contract, but make sure that you give notice when it's required by the contract. 
 
 
 
Be sure to be quiet about this and don't tell him/her about the shopping around. If he or she finds out, he or she could take off with the money that's in the bank account. 
 
When my association had a contankerous break up with our original management company, the president and went to the bank and took out all of our money. We then went to a different bank and opened an account for the association. We made the manager tell us what checks were outstanding and we left just enough in there for the checks to clear. Since we were talking about a sizable amount of money, we did not want it tied up for an extended period of time while we litigated. Fortunately it didn't come to that, but we were cautious none the less. 
 
Good Luck, 
 
Darron

Please Where canI found example of contract between a management company and a condo association

You are definitely overpaying BIG TIME if all this person is doing is managing your property. If they are doing EVERYTHING including taking out hte trash then maybe you are getting a good deal. You can find out salary rates for property managers at Community Association Institute, http://www.caionline.org/Pages/Default.aspx, click on the bookstore. Take the advice of making sure your money is safe before firing this person.