Home Owner Association (HOA) management is an important tool for harmonizing conduct, dues, codes, and other aspects of property management. Community properties have different needs as compared to other types of residential buildings. The buyers carefully consider the quality of management before settling on buying such a property.
The presence of shared amenities, like roads, swimming pools, green areas, garbage collection services, water systems, and other such services, requires careful consideration.
The management of these properties must be of high quality to ensure owners’ satisfaction, maintain the overall aesthetic value, and enhance the neighborhood appeal. This can only be achieved by a carefully selected team.
Below are some reasons why proper HOA management offers value when owning multiple community properties.
1. Professionalism
In normal circumstances, the home owner’s association selects a team from the homeowners to help manage the properties. While this is also a solution, there are many downsides to this. This team has other commitments aside from managing the properties. This impacts the quality of management.
A proper HOA management differs in the following ways:
- Competent and Fulltime team – The team members are experienced in the relevant disciplines like real estate management and have professional certifications. This helps provide the required services with dedication.
Besides, they manage multiple properties, which makes them have full-time team members. This helps in offering quality and reliable services to residents.
- Code of conduct – A good management views the quality of services from the perspective of the clients. This includes good communication, excellent reporting, and handling of residents’ issues objectively.
Professionalism is a trait that’s needed in managing such properties. This is because the residents have different personalities, age groups, and income levels. There are people from diverse backgrounds. Proper management can help improve the level of service and general satisfaction.
2. Proper Maintenance of the Properties
Homes in community properties require periodic maintenance of the infrastructure. This can include plumbing installations, electrical works, feeder roads, sewer lines, and other shared amenities. These can involve a huge number of professionals who can be difficult to manage.
Below is a demonstration of why involving HOA property managers helps:
- Standardized quality and shortlisting – The level of service depends on the vetting of the technical people like plumbers, electricians, and cleaning companies. Professional home management teams have pre-qualified experts or standardized procedures of vetting these experts.
They have also developed relationships with these maintenance experts. This helps reduce the inefficiencies in maintaining the properties.
- Scheduled and less costly maintenance – HOA management is run with the right systems, including timetables. Maintenance is done on a preset schedule which is known by the maintenance contractors.
On the other hand, due to the volumes of work, the residents normally enjoy a discounted price.
Property maintenance can be a thorn in the flesh of the board of management. Poor management can often result in delays, bad workmanship, disputes among neighbors, and general deterioration of the properties. Proper HOA management improves the value of the properties and takes away the headache from the homeowners.
3. Harmonized Fees and Proper Management
Homeownership management fees form the financial basis of keeping properties maintained in good shape. The administration, collection, and determination of fees to be collected can be a source of conflict and disagreements.
Professional management offers the following advantages:
- Harmonized fees structure – Due to extensive experience in managing homes, HOA managers can set fees properly. They can also objectively set prices based on the criteria of past projects and current pricing suggestions from their team of experts.
- Discounts – The residents can enjoy lower fees due to the economies of scale. Professional management can easily negotiate with vendors and other service providers to get affordable rates.
- Centralized collection point – Instead of having the fees collected by certain individuals, these companies have payment gateways. These can be easily accessed by the management and individual residents.
Ultimately proper HOA Property Management Services helps avoid conflicts during fees collection. It also helps improve accountability and transparency in the collection and use of fees.
4. Enforcement of Discipline and Rules
Communally owned properties thrive on a set of rules and standards that help in maintaining order. This helps to maintain common amenities like green areas, watering points, swimming pools, and the like.
If tackled by an internal team of residents, this can lead to low-quality services due to friendships and instances of favoritism. This is normal in all aspects of human interactions.
Professional HOA management offers a different perspective. Residents can anonymously report any neighbor who is flouting rules. This helps in resolving issues without causing tension between the neighbors.
Also, regularly updating and reminding residents of the rules can be done from a position of authority. A warning from a professional company can sound more authoritative when directed to residents.
Professional teams can also take feedback from residents about the general rules. Their suggestions can be incorporated along with any HOA recommendations to improve the management of the properties.
5. Benefit from Established and Working Systems
Property management involves several stakeholders and other aspects that can only work well by using systems. Setting systems by a board of management can be costly and time-consuming. Maintaining, interpreting, and using them can be a tall order.
These are some of the systems that Professional HOA managers offer to property owners.
- Marketing Systems – In instances where there are empty homes that need selling, these can be very useful. Some residents may need these services as well. HOA managers have an elaborate network that can help get buyers easily, quickly, and at affordable rates.
- Security Systems – Good security is a must for making properties habitable and attractive. However, for this to be achieved, the right staff, the right technologies, and other vetting criteria need to be employed.
The staff and companies manning the security apparatus need proper scrutiny. HOA management companies have worked with several companies. This can help them identify the best service provider easily.
- Accounting and Finance – Managing properties requires financial management and accounting. Using accounting and finance systems may involve extra staffing and additional fees. This can be bypassed by choosing a proper HOA management company—these companies have systems and working staffing solutions.
- Customer Relationship Management – Where there are multiple customers and residents, the number of service requests, emergency needs, and payment issues can be overwhelming. Working with automated systems can help improve general satisfaction and the speedy resolution of these complaints.
Working systems help convert an investment into a passive income stream. Such systems also make you free from worries as a property owner.
6. Improved General Satisfaction of Residents
The ease, speed, and reduced stress when seeking services can help improve the overall satisfaction of residents. Quality management ensures that garbage disposal, cleaning, and other maintenance is done properly and on time.
Professional managers don’t get impatient with residents with persistent issues like plumbing or electricity faults. The open lines of communication can also help residents to get emergency care at short notice.
Also, one of the causes of conflicts is the outcome of voting on residents’ issues. The losing party may feel aggrieved. Professional HOA managers help tackle or solve issues from a balanced, objective, and scientific perspective.
Overall, these teams take away the burden of running community properties from its residents. The fact that their reputation is online keeps them on the toes—this effectively improves the level of service.
7. They Possess Soft Skills
Property management in the community setting involves clients with different viewpoints. It also involves a good number of people that need to be heard and managed well.
Below are some benefits a property investor can get from professional managers:
- Good communicator – Due to their training, professional HOA managers and staff can send messages efficiently, without hurting the sentiments of people. This can be done through notices, social media posts, and other internal communication channels.
- Listening and Mediation Skills – Residents in communities interact at various touchpoints like swimming pools and green parks. These interactions may be the source of conflicts. Professional HOA managers can help offer mediation through their listening skills.
Professionalism can help identify the problem and offer solutions to avoid future conflicts.
- Decision making – There are tons of decisions that need to be made while managing properties. This includes emergency repairs, security lapses, and resolving disputes. HOA managers have authority and autonomy given by the homeowners’ association in specific matters.
This helps to have a speedy resolution of matters. The decisions of HOA managers are based on experience, qualifications, and relevant traits identified at the time of hiring.
8. Improve Reputation of your Properties
Properly managed properties offer client satisfaction. Satisfied residents give positive recommendations either online or in offline channels. This can help to improve the value of the homes and the ease of launching other similar projects in the future.
Conclusion
Proper HOA management is one brilliant way of improving the satisfaction of residents. This is achieved by speedy and systemic resolution of problems. Service needs like plumbing, electrical works, and garbage collection are done in a professional, timely, and cost-effective manner.
These teams of professionals also possess soft skills and people management skills that are needed for harmonious living in such properties.
