A list of the Do’s and Dont’s in HOA Management:

Community Associations

• Customer service. Answer your calls and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Even if you don’t have an answer, let your client/homeowner know that you are working on it.
• Know your community. Set your goals to be proactive, not reactive.
• Be respectful. Treat that nasty, arrogant man or woman with respect; they may be your next Board President.
• Maintain your cool. If a homeowner is calling you names and yelling, don’t take it personally. Nine times out of ten, they are just having a bad day and you have been chosen to take it out on. Surprisingly, after they have vented, they will often call you back to apologize.
• Support staff. Acknowledge and appreciate those that are there to support you. It only takes a second to add a line to your email after they have gathered information for you to say, Hey, I appreciate all you do for me.
• Never, ever lie. If you have forgotten or not completed a task given you by the Board, tell them I am sorry. I overlooked that directive but I will follow up immediately. The Board will understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen. If you are straight forward and provided you don’t make a habit of overlooking your assignments, they will understand.
• Rumblings of dissatisfaction. Working for a management company means client retention. If you feel, hear or suspect any dissatisfaction, then you need to address this issue with your supervisors. What begins as a tempest in a teakettle ultimately could lead to a hurricane. Less clients for your company can mean cuts backs in the work force.
• Ask questions. No one has all the answers all of the time. Ignorance is not bliss if you have read the documents wrong or given your Board misinformation. Better to say, I don’t have an answer at this time, but I will research the issue and report back promptly.
• Stay focused. On the days that every call you get is from a cranky homeowner, every email seems full of hate, you feel sure that your supervisor appears to be looking at you with thoughts of terminating your employment, and you are ready to just give up. . . you might be surprised that the next call is from a homeowner or Board member telling you how much they appreciate you, the next email is one giving you a glowing reference on a job well done, or you are paged to come to the reception desk and find a floral delivery from a grateful Board/Homeowner, and you see your supervisor in the hallway and well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Riverside Property Management is a Homeowners association management company management company proudly serving Roswell, Alpharetta, Buckhead, Marietta and all of North Georgia. Riverside is also an expert Georgia condo association management company and high rise Atlanta association management company. To find out more about Riverside Property Management and why it is one of Georgia’s fastest growing property management companies, go to www.riversidepropertymgt.com. You’ll be glad you did.  (678) 866-1436

Think Before You Lease Your HOA Amenities to Outside-Residents

Many associations are considering a range of revenue-generating measures to offset ever-tightening budgets. But before you rent out your clubhouse or sell memberships to your golf course, pool, tennis courts, or other facilities to non-owners, keep a few critical rules in mind.

Think About It

1) Consider the liability. The biggest issue that keeps associations from renting out their facilities to non-owners is liability. Check with your insurance carrier to find out if injuries to non-owners and injuries caused by non-owners would be covered under your current policy. Chances are they won’t, and it’ll be much more expensive to expand your policy to include that coverage. Once you know the additional insurance costs, you need to weigh them against the potential new revenue to determine whether the financial gain adequately offsets the added cost.

2) Which facilities will you rent? Don’t automatically assume that you should rent all your facilities to the public. For example, you may find that it’s too expensive and the liability is too great to allow public assess to your pool, but the increased insurance costs and limited risk of personal injury in allowing non-owners to use your clubhouse is acceptable. Evaluate each amenity individually before making any decisions.

3) Who’s in, and who’s out? Ask yourself whether it’s necessary—and permissible—to place limits on whom you’ll allow to be guests. For instance, your association might be heavily populated by seniors who prefer not to lounge at the pool while children happily scream and perform cannonballs. But banning children might open your association up to family law discrimination claims, even if those claims end up being frivolous. Similarly, opening your golf course to novice and sometimes ill-behaved players may transform your residents’ peaceful round of golf into a high-tension activity. On the other hand, allowing an aerobics instructor to conduct classes in your gym or allowing personal trainers to use the same facilities to train nonresidents during certain hours may not bother residents—who may actually appreciate the convenience of those services. In addition, you may be able to require instructors or trainers to include your association as an additional insured under their liability insurance policy, which would limit your liability. Whatever the amenity, get residents’ feedback on whether they’ll feel comfortable sharing it with non-residents.

4) Know the laws that apply. Remember that once you allow the public to use your facilities, your association will be subject to new laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Do your facilities meet the requirements of the ADA? If not, what would it cost to bring them up to compliance, and do those costs outweigh the revenue? Also, renting out your clubhouse for such events as weddings and parties will open up the issue of liquor liability. You can require that guests not bring alcohol onto your property, but that rule can be hard to enforce, and it may limit the facility’s appeal. If you allow the consumption of alcohol, you’ll again have to check with your insurer to determine how that affects your coverage.

5) Don’t forget the added expenses. It sounds great to be able to supplement your association’s income, but how many people will sign up to use your newly available facilities if you don’t market them? You’ll probably have to pay a salesperson or marketing firm to advertise your facilities, so be sure to add those expenses into your cost versus revenue calculation.

There are so many issues to consider before allowing nonresidents to use your facilities that it’s unwise to make the decision without professional guidance. So be sure to run your ideas by an attorney or professional management association with experience on the issue. Reviewing these five questions with your board and researching insurance costs in advance will help you be prepared and minimize the time and money you spend to get that critical advice.

Source: http://www.communityassociationmanagement.com/facilities-a-maintenance/amenities/

Call Riverside Property Management of Kennesaw for more information!

678-866-1436 or www.riversidepropertymgt.com

Woodstock HOA Management

Most HOA Homeowners’ often have the belief that management is the sole obligation of the elected Board of Directors. While self-management is ideal for the early start of your neighborhood, they can become inadequate with sufficient maintenance responsibilities, tax issues, or other avoidable problems after the Association matures. HOA Management organizations can enter at this stage and provide the necessary help to preserve and even improve the neighborhood. The cost of HOA management companies are much less than the consequences of mismanagement caused by limited time or lack of knowledge of governing body.  Self-management was an idea originally developed by developers who had the belief that the  volunteers can manage all jobs at no additional cost. Volunteers today have much more work today.

HOA management requires considerable knowledge of the various areas such as conflict resolution, cost management, legal, dues collection, maintenance and most importantly, a running knowledge of the Covenants and By-Laws. Volunteers are not continuously trained  in each subject and very often do not have the time needed to learn each facet. Specialists can take care of daily duties, assist in the fiscal planning and reporting, manage vendor quality, and enforce Covenants. Association Management service can ensure that all requirements are met to maintain the  value of each home.
Long-term planning, service experience, and familiarity are very important to home value.

Board Members eventually discover they have bitten off more than you can chew. Monitoring without professional guidance is difficult and often causes problems between homeowners in the community.

HOA management companies help with a couple of crucial elements of the district administration: finance and operations. Collection of fees or how the funds are spent can cause conflicts between neighbors.  Every encounter from the self-managed Board ends up with some kind of confrontation. Boards currently experiencing problems like these can get rid of them by giving these daily tasks to professionals. Research your companies carefully.  A board should not only assess the price of these solutions, but the quality of services offered.

Call (678) 866-1436 for more information!  www.riversidepropertymgt.com

Riverside Property Management in Kennesaw works with homeowner and condo associations providing a variety of management, code enforcement, consulting and educational services, reserve studies, budgeting assistance and maintenance planning expertise.

Why Professional HOA Management in Marietta and Kennesaw?

Beautiful Cottage Styles

Most HOA Homeowners’ often have the belief that management is the sole obligation of the elected Board of Directors. While self-management is ideal for the early start of your neighborhood, they can become inadequate with sufficient maintenance responsibilities, tax issues, or other avoidable problems after the Association matures. HOA Management organizations can enter at this stage and provide the necessary help to preserve and even improve the neighborhood. The cost of HOA management companies are much less than the consequences of mismanagement caused by limited time or lack of knowledge of governing body.  Self-management was an idea originally developed by developers who had the belief that the  volunteers can manage all jobs at no additional cost. Volunteers today have much more work today.

HOA management requires considerable knowledge of the various areas such as conflict resolution, cost management, legal, dues collection, maintenance and most importantly, a running knowledge of the Covenants and By-Laws. Volunteers are not continuously trained  in each subject and very often do not have the time needed to learn each facet. Specialists can take care of daily duties, assist in the fiscal planning and reporting, manage vendor quality, and enforce Covenants. Association Management service can ensure that all requirements are met to maintain the  value of each home.
Long-term planning, service experience, and familiarity are very important to home value.

Board Members eventually discover they have bitten off more than you can chew. Monitoring without professional guidance is difficult and often causes problems between homeowners in the community.

HOA management companies help with a couple of crucial elements of the district administration: finance and operations. Collection of fees or how the funds are spent can cause conflicts between neighbors.  Every encounter from the self-managed Board ends up with some kind of confrontation. Boards currently experiencing problems like these can get rid of them by giving these daily tasks to professionals. Research your companies carefully.  A board should not only assess the price of these solutions, but the quality of services offered.

Call (678) 866-1436 for more information!  www.riversidepropertymgt.com

Riverside Property Management in Kennesaw works with homeowner and condo associations providing a variety of management, code enforcement, consulting and educational services, reserve studies, budgeting assistance and maintenance planning expertise.

Think Before You Lease Your HOA Amenities to Outside-Residents

Many associations are considering a range of revenue-generating measures to offset ever-tightening budgets. But before you rent out your clubhouse or sell memberships to your golf course, pool, tennis courts, or other facilities to non-owners, keep a few critical rules in mind.

Think About It

1) Consider the liability. The biggest issue that keeps associations from renting out their facilities to non-owners is liability. Check with your insurance carrier to find out if injuries to non-owners and injuries caused by non-owners would be covered under your current policy. Chances are they won’t, and it’ll be much more expensive to expand your policy to include that coverage. Once you know the additional insurance costs, you need to weigh them against the potential new revenue to determine whether the financial gain adequately offsets the added cost.

2) Which facilities will you rent? Don’t automatically assume that you should rent all your facilities to the public. For example, you may find that it’s too expensive and the liability is too great to allow public assess to your pool, but the increased insurance costs and limited risk of personal injury in allowing non-owners to use your clubhouse is acceptable. Evaluate each amenity individually before making any decisions.

3) Who’s in, and who’s out? Ask yourself whether it’s necessary—and permissible—to place limits on whom you’ll allow to be guests. For instance, your association might be heavily populated by seniors who prefer not to lounge at the pool while children happily scream and perform cannonballs. But banning children might open your association up to family law discrimination claims, even if those claims end up being frivolous. Similarly, opening your golf course to novice and sometimes ill-behaved players may transform your residents’ peaceful round of golf into a high-tension activity. On the other hand, allowing an aerobics instructor to conduct classes in your gym or allowing personal trainers to use the same facilities to train nonresidents during certain hours may not bother residents—who may actually appreciate the convenience of those services. In addition, you may be able to require instructors or trainers to include your association as an additional insured under their liability insurance policy, which would limit your liability. Whatever the amenity, get residents’ feedback on whether they’ll feel comfortable sharing it with non-residents.

4) Know the laws that apply. Remember that once you allow the public to use your facilities, your association will be subject to new laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Do your facilities meet the requirements of the ADA? If not, what would it cost to bring them up to compliance, and do those costs outweigh the revenue? Also, renting out your clubhouse for such events as weddings and parties will open up the issue of liquor liability. You can require that guests not bring alcohol onto your property, but that rule can be hard to enforce, and it may limit the facility’s appeal. If you allow the consumption of alcohol, you’ll again have to check with your insurer to determine how that affects your coverage.

5) Don’t forget the added expenses. It sounds great to be able to supplement your association’s income, but how many people will sign up to use your newly available facilities if you don’t market them? You’ll probably have to pay a salesperson or marketing firm to advertise your facilities, so be sure to add those expenses into your cost versus revenue calculation.

There are so many issues to consider before allowing nonresidents to use your facilities that it’s unwise to make the decision without professional guidance. So be sure to run your ideas by an attorney or professional management association with experience on the issue. Reviewing these five questions with your board and researching insurance costs in advance will help you be prepared and minimize the time and money you spend to get that critical advice.

Source: http://www.communityassociationmanagement.com/facilities-a-maintenance/amenities/

Call Riverside Property Management of Kennesaw for more information!

678-866-1436 or www.riversidepropertymgt.com

Why Professional HOA Management in Marietta and Kennesaw?

Most HOA Homeowners’ often have the belief that management is the sole obligation of the elected Board of Directors. While self-management is ideal for the early start of your neighborhood, they can become inadequate with sufficient maintenance responsibilities, tax issues, or other avoidable problems after the Association matures. HOA Management organizations can enter at this stage and provide the necessary help to preserve and even improve the neighborhood. The cost of HOA management companies are much less than the consequences of mismanagement caused by limited time or lack of knowledge of governing body.  Self-management was an idea originally developed by developers who had the belief that the  volunteers can manage all jobs at no additional cost. Volunteers today have much more work today.

HOA management requires considerable knowledge of the various areas such as conflict resolution, cost management, legal, dues collection, maintenance and most importantly, a running knowledge of the Covenants and By-Laws. Volunteers are not continuously trained  in each subject and very often do not have the time needed to learn each facet. Specialists can take care of daily duties, assist in the fiscal planning and reporting, manage vendor quality, and enforce Covenants. Association Management service can ensure that all requirements are met to maintain the  value of each home.
Long-term planning, service experience, and familiarity are very important to home value.

Board Members eventually discover they have bitten off more than you can chew. Monitoring without professional guidance is difficult and often causes problems between homeowners in the community.

HOA management companies help with a couple of crucial elements of the district administration: finance and operations. Collection of fees or how the funds are spent can cause conflicts between neighbors.  Every encounter from the self-managed Board ends up with some kind of confrontation. Boards currently experiencing problems like these can get rid of them by giving these daily tasks to professionals. Research your companies carefully.  A board should not only assess the price of these solutions, but the quality of services offered.

Call (678) 866-1436 for more information!  www.riversidepropertymgt.com

Riverside Property Management in Kennesaw works with homeowner and condo associations providing a variety of management, code enforcement, consulting and educational services, reserve studies, budgeting assistance and maintenance planning expertise.

A list of Do’s and Dont’s for HOA Management:

Community Associations

• Customer service. Answer your calls and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Even if you don’t have an answer, let your client/homeowner know that you are working on it.
• Know your community. Set your goals to be proactive, not reactive.
• Be respectful. Treat that nasty, arrogant man or woman with respect; they may be your next Board President.
• Maintain your cool. If a homeowner is calling you names and yelling, don’t take it personally. Nine times out of ten, they are just having a bad day and you have been chosen to take it out on. Surprisingly, after they have vented, they will often call you back to apologize.
• Support staff. Acknowledge and appreciate those that are there to support you. It only takes a second to add a line to your email after they have gathered information for you to say, Hey, I appreciate all you do for me.
• Never, ever lie. If you have forgotten or not completed a task given you by the Board, tell them I am sorry. I overlooked that directive but I will follow up immediately. The Board will understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen. If you are straight forward and provided you don’t make a habit of overlooking your assignments, they will understand.
• Rumblings of dissatisfaction. Working for a management company means client retention. If you feel, hear or suspect any dissatisfaction, then you need to address this issue with your supervisors. What begins as a tempest in a teakettle ultimately could lead to a hurricane. Less clients for your company can mean cuts backs in the work force.
• Ask questions. No one has all the answers all of the time. Ignorance is not bliss if you have read the documents wrong or given your Board misinformation. Better to say, I don’t have an answer at this time, but I will research the issue and report back promptly.
• Stay focused. On the days that every call you get is from a cranky homeowner, every email seems full of hate, you feel sure that your supervisor appears to be looking at you with thoughts of terminating your employment, and you are ready to just give up. . . you might be surprised that the next call is from a homeowner or Board member telling you how much they appreciate you, the next email is one giving you a glowing reference on a job well done, or you are paged to come to the reception desk and find a floral delivery from a grateful Board/Homeowner, and you see your supervisor in the hallway and well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Riverside Property Management is a Homeowners association management company management company proudly serving Roswell, Alpharetta, Buckhead, Marietta and all of North Georgia. Riverside is also an expert Georgia condo association management company and high rise Atlanta association management company. To find out more about Riverside Property Management and why it is one of Georgia’s fastest growing property management companies, go to www.riversidepropertymgt.com. You’ll be glad you did.  (678) 866-1436

 

What is the average cost for a property management company in Marietta and Kennesaw?

HOA management companies often work under a contract for a monthly fee. But how is that the amount calculated? In general, it is based on the estimated time needed to perform the tasks outlined in the Management Contract. There is often a workload of tasks that are not considered routine.

So what goes into the monthly management fee? There are fixed costs such as rent, phones, copiers, computers, insurance, and the internet. The workforce is based on the estimated time needed to perform the prescribed work. Total fixed costs and labor plus profit margin are equal to the monthly management fee. It is common to divide this number by the total number of units / lots. (In Georgia, the average is between $ 10-25/door for condominiums.)  Size and staff required matters: HOA’s pay less per home.

Typically, an Owners Association will be assigned a manager, an accountant, a maintenance supervisor, and possibly an administrative assistant to the account. The administrator can manage 10-15 accounts.

Staff salary levels can have a major impact on management fees. If a Homeowners Association wants experienced professionals, there is a price to pay. A qualified HOA manager attends seminars, has credentials and professional designations and focuses exclusively on HOA management. The Homeowners Association will benefit from this training and experience so expect to pay accordingly.

Managers spend much of their time to prepare and monitor Board and Annual meetings. For a typical board meeting, the manager gathers information and prepares  reports, reviews the financial statements and relevant correspondence.  The Board puts together packages or emails messages to each member.

Most Board and Annual meetings are held in the evenings from Monday to Friday at the Homeowners Association so that the manager is not required to work weekends; which costs money to Homeowners Association, this is incorporated into the contract. After the meeting, the Community Association Manager has a long list to follow-up on which occupies most of the following week. A manager can spend many hours on business related to the meeting.

Another cost savings is in charge of managing insurance claims and damage reconstruction. Insurance inquiries can take many hours of a manager’s time. If the management contract specifically provides that the insurance claim work is an additional cost to the HOA, the management company can collect the insurance claim by the time it takes to manage a claim and the renovation work. A similar principle is the time spent on collections or legal action against a delinquent account. This time, management will be charged to the HOA.
Are disclosure statements provided to homeowners who are selling their homes and lenders to buyers? The management company  bills owners and buyers so that the Homeowners’ Association does not assume the costs.

These are just some ways that management costs can be cut. Be sensitive to the time of your manager and not pile on unnecessary tasks that ultimately increase the costs. While it is important to get what you pay for, it is equally important to pay extra for additional services. The best approach is to establish an alliance with the management company and adjust the time and workload demands.

HOA managers are dedicated and waiting to serve. Put them to work for your homeowners association and actually rejoice in the carefree lifestyle advertised in the brochure.

 

Think Before You Lease Your HOA Amenities to Non-Residents

Many associations are considering a range of revenue-generating measures to offset ever-tightening budgets. But before you rent out your clubhouse or sell memberships to your golf course, pool, tennis courts, or other facilities to non-owners, keep a few critical rules in mind.

Think About It

1) Consider the liability. The biggest issue that keeps associations from renting out their facilities to non-owners is liability. Check with your insurance carrier to find out if injuries to non-owners and injuries caused by non-owners would be covered under your current policy. Chances are they won’t, and it’ll be much more expensive to expand your policy to include that coverage. Once you know the additional insurance costs, you need to weigh them against the potential new revenue to determine whether the financial gain adequately offsets the added cost.

2) Which facilities will you rent? Don’t automatically assume that you should rent all your facilities to the public. For example, you may find that it’s too expensive and the liability is too great to allow public assess to your pool, but the increased insurance costs and limited risk of personal injury in allowing non-owners to use your clubhouse is acceptable. Evaluate each amenity individually before making any decisions.

3) Who’s in, and who’s out? Ask yourself whether it’s necessary—and permissible—to place limits on whom you’ll allow to be guests. For instance, your association might be heavily populated by seniors who prefer not to lounge at the pool while children happily scream and perform cannonballs. But banning children might open your association up to family law discrimination claims, even if those claims end up being frivolous. Similarly, opening your golf course to novice and sometimes ill-behaved players may transform your residents’ peaceful round of golf into a high-tension activity. On the other hand, allowing an aerobics instructor to conduct classes in your gym or allowing personal trainers to use the same facilities to train nonresidents during certain hours may not bother residents—who may actually appreciate the convenience of those services. In addition, you may be able to require instructors or trainers to include your association as an additional insured under their liability insurance policy, which would limit your liability. Whatever the amenity, get residents’ feedback on whether they’ll feel comfortable sharing it with non-residents.

4) Know the laws that apply. Remember that once you allow the public to use your facilities, your association will be subject to new laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Do your facilities meet the requirements of the ADA? If not, what would it cost to bring them up to compliance, and do those costs outweigh the revenue? Also, renting out your clubhouse for such events as weddings and parties will open up the issue of liquor liability. You can require that guests not bring alcohol onto your property, but that rule can be hard to enforce, and it may limit the facility’s appeal. If you allow the consumption of alcohol, you’ll again have to check with your insurer to determine how that affects your coverage.

5) Don’t forget the added expenses. It sounds great to be able to supplement your association’s income, but how many people will sign up to use your newly available facilities if you don’t market them? You’ll probably have to pay a salesperson or marketing firm to advertise your facilities, so be sure to add those expenses into your cost versus revenue calculation.

There are so many issues to consider before allowing nonresidents to use your facilities that it’s unwise to make the decision without professional guidance. So be sure to run your ideas by an attorney or professional management association with experience on the issue. Reviewing these five questions with your board and researching insurance costs in advance will help you be prepared and minimize the time and money you spend to get that critical advice.

Source: http://www.communityassociationmanagement.com/facilities-a-maintenance/amenities/

Call Riverside Property Management of Kennesaw for more information!

678-866-1436 or www.riversidepropertymgt.com

 

Why Professional HOA Management in Atlanta?

 

Most HOA Homeowners’ often have the belief that management is the sole obligation of the elected Board of Directors. While self-management is ideal for the early start of your neighborhood, they can become inadequate with sufficient maintenance responsibilities, tax issues, or other avoidable problems after the Association matures. HOA Management organizations can enter at this stage and provide the necessary help to preserve and even improve the neighborhood. The cost of HOA management companies are much less than the consequences of mismanagement caused by limited time or lack of knowledge of governing body.  Self-management was an idea originally developed by developers who had the belief that the  volunteers can manage all jobs at no additional cost. Volunteers today have much more work today.

HOA management requires considerable knowledge of the various areas such as conflict resolution, cost management, legal, dues collection, maintenance and most importantly, a running knowledge of the Covenants and By-Laws. Volunteers are not continuously trained  in each subject and very often do not have the time needed to learn each facet. Specialists can take care of daily duties, assist in the fiscal planning and reporting, manage vendor quality, and enforce Covenants. Association Management service can ensure that all requirements are met to maintain the  value of each home.
Long-term planning, service experience, and familiarity are very important to home value.

Board Members eventually discover they have bitten off more than you can chew. Monitoring without professional guidance is difficult and often causes problems between homeowners in the community.

HOA management companies help with a couple of crucial elements of the district administration: finance and operations. Collection of fees or how the funds are spent can cause conflicts between neighbors.  Every encounter from the self-managed Board ends up with some kind of confrontation. Boards currently experiencing problems like these can get rid of them by giving these daily tasks to professionals. Research your companies carefully.  A board should not only assess the price of these solutions, but the quality of services offered.

Call (678) 866-1436 for more information!  www.riversidepropertymgt.com

Riverside Property Management in Kennesaw works with homeowner and condo associations providing a variety of management, code enforcement, consulting and educational services, reserve studies, budgeting assistance and maintenance planning expertise.