This condominium on Nine Arlington St. in Boston’s Back Bay is fully staffed.
As real estate values continue to climb in the Boston area, and more and more homeowners seek to improve current or newly acquired homes, savvy management firms with specialized skills and experience are in greater demand to deal with this city’s aging housing stock. What were once starter homes for young Bostonians are now often luxury residences for young, upwardly mobile residents or empty nesters looking for a high-end pied a terre.
To maintain and renovate these older abodes efficiently requires intimate knowledge of municipal and environmental regulations, historic preservation requirements and architecturally challenging building codes. Boards of directors of condominiums and cooperatives require management firms that are also able to deliver high quality service, to what is often a sophisticated group of property owners. These new owners require high, back-of-the-house service quickly and correctly.
Periodically the trustees, who are volunteer owners’ representatives, are faced with the task of reviewing and renewing their contracts with an existing management firm or selecting a new one for their properties. Such a union, like a marriage, works well if the partners are well-matched, and can be an on-going nightmare if they are not. These criteria will help avoid the minefields and assist owners to select the best firm for the job.
•Analyze services versus needs. Define the needs of your association before you interview firms. Then evaluate whether the potential management companies can provide those services or have vendors ready and able to deliver them. For instance, do they have a maintenance department for 24/7 response? Does your building need staffing and can they recruit, train and manage that staff? What are the requirements you feel are unique to your property?
•When in the city, stick to home base. In a city like Boston, where housing maintenance can be complex due to older infrastructures and exteriors, select a management firm knowledgeable about the neighborhoods. An urban firm will be familiar with the available contractors and city services convenient to your property and informed about the challenges faced in completing a project. Local contractors will also be familiar with the permitting process, special materials needed, such as slate roof tiles and copper, and may already have a history with the property. For instance, at one Boston plumbing firm, the current owner was trained by his grandfather who serviced the same building he now serves.
•Choose a firm that understands local issues. Wherever your property is located, there are certain to be issues specific to the area, whether the building is on a landfill, near a heavily trafficked road or bridge or has a low water table, as in many Boston properties. One Hub residence, for instance, is sited at the foot of Beacon Hill on wooden pilings topped by a granite foundation. Built in the early 1900s, the structure is monitored daily by a resident superintendent. They record the water level that must cover the more than 300 wood pilings to prevent rot. These readings are then sent to a geotechnical engineering firm for charting and reporting to make periodic recommendations. If the water level drops to expose the wood piles, they would rot and compromise the entire structure.
•Scrutinize the qualifications. When seeking a property management firm, interview the manager who will actually oversee your property and determine if this manager has experience in managing similar properties with similar needs. Inquire as to how this person would handle a particular situation that has occurred recently at your property.
•Carefully check the references. For instance, if your property is fully staffed, ask for references from similar buildings. It’s best to seek a list of references with whom you can check. Ideally these contacts will be trustees or directors who have had a working experience with the firm. Unit owners may have a different perception of the company since the management firm is working at the behest of the board members.
•Listen to your first impressions. Does the management company have the same philosophy as the unit owners and board? Do you sense a proactive approach or one in which the management firm is interested in taking care of all needs, and is even able to anticipate them? Keep in mind that the management firm is also interviewing you and determining if this union makes sense from its point of view.
•Examine quality of bench strength: Size and age don’t necessarily matter. What does matter is whether they can deliver qualified vendors, such as experienced plumbers, roofers and carpenters to the site on demand. Do they have a strong relationship with a set of such vendors from whom they can obtain immediate attention and service?
•Ask about experience with historical properties: If your association is in a historic district, does the management firm have experience with such properties. Are they able to navigate the requirements and regulations to complete projects while meeting historical requirements?
•Review emergency response capabilities: Do they provide a 24/7 answering service with a live person who can contact an available vendor to resolve a problem as soon as it is happens? What is their anticipated response time? What if the person doesn’t call them back, do they have a backup contact person? This is especially important if you don’t have a live-in superintendent.
•Can the firm provide financial reporting? If you require monthly financial statements, can the firm provide financial reporting on either a cash or accrual basis? Monthly reporting is highly recommended because it is important to stay on top of receivables, payables and cash in the account. Ask if the reporting system includes schedules such as income statements, general ledger report and monthly budget comparison reports between planned and actual expenses.
Finally, regarding expenses, although you may decide to conduct a bidding process, keep in mind that the old saying, You get what you pay for, is still true. The key in selecting your management firm is the understanding that there is a cost/time relationship that determines the level of satisfaction.
