Licensed PM's, have you considered adding HOA/COA Association Management?

[Richard F.]

IF your area of operations has condos and/or HOA's, you should consider adding another revenue stream. Projects under 150 - 200 units are, overall, not difficult (although just like rentals, some are in poor condition, some are not, some will have crazy owners, or crazy Board members, but base your fees accordingly). In fact, the Boards are responsible for, and make, all significant decisions, actually reducing a lot of your liability. Your job is to guide and inform the Boards, and enforce each projects Governing Documents. Indeed, there are Board Meetings, which can be problematic, but you have tools to control those problems...starting with their own By-laws; Robert's Rules of Order; and if necessary, you can require the Board to hire a Parliamentarian to conduct Annual or Special meetings to maintain control. Actually, most Board meetings are pretty casual...sometimes too much so! Very few homeowners bother to attend, and sometimes you have to push hard to get a Board quorum!

To be sure, every project has a different set of Governing Documents, which determine most of your actions, but they are generally organized in a similar manner, so usually not too difficult to locate the key information needed to operate them. And, when in doubt, you can request the Board to authorize you to "get an opinion" from legal counsel on the specific issue for clarification. They really have no choice.

Bottom line, you can add significant, long term (rarely does a Board change management companies unless they are VERY dissatisfied) income for mostly "batch" work. You MUST have a solid, double entry accounting system with forensic tracking; solid general processes for handling incoming comms and other routine issues; and well organized filing systems.

If you have questions, want to learn more, feel free to ask. In addition to over 100 rentals, I was managing agent for numerous Associations for the last 10 years prior to retiring. The projects I handled varied from 6 units to about 125, and the company I was with had projects up to several hundred units. The entire company was originally built on Association Management.