25 questions to ask an HOA management company before you hire

Interviews are where management companies are at their most polished - so the questions have to do the work. These 25, grouped by topic, are designed to produce answers you can verify. Listen for specifics; vagueness is data.

Money (the fees behind the fee)

• What is your complete per-event fee schedule - every charge not in the monthly fee?
• What did your average community our size pay in total last year, including all pass-throughs?
• Do you take vendor commissions, rebates or markups? Will you disclose them in writing?
• What fees increase at renewal, and what caps them?
• What does it cost to leave - termination notice, exit fees, records handoff?

People & responsiveness

• Who is our named manager, and how many communities do they carry?
• What are your written response-time standards for boards and for residents?
• Who answers a resident emergency at 2 a.m. - a person, a service, or a machine that escalates?
• What was your manager turnover last year?
• If our manager leaves, what is the continuity plan?

Operations & technology

• How fast do boards receive minutes after a meeting - and who writes them?
• Can residents see the status of their requests in real time?
• How are violations documented so enforcement stays even-handed?
• How do you handle resale certificates and estoppels so closings don’t stall?
• What does the board see monthly without asking - financials, work orders, delinquencies?

Accountability

• Give us three board references from communities like ours - including one that left you.
• How do you measure whether communities are satisfied - and will we see the metric?
• Has your company been acquired, or do you expect to be? What happens to our contract if so?
• What happens in the first 30 days if we sign - exactly?
• Why should we believe your service in year two will match your pitch in week two?

Any company worth hiring answers all of these comfortably. NeighborLink publishes its answers up front - plans & inclusions, instant pricing, and a try-before-you-switch Free Trial. Prefer to interview several companies at once? Post your community to BoardMatch and let them come to you.