6 Tips for Hiring a Property Management Company

The Homeowners Association (HOA) has decided it’s time to hire a property manager, but where do you even start. A search on google brings up millions of results. How do you sift through all those results to find a property management company that fits your community’s wants and needs? Here are 6 helpful tips to find the perfect property manager:

1. Get referrals!

Don’t just trust the marketing hype or search results. Talk to other communities to get a list of property management companies they can refer to as trustworthy and professional. That’s where you’ll want to start your interviews.

2. Interview at least three to five candidates.

You’ll want to treat this process just like you would if you were hiring an employee. Have a list of questions prepared and ask all the candidates the same questions so you can compare answers. Make sure you get a good understanding of whether you can work with this person every day, their communication style, and their level of experience.

Questions should include:

What’s your management fee?
Do you have the appropriate licenses and certifications?
How large is your staff?
Do you have a 24-hour emergency process?
How much money do you require in reserves?
What items or dollar amounts will you handle before contacting me?
Will you handle legal and accounting processes and any issues that arise?
Need 20 Questions? Click here.

3. Layout your expectations very clearly for what you want them to do for the community.

Most property managers have a base set of services they provide. Get that list and review with them any additional items that you require that may be above and beyond their normal scope of services.

4. Review the financial process.

Review the financial process with them, including when and how they pay bills, who would have access to your accounts, and the approval process for invoices and payments.

5. Review the maintenance process with them.

Make sure you understand how often they will do routine maintenance and what that entails, and ensure it aligns with the needs of your community.

6. Conduct Annual Reviews

Once you identified and hired a property manager, evaluate the relationship annually. Make sure the property manager has held up their end of the bargain. And also keep an eye on the contract end date, renewal process, and termination clause, should you decide to move on.

Since your decision will impact the entire community, it’s important to take your time to find the best property management company. You’ll want to find a company that truly understands the values of the HOA and its long-term goals. After all, you’ll trust this company to make important decisions about your community.

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{We retained West Property Management to take over managing our brand new HOA. As a brand new builder community, West Property Management had to help manage numerous complicated developer-builder-homeowner transition matters. Despite the often unpredictable and/or complicated tasks that our HOA faced, West Property Management handled these matters in a very “can do” and no-nonsense manner. Their timely approach, expertise and patience with a new, novice Board of Directors also made working with West Property Management productive and positive. The Board continues to enjoy working with them and highly recommend them for property management needs.

Michelle R.

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When selecting West Property Management, you can expect professionalism, follow-through, and success in managing your property(ies). It all started with listening to our expectations and consistently delivering superior service and expertise without prompting for our 350 properties; telephone calls and e-mails were tactfully responded whether there was a complaint or a compliment.

When evaluating a property management company, we felt the primary factor was collaboration to learn what we should or should not do to effectively manage processes. The second important factor was the skillful management of suppliers to reduce outstanding receivables and ensure the successful delivery of work products through excellent customer service. West Property Management always displayed a “can-do” attitude and resolved any issues with persistent alacrity.

West Property Management’s impressive knowledge and practical approach we highly recommend irrespective of what level of management you seek. Both Lynn Weymer (our Property Manager) and Chris Westerlund (the owner) were always available to consult on Board matters and always resolved any presented issues. We will continue to work with West Property Management and look forward to our continued partnership.

Patricia F

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It was a pleasure working with Chris. He was very professional and went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable and informed every step of the way. I give Chris and West Property Management my highest recommendations and look forward to working with them for all my future property management needs.

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West has been such a joy to work with – they’ve brought a new level of professionalism and experience to our HOA and we’re grateful to be working with them!

Mike L.

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West Property Management has been so wonderful to work with. Excellent communication and customer service. A professional organization who provides a wonderful personal touch. I’d highly recommend them!

Ji L.

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Chris Westerlund and West Property Management were great. Being a realtor, I deal with a lot of property management companies. I reached out to Chris about obtaining HOA resale documents. He was instrumental in getting the documents delivered to me that same day when we needed them in a rush. In addition, he used his resources to find the contact information for the company we had been trying to find for a couple of weeks. I’d highly recommend anyone/business looking for property management services to reach out to Chris and West Property Management!

Kevin W.