Academy/Community Management Companies
Interviewing managers
Walk into the interview with your own questions, so you're evaluating fit, not just charm.
When you interview a management company, you're hiring the firm, not just the manager sitting across the table. Bring your own list of needs, ask how the candidate handles board direction versus their own judgment, confirm the assigned manager is the right fit, and call the firm's current clients before you sign anything.
You're hiring the firm, not just the person in the room
The manager who impresses your board in the interview might not be the manager on your account in two years. Ask about the proposed manager's qualifications, account load, and strengths, and confirm that person is genuinely the right fit for your community. But the contract binds the company, not the individual, so don't let one strong personality decide the vote.
"you are hiring the property management company, not that particular manager"
Source: Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
Walk in with your own scope of work
Don't let the company set the agenda. Before the interview, write down what you need serviced, how often, and to what standard, a document sometimes called a statement of work. Send it ahead and see what comes back. A firm that reworks its pitch to answer your list is doing the job; a firm that hands you the same boilerplate it sends everyone is not.
"Draft your own statement of work (SOW) and distribute it to your management candidates"
Source: Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
Watch for the tell in both directions. A firm that simply "issues a boilerplate proposal" is a warning sign; a firm where "the management company asks YOU questions" is doing the interview the way it should go.
Test whether they understand where their job ends
A community manager's job is to carry out the board's decisions and advise on them, not to make them. In the interview, ask how a candidate would handle a board instruction they personally disagreed with, or how they'd flag a possible fiduciary conflict of interest with a vendor. The answer tells you whether they see themselves as staff who report to the board, or as the one actually running things.
Call their current clients before you decide
A reference conversation with another board catches what a sales pitch won't: how fast the manager returns calls, how accurate the financials are, and how the company behaves when something goes wrong. Guidance for evaluating proposals recommends boards "speak with the management company's current clients" directly, not just the names the company hands you.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A management company's proposal reads as boilerplate and ignores the list of needs your board sent. What's the strongest next move?
In the interview, a candidate manager says they usually decide which rules a community should adopt. What does that reveal?
The board likes the individual manager presented during interviews. What should the board still confirm before signing?
Sources
- Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
- Responsibilities of a Community Manager, CAI, HOAresources
- Standards of Professional Conduct (CMCA), CAMICB
Community Management Companies
Once you know who you're interviewing, learn how to run the comparison itself: see how to structure a management RFP.
Whether your state licenses community association managers, and what credentials you can therefore require or verify in an interview, varies by state.