During the pandemic, a lot of Americans were looking to change their homes for bigger houses. Places like Tampa, Phoenix, and Miami saw a 25-32% increase in the value of homes. The sudden growth was a surprising fallout because many experts thought the opposite. But The National Association of Realtors reported a sudden rise in sales of previously occupied homes. Mortgage rates also fell to 3.05 percent which made it easy for just about anyone to purchase a home.
In March, researchers in Dallas fed published a paper directed toward policymakers, buyers, and sellers on the state of housing markets. While condo associations and the real estate sector as a whole are experiencing an upward trend, some changes may put managers out of business especially when they find themselves in large condos.
What is considered a large Condo?
You can almost compare the management of a large condo to the management of a town. In this blog post, you will learn actionable steps that will help with the preparation and organization of condo associations with as large as 1000+ units. The good thing about the high-level organization in condo association is how easy you can create the opportunity to scale massively.
Seamless Communication
One may expect that the first and most important factor is finance. However, without proper communication across every stakeholder, owner, and manager, it is difficult to get compliance. In fact, most board HOA members suffer disengagement and apathy because of a lack of communication. The last thing managers want is to have members who are careless about their neighborhood.
To ensure efficient communication here are some of the things you should consider with your condo;
- Allow multi-channel communication: emails, a website if possible, written letters, and online announcements. Physical letters should be a last resort since they are not cost-effective or efficient.
- Get to know the preference of members or stakeholders involved
- Use combinations of communication methods that fit the preferences of your community
Communication should give everyone a voice. The means of communicating should organize the opinions and ensure that all voices are heard.
Build a sense of community
Half of the work is done if community members feel involved. Managers should focus on building and strengthening the relationship and ties with the network of unit owners, lessees, legal entities, real estate offices, and lending institutions. Regular meetings, newsletters, and a centralized website can help you build community with ease.
Storage of documents
Large condos deal with a stack of papers. It can be difficult to keep things organized if there is no good system in place for archiving.
Record keeping for condos is not just a requirement for the managers alone, but also for members. Certain documents especially in certain areas must be made available for members and representatives to review. Some of the documents that may be kept in the record are meeting minutes, important correspondence, repairs and upgrades, and financial records just to mention a few. These documents should always be arranged in a way that recovery is easy and in a way that protects the documents from destruction. Condos can invest in systems to help with the storage and simplification of these documents.
Organized payment system
Condo associations can be non-profit, but managers still need to maintain the value of properties. Contribution of dues from members can be tedious and involves a lot of back and forth. Setting up a payment system will improve the efficiency of collecting dues from members of a large condominium.
Online payments if set up correctly can improve the rate of timely payments. Managers will have the option to add different payment options, they can also set up auto-reminders to meet the convenience of both managers and members. Subscription-based payments are even more efficient since payments can be deducted from members automatically when due. The payment system to be used should also be discussed among members and board members to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Online payments are the best option because they can easily keep every record, track late payments, and offer other valuable insights needed to improve the HOA.
A booking system for Amenities
Preferably, this booking system should be digital. Booking amenities will help secure amenities for those interested in their use. The booking system should contain information on conditions and requirements for amenities. A booking system will ensure hassle-free communication between authorities and condo members by setting their expectations right.
Key takeaways
Managing a large HOA requires finance management and communication. In most cases, the project managers, condo accounting specialists, and other management companies can help achieve better efficiency because of their experience. At Core-Accouting, we are on the financial side of things. If you need to employ our wealth of experience in managing condo associations, feel free to reach out to us.
