Start with the management agreement
Most boards have never read the agreement they inherited. Pull it out and mark four things: the base fee and what it includes, every ancillary or pass-through fee the firm may charge, the term and auto-renewal language, and the termination notice period. Everything else in this page depends on those four answers.
Audit the fees you are actually paying
- Compare the base management fee charged each month to the contracted amount.
- List ancillary charges — transfer fees, copy charges, late-notice fees, portal fees, project markups.
- Ask whether the firm receives anything from your vendors, in any form.
- Confirm who keeps interest earned on association funds.
Set service standards in writing
Response times for owner and board communication. When the monthly financial package is delivered. How work orders are logged and closed. How many bids are required over a dollar threshold. Standards nobody wrote down are standards nobody can be held to.
The annual management review
- Did the financial package arrive on time, complete, every month?
- Were board decisions executed and documented?
- What did we pay in total — base plus ancillary — versus last year?
- Were vendor bids obtained where the standard requires them?
- What is the one thing we want changed next year?
When review turns into a decision
Sometimes the honest answer is that the fit is wrong. If your board reaches that point, work through switching HOA management companies before giving notice — and consider an independent HOA Financial Health Check first, so the decision rests on documented facts rather than frustration.