Condoboss Q&A #4 with Karyl Dicker Foray: “How to Properly Prepare and Protect Your Condo Association”
The ACTHA Spring 2014 Trade Show is HERE: Saturday April 12, 2014
Top 10 Portfolio Condo Management Companies in Chicago
Who are the best portfolio condo management companies in Chicago?
It’s a question I have often pondered and thousands of board members around Chicago have thought about as well.
In order to answer that properly, the following questions need to be asked and answered first:- RESPONSE TIMES – What level of service are you looking for? Do you want a guaranteed response time? Or are you okay waiting a week, 2 weeks or never getting a response?
- TRANSPARENCY – Are you interested in having 100% transparency in the management fee structure? ie. how the management firm makes money from the relationships with its clients? Or are you okay with the management firm making money in ways that you are not aware of but yet at your association’s expense? Do you want a detailed agreement that specifies the types of services to a high degree or a very vague agreement that specifies very few services?
- QUALITY OF ADVICE – Are you looking to simply hire a property manager that has basic knowledge and acts more like an administrative assistant? Are you looking to hire a property management company that will assign a different property manager to you every 6 months? Or are you looking to hire a high performing community management firm that has the most knowledgeable community consultant experts in the industry?
- ACCOUNTABILITY – Do you want a firm that acts in your best interest and is accountable for their actions? Or are you okay with a firm that assigns you a manager that delivers inconsistent results and blames everyone else when things go wrong?
- COST SAVINGS – Do you want to hire a firm that will work hard to save money in operational expenses and in high dollar expenditures like capital projects? Or are you just looking to hire a firm that will keep things “status quo”? Saving money in management fees doesn’t necessarily drive overall costs down.
- SIZE MATTERS – You’ve heard the expression “Size does matter”. Well it especially applies to determining the right condo management company for your condo association. Do you want to hire a LARGE company just because they have more employees? Or do you want to hire a company because of their business model and their level of expertise?
- LASER FOCUS – Are you looking for a company that exclusively specializes in condo management and is a boutique type company? Or are you looking to hire a company that manages all types of properties with no area of focus? Which one do you think would deliver a higher level of service for condo associations?
- PROJECT SERVICES – Do you want to hire a management firm that charges you a fee for projects but yet doesn’t even show up to oversee the work? Or how about hiring a firm that gets kickbacks from the vendors that YOU hire and is NOT disclosed to you? Alternatively, how about hiring a firm that works on YOUR behalf and works in YOUR best interest and charges a fair fee for project services that results in your 100% satisfaction?
- HOMEOWNER ENGAGEMENT – Do you struggle with getting homeowners to come to board meetings? Do you struggle with getting people to volunteer for the board? Do you want to hire a company that will ensure that this situation stays the same? Or do you want to hire a company that can INCREASE homeowner engagement and get them to come out to ALL the board meetings and WANT to serve on the board?
- LOWER OPERATING COSTS – Do you want a firm that mindlessly acts as your property management company? And keeps your expenses at the same level or even ENCOURAGES you to OVERPAY tens of thousands of dollars for services such as capital projects? Or do you want to hire a company that has relationships with vendors that charge fair and honest prices and are ALWAYS acting in financially responsible ways?
Once you have factored in these questions into the “search” equation, then it is possible to answer the question “Who are the TOP 10 Portfolio Condo Management Companies in Chicago?”
About the Author:
Salvatore J. Sciacca aka “Condoboss” is one of the nation’s leading experts in the community property management industry. He is also the President and Founder of Chicago Property Services, Chicago’s #1 community property management company specializing in management and operations of condos/townhomes/HOA’s of 100 units and under. Salvatore is also the founder of managmycommunity.com (MMC), which is a state-of-the-art online support portal for community associations.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Salvatore is recognized for his extensive knowledge of capital planning, preventative maintenance, cost-saving measures and community building techniques. He holds industry stature as a Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA), the designation of Association Management Specialist (AMS) and is fully licensed as a manager (License #: 261.001386) through the State of IL.
Salvatore’s contact information is:
312-455-0107 x102
ssciacca@chicagopropertyservices.com
www.chicagopropertyservices.com
