Face it, out there for the rest of the world, an Association Manager is considered someone that could not get another job, most people have no respect about our profession and know very little about the incredibly large amount of knowledge and responsibilities we carry. I have been told hundreds of times that an Association Manager is a ‘maintenance’ person without knowing that we are extremely dedicated individuals who get stressed on a daily bases because we are the association’s enforcers, we are the experts in building maintenance and repairs, we are the experts in common areas and homeowner responsibilities, and that we have an ultimate duty towards each one of the homeowners who live at each association we manage in addition of the Board of Directors to make sure that their association runs the way it should. With nearly three decades in the property management business, I have been gathering knowledge about my profession and what I truly love about it. My family has thought along the years that I am some sort of masochist who likes to be tortured every day without realizing that most of us, who work in this business, love organizing, presenting and most of all accomplishing goals. Every challenge I ever had, every unjustified insult from a homeowner, every disrespectful comment towards me, every problem I helped resolve, is an accomplishment and the satisfaction of being efficient is what feeds my spirit every day, thinking that little by little I am making a difference in the Association Management world. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that an efficient Association Manager has many responsibilities, which are not to only prioritize urgent maintenance issues but always inform owners about their responsibilities, to take care of all the property details, supervise vendors, analyze better alternatives of cost efficiency within maintenance and projects and have constant communication with the Board of Directors and Committees. Trust is very hard to build, and it is only accomplished when we demonstrate our commitment. An Association Manager should not only attend all Board meetings, but be responsible to provide them with administrative support, prepare agendas, minutes, and distribute Board packages with agreed upon lead-time and to always provide our research about agenda items prior to each meeting, since some homeowners might raise questions about the Association and who most times they have never read their own property governing documents. Organizing meetings is challenging but when those meetings result in a success, even if we are not recognized for the effort, it is a huge build to our ego. Along the many years as a manager, I learned the hard way that we need to respond within 24 hours to Board requests directed to me, the Community Manager. I always tried to provide not only the Board President with timely status reports, but kept all the rest of the Directors in every communication. New association managers have asked me what is my ‘secret’ and how I build trust, which is essential in this business. I 30 • CONTACT, SPRING 2020
always respond with a short sentence: It is extremely important for the Board to see quick proactive action. I always review all the Board meeting minutes for accuracy prior to distribution and if time allows, I also try to create a weekly management report to email to all board members on the status of projects, attend committee meetings as appropriate and most of all, I always make sure to supervise work at the properties I manage. There is nothing worse than attending a meeting where Board Members or homeowners have pictures of issues that the manager should have been the first one to know about. We should always be the prime liaison between the Board and the association’s vendors. Among our many duties, we need to manage Annual meetings, mail voting proxies and ballots to owners in a timely manner and perform other associated paperwork to document the financial status of the association. An annual meeting is the time to shine for a Manager, mostly when the Board excels in front of the homeowners. A smooth meeting speaks loudly about the efficiency of the association manager. Remember, we get paid but all the Board Members are volunteers who should rely on us. It is extremely important to obtain and present bids and proposals for
