Relatively recently, companies have sprung up which claim to fairly rate condominium and HOA associations and their management company with “report cards” of different formats.
Some, such as those focusing on climate change (homevitals.ai) seems to have promise and there is a company which has unveiled its product in Florida and expects to also expand to Chicago and perhaps New York City which sound promising.
I’ve had two Zoom calls with a company called the HOA Doctor and have purchased their Kindle edition of their book “HOA’s Unmasked” and they seem like nice people. I have some doubts as to their report card which they call “Community Trust Index” I believe.
The reports are from the owners who remain anonymous but who are confirmed. I respect the idea of buyers having a rating scale when buying their units but question whether these reports on the management company and board will be accurate.
One concern is that a group of disgruntled owners might give bad marks to good associations and management companies where there are special assessments to address deferred maintenance. It would seem we would want proactive management and board raising the amount of funds that are necessary to maintain the property and preserve and protect the value of unit.
One other comment I believe I heard is that real estate agents could sponsor for a fee an association. My concern is that the agents would easily be able to convince many owners to submit favorable reports in order to give their condominium or HOA high marks.
But the concern I have for managers is that my understanding, and I hope I am wrong, is that a major premise of the project seem to be taking shots at managers for alleged kickbacks or undisclosed fees or fees that they seem to think might be improper whether disclosed or not.
I think the condominium management company leaders and owners have to come back with cogent retorts to these claims or to decide to stay quiet and assume the hyperbole blows over quickly. It seems to me that management companies for decades often ran on razor-thin margins. If there are areas where a service can be provided that does not cost the association more money isn’t that better than the management companies simply raising their management fees.
The issue is bothering me so I am interested in your thoughts. My cell is 781-413-5226 and my email is
smarcus@marcuscondolaw.com
Maybe I am wrong about this?
