Is a Self-Managed Association the Right Choice?

While capable HOA/POA/COA management companies are available in your city to manage your association, there may be more reasons to consider managing it yourself. 

In decades past, the notion of self-management was quickly defeated due to cost, skills, lack of confidence and personnel constraints.

Yet, now in 2024, the matter has returned because new association software (ManageCasa™) is definitely empowering. As an example, ManageCasa delivers surprising efficiency in operations, finance, and resident services via a full-service platform.

The important message we pose in this post is that there is a real opportunity right now to manage it yourself, and manage it better.

The ManageCasa™ cloud-powered, SaaS platform was developed to handle all your association management tasks fluidly, saving time and improve compliance and financial management and give you more complete control. 

Confidence Comes from Insight, Review and Preparations

Quite a few association boards lack the confidence to bring management in-house. Yet if other small to mid-sized associations are making this transition, then this might be the time for you to act.

At the end of the day, management of your association comes back to the board since good work needs to get done and on budget. With the assumption to hire externally as the only route boards can take, hoa management companies have pushed their service package prices up.  And now in 2024, these inflationary costs have to be reduced and service levels increased.

And if revenues can't grow, then bringing it back in-house, saving big fees, leveraging volunteers and eliminating costs helps to create the cost side relief you need. 

The Software Platform is the Change Maker

The key to going in-house is via a modern, full-service association software which acts as a business platform where all association business is unified and streamlined. 

In effect, you're eliminating the tasks from inefficient manual processes. By rewriting how you do association management, you gain much better control, utilize resident self-management features, and make it easy for residents to engage and support your community. 

Overall, the emphasis is on eliminating work via streamlined processes and automation. The system not only enables self-management and automation, it demands it, thus encouraging resident cooperation.

Residents demand lower HOA and community fees, and now they can enjoy them by managing their own accounts and fees and educating themselves.

ManageCasa™ helps you remove the workloads and improve service response.

Top Advantages of Self-Managed Community Associations 

Here are some of the key advantages of self-managing your community association:

Cost Savings:  hiring educated, trained association management staff helps improve decision-making, makes delegation to staff easier, increases self-service, and utilizes volunteers to greatly cut expenses.

No Conflicts of Interest: inappropriate vendor selection, client priority issues, lack of respect for your costs and long-term goals, reduced scope of services, or tricky contract agreements that create extra risk or costs are decreased. 

Improved Autonomy and Control:  100% in-house control over maintenance, equipment, buildings, and other assets means you're in command of all assets and personnel.

Higher Efficiency and Responsiveness: In-house means no delays, less outdated management practices, and reduced conflicts with your service provider's other association clients.

Greater Professional Commitment:  aiding board decisions, holding better board meetings, creating and enforcing policies, preparing a budget, and communicating with residents more effectively are all heightened because now can get everything done right.  With success comes greater satisfaction and support.

Enhanced Trust and Transparency: HOA companies may act more in their own company's interests and not be fully transparent or open about their work, actions, fees, or to protect the associations' risks and liability as opposed to their own. With reliable data and documentation, you are more transparent.

Data Protection and Operations Analytics: in-house managers keep data private, secure, and uncompromised to meet compliance requirements.  ManageCasa™ delivers broader, more valuable, real-time insights into the financial operations of your association.

For residents, having a specific professional association manager brings focus to residents for a greater sense of empowerment and connection. Ultimately, it's residents' perceptions that dictate revenues, engagement, cooperation, and budgets. 

Questions to Ask about Choosing Self-Management

• how fast are your management company's fees rising?
• is there a talented association manager available to assume that key role?
• how do residents feel about becoming self-managed?
• is your association's revenues/budget sufficient enough to pay wages and operating costs?
• can you meet operating expectations and compliance standards with a small team?
• will you have the technical skills/licenses to manage buildings, facilities, and roadways?
• can you obtain specialty services such as security, road maintenance, accountant, landscaping, facilities operation, cleaning, and repairs, as required?
• will your manual management practices fail when full responsibilities are taken on?

Whether you can or can't go in-house comes down to how much a platform such as ManageCasa can save you and how much you can improve services.  From meeting support to maintenance, and smart financial and accounting automation, to improved resident communications, streamlining services is a surprisingly good value add.

Make your calculations on in-house vs outsourced.

Lastly, Review the many Benefits of High-Grade Modern Association Software:

1. automated dues collection and violation tracking
2. resident portal for self-education, payments, announcements, documentation and communications with the board
3. unlimited data storage
4. management of data migration and staff training help
5. centralized dashboard for all-in-one management ease
6. affordable monthly fee
7. GAAP-compliant accounting management
8. modern communications tools
9. support for meetings (eVoting, polls, mailing solution)
10. mobile device compatibility and mobile app
11. multi-community capability
12. budget planning, bank reconciliation, online payments, automatic A/R

Take a closer look at our association management platform now including our cost-saving pricing plans.  It's the right choice for budget and growth-minded association managers.

Call us at 1 415 800 1245 to get started.