What is a Community Association Manager?

The community association manager plays an important role when buying a home in a homeowner association (HOA) governed complex neighborhood. The Community Manager leads the entire path, though give an aspect of how building and neighborhood work. The Community association manager is the authentic root of high-level knowledge, for instance, whether the house owner is allowed to use the charcoal grill on their courtyard. Property Management Company or Board of director can appoint Community association management.

Community Association Manager

The community association manager provides operational support and guidance to administrative and directors also. Community association manager manages superintendence of property, cooperative, service of condominiums. The main task is to accumulate monthly assignments, arrange budgets and financial statements and help fix complaints. Moreover, interacting with renters, the community association manager prefers to interact with homeowners or residents daily. The community association managers make sure that Board and homeowners comply with the guidelines of the community. The manager keeps update that homeowners have taken any changes to their property.

The community association manager tries to sort out the disputes which can affect the owner with the help of discussion with the Board of directors. The community association manager’s main priority is to keep an update on local legislation and advocate governing documents. Most of the time, property owners don’t have time to maintain and head their property, so for maintenance for their assets, the property owner hires the community association manager and takes care of their property. The community association managers agree with the Property management company and the Board of directors by HOA. 

The community association manager loves their job for 1-2 years approximately,   with a percentage of 34%.

Key Duties of the Community Association Manager

1. Come up with support to the board of director and administrator:
   • Records the management of buildings
   • Inspection of conducting sites when necessary.
   • Order placement of material.
     
     
2. Look after financial management of budget:
   • Maintaining Bookkeeping 
   • Maintaining vendor contracts.
   • Gathering assessments as necessary and collection fees of HOA.
     
     
3. Synchronize board meetings:
   • Research and data are prepared by the community association manager if needed.
   • Give out meeting notices.
   • Distributing reports and material in advance to Board members.
     
     
4. Helps in better communication between a member of Board:-
   • Phone calls and emails are recapped.
   • For delivering a variety of sources to Primary Board contacts, the community association managers organize information.
     
     
5. Maintaining Property and taking care of facilities:
   • Payments and invoices are tracked 
   • Oversee vendors and continuation staff onsite.
   • Repair and upgrade for the budget.
     
     
6. Gathering fees from HOA:
   • Miscellaneous fees and fees of HOA are included except for rent.
     
     
7. The community association manager is sure that the board member and the other community association member are obeying governing documents.

The Community Association Member Cannot Do

1. The community association manager doesn’t collect rent.
2. The community association manager doesn’t handle the problem of parking.
3. They cannot handle individual resident problems.

For being a “good” Community association manager, there should be:

• A good community association manager needs to communicate clearly and quickly. The community association manager is the middleman between the Property Management Company and the association. The manager must be welcoming and diplomatic. With the help of new technology, it becomes easy to communicate.
• A good manager shouldn’t discriminate against the member, there should be just among all the members.
• The community association manager shouldn’t have any kind of personal relationship and should be compatible in the enforcement of rules and regulations.
• For being a great community association manager he/she needs to be always available. At the time of crises, he/she should be available. He/she have to attend the board meeting and also perform on-site after regular working hours.
• Great manager should be known as he should be answerable to all the questions. The community association manager shouldn’t feel shy to gain knowledge. 
• The community association manager should have strong team backup. Community management needs more people to manage the work, it is not the job of one person.
• Basically, the manager should have the talent to resolve all the crises and should function like a well-oiled machine.

Salary of the Community Association Manager

The salary of the community association manager is between $20.35 and $41.50 per hour or $42,330 and $86,320 annually: New York, Colorado, and New Jersey state where the Community association manager earns high wages.

Difference Between the Property Manager and the Community Association Manager

The Community Association Manager

1. The community association manager doesn’t take care of an individual, the community association manager support community as a “whole”. So this is the reason that the community association managers contact the board of directors on daily basis.
2.  The main responsibility is to taking care of the increase in property princes and outdoor space.
3. The priority of the community association managers is to check that the outdoor space is safe or not for residents.
4. The community association manager works in nearly all accounting firms, with vendors and the Board of directors.

The Property Manager

1. The property managers take care of tenants “individually”.
2. This is the basic reason that the property managers directly report to homeowners.
3.  This is the main difference that why the community association manager is different from the property manager, as the community association manager contact community as” whole” but the property manager contact tenants as “individually”.
4. The property manager maintains the budget system and gathers rent from the homeowner.
5. The property manager has to check that no damage is done in vacant units.

Certified Manager of Community Association Program (CMCA)

• Certified Manager of Community Association is an international certificate that is only for the manager of homeowners.
• The managers who have this certificate earn an average of more than 20% compared to the non-certificate community.

To obtain this certificate, the following steps are followed:

• First step:
  • Complete prerequisite course and pass it.
  • Experience is compulsory, at least 5 years as the community association manager.
  • Should have Colorado Community Association Manager, Nevada Community Association Manager
• Second step:
  • Submit an online application after completion for the certified manager of the community association exam.
• Third step:
  • Proceed with the exam and pass the examination and get ready to face challenges and career boost up.

How to Become a Certified Community Association Manager

There are three types of the community association manager:

1. Portfolio Manager – They don’t take part physically with community members but supervise the portfolio community. 
2. Community Association Manager – They are also known as an on-site manager and they directly work in the community during working hours.
3. Large-Scale Manager – They are on a large scale community around more than 1200 units.

There are advantages after receiving a certificate:

• Build a great outlook over the need of the community.
• Gain better management skill.
• At the time of the interview, the community association managers will be considered powerful candidates.

The community association manager works in which type of company?

 The Most preferred company where the community association manager work is a Private company. More than 80% of Community association managers work, and a very less percentage, approximately 10%, works in government companies. 

The Community Association Manager’s Income Based on Gender

Men earn more than females earn. The data says men earn $57,258 (approx.) and females earn $52,440 (approx.)

What is the community association manager’s age breakdown?

The community association manager’s age is 40+ years old, which 69%of  the population represents.

What is the task of the community association manager?

1. Provide Service: This is also the responsibility of the community association manager to save community money by reducing services. They also have a responsibility of finding better services, searching for favorable prices. 
2.  Provide Loan and Insurance: The community association manager takes care of the loans and insurance for the association. The community manager advocates the finance committee for taking loans and helps them in work.
3. Taking Care of Environmental Issues: To make an association eco-friendly manager work with the Board. The community association manager also shares tips in the newsletter regarding save water and electricity.

Designation of the Community Manager

1. Association Management Specialist (AMS): It is the first designation, where the candidate must stick to the community association institute’s professional code of manager of an ethic and also continuous education. Candidate must illustrate the minimum experience of 2 years in administrative and finance.
2. Professional Community Manager Designation (PCAM): It is the largest professional designation. The Candidate needs five years of experience in the completion of case studies, finance and administration. Candidate must stick to the Professional Manage Code Ethics with the continuous study.

CONCLUSION

The community association manager’s workload is very heavy as they handle the “whole “community. They ensure that the policies are fair and just for residents. In addition, the community association manager has to supervise the aspect of the association by discussing it with the board.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Continuing education is still required? Presently, continuing education is not required.
2. When does registration expire for the community association? The registration of the community association expires every 31^st of Jan.  
3. How do you apply for the community association manager? Click on the website www.ct.gov/dcp and fill the registration application and forward it to the department.