A.K. from New London County, Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
What would the approximate management fees be for a 12-unit condo association in CT?
Mister Condo replies:
A.K., smaller condominium associations like yours often have great difficulty finding a professional management company interested in managing their property due to the nature of the small size not yielding much management income. This often leads to smaller associations being forced to self-manage. It would be impossible for me to suggest a price for the fee for your association. Unit owners don’t typically like to see their management fees to high. Management companies don’t want to waste their resources on low profit opportunities. That being said, you can certainly shop around and ask management companies if they manage associations your size and what they charge. I doubt you’ll find many and I wouldn’t be surprised if the price is a little steep. A better option for your association might be to look at a hybrid option where the association manages itself and hires an outside firm to handle the accounting and bookkeeping. You’ll find a list of CAI member management companies at https://www.caict.org/page/DirectoryManager. That’s a great place to start. Good luck!
Another way in addition to CAI-CT you can try finding management companies that service smaller condo associations is to look up on the Secretary of State records. If you know of smaller associations, you can type in their name, and often their registered address and/or agent for service of process is the management company, that might give you some to check out. https://service.ct.gov/business/s/onlinebusinesssearch?language=en_US&surName=darch&type=Principal%20Name&firstName=todd
Many management companies have a minimum fee around $400, which can still be cheaper than hiring an accounting firm. $400 is worth having a professional who can keep boards and HOA’s out of trouble. Lawsuits do happen and they can be devastating to board members and communities. It’s well worth the $400 to avoid litigation!