What to ask HOA management company references

A polished proposal tells an HOA board what a management company intends to do. A reference call helps the board learn what the company repeatedly does after the contract is signed.

The most useful references are not simply happy clients. They are associations whose property type, size, service scope, financial complexity, meeting cadence, and current challenges resemble yours. A 20-unit self-managed HOA should not rely only on a reference from a 1,000-unit staffed community. A high-rise condominium with elevators, life-safety systems, and major capital projects needs different evidence than a subdivision with private roads and architectural reviews.

Use the same core questions for every finalist. Record facts, examples, and dates rather than impressions alone. Then compare the reference answers to the written proposal, management agreement, staffing plan, software demonstration, and fee schedule.

Ask for the right references

Request at least two or three current association clients and, when possible, one association that completed a management transition with the company recently. The board may also ask whether the company can provide a former client, but a company may have legitimate confidentiality or relationship concerns. A refusal by itself proves little; the explanation and the rest of the diligence matter.

Ask the finalist to identify why each reference is relevant:

• Community type and approximate unit or lot count.
• Geographic area and local service needs.
• Length of the management relationship.
• Services included in the contract.
• Proposed manager or service team in common with your association.
• Similar challenges, such as a large reserve project, delinquency cleanup, developer transition, insurance renewal, aging building, or owner communication problem.

Get the reference's permission and schedule the call. Do not send private owner information, privileged legal details, bank data, or confidential proposal material.

Establish the reference's point of view

Start by understanding who is speaking. A current board president may see responsiveness and meeting support. A treasurer may know the financial reporting. A former director may be describing a team that changed two years ago.

Ask:

1. What is your current or former board role, and how long have you worked with the company?
2. What services does the company provide to your association?
3. How similar is your community to ours in size, property type, budget, amenities, and workload?
4. Which manager and support team work on your account?
5. Has that team changed during the relationship?

Record the role and date of the call. A specific, recent example should carry more weight than a broad statement such as "they are great."

Test the proposed staffing model

The board is hiring a company, but owners experience the assigned people. Reference questions should test whether the staffing plan in the proposal is realistic.

• Was the manager presented during the sales process the person assigned after onboarding?
• How long has the current manager served the community?
• How many manager changes have occurred, and how were they communicated?
• Is the manager prepared for meetings and familiar with the governing documents and current projects?
• Who handles accounting, resales, maintenance, violations, architectural requests, and after-hours calls?
• What happens when the manager is on vacation, sick, or leaves the company?
• Does a supervisor become involved when an issue is not resolved?

Listen for a dependable system, not a single heroic employee. One excellent manager can still be a risky service model if there is no documentation, backup, supervision, or continuity plan.

Verify communication with boards and owners

CAI's community association management research reports that board members value managers who are responsive, organized, proactive, knowledgeable, empathetic, and transparent. Turn those qualities into questions about observable behavior.

• How quickly does the team acknowledge board and owner requests?
• Does it provide a clear answer, owner, status, and next step?
• How are urgent issues separated from routine requests?
• Can the board see open tasks without chasing the manager by email?
• Are difficult owner interactions documented and handled consistently?
• Does the company communicate problems early or only after a deadline is missed?
• Give an example of a communication failure. What did the company do next?

The last question is often more revealing than asking whether communication is "good." Every management relationship has mistakes or tension. The board needs to know how the company responds.

Examine financial reporting and controls

Ask a treasurer or finance committee member to participate when possible. Compare the answers to a redacted sample board packet and the services promised in the proposal.

• When are monthly financial statements normally delivered?
• Are bank accounts reconciled before the board packet is issued?
• Can the treasurer understand budget-to-actual variances, owner receivables, payables, reserves, and cash balances?
• How are invoices approved, coded, documented, and paid?
• How are unusual transactions or corrections explained?
• How are delinquent accounts, payment plans, credits, and attorney referrals tracked?
• Does the board retain practical visibility and control over association bank accounts and financial records?
• Have late reports, reconciliation problems, owner-ledger errors, or surprise fees occurred? How were they corrected?
• What support did the company provide during the annual budget, tax return, review, or audit?

CAI's Professional Manager Code of Ethics says credentialed managers should see that client funds are held separately and should provide accurate, timely financial reports according to the management agreement or board policy. A credential does not replace diligence, but the published standard gives a board useful questions to ask.

Review maintenance and vendor performance

Management companies coordinate work; boards approve priorities and spending under the governing documents and contract. Ask how the workflow performs after an owner or director reports a problem.

• How are maintenance requests logged, assigned, prioritized, and closed?
• Can the board see the status, vendor, approval, cost, and supporting documents?
• How does the company handle emergencies and after-hours incidents?
• Are bids comparable and conflicts or affiliated-vendor relationships disclosed?
• Does the manager verify completion before an invoice is approved?
• How are contracts, insurance certificates, warranties, and renewal dates tracked?
• Has the company helped manage a major project? What did it do well, and what would the reference change?

Ask for one routine example and one difficult example. A company may perform well on recurring landscaping and still struggle with a water loss, elevator outage, roofing project, or disputed invoice.

Check meetings, governance, and records

The manager usually supports the board's process but does not replace the board or its attorney. The reference should help you understand whether the company maintains an orderly operating record.

• Are agendas and board packets delivered early enough for directors to prepare?
• Are action items assigned and followed through after meetings?
• Does the manager distinguish board decisions from administrative work?
• Are governing documents, policies, minutes, contracts, insurance records, owner communications, and financial records organized and retrievable?
• Does the company know when a question needs association counsel rather than an improvised legal answer?
• How well did the team handle an annual meeting, election, records request, enforcement matter, or contentious owner meeting?

Avoid asking the reference to disclose privileged legal advice, private owner facts, or confidential personnel information.

Test the technology in real life

A demonstration shows the software at its best. A reference can tell you whether the board and owners actually use it.

• Which portal or management platform does the community use?
• Can directors find reports, invoices, contracts, meeting materials, and open tasks without staff assistance?
• Can owners see balances, make payments, submit requests, and find documents reliably?
• Are permissions appropriate for directors, committees, owners, vendors, and staff?
• How often does the company rely on spreadsheets or email outside the system?
• What data can the association export in a usable format?
• Has a software change or migration caused lost history, duplicate work, or owner confusion?

The board should confirm that the technology supports the promised workflow. Software should not be treated as evidence that the work behind it is accurate or timely.

Find the costs that surprised the reference

Do not ask only whether the base management fee was competitive. Ask what the association actually paid and what caused the total to change.

• Which recurring services are outside the base fee?
• What meeting, mailing, printing, storage, portal, payment, resale, violation, project, or after-hours charges occur?
• Were annual increases and pass-through costs explained clearly?
• Did the association pay setup, transition, data, banking, or termination fees?
• Does the company or an affiliate receive revenue from vendors, banking, insurance, payments, resales, or referrals?
• Which cost in the first year was least expected?

Compare the answers with the finalist's fee schedule. If a reference identifies a charge that is missing or unclear, require the company to resolve it in writing before selection.

Ask about onboarding and the first 90 days

A current client may love the steady-state service and still remember a difficult transition. Ask:

• Did the company use a written transition plan with named owners and deadlines?
• Were bank authority, owner balances, assessment schedules, vendor files, contracts, insurance, open maintenance, violations, legal matters, and documents transferred accurately?
• When did owners receive working portal access and payment instructions?
• When did the board receive the first reliable financial packet?
• What information was missing from the prior manager, and how did the new company handle it?
• What should our board do before the start date to avoid the same problems?

The answer should help the board improve its own transition plan, not merely score the company.

Ask what happens when the relationship is tested

The highest-value reference question is not "Would you recommend them?" It is this:

Tell us about a time the company made a mistake, missed an expectation, or disagreed with the board. What happened next?

Follow with:

• Who took ownership?
• How quickly was the issue acknowledged?
• Was the underlying record corrected?
• Did leadership get involved appropriately?
• Did the company change its process?
• Did the board receive a clear explanation?
• Has the same problem happened again?

A reference who can describe a credible recovery may be more useful than one who claims nothing has ever gone wrong.

Close with four comparison questions

End every call with the same questions:

1. What does this company do especially well?
2. What does your board still have to manage more actively than expected?
3. What do you wish you had clarified in the proposal or contract?
4. Knowing what you know now, would you hire the company again for a community like ours? Why or why not?

Do not turn one reference call into a veto or automatic approval. Look for patterns across references, written evidence, the proposed team, pricing, contract language, credential verification, and the board's own priorities.

Use a simple evidence log

For each call, record:

• Reference context: Role, community type, size, service scope, relationship length
• Proposed-team overlap: Manager, supervisor, accounting or support staff in common
• Strongest evidence: Specific recent example with result
• Main concern: Specific weakness, surprise, or unresolved issue
• Proposal match: Where the reference confirms or contradicts the finalist's proposal
• Follow-up: Question the management company must answer in writing

Keep the log with the board's procurement records. Follow applicable meeting, records, privacy, and legal requirements in your state and governing documents.

Verify credentials rather than copying initials

CAI maintains a directory for active CAI designations and AAMC-accredited companies. CAMICB maintains the CMCA directory. Both organizations note that some professionals may opt out of public listings, so an absent search result is a reason to ask for current proof, not automatic proof that a credential is invalid.

Credentials can support evidence of education, experience, and adherence to published standards. They do not guarantee that a particular company, manager, contract, staffing model, or service approach fits your association.

Bottom line

A strong HOA management company reference check tests the exact service the board is considering. Match references to your community, ask every finalist the same core questions, request specific examples, compare answers to the proposal and contract, and pay special attention to how the company performs when people, systems, or expectations change.

ManageMatch helps boards organize the search and comparison process. Boards should use association counsel for contract review, state-specific requirements, executive-session questions, privileged material, and legal interpretation.

Sources

• CAI: Tips for selecting a community association management company
• CAI: Finding the right professional
• CAI: Directory of Credentialed Professionals
• CAMICB: Directory of Credentialed Professionals
• CAI Professional Manager Code of Ethics
• Foundation for Community Association Research: 2024 Community Association Management Industry Report