Not all HOAs can afford to hire association managers. “These are the vast majority of associations today—those that are self-managed,” says Bill Worrall, vice president of The Continental Group, which is based in Hollywood, Fla., and manages 1,300 condominium and homeowner associations totaling 310,000 residential units.
There‟s nothing wrong with being self-managed if you know what you‟re doing. “I think if a community can‟t afford management, self-management is relevant,” says James Donnelly, president and CEO of Castle Group, a property management company in Plantation, Fla., that manages 60,000 association units. “Some have a strong, long-term board that wants to do the management itself. I‟m not offended by that.”
If you‟re among the group of self-managed associations, here we offer rules to live by so you can be as well managed as those run by career professionals.