Here are the 20 questions every HOA board should ask before signing a management agreement — grouped by category, with an explanation of what each answer reveals. Most management companies are skilled at presenting well in an RFP process. These questions are designed to cut through that.
This checklist is written for boards that are mid-evaluation: you've received proposals, you've had initial conversations, and you're trying to decide. The questions that surface the most differentiation are under Vendor Practices and Financial Reporting. Start there if your time is short.
Pricing & Fees
The monthly per-unit fee is almost never the full cost of management. The real cost is the monthly fee plus the on-demand fee schedule — the charges for resale certificates, extra meetings, special assessment setup, legal coordination, after-hours calls, and the dozen other line items that accumulate over a year. Asking only about the monthly rate is the single most common evaluation mistake.
1. What is your complete written fee schedule, including all on-demand fees?
Ask for the full fee schedule in writing before any verbal presentation. The document should list every service the company charges for beyond the monthly management fee. If they don't have a written fee schedule — or if they say "it depends" more than once — that's an answer.
2. Do you charge differently based on community size, and if so, how does the per-unit rate change at different unit thresholds?
Many companies have volume pricing that drops significantly at 50, 100, or 200 units. If your community is near a threshold, knowing the bracket structure can affect negotiation. It also reveals whether the company has a real pricing model or is quoting numbers opportunistically.
3. What is your fee for a resale certificate (§4525 disclosure package), and how long does it take to produce one?
California Civil Code §4525 requires specific disclosures when a unit is sold. Resale certificate fees in the Bay Area range from $150 to $650 depending on the management company. This is a homeowner-facing charge that often generates board complaints — and it's a direct indicator of how a company thinks about its relationship with your community's residents.
4. Are there fees for attending board meetings beyond the standard monthly meeting?
Many companies include one monthly board meeting in the base fee and charge $150-$400 per additional meeting. A board that runs quarterly general meetings, an annual election, and periodic special meetings can accumulate $1,500+ in meeting fees annually beyond the base contract.
5. If we terminate the agreement early, what is the fee and what is the notice period?
Ask this before you sign, not when you need to leave. Termination provisions vary widely: some agreements require 30 days' notice with no termination fee; others require 90 days and a buyout equal to 3 months' management fees. Know what you're agreeing to before you're locked in.
Vendor Practices
This is the category where the most money is hidden in HOA management. Vendor kickbacks, markup arrangements, and preferred-vendor programs can cost an HOA more than the management fee itself. California law does not prohibit these arrangements, but it does require disclosure — and many management companies do not disclose proactively.
6. Do you receive any compensation, kickbacks, rebates, or referral fees from vendors you recommend to managed communities?
Ask this directly and ask for the answer in writing. Some companies receive rebates from landscape contractors, pool companies, or insurance brokers — arrangements that create an obvious conflict of interest when selecting and evaluating vendors. The correct answer is no. If the answer is "we have preferred vendors who offer our clients discounted rates," press for specifics: what are the rates, and is the discount passed through to the community entirely?
7. Do you mark up vendor invoices before passing them to the association?
This is different from a referral fee. Some companies receive the vendor invoice at $1,000 and bill the association $1,100 — a 10% markup that functions as a hidden second management fee. Ask explicitly whether the amount the community pays matches the amount on the vendor's original invoice.
8. Can we see vendor invoices directly, and how quickly are they available after payment?
A community with no-markup vendor billing should have nothing to hide on vendor invoices. If the management company wants to be an intermediary who summarizes vendor costs rather than sharing the underlying invoices, ask why. California Civil Code §5200 gives members the right to inspect association financial records — invoices are financial records.
9. How do you handle competitive bidding for vendor contracts above a certain dollar threshold, and what is that threshold?
Best practice (and what many CC&Rs require) is competitive bidding for contracts above $5,000-$10,000 per year. Ask what the company's standard is, whether they facilitate the bidding process, and who selects the final vendor — the management company or the board.
Financial Reporting
California Civil Code §5500 requires the board to review monthly financial statements — an income and expense statement, a balance sheet, a reconciliation of reserve accounts, and a budget-to-actual comparison. The law tells you what the board must review. These questions tell you whether you'll be able to actually understand it.
10. What does your standard monthly financial report include, and can we see a sample?
Ask for a sample from an anonymized community similar in size to yours. A real financial report includes an income statement, a balance sheet, a reserve account reconciliation, a budget-to-actual comparison, an accounts receivable aging report (who owes what), and a check register. A 2-page summary is not a financial report.
11. How quickly are monthly financials available after the close of the month?
The industry standard answer is "by the 15th of the following month." The best management companies deliver by the 10th; some regularly deliver in the last week of the following month, making the data nearly 7 weeks old by the time the board sees it. Ask for their specific commitment and ask references whether it's kept.
12. How do you flag anomalies — invoices above contract amounts, unexpected reserve transfers, payments without matching invoices?
This question separates rule-based bookkeeping from genuine financial oversight. A management company that does real financial oversight has a process for flagging exceptions. One that doesn't will tell you "we review every invoice before payment" — a human process that is error-prone and scale-limited. Ask what happened the last time they caught an error in a vendor invoice.
Technology & Communication
The technology a management company uses determines how accessible your community's information is — to board members, homeowners, and vendors. A company still operating on email and PDF attachments is using infrastructure that was standard in 2012. Given the SB 410 requirement (effective 2026) that current-year financial records be produced within 10 business days of a member's written request, technology is no longer optional.
13. What platform or software does your company use for community management, and what do board members and homeowners have access to?
The answer should include a named platform and a clear description of the self-service access available to board members (financial reports, vendor invoices, work orders, violation tracking) and homeowners (account balance, payment history, governing documents, service requests). If the answer is "we use a portal but board members primarily get monthly PDFs," that's a management company with a portal sticker on a legacy process.
14. How are urgent homeowner communications handled — for example, a water main break at 10pm on a Friday?
Ask this specifically and ask for a real example of how a similar situation was handled. Emergency response infrastructure is a differentiator. Some companies have a 24/7 answering service that takes messages and pages an on-call manager; others have an emergency line that goes to a personal cell; others have nothing and rely on homeowners to find the phone number on a PDF. Know which one you're buying.
15. How do you track and document homeowner communications and requests?
Every homeowner inquiry, complaint, and request should be logged with a timestamp and resolution record. If the management company can't describe a ticketing system or equivalent — if the answer is "we track everything in email" — you have no audit trail, no SLA accountability, and no way to demonstrate responsiveness if a homeowner disputes resolution. This matters under California's dispute resolution requirements and becomes a liability in any fair-housing complaint.
Response Time & SLAs
"We're very responsive" is not a service level agreement. Ask for numbers. A management company that is confident in its responsiveness will commit to numbers in writing. One that isn't will offer assurances.
16. What is your written SLA for responding to board member inquiries?
The standard for a professionally managed community is a response within one business day for written inquiries. Same-day for urgent matters. If the company doesn't have a written SLA, ask why — and ask references how long it actually takes to get a financial question answered.
17. What is your written SLA for responding to homeowner service requests, and how do you report on SLA performance?
This is the metric homeowners actually feel. If a homeowner submits a maintenance request on Monday and receives no response by Thursday, the board gets the complaint. Ask how performance against the SLA is reported to the board — monthly metrics? A dashboard? Not at all? The answer reveals how seriously the company takes accountability.
18. What is your manager-to-community ratio?
Industry average is approximately 30-40 communities per manager; high-quality management companies target 15-25. Above 40, response time and attention inevitably degrade — no matter what the SLA says. Ask this number directly. Then ask whether it's the ratio today or the target, because those are often different things.
Transition
A management company's transition process reveals its operational sophistication more than almost anything else. Transitioning a community involves records transfer, bank account setup, data migration, vendor introductions, homeowner communication, and board orientation — all within a 30-day window. Ask how they do it.
19. What is your standard transition timeline and what does the process include?
A professional management company should present a written transition plan with milestones. The plan should cover: records transfer from the outgoing company, review of transferred records for completeness, bank account setup (if needed), vendor outreach and contract confirmation, homeowner data upload, portal configuration, board orientation, and homeowner welcome communication. If the answer is "we'll work through it together," they haven't done this at scale.
20. What happens if the outgoing management company is slow to transfer records or uncooperative?
This is the question most boards don't think to ask until they're in the middle of a difficult transition. Outgoing management companies sometimes slow-walk records transfer — either out of resentment, organizational dysfunction, or deliberate obstruction. Under California Civil Code §5200, association records belong to the association, not the management company. Ask what the prospective company has done in past transitions when records weren't transferred on time, and what they'll do for your community if the same situation arises.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a reasonable HOA management fee in the Bay Area?
Bay Area HOA management fees typically range from $18 to $35 per unit per month, depending on community size, the scope of services included, and the management company's cost structure. Larger communities (100+ units) generally have lower per-unit rates. The per-unit monthly fee is, however, only part of the picture — the on-demand fee schedule for resale certificates, extra meetings, and special projects often adds 30-50% to the all-in annual cost. Always compare total annual cost, not just the monthly rate.
Are HOA management companies required to disclose vendor relationships in California?
California law does not require HOA management companies to proactively disclose vendor kickbacks or referral arrangements, but the board has a fiduciary duty to evaluate the full cost of management — including hidden vendor markups. The association's CC&Rs may require disclosure; check your governing documents. As a practical matter, requiring written confirmation of no vendor markups or kickbacks in the management agreement is the cleanest protection.
What records is an HOA management company required to transfer when a community switches managers?
Under California Civil Code §5200, association records include financial documents, bank statements, meeting minutes, governing documents, insurance policies, reserve studies, vendor contracts, violation records, and architectural review files. These belong to the association, not to the management company. The outgoing manager is required to transfer all such records to the successor. If the outgoing company refuses, the board can demand them in writing and, if necessary, pursue legal enforcement.
How long does the transition to a new HOA management company take?
A professionally managed transition takes approximately 30 days from contract signature to full operation. The board's active involvement during that period is roughly 1-2 hours (a kickoff meeting, a brief orientation on the new platform, and review of the homeowner welcome communication). The majority of the transition work — records review, bank setup, vendor outreach, data migration — is handled by the incoming management company.
What should an HOA board do if a management company refuses to answer these questions in writing?
Treat it as a disqualifying signal. A management company that won't commit its fee schedule, vendor policy, SLA, and transition plan to writing before you sign is not going to be more transparent after you sign. Professional management companies have nothing to hide on these points and understand why boards ask. Those that push back on written commitments are typically relying on vagueness to preserve pricing or vendor-markup flexibility. Move on.
Keep Reading
- The Complete Bay Area HOA Compliance Guide (2026) — Davis-Stirling, SB 326, SB 410, and every 2026 law change your board needs to know.
- How to Switch HOA Management Companies in California — once you've selected a new company, here's the complete transition process and termination template.
- See what nexova ai management costs for your community → — instant pricing calculator, no sign-up required.
- Request a hidden-fee audit → — we review your current management agreement and fee schedule and identify what you're actually paying vs. what you should be.
This guide is written by Lawson Pan, Founder & CEO of nexova ai. It is intended as an educational resource for HOA board members evaluating management company options and is not legal advice. For legal questions about your community's management agreement or California HOA law, consult a California attorney specializing in common interest development law.
Sources: California Civil Code §4525 (resale disclosures), California Civil Code §5200 (association records), California Civil Code §5500 (financial statement review).