What is the difference between an HOA, a condo association, and a co-op?

In an HOA, owners hold title to their lot and home and the association owns common areas. In a condominium, owners hold title to their unit and an undivided interest in common elements. In a cooperative, owners hold shares in a corporation that owns the building, along with a proprietary lease for their unit.

The distinction matters for management because the governing law is different — corporate law and the proprietary lease for co-ops, condominium statutes for condos, planned community statutes for HOAs — and because co-ops involve share transfers and financing questions condos do not.

Terminology also varies regionally. Texas statutes say property owners association; New York says managing agent rather than Management Company.

It matters when you are hiring, because the work genuinely differs. Co-ops involve share transfers, proprietary leases, lender recognition agreements and board approval of purchasers, and that skill set is concentrated in a handful of markets. Condominiums increasingly involve structural inspection and reserve regimes. HOAs center on covenant enforcement across separately owned parcels.

So ask a prospective firm how many communities of your exact type it manages rather than how many it manages. A company with three hundred HOAs and one co-op can answer the second question impressively and still be the wrong firm.