How many communities should our manager be handling?

There is no statutory number, and any company that gives you one without qualifying it is guessing. What matters is the relationship between portfolio size and the support behind it — a manager carrying twelve communities with a dedicated accounting team and an assistant may be more responsive than one carrying six with neither.

Ask three questions instead of one. How many communities will our specific assigned manager carry. What administrative and accounting support sits behind them. And what is the company's manager turnover for the last twelve months.

Industry commentary consistently ties the most common complaint — unreturned calls — to firms assigning too many properties per representative without support staff. It is worth asking, and worth getting in writing in the proposal rather than the pitch.

Doors matter as much as community count and are quoted less often. A manager carrying six 400-unit condominiums is carrying 2,400 doors; one carrying twelve 60-unit HOAs is carrying 720. Both answer “how many communities” with a number, and the numbers point the wrong way. Ask for both.

Then ask what happens when it goes up. Most firms have no contractual ceiling, which means the load you were quoted is a snapshot rather than a commitment. A cap written into the agreement — and a few firms will write one — is worth more than any answer given in a pitch meeting.